EDIT! I did write this blog yesterday (Monday) but didn't publish it, as felt too rough to finish it off. Having some extreme exhaustion problems lately, but doing this blog takes my mind off it and hearing your feedback on the new look and content has been great. So thank you! Plus i want to thank some of my v good friends at this time for being such a help - DazPod, Cat, Bernice, Simon, Ruthiepoos, Kirsty - you all rock the very very most...
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Mondays are a mixed blessing really aren't they? On the one hand, if you work 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, it's the day you go back to work and Saturday looks further away than ever. On the other hand, it's the day when a whole new batch of music hits the stores (at least in Britain) and you can have something new to listen to, although to be fair you have probably "streamed" it online at some point. What's really important is that my dad didn't mind the "jizz" on yesterday's blog. He said it's better than "spunk". It's so wrong to hear those words come out of my dad's mouth…
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THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS:
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Except it's not really a battle, as I actually genuinely like both acts (one to my ever increasing shame). Lets address my adorable little McFly scamps first. They are arguably the premiere boyband in Britain today. They have had two number ones of each of their three albums. They have yet to miss the top ten. They yearn to be seen as indie, yet create some of the most sparkling pop gems around. By all rights they should be huge. And they are. Yet, something is wrong. Their singles debut high and drop faster than the proverbial hot potato. Their albums do reasonable but not outstanding sales. In short, they are Britain's biggest niche act at the moment. Try as they might, they can't seem to broaden their audience. Which actually is a real shame. Because behind the dodgy Heat interviews, spotlight seeking G-A-Y appearances and indie live lounge covers, there is a talented young band at the peak of their game. New album, Motion In The Ocean, proves they have an ear for a catchy melody and an increasing maturity in some of their lyrics (while not abandoning their fun side). The singles Please, Please and Star Girl are prime examples of their collective pop genius, Friday Night is another rollicking almost rock track and of course the set includes their raucous cover of Don't Stop me Now. But it's and that are two stand out tracks, Bubblewrap and Sorry's Not Good Enough – the former a quite lovely, yearning ballad, the latter a stomping piano laden pop track screaming for chart domination. I will be most miffed if they aren't singles number three and four… One quibble – would it have killed them to put some Just My Luck tracks on there for British fans???
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The other big boyband in Britain today quietly releases their new single The Rose, without the usual promotional fanfare. Much like Human Nature in Australia, Westlife have now proved they are the biggest band in Britain that no-one will admit to liking. Yet their consistent sales are staggering, and there is always a promotional blitz with a couple of singles and an album before Christmas, then not much else for another 9 months or so. It's a formula that clearly works, and while their The Love Album is an album of covers, perhaps it worked better because I had just had the misfortune of listening to Clay Aiken's covers cd. Shudder. Ironically, the best tracks are on the b-side of The Rose including one of my fave all time songs, Solitaire. Tragically, If is not a cover of a Janet Jackson song. That would have been worth it to hear Mark sing "your silk and shiny feels so good against my lips, sugar…"
LINK: Buy McFly's Motion In The Ocean
LINK: Buy Westlife's The Rose cd single
MP3: McFly - Sorry's Not Good Enough
MP3: McFly - Bubblewrap
MP3: McFly – Just My Luck
MP3: McFly – 5 Colours US Version
MP3: Westlife – solitaire
MP3: Westlife – Nothing's Gonna Change My Love
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THE BEST SELLER OF CHRISTMAS THAT WASN'T:
To be honest, I half expected William of Young to knock out a greatest hits album this festive season. After all, he has done the obligatory three pop albums, but it seems he is going the Sugababes/Robbie Williams route of knocking out a fourth before the greatest hits arrive. Which is a little bit of a shame as it seems that, for the time being, his main focus is going to be on acting. And had he consulted me, I could have whipped up a top notch package for him (RAR) with very little effort. William's career as we know it now didn't really begin until the fourth single from his From Now On debut. The first 3 tracks released were all very much seen in retrospect as honouring his contract from Pop Idol. Everyone knows that Westlife album track Evergreen and Cathy Dennis penned Anything Is Possible were much more suitable for Gareth's vocal style. Light My Fire was pure William, but still a strong tie to the Pop Idol format. Let's not mention the William-Gareth duet too much as it was a career nadir for both. But from You and I, William was writing text book of how to distance yourself from Pop Idol without alienating the fans that put you there in the first place. My proposed greatest hits features some songs from the albums that really should have been hits and some rare bonus tracks. Let me know what you think…
- Anything Is Possible
- Evergreen
- Light My Fire
- You and I
- Don't Let Me Down
- Leave Right Now
- Your Game
- Friday's Child
- Love Is A Matter of Distance
- Love The One You're With
- Switch It On
- All Time Love
- Who Am I
- Ain't Such A Bad Place To Be
- BONUS: Your Love Is King (mp3)
- BONUS: Hey Ya (mp3)
- BONUS: Don'cha Wish... (mp3)
- BONUS: Try Again (mp3)
THE 7 IN 2007 UPDATE (YOUTUBE STYLE!):
You can of course find links to all of the myspace sites of my fave 7 acts for 2007 on the left hand side of this very page. But I discovered this week that there are a whole host of treasures to be enjoyed on Youtube. Particularly Pacific Avenue - is a great chance to hear some more of their tunes live and in their entirity. In fact seeing the acts perform live just reaffirms my decision to watch these guys become huge! Let me know what you think:
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~ Jeremy - there are a whole host of vids on Jeremy's myspace page, but my absolute fave is the all too hilarious Faith video, just above his Friends box...
~ Pacific Avenue - there are a cacophany of riches on PA on youtube, which gives you a great opportunity to hear some of the boys tracks live and in full including You Can Save Me Now, Autograph, Summer's Gone, the excellent I'm Still Dreaming, Blinded By The Sun and Can't Hold Back. All of which make me very excited for their inevitable chart success...
~ Switch22 - have popped a couple of live performances on YouTube - Soul Shake and Pure Emotion - and an audio recording of a very S22 interview (not quite as brill as mine I hasten to add ;) ) with Chiltern FM...
~ Justin Lanning - there are a few of Justin's advertisement gigs on YouTube, but the real highlights are his MTV appearance and a knockout live performance of album title track Behind These Eyes...
~ Conor - the more i see and hear of Conor, the more I think what a breath of pure pop fresh air he is, wafting away the stale fumes of Ronan, Keane et al. Check out Shake It live (in which i'm pretty sure he makes a pleasure oneself type gesture!) and Club55 (where the girls and guys all scream when he takes off his velvet blazer. Shirt next time please Conor). It's 90s pop heaven done millenium style...
~ Simon Curtis - as mentioned yesterday, you can hear Simon's excellent first single Flashback here on YouTube...
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BLOG WATCH:
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~ If you need something abit rockier than pop, you could do a lot worse than check out Elle's RoadKill blog that searches out the best of Australian and international emo...
~ As it's only 48 days til Christmas, there is a Santa's Grotto of festive tracks available at seasonal new blog MusicLovers. Check back regularly, because this is going to be your one stop shop for winter music...
~ Girls Aloud hold at 3 with Something Kinda Ooh and top the album charts and Chartrigger doesn't even mention it ;) ?! What's that about D'Luv??
~ Jessica's DirrtyPop was the first blog I ever read and she was the first person i contacted when I wanted to write a blog. So i am super pumped that she gave me a positive shout out on her blog. I think her words exactly encapsulated what I am trying to do with this site :) Thanks Jess - I absolutely love the line "This site is no work of literary genius..." :) LOL!!
~ I may be starting to sound like a broken record, but now AlienHits Nick has started to branch into tv, his site just got even more unmissable. Dead Like Me and Tally Hall all on one day is just too much to cope with ;)
Coming soon! Tiffany covers up; SyCo; something on Ella Rouge maybe; Magic Numbers albums; Jean!; Something on Lois and Clark (eventually), Dante's Cove and Gilmore Girls; Gay singers; When 90s come back - featuring Wilson Phillips! Expose!; Books; more new myspace wannabe popstars; more lists of fave girl bands, pop bands, etc; More imaginary but necessary greatest hits and probably lots more distracting stuff....
It might have been nice to add the song "Just My Luck" to the album, but, as a whole, I didn't think there were that many songs on it worth transferring back to a UK album...I did buy it (back in the day where I thought they actually had a chance at breaking the US), and, to be honest, I'm really not a fan of the reworked "Five Colours In Her Hair." The changed lyrics in "I Wanna Hold You" are mildly entertaining, though, just because of how ridiculous they are ("you keep polluting like the ocean"?! And they couldn't even be bothered to change the lyrics from the British to US version of the insert. Or come up with a new album cover. Or spend any money on a music video.).
Funny you mention Clay Aiken and Westlife's B-side "Solitaire" in the same breathe--Clay had "Solitaire" as a B-side (or maybe one side of a double A side) on one of his singles.
On the topic of Will: great choices! I really wouldn't change any of them...I love the album tracks (non-singles) you've chosen to include, too.
Ooo, Pacific Avenue on YouTube? And Switch 22? And Conor? I'm there!
PG - wow! Your answer was a post in itself ;) I agree that some of their actions lately haven't been that wise, but they are v young lads having the time of their lives and probably feel a bit untouchable...
I sent a friend in the US some McFly songs and he likes them. He's even started watching their interviews on youtube lol. He hopes they break the US but he said they're a bit too pop. I downloaded 'Just My Luck' a couple of months ago & I love the new version of '5 Colours'. It would've been nice to have the song 'Just My Luck' on MITO.
Does 'Lonely' sound a bit like 'All About You' part 2 to anyone else? lol. Also the lyrics for 'Friday Night' in the booklet are spelt wrong :-/ Well the chorus is lol.
Not really a Will Young fan but I like the odd song. Cool, I didn't know he's acting. From the songs you suggested I like Evergreen & Light My Fire.
Why do artist release GH so early in their career. Years ago it was like 10+ years before someone released a GH and there'd be a range of songs to choose from. Nowadays all you get is the singles from 3/4 albums and an extra song or two. I hate GH. I love the Sugababes but I'm doubting wether or not to buy their GH, I already have all their albums & especially as Heidi & Amelle haven't redone Siobhan & Mutya's vocals (if they had I definatley would buy it).
I'm happy GA held #3, at first I didn't like 'SKO' but it really grew on me. I'm pleased the girls got #1 album but I hope theres a new #1 on Sunday, don't need to mention what it should be replaced by lol.
Rose - i think most pop acts release GH quickly because the lifespan of a pop group is perceived as 3 albums nowadays. I don't know how or why it got that way. But it did.... :(
Nice mention of McFly too - I definitely think "Motion In The Ocean" is a VERY good progression from "Wonderland". It's a pity "Transylvania" was used as a b-side to "Star Girl", what with it being the best track on the album and all, it really should have been a single.
- Adem.