A Year In Pop: 24

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Back to Mondays for the duration of the Pop Open - it's this weeks pop records for your dissection and delectation. The return! of reality TV contestants. The return! of bands who seem to think getting a download single in the charts is a major statement. The return! of the new music that's taking over the country. AND MORE!

[Poll #1005169]

Also, use the tag, if you will, to go and tick last week's poll, if you didn't: very poor turnout there.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Never Again' is awesome. Tom otm ages ago about how it's PJ Harvey gone pop - I don't understand why she's getting so much flack at the moment, 'Never Again' was pretty immediate for me (though having said that 'Sober' is pretty awful). It's dark and moody but hello this is what K Clarkson does now. The video is brilliant too, and I like the lyrics.

'When You're Gone' is like the only track on the Lavigne album which ISN'T any good at all. Why is she releasing a shrill, gloopy ballad when there is so much more to mine in the bratty punk vein of 'Girlfriend', and indeed a couple of genuinely affecting ballads, on the album?

I haven't heard 'Listen Up' despite having owned The Gossip's album for 10 months. Maybe I will be bothered to dig it out tonight.

I don't think I need to bother with the rest. What a disgrace this country can be.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The MSTRKRFT remix of "Listen Up" was risible, sub-baggy nonsense - there might be a good song hidden beneath though.

Haven't checked out the Avril yet. Not feeling up to checking on Editors, Maximo, Koopa etc. - apologies if these bands (and indeed Marillion) have broken the habits of a lifetime.

NEVER AGOTH: I find it a bit too grim and thick-set for continuous listening but it has a hard granite-y emotional force that isn't quite like anything else in the charts.

Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye. (NB: I have a long history of being non-plussed why anybody likes her records, even - actually, especially - "Since U Been Gone")

Lex OTM about the Avril, but I ticked it anyway.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I just did! Hard granitey emotional force innit.

I like the fact that she's so serious all the time and I think her voice is really rich and just right for the righteous histrionics she tends to trade in. She's like the mope-rock Celine!

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

Secular goth, meaning she's got the eerie heights but isn't playing the ice queen. That said, on this single both she and the arrangement are trying too hard (so it'll probably end in my top 40 for the year rather than my top 10) in comparison to the last album's "Hear Me," which was just as desperate without all the bats and castles, just vocal shots of longing against a Clif Magness magma metal landslide. There are about five tracks on the last alb and at least three on the new that are better than this.

Lyrics do a good job of the hell-hath-no-fury thing but don't add any interesting twists, and I'm weary of that theme, even if it is eternal.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh I like the "give me that Sunday school answer" line a lot, mostly to do with how she delivers it, even though it's probably a bit meaningless under closer scrutiny.

What's v good about K Clarkson's voice is how she manages to capture the PJ/Alanis/Tori edge of hysteria while actually being able to sing conventionally (and not annoying and gothy like Evanescence girl) - ie she takes the extreme emotional catharsis of Amos et al and situates it in the realm of the girl next door as opposed to the distant tortured artist.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

And also, when she wants she can turn around and nail r&b-based diva pop. "Walk Away" is strong delivery of a so-what song, but "Miss Independent" is scorching and dancey and extravagant and fun, and "Low" is catchy pretty heartbreak, and she's as good at the catchiness as the broken heart.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know "Miss Independent", but dancey and extravagant and fun sure sounds more appealing than secular goth / mope-rock, so I'll try and check it out.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

Well, Kelly's ex David Hodges had the reputation of being the one in Evanescence who was trying to push them into more evangelical Xtianity, so "Sunday school answer" probably means that he's going to give her some proper contrition-apology for how he mistreated her, but she's not even going to bother to read the letter 'cause she knows what it's going to say and doesn't believe it and doesn't give a damn.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

Btw, the "Never Again" video is kinda the reverse of "Low"; in "Low" he's haunting her, in "Never Again" she's haunting him, with bits of Les Diaboliques thrown in.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Avril is shit at releasing ballads as singles. I mean, why release "Nobody's Home" off the last album when she had "Slipped Away"?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ha I don't remember either of those. Isn't 'My Happy Ending' a ballad though? That was great. And I still think a ballad is her best ever single ie 'I'm With You'.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

MHE isn't a ballad. It's too perky. "Slipped Away" was not a single, it was the last song on the album and is effectively "I'm With You" with a piano and either less cello or no cello at all.

I fucking LOVE "I'm With You". It's def her best single. "Girlfriend" is terrific but it's at least a league under IWY.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This must be the first time I have heard the bitter and despairing 'My Happy Ending' described as perky! I suppose "let's talk it over, it's not like we're dead" is a perky lyric though. It is a bit volatile to be a ballad, you're right.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

"When You're Gone" and "Keep Holding On" are the two worst songs on the album and now they're 2 of the 3 singles. I mean, if you have to release a ballad, why not "Innocence" or "Hot". And even better, just release one of the upbeat songs like "The Best Damn Thing" or "Everything Back but You".

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

haha, in my defence i have not heard the Lee Mear versh of ADWD, but heck! it's ADWD, how bad can he do it?

importantly the Editors song is SHOCKING, second manics alBUM lyrics except not quite so oblique, clearly it is one times cash on on the smoking ban too ;)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I was hoping Keith from Scotland would win - the first time I saw Lee perform (NB I only watched the final) I thought "wow he's really got something", engaged the audience, great mover, really open faced, great gestures etc etc. but then I realised he does the same stagey gestures, looks to audience, etc for EVERY SONG no matter what its tempo or emotional tone. Little Keith was clearly a bit afrit of being on the final but was much more likeable.

But on the other hand Joseph isn't MEANT to be likeable - he is a bit of a git all the way through isn't he? Even more so after he has sold out to The Man aka Pharaoh.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I don't like the Kelly all that much but the fact the album is good has given it a tick.

I don't know why I ticked Maximo Park. I think I heard it in a shop the other day and it was quite good. I like them when they are going fast.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Thing I just noticed in the bath-
'Never Again' sounds quite a lot like That Song By Shakira Where She's In The JCB In The Video in the bit that goes I hope the ring you gave to her turns her finger green, which I continued in my head as I'm really a cat you see and it's not my last life at all.

Am I right?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

the reason i like maximo park is i like saying their name in a donald and davie stott accent.

i think i'll probably try to catch them at glasto, they seem like likeable coves...

having not yet heard any of this

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't the most comment worthy thing here the fact that Marillion (?!) are charting in 2007?

Re: having not yet heard any of this

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

They have a devoted and highly mobilised fanbase and have much previous in this kind of bad penny maneouvre. They're one of those acts who got into the Internet really early so they are dab hands at the release date game. "Marillion single stays in chart for second week" really would be a headline.

Re: having not yet heard any of this

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

(this was me)

having not yet heard any of this

[(Anonymous)]

isn't the most comment-worthy thing here the fact that Marillion (?!) are charting in 2007?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Very under-impressed by Avril follow-up - NO TICK
Maximo Park dull as ever. I can't think of a single interesting thing to say about them. NO TICK
Kelly still belts it out proper like, and the video has grown on me - TICK
Not heard the rest yet but have no desire to seek out Editors/Koopa/Lee Mead. Would be curious to see what this ADWD dude is like! And the Marillion, my brother-in-law is a big fan of theirs...

Re: having not yet heard any of this

[koganbot]

Gossip - Let's see, I actually like the MSTRKRFT Gossip remix way more than the original, and this is what I wrote about it last month on my MySpace: "In the early '80s there'd been a slew of quirky groove songs, half disco, half funk. This track somehow has caught that spirit without sounding like a throwback but not having near neighbors in contemporary music. But not sounding odd, just sounding like itself. (Um, sorry, I can't do a better description. But this track is surprisingly unassuming from a singer I generally find an enthusiastic but grating blowhard. Makes my smile.)" Tick.

Kelly C. - Discussed above. Enthusiastic tick.

Marillion - It's apparently comment-worthy that they're charting in 2007, though I never heard of them until half an hour ago. Weird voice in that it sounds untrained and unmusical in the way that when you have a cold your voice sounds unmusical, which doesn't mean such voices can't be effective, but strangely he's doing high emotional extravagance that needs more chops than he can give it. Song'd have been a tick if he'd been up to it, but tickless from me.

Lee Mead - In researching this I YouTubed him doing one of the worst imaginable performances of "Paint It, Black," clearly enunciated dramatic reading of a song that demands not that everyone in the far balcony comprehends every syllable and every overacted nuance but that you convincingly embody some kind of menace and terror. So "Any Dream Will Do" is a pleasant contrast, a nice lilt. Still not a style of music or singing I particularly like, though, so no tick but I might change my mind if I hear it more. But I'm not going to hear it more.

Koopa - Low-grade pinched singing, but there's a nice reach for melody and harmony. But the rhythm defeats this, even though it's played expertly. It's too twisted and ungrooved. Borderline nontick.

Erasure - Singing is lifeless. Not the fault of his effort, just that the pipes got stiff with age.

Maximo Park - Deleted this from my computer, don't remember why (and I'd liked their previous single) but will trust my earlier judgment, nontick.

Editors - Long deleted, again don't remember why 'cept remember the deletion was emphatic.

Avril - Concur with complaints above. For the passionate emotive Avril I recommend you go back to "Unwanted" and "Mobile" on Let Go.

Re: having not yet heard any of this

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Marillion had some big hits here in the 80s including 'Kayleigh' which I actually quite like myself but theoretically not as much as the Eurobosh version which I'm sure must exist.