Another Year In Pop: 23

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Mint Royale are at number one, and dudes appear to be buying individual tracks off the new Radiohead Greatest Hits...
[Poll #1201948]

Comments

[koganbot]

Another mediocre week. Best song is "Creep," the oldie, which is the only Radiohead track that's ever made me feel anything, in fact is the only Radiohead title I can name. It doesn't get past my rule against ticking oldies, however.

Morrissey "All You Need Is Me": Initially, back in the Smiths' heyday, I underestimated this man's sense of command, his ability to dominate an arrangement. So does his voice here have authority that I'm somehow missing? This just seems to be a walkthrough against a noisy but pedestrian backdrop. Lyrics are supposed to be funny, I think, making a comic claim that the character is on our mind, but the joke has no bite if the singer can't make the conceit plausible. NO TICKS HERE.

Alex Gaudino f. Shena "Watch Out": Horn riff w/ dance beat! From Alex Gaudino! I like the formula, but I'm not feeling the groove. Deep-in-the-mix synth chords have the potential to be a massive mudslide rolling up from the underneath, but he cuts it off before it gets its roll. LEFT OUT OF THE TICKING.

Mystery Jets "Two Doors Down": Have we done this song before? Has the same problem the Fratellis had a couple of weeks back. It feels like a song embedded within disparate sounds, rather than a song making everything subservient to its demands. This is fine with me in principle but from indie bands almost always seems like a failure to commit. In any event, the singer here lacks the natural presence to pull off this sort of half-ambient stroll. For self-effacement to work there has to be enough of a face to begin with. DOOR SLAMS ON TICK AMBITIONS.

Maroon 5 f. Rihanna "If I Never See Your Face Again": Without Rihanna this had been a nondescript attempt at '80s bleached funk, like Phil Collins without Phil's casual force. And that's what this version is too, when Rihanna is off mic. But when she sings this becomes focused and sensual. Borderline, but it's a TICK.

Scooter "Jumping All Over The World": The silly chipmunk voice is worse than a nuisance on this one, which doesn't trust its own catchiness. The track is saved by Baxxter's compulsively emphatic delivery of "hardcore hardcore rock me down to the core" and by the hard chords that accompany it. Track struggles for a victory that should have been easy. Borderline TICK.

Elbow "One Day Like This": The rock bass and rough manly voice sabotage what should have been a light, smooth melody. And the inspirational sing-along that ends this makes it worse. NO TICK LIKE THIS.