The Pop Open - Love REVEALED

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Hidden under a cut this time! Here;s who did the tracks and what I thought of them.

Track 1: Boney M - "Silent Lover" - bubbly and cold discopop with a terrifically tremulous, cabaret style lead vocal. My favourite thing here.

Track 2: Elbow - "Asleep In The Back" - my only previous encounter with this mob was a walk-by when they were playing the Other Stage at Glastonbury one year: they sounded dreadful so I wasn't looking forward to hearing this, but it's pretty and rather pleasant, even if it doesn't shout "love" at me. When the vocalist does intimate mumbling it's better than when he raises his vocal game and tries for 'Chris Martin'. Gets boring before the end though.

Track 3: Mira Craig - "Someofdathomemadepie" - lots of imagination here and a really distinctive voice. Doesn't get an actual pick from me because its choppiness is a bit irritating - it feels quite "late-90s" somehow, Beck-ish almost.

Track 4: Stan Rogers - "Lies" - a brave pick this, a six-minute country and irish track. Quite stirring and I feel guilty for not lasting very far into it.

Track 5: Nat King Cole - "Quizas Quizas Quizas" - anybody got a quid for the quizas machine? Anyway I hadn't heard this apparent standard before and I really enjoy its smoothness - of all of them this sounds the most (cornily) like a "love song", so points for the theme I guess.

You can vote here - http://community.livejournal.com/poptimists/405429.html - until midday on Monday. Voting is a bit up on last week but that's not saying a great deal. Expect hassley reminders!

Next week is PASSION. The only track we are still waiting for is from zenith. And kill_your_idols needs to nominate which group they want to put themselves and stevem78 in for Round 2.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

omg I thought Nat King Cole was Cesaria Evora wtf.

I have heard this Elbow song multiple times and still didn't recognise it - I do like one of their songs in a "don't actually need to hear it again" way, this is not it.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

The Nat King Cole one is in the film Running With Scissors, which I coincidentally watched yesterday - if I'd watched it a day earlier I'd have been ticking the box for knowing that one.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I also heard it for the first time sung in Karaoke yesterday (in its guise as "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps").

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Actually it was in Strictly Ballroom, so I'm talking nonsense.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

or 'Theme from Coupling"

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Even weirder, I just watched the film Bad Education and about 10 minutes in is this song yet again, in Spanish!

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

omg ws it in 'Bad Education'?! I really don't remember that at all!

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Near the beginning someone in drag sings it, I'm quite sure it was Gael but actually can't remember now. It's the Spanish version and he sings it like "keetha keetha keetha". I only got to a few mins after that before deciding it wasn't a good idea to watch this film today as my mum kept coming in my room and after yesterday seeing me watching Running With Scissors which also has a gay man & boy relationship, she might get a bit worried about my taste in films!

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

She shouldn't be worried, you have fine taste! Of the ones I've seen I'd go for 'Bad Education' as my very fave from him.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

The only others I've seen are Talk To Her and Volver, the latter being my favourite by far.

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Penelope Cruz's singing! (if it ws her, I'm not sure).

On my last visit to HMV (not that I got often) I saw quite quite a few of his features have come out on DVD that I'd not even heard of, never mind seen.

My first by him ws "Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown".

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

or "..on the verge of a nervous breakdown". His first film to make an impact.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I would be interested to see more but I don't think I'd buy them, I have a few on my Tesco DVD rental list. I am interested to see them as Almodovar is such a revered director and I did love Volver, but I do tend to prefer French, German and Swedish films to Spanish ones. I'd like to see more from different countries in Europe but they're hard to come by. I saw one called The Double Life of Veronique which was set in Poland but it wasn't very interesting so I turned it off after 10 mins or so. Are you big on world cinema or just Almodovar?

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Oh, I do like lots of cinema ('world' or otherwise).

Can't remember much about "Double Life.." (prob caught it on some late night screening on C4 a few years ago). Kieslowski's schtick can be a real drag at times, but I'd have to re-watch 'em before saying anymore.

Its quite difficult to compare cinemas of diff countries. I don't know how much of a Spanish cinema that ws allowed to develop in the 60s and 70s as Spain ws a lot poorer and of course Franco (I suppose that 'Franco's Spain' ws one of themes of "Bad education -- prob why it kinda worked for me).

Victor Erice is another Spanish director => "Spirit of the Beehive" is highly regarded, but I've only seen "Quince Tree Sun" at a screening earlier this year, and its as gd a film about a painting as you're likely to get (no really!)

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

It's very prominent in Wong Kar-wai's In The Mood For Love.

the best yet IMO

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Track 1: I was composing a longish comment about this in my head on the way to work today. a) Love the backing track for the first ten seconds, then disappointed by the strings. b) Voices scream "European" to me - also "gauche suave," which I don't think makes any sense but there you go.

Track 2: When I first heard this, I thought, "This group is going to be the best so far, isn't it?" And I think that proved true by the end of the five tracks. Likeable ("nice") but probably not going to get my vote given more energetic entries elsewhere. Will have to look when I get home - I think I have it, actually, and didn't recognize it.

Track 3: After a couple of listens I was quite sure I should know a song called "My Favorite Ten-Inch Single." (Oh well.) Interesting voice but I can't imagine I'd want to hear something else by her.

Track 4: I was sure this Richard Thompson. Appreciated but not enjoyed, to be honest.

Track 5: I had no idea who this was, although I (obviously?) knew the song. Is this the original version - I just know the English version (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps)

[mippy.livejournal.com]

I would have chosen 'Newborn' if I had to pick an Elbow song, but perhaps that's overheard now. Or maybe Powder Blue, a love song to an alcoholic friend. Dammit, next week I'll actually be able to stream the tracks finally.

[cis.livejournal.com]

How to tell NKC's verion of QQQ apart from every other one: his accent is so bad!

'por low kay mars too kyerass arsta kwandow arsta kwandow' eh?

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

'quizas' also used to great effect in wong kar-wai's 'in the mood for love'.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

heh, I think we're reaching a tipping point where I have to admit I "know" this track after all

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Christ, how the hell did I fail to recognise Elbow?

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

"Next week is PASSION. The only track we are still waiting for is from zenith. And kill_your_idols needs to nominate which group they want to put themselves and stevem78 in for Round 2."

Did kill_yr_idols already choose a group for me? I must have missed this.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I think group winners only choose for themselves and third place. Runners up such as yourself are at the mercy of ... Tom's Randomiser!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes - you are subject to the whims of the Randomiser.

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

OH NOES THE RANDOMIZER OH NOES!

[lisa-go-blind.livejournal.com]

I've never knowingly heard anything by Elbow before, but I would have sworn that was Peter Gabriel singing.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

That Elbow song is one of their worst. I really like the album the track comes from (yes yes shush) but I always skip that song.