poptimists | The Pop Open

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