The Pop Open Group F REVEALED

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the big delay on this! Here are what the tracks are - and what I thought of them.

Hear them for yourself here: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2007/07/pop-open-week-8/ (streamed) and here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/t0tk21

TRACK ONE: Me'shell Ndegeocello - "Leviticus - Faggot" - springy, soulful, serious funk, more about the side-effects of religion but ironically I think it might have been more powerful if Me'shell got a bit churchier - it passes by too pleasantly to have much impact.

TRACK TWO: Army Of Lovers - "Israelism" - "Army of Lovers on a mission!" - certainly memorable and worshipping at the altar of WTF, not for the first time with AoL I think their production and sonic chops weren't quite up to their ideas, the hi-NRG backing here just isn't as beefy as the song needs. But it's a good song, though I'm not sure I'd dare to parse it. Would get a vote from me.

TRACK THREE: Candie Payne - "By Tomorrow" - Payne has a great voice and presence, tons of poise amidst the hustle-bustle of the song. Only the tacky sampled horns stop me giving it a vote.

TRACK FOUR: Amy Grant - "Come, Thou Font Of Every Blessing" - props to this for i. staring the topic pretty squarely in the face, ii. having a really gorgeous soft country melody. My top pick I think.

TRACK FIVE: Genius/GZA/Killah Priest - "B.I.B.L.E." - I have actually owned this and still didn't recognise it, not a good sign. Lots of good lines when you concentrate on them but the track rolls along without ever demanding that you do. I've often felt there's something a little dodgy about the love critics gave to the Wu-Tang's crackpot syncretic belief systems, tho I can't quite pin my finger on why.

Here's the poll - open until Monday 12 noon.

[Poll #1030830]

We're not exactly deluged with votes so keep them coming.

Comments

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Oops I was sure track #1 was by a bloke! I really liked the first 2-3 minutes of this but the song should have stopped around that point, all my goodwill dissipates in the goes-nowhere second half. Enough to swing my vote anyway.

Knew the GZA, didn't like AoL.

So, Candie and Amy it is.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I had the same reaction about track 1. the first half is great, but it really needs a radio edit, at least on a stand-alone basis.

this was a really disparate group, i thought

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

When I got the track for #1 the file just had the title "Leviticus - Faggot", so I thought it would be a track called "Faggot" by ragga jungle bod Leviticus, and was a bit worried at what might lie ahead. "Bold selection, though" I thought to myself!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ooh I'd completely forgotten to hear these, but I look forward to hearing the Meshell - I LOVE HER but haven't heard this track.

[cis.livejournal.com]

I love Me'shell but the track is wayyyyy too conscious and right-on.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I suspect ELECTORAL FRAUD in at least one of the "Don't know any" cases here by the way - it seems INCONCEIVABLE that a certain person would not have known a certain track. But I will keep these suspicions to myself until the votes are in!

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

by 'crackpot syncretic belief systems' are you referring to FIVE PERCENTERS? cz it's not like they invented that shit, maybe gussied it up a little

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

"I've often felt there's something a little dodgy about the love critics gave to the Wu-Tang's crackpot syncretic belief systems"
It's certainly true that much of it is nutter-down-the-pub stuff (the counter-argument being so is much of mainstream religion if you actually read the core texts rather than listen to soothing CofE sermons). Once interviewed Killah Priest and his sidekick (with great urgency) told me that there were plans to build a monorail across the Atlantic, which was somehow part of the NWO.

I think the Wu got a pass partly for at least being interested in ideas (is that rockist? or maybe post-punkist?), partly because you wouldn't mess and partly because they were (and still are, in the case of the Ghostface Killah) sporadically GREAT.

I voted for Amy Grant! That's the first time the 'blind listening' has meant I endorsed something I would have probably dismissed out of hand – a welcome development.

[koganbot]

Here were my reactions under the blindfold, except I'd accidentally clicked on this thread first so I saw that the Army Of Lovers track was indeed by Army Of Lovers (which they obligingly tell us anyway). [Comments from after the reveal in brackets.]

Track One: OK, I was musing about why this sort of soul-based funk always feels a bit cold to me (except when done by James Brown), and then suddenly I noticed I was hearing LYRICS and then was having to figure out what's going on and I honestly can't tell if this is about liberation and resurrection or really thinks that the "faggot" is going down. "Let me ride above my fear/Let me ride above my sadness." Can't claim this is cold. [I too thought this singer was a guy. I'm also sure I've heard this before, now that I see the title, but I totally forgot it. Btw, for me the second half of the song is what brings it into the money, the passion of the "let me ride."]

Track Two: Table talk last Tuesday indicated this was everybody's favorite, and I love this tuneful Europop and post-Boney M expostulating, but honestly would far prefer achy female vocals rather than batshit male ones. Not quite over the emotional top.

Track Three: Great heart. This could be 1967, white soul going psychedelic while still having that '60s pop pang, "The Beat Goes On" by someone with a nicer voice than Cher's. But the thing is in 1967 no one was creating this particular combination. So this track is probably from the last ten years. More emotion than this woman's usually able to deliver (if she's who I think she is, a woman who's got the voice but rarely the material; as I recall I liked her least in her League Of Pop match, though fortunately for her sponsor I wasn't the judge that week). [OK, I was hoping it was by Neko Case and would prove I've been underrating her all these years, but no dice. I just Wiki'd Candie Payne, whom I've never heard of, though she has a great soul name. And she may have a new fan.]

Track Four: Straightup country gospel. Good simple tempo. Not quite a great tune.

Track Five: I'm guessing this is BDP. A subject for further research. Powerful despite his tendency to get pedantic and dogmatic. [Well, shows how much I know about hip-hop that's going seriously religious; less humor and zest than I expect from the Wus and less off-the-rails gorgeousness as well.]

Hmmm. Track Three is my clear winner; beyond that everything else is strong but I'm leaning towards Track One for sheer guts.

[koganbot]

Right, went to Candie Payne's MySpace, realize I've heard "I Wish" before, maybe even here. But now, on that one and the other three on her MySpace the arrangements are really irritating, all the sound her voice has to contend with. It's a great voice; thin, actually, but the thinness helps it to cut through. I think the "neo"-ness is a trap for her, as it is for lots of people. She sounds a bit lost in the overall sound. Lost in the world. Worth paying attention to, however.

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

i don't understand why you say 'that's going seriously religious'.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Best group since Injustice! Having a v tough time deciding my second place.

Meshell - I love this, I've been meaning to buy the album it's on for ages (only have Bitter, which is absolutely gorgeous). Contra Cis I don't find it too right-on but maybe because I didn't pay the lyrics my full attention: the attraction for me is in hearing the smooth, catchy funk-soul ruptured by the occasional burst of anger.

Army Of Lovers - hrrrm this is very wtf but not in a good way? A bit much for me. If I heard it once somewhere my reaction would be positive - "OMGHAHAWTF", probably; but this is not the same as "wanting to hear it again, ever".

Candie Payne - ah so this is what she sounds like! I do wonder whether I would have pegged her as a current revivalist of the 60s sound (as Frank did) if I hadn't known who it was before listening. There is a kind of odd glossy sheen to the production, so maybe. Anyway I like it - very Winehouse, and she seems to have a compelling artistic voice as well.

Amy Grant - very pretty, very sincere, very heartfelt; I like this but I grew up singing hymns and so don't really need to hear them again.

Wu-Tang dudes: AWESOME rapping...but I have an issue with old-skool non-party hip-hop, which is that the beats leave me totally cold. Like Illmatic and early Mobb Deep I guess, it's music I enjoy kicking back to, letting wash over me, esp in the summer when feeling a bit introspective, but it never gets totally inside me.

So uh Me'shell gets 1st place, 2nd place between Candie and Wu-Tang.