Archive for December, 2005
December 23, 2005
It’s funny, clever, catchy, singalong and groovy. It has chutzpah in bags. I mean, it kicks off with a Ray Charles sample and then has the bloke who played him in the film repeating the sample throughout the track. That must show chutzpah. Or it’s a legal issue.
We can’t stop ourselves dancing to this. Junior is having a go at the move that Kanye’s so pleased with in the video. You know, the one where he jerks back and to the side, elbow leading, as if a particularly appealing lady has just gone by at speed. You can tell that he’s practised it in the mirror countless times and has come to the conclusion that he looks pretty fly doing it. Junior looks fairly fresh too. Mum and Dad give it a whirl as well, and we become quite the coolest family on the block.
The album’s not as good as his debut, despite what the latecomer critics might tell you, but the peaks are loftier. ‘Gold Digger’ is the highest of these, and “we want pre-nup!” is the winning shout. I mean, it’s so romantic. Yet Kanye does still love her, faults and all, not caring a jot how jiggy she’s got with Usher and Busta. They’re fine upstanding chaps, after all.
That’s it, then. In the albums, Kate Bush edges out the Arcade Fire, but you knew that already. Junior’s looking forward to 2006 now, choosing a new theme for January and maybe getting a few of those requests out of the way. She’ll buy the Belle & Sebastian and Strokes albums, expecting nothing too exciting, and will continue pestering the Avalanches for new material.
Merry Christmas.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, arcade fire, belle & sebastian, busta rhymes, gold digger, jamie foxx, kanye west, kate bush, music, ray charles, the avalanches, the strokes, usher | Leave a Comment »
December 23, 2005
It’s the three-minute warning, so we’ll finish off the Christmas songs with this. Plus we needed another from the superlative Phil Spector album, in honour of the big-haired nutter (that case is ongoing, isn’t it?). Speaking of nutters, his old rival Brian Wilson has just released a Christmas album himself. It’s getting panned. I did buy the recent single unheard, and it’s useless.
This is a sinister record, right? Santa’s painted as this all-seeing disciplinarian, there are threatening chord sequences – you’re not even allowed to cry, for pity’s sake. Again, it’s lucky that Junior doesn’t understand (I think), or she’d be keeping a wary eye on that fireplace.
The tune and production are immense, but let’s not allow that to disguise the message. You’d better have a long, hard look at yourselves over the next couple of days. You may still have time to turn it around.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged brian wilson, christmas, music, phil spector, santa claus is coming to town, the crystals | Leave a Comment »
December 23, 2005
Junior treats this as a time for quiet contemplation, lying back on her mum’s lap. There are smiles at the start because this is on vinyl so Dad’s been standing by the decks again. When she’s able to talk I’m going to get to the bottom of why this is so amusing.
We all know this is a lovely song, so I won’t poke fun. Well, sometimes I wish he’d ended the phrase “Everybody knows a turkey..” right there, giving us a chance to remember all our fowl friends. Then there’s the line “I’m offering this simple phrase to kids from one to ninety-two”, where he appears to be excluding both Junior and my Nana. I never thought Nat was elitist. Fortunately, Junior doesn’t appear to notice.
So I have poked fun. Sorry.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged christmas, music, nat king cole, the christmas song | Leave a Comment »
December 22, 2005
Ciara returns the favour. Until yesterday, this was going to be Number One. It’s dropped because the other record still gets better with every play, months after I first heard it, while this has maybe lost a tiny bit of its sheen. Also – as Junior’s mum has pointed out – ‘Lose Control’ is enhanced by its video, and I shouldn’t be swayed by that kind of thing. It’s a fantastic video, unsettling, scary and inspired.
Whatever, it’s still a great record. We can forgive Fatman Scoop for his past sins, and we can marvel again at Ciara’s honeyed tones. All that plus Missy telling us she’s got a “cute face, chubby waist”. Bit like Junior, but we don’t say that too loudly when she’s around. I’ve heard people get itchy about the track being based on Cybotron’s imperious ‘Clear’, but Missy uses it to whip up even more excitement, not as a crutch.
Junior listens from the launchpad of her breakdancing mat, kicking legs and flapping arms. She’d fling herself backwards onto the wall Ciara-style if she could. I cover her ears whenever there are rude words. No one wants their child’s first word to be, er, “mummajumma”.
Just one to go then. Can you guess what it is yet?
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, ciara, clear, cybotron, fatman scoop, lose control, missy elliott, music | Leave a Comment »
December 22, 2005
As a globally conscious 12-year-old, I spent my hard-won cash on the single like millions of others. I was struck by how much one of the Ethiopian children on the cover looked like Bob Geldof. Yesterday morning, Junior was subjected to the original and the recent remake – she was lucky that I couldn’t find the awful Stock Aitken Waterman version, or I would’ve carried out my threat to play one a day ‘til Christmas.
I’m one of the few who admits to liking the 1984 song. I’m one of the even fewer who can see value in 2004’s edition. I like Thom Yorke’s piano. The Darkness guitars are dreadful, though, and it goes on way too long. Also, don’t we get proper heavyweight pop stars any more? There’s hardly anyone on the later record to compete in terms of fame, glamour, ego and interest with the likes of Simon Le Bon, George Michael, Boy George, even Sting. I bet Status Quo weren’t plying Will Young and Jamelia with Class A drugs.
Junior can’t see what any of the fuss is about. She manages to laugh near the Dizzee Rascal bit, and I can see her wondering who Glenn Gregory is. Or was.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged band aid, band aid 20, bob geldof, boy george, christmas, dizzee rascal, do they know it's christmas, george michael, glenn gregory, jamelia, music, simon le bon, status quo, sting, stock aitken waterman, the darkness, thom yorke, will young | Leave a Comment »
December 21, 2005
“The way that we TALK, the way that we WALK”. Junior finds this frustrating. Are they teasing her? She’s still laughing at me standing by the stereo, but it’s a CD so I’m not even trying to be the superfly DJ. Those new-fangled CD decks are just cheating anyway. You don’t get the chance to hit the stylus arm by mistake, and you never need to balance a 20p coin anywhere to stop it jumping.
I could be the muso about this song’s unusual structure. Girls Aloud and Xenomania eschew your standard verse-chorus arrangement to fling in a load of highs and “can you see the join?” splicing. It shows ambition that a lot of modern pop lazily avoids, whether you like the record or not, and it’s a gamble. They don’t get the Number Ones you might expect, and perhaps they don’t appeal to “the kids” as much as they do to the pop scholars.
Pop scholars: Paul Morley, Paul Gambaccini, writers at Stylus and Pitchfork, the NME to satisfy the occasional whim, and hey, me. And Junior. Will she be defending this sort of stuff when all her friends are into the 2018 equivalents of Sum 41, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Killers and 50 Cent? Don’t fail me now.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, 50 cent, biology, girls aloud, kaiser chiefs, music, nme, paul gambaccini, paul morley, pitchfork, stylus, sum 41, the killers, xenomania | 1 Comment »
December 20, 2005
Pomp-a-pomp-a-pomp and dub-a-dub-a-dum. That’s always going to work for a five-month-old. You can do the “riding on a camel in the deeeeee-sert” to it, and generally bounce up and down. Of course, with all that frolicking, you could miss the serious message in Jona Lewie’s song. Like everyone else.
It’s just a Christmas song now. In fact, I think it was released as a Christmas record, but I don’t suppose it was written that way, unless Jona had some mad premonition of how many compilations it was going to appear on and how he wouldn’t have to lift a finger again. On the other hand, by marrying an anti-war message to a Christmas lyric, Jona is a forerunner in a rich tradition. If not for him, we might not have ‘The Pipes Of Peace’ and ‘Altogether Now’. Harrowing thought.
Thumbs up from Junior, then. For the rest of this week’s festive records, I’m toying with doing all three versions of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’. Who’s going to stop me?
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged altogether now, christmas, do they know it's christmas, jona lewie, music, stop the cavalry, the pipes of peace | Leave a Comment »
December 20, 2005
Tinny and raucous, with what sounds like the Cookie Crew rapping unintelligibly in the eye of the storm, this is a peach of a tune. Needs to be played loud, but it’s a bit early in the morning so Junior’s mum suggests that we keep the volume down to maintain the moral high ground over the people downstairs. When she goes out to move the car, Junior and I whack it up again.
I think this was first released in 2004, and the album certainly was, but the single was re-released at the end of this summer and therefore passes the test. Junior’s up for a bit of flying again – it’s that sort of song – and fortunately it’s before breakfast so we don’t risk spillage. I’m sure she even attempts to sing along with the “2,4,6,8,10″s, which are pretty irresistible. It’s all pretty irresistible. I could hug this record.
As for the title, I only hope it’s not a witty answer to “What’s that in your pocket?”. Or is that just me?
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, bottle rocket, cookie crew, go! team, music | Leave a Comment »
December 19, 2005
Annie from Norway was the first artist Junior saw live. The second was Saint Etienne, about half an hour later. Junior was minus three weeks old at the time but, with poetic licence, I can imagine that she was watching through her mum’s bellybutton. I’ve never asked her what she thought of Annie. I thought she was rubbish. You could barely hear the vocals and she spent her whole set standing at the back of the stage with the bloke who was making all the music come out of his computer.
On record Annie makes sense. Her voice is still wafer-thin but every song is an icy pop gem, with all those keyboard pulses, strokes and effects and crisp percussion, and that Scandinavian ear for a hook. She sounds flimsy in the old Camden Palais; in the living room she shimmers like the Christmas tree.
The fifth best single of the year, ‘Heartbeat’ sees Junior flying around the room, laughing, dribbling in her dad’s eye. No, I’m not crying at Annie’s tender memories of a fleeting love. I’ve got dribble in my eye.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, annie, camden palais, heartbeat, music, norway, saint etienne, scandinavia | Leave a Comment »
December 19, 2005
I won’t give it its full title, as suggested by one esteemed reader. This record is what Christmas is all about for me. Not because of any great quality, or special essence, but because it was a hit when I was four years old at about that time you understand what Christmas means. Loads of presents. Ever since, those synthesised squelches have been tied up in the whole shebang for me.
Junior is again more interested in the vinyl going around on the turntable. We let her put her hand on it, for a photo op, and she manages to slow it down, speed it up and stop it completely. She thinks this is pretty smart. And hey, it’s a decent remix.
The video was on TMF (or something like that) the other day. What a lady mullet Linda had. A little hedgehog bit on the top, with the rest long and lifeless. You just know that the Levellers were taking notes that day. There are some staggeringly cheap graphics, some forced “let’s stage the show right here” false spontaneity and that pervading air of McCartney bonhomie. See? It’s what the festive season is all about.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged christmas, linda mccartney, music, paul mccartney, the levellers, tmf, wonderful christmastime | Leave a Comment »
