this weeks 10 songs ... pressing shuffle now ...
Silver Mac by Westworld from Westworld - Westworld was a trio that featured the guitarist from Billy Idol's first band Generation X and a female vocalist. The tag line on their second album was "Fast Food Pop" and though that album was horrible the first album is just that. Probably best known for the songs "Sonic Boom Boy" and the huge Modern Rock song "Painkiller" this song borders on being a ballad and I've always liked it.
It's A Jungle Out There by Bros from Push - A huge boy band of sorts from the UK in the late 80's the real appeal of Bros was the lead singer. He has a great Stevie Wonder blue-eyed soul voice. The album though is pretty worthless outside of two songs, "When Will I Be Famous?" and "I Owe You Nothing". The main problem is that the band was contractually owned by their management and had no say into what songs they could do so as opposed to focusing on Soul they were forced to do very bad Pop songs designed to have the broadest appeal as possible. I should just delete ever track except the two good ones and be done with it, this is awful.
Unchained Melody by U2 from the Best of 1980-1990/the B-Sides - In all honestly why U2 did this song is beyond me. It was a part of a string of b-sides where they covered amazing songs, but this is not what U2 does well. Bono's emotional wailing doesn't serve the intricate melody of this song.
Just One World by Nile Rodgers from Do That Dance CD-Single - I bought this single in the bargain bin at Tower Records in Sacramento when Tony and I went to see Depeche Mode on the Singles tour because it said Featuring Simon Le Bon. It turned out that Simon is barely on the main track. Listening to this song I hear Nile's main band Chic, but this isn't very inspired.
Ship of Fools by Erasure from The Innocents - One of the best Erasure songs. Andy Bell has a knack for writing melody and of course Vince Clarke is a great arranger and programmer. I love this song on so many levels, the hook is just top rate and the songs message is equally good.
Hallucinating Elvis by Duran Duran from Pop Trash - See the review in last weeks column about how I feel about this album. Another example of how pointless and uninspired Duran Duran can get.
One of These Nights by the Eagles from Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) - I don't know why or how The Eagles became a part of my musical vocabulary, for sure they were all over the AM and FM radio I listened to growing up and I'm pretty sure either my Mom or my next door neighbors mom had this album and we would play it. As an adult I can appreciate just how good The Eagles were. Their melding of Country and Rock aesthetics, the thoughtful lyrics and a great bunch of musicians. I probably should get Hotel California as well. When any track on this CD comes on I never turn it off.
Sexy Dancer by 808 State from Gorgeous - I really enjoyed the first wave of Techno led by acts like 808 State. What I like is it's sort of a melding between New Age electronics like Jean-Michel Jarre and synth-pop like early Depeche Mode and the work of Vince Clarke. This song isn't that great though, too simple and the vocal sample doesn't help.
Injection 1-2-3 by Westworld from Westworld - here is the big question, does the iPod have an emergent AI? Sometimes it feels like it's thinking about what I should be listening to. Not one of the better songs from the album that I discussed in entry number one above. Very bland, but still fun.
Heaven Knows by Donna Summer from Endless Summer - I love me some disco when it is amped up Soul Music. I was hugely inspired by Disco and Funk as a kid I use to go to the Teen Day at our local Discotheque "Charly Tuna's" and even managed to sneak in a couple of nights with my sister. I love dancing and I love most dance music when it's rooted in soul. Donna Summer was first and foremost a supremely talented soul singer who just happened to do soul music that was being marketed and arranged into Disco songs. I lover her voice and this is a great song.
Hidden Bonus Track
The Key to Gramercy Park by Deadsy from Commencement - Apparently all the things I liked about Deadsy and the potential I saw were the very things they did not like about their sound early on because their new album is built upon all the things I hated. This is the best song they ever did, it's a melding of 80's synth, NIN production, Rush's lyrical conceptualism. It has energy and almost a real hook. Too bad they decided to go the other direction.
Posted by John at May 01, 2007 10:04 AM