Another Year In Pop: 24

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

A very static top 20 this week - although last week's highest new entrant Morrissey has totally disappeared out of the top 100 already! Mint Royale are still at number one, milking it for all it's worth.

[Poll #1205575]

Comments

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I've not heard the Palmer version, but does it preserve the very strange rhythm in the vocal line (in the verse)? I can imagine other singers attempting it and coming a right cropper, but CB pulls it off effortlessly.

[koganbot]

Yes, Rissi preserves the vocal rhythm, which is basically to emphasize the offbeats, "if I should DIE beFORE i WAKE it's 'CAUSE you TOOK my BREATH aWAY." But the accompanying strums are mostly undifferentiated sixteen notes against backbeats from the drums, as opposed to the counterbeats that are thrown underneath Jordin and Chris. So Rissi's version has vastly less tension. Is definitely worth hearing, however. Rissi is a good singer, and she's the first black female to have had an impact on the country charts in twenty years - not that it's much of an impact yet, but she's not just someone who sings country and happens to be black, she's emphasizing the r&b and going for a country dance market. "Country girl," her best song, is a country-blues groove with gospel touches. The lyrics claim that the country beat speaks to the world, the vid cannily mixing country and city, and white, Asian, and black. The guitarist who's laying down the wicked blues slides at the start is portrayed by a bearded old white guy.