A Year In Pop: 17

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The last poll of April.

[Poll #976589]

As ever you can go back and tick etc etc (or untick). Just follow the tag!

Comments

OK I will ask

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Waht is "The Living Tree"?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Both Amerie and Groove Armada are awesome. Lostprophets are unsurprisingly bland. Not heard the rest yet!

For some reason I thought I'd heard the Amerie ages ago and dismissed it as rubbish, but then saw her do it on Popworld and went OMG AMAZING.

in order

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Amerie - terrific, I dunno why people are saying 'Gotta Work' is better than this - it's taut, it's compelling, her vocal performance is astonishingly good - just listen to the line "the way you kiss my neck in public - I try my best not to blush" and you can HEAR the blush in her voice. And then that amazing "I FIND HIM I FORGIVE HIM I FEED HIM" - she says she wants you to take control but after that you're left in no doubt as to who cracks the whip. One of the singles of the year.

Amy Winehouse - this is my favourite Winehouse at the moment - my favourite bit is the way she launches into the chorus with this triumphant resignation after the "black...black...black..." pause. It's stately and dignified in its heartbreak - I love that aesthetic.

BIG GAP IN QUALITY

Sunblock - superior bosh, the video is SO RUDE though

Shirley Bassey - eh, I can't tell if this is a new song or a re-release, and I don't really care enough to find out. It's OK I suppose but I am harsh with my "any good at all"s.

Groove Armada - wtf is Stush doing associating with them? She hasn't been seen or heard in half a decade and now she makes her comeback with these people? Sadly not great, clunky and messy, a crumb off the table of the last Basement Jaxx album, which was itself pretty shit.

Manic Street Preachers - wtf is Nina Persson doing associating with them? Are they trying to be playful and tongue-in-cheek here? They're not very good at it. I caught a reference to one of their old shit singles though. Anyway they're way ahead of most rubbish indie because I've always thought that the lead singer's voice was great, charismatic in an overblown sort of way, and Nina's bits are obv great, but the lumpen arrangement and plodding non-tune dominate. Also wtf with the other dude starting to sing near the end? He can't, I actually burst out laughing. And then I stopped the video.

Lostprophets - god when I lived in Wales these cunts were everywhere.
I haven't been back to Wales since I escaped.

The View - I couldn't find this on Youtube :D

Re: OK I will ask

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

She's clearly ordered her record company to find a song that sounds as Bondtheme-like as possible to give her another hit. It's staggeringly predictable but the Bond elements are nice enough (well, I did say in the LoP that I'm a sucker for strings) to get a tick from me. Although 'dance til my shoes cry' just just sounds odd as a lyric.

My views

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Sunblock - this is terrific, it has the most oomph of all the holiday house I've heard in the charts this year. Supposedly it's a cover of the Coronas, who I've never heard of. Easy tick - best thing this week I suspect.

Manics - their mutation into a Bluetones tribute band is possibly more listenable than their pomp rock phase but somehow more depressing. No tick at all.

Amerie - I like the niggling guitar figure more than the so-so tune. Marginal tick.

Groove Armada: Nowhere NEAR as good as the Mutya one, but it has Stush on it and who doesn't love Stush? Doesn't use her well though. Marginal tick.

The View: only video I could find on YT doesn't have any words! Surely an improvement. Based on the music alone this is some more Britpop retro nonsense. No tick.

Lostprophets: I feel sorry for him losing his closest friend and all but on reflection he's probably only been dumped. Horrible, no tick.

Shirley Bass: Good to hear her again! Why don't they put the Get The Party Started version out I wonder? "Let me dance till my shoes cry" - arf! Wouldn't hear it again but this is a marginal tick.

Amy W: Interesting contrast to Bassey - better production but a worse, more affected, less affecting voice - stop sounding like a hen, woman! Same problem Beth Gibbons used to have. But if Shirl gets a tick so must this - what a generous week.

Re: My views

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Actually no, Amy W is doing quite well enough for herself anyway, given that it's a pretty boring record.

Re: My views

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

That's Corona (who had a big hit with the 'The Rhythm of the Night' in about 94 or 95), not The Coronas, which sounds like a rubbish indie band.

Re: My views

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Supposedly it's a cover of the Coronas, who I've never heard of.'

?

Re: My views

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The Groove Armada/Mutya song is pretty good but not as GREAT as people have been saying - GA's production is so clunky and awkward! Mutya is in v good form on it, she is everything which is great about it and single-handedly makes it good despite the ineptitude of her producers. Sad that Stush couldn't do the same here, I listened to 'Dollar $ign' on the bus this morning and it still sounds so fresh and alien.

Re: My views

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I've never actually heard of Stush I don't think - what is she best known for?

Re: My views

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Haha blame my non-existent swedish! But I still don't know the Corona original (I know "Rhythm of the Night" of course!).

Anyway it's a disgrace the Sunblock isn't doing better.

Re: in order

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Ahaa it must have been 'Gotta Work' that I heard before and dismissed as Whatevs. 'Take Control' is brilliant!

Re: My views

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

really really REALLY have to stop using 'clunky' and 'awkward' as descriptive terms for pop dance, people.

(i've not heard 'Song For Mutya' yet tho)

Re: My views

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Getting into fights with Lady Sov.

Re: My views

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The GA/Mutya record doesn't work at all as a dance track I'd guess but it's a really good bit of 80s-ish pop and the lyrics and delivery are MAZIN. GA still get some credit because of the synth figure that comes out of the chorus and lifts the track up.

Re: My views

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you don't know the original 'Baby Baby' - it was Corona's second or third biggest hit (there were so many! ;)

Re: My views

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Will undoubtably tick it when I get round to listening! Unless someone can zshare it?

Re: My views

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh is it THAT Baby Baby? Cool!

Re: My views

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"Dollar Sign" - pop-grime-garage produced by Sticky.

Re: My views

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

That was Jentina surely? I don't think Stush has beef with anyone.

Re: OK I will ask

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but it is DAME Shirley B. Please to show respect.

(Off topic: will the zip files for this week's LOP be posted today?)

Re: My views

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

yeah the lyrics are great - really want to listen to it again, I got the album just before I moved house and don't know where it is now!

Re: My views

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I like the remix of GA & Stush better than the original though.

Re: My views

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Why? It is clunky! It goes stop-start zig-zag all over the place and I'm just like STOP IT AND FOCUS.

Re: in order

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Gotta Work' is brilliant too! Amerie says she wrote it in her kitchen while she was cooking chicken.