Very Good Plus - Charts & Reviews

No Hits Required: 90s & 00s Pop CDs: Episode 1

Ian Townsend — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:04:36 GMT

No Hits Required:
Overlooked Gems on 90s & 00s Pop CDs

Emma Bunton � Free Me (2004)
Tracks : Tomorrow / You Are

I love the single Maybe, hadn�t heard it in ages so bought this CD for 50p to listen to on the journey home from Banham Zoo Boot Fair. Maybe is a superb pop track based on riffs borrowed from the Pizzicato 5. After repeated plays of Maybe I left the CD on and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Lots of good melodies with a handful being very easy listening inspired.

Several spins later I found myself besotted with Tomorrow, a fantastic pop song with just enough soulfulness, tension and release to hit all the right spots. The string and horn arrangements are reminiscent of something Tony Hatch would have done for Petula Clark in the 60s. You Are is another great mid-tempo pop song with a proper ear worm for a chorus. It�s ultra-sweet but very infectious.

I also love the ultra � slow final track called So Beautiful but it may be too sugary for some people. The lowest point of this CD which should really have been a highlight is Emma�s run through of Crickets Sing For Anna Maria. It�s less of a run and more of a flat-footed pedestrian stroll.

Notes :
Nick Ingman handles the orchestral arrangement on Maybe and Tomorrow and both were written by Emma and a Mr Bondy�.Yak Bondy. Yak is obviously a songwriter with a deep love of easy listening and further investigation on Discogs reveals his songwriting is all over a range of 90s and 00s CDs by the likes of Lisa Stansfield, Amy Studt, Billie Piper, Rachel Stevens, S Club 7 and the Spice Girls.
Gavyn Wright (sometimes spelt Gavin) is another name to note. He�s a violinist and orchestral arranger who has worked with an amazing array of artists. He�s on several tracks here working alongside Nick Ingman and his name pops up in the credits of loads of other pop CDs.

Summary :
This whole CD is an excellent and interesting listen. It has Easy Listening references threaded throughout it and no poor tracks excepting perhaps the very mundane run through of Crickets Sing For Ana Maria. If you like Maybe and Tomorrow try You Are too. If all three float your boat then there�s probably other stuff on this CD you�ll like too.

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Louise : Woman In Me (1997)
Track: Don�t Be Shy

Ahhhh�the cosily familiar territory of one-tracker heaven. This is a truly bloody awful CD from Track 1 to 13 with several tracks sounding like bad Disney love song dirges from 90s Disney films. Think Pocohontas and Aladdin. 13 tracks in I was about to open the car window ready for CD ejection when a teasingly good staccato intro unfolded into a proper 80s old school 80s house beat and Don�t Be Shy kicked in.

It unfolds via dubby choir sounds and off-key marimbas into a solidly slinky House tune with a rhythm that moves gently up and down like a fulsome pair of love pillows in a deep sleep. Don�t Be Shy triggered an immediate finger to the <<<. Always a good sign.

Track 15 : Running Back For More is a deliberately Motown-flavoured track and though it�s not as good as Don�t Be Shy it�s smile-inducingly cheeky for stealing the �I�ll Be There� opening riff.

Notes :
Both tracks are written by Louise Nurding / Mrs Redknapp herself plus Graham Plato and Nigel Lowis. Unfortunately they also wrote two other not-so-hot tracks but a 50% �hit� rate isn�t bad. Graham Plato also did a lot of programming over this whole CD. British producer Nigel Lowis was thanked by Eternal in the sleevenotes of their 1993 CD Always and Forever for helping them in the early stages of their career. Definitely a couple of names to check the small print for alongside the aforementioned Yak.

The very worst 90s Disney ballad-style track on here is called Trust In Me. The string arrangement on it is by Nick Ingman conducting the London Session Orchestra with Gavin Wright on first violin. (Same Gavyn, and proof that even Nick and Gav can't make a silk purse out of a songwriter's bad ear)

Unbelievably our selected track Don�t Be Shy doesn�t feature on either of Louise�s Greatest Hits and that�s great news! Not a single and not considered good enough for a Best Of compilation = we�ll adopt this rejected slinky little minx of a tune for ourselves. Result.

Summary :
One Tracker Ahoy! ... but Don�t Be Shy is worth 50p of anyone�s money*.

*On this note : when getting pop CDs at boot sales don�t pay more than 50p. Some sellers still try for a �1 or �2 for a CD. Bacharach �em ! (That�s Walk On By in plainspeak). A significant number of sellers now sell CDs at 20p each or three for a �1 so hold out for those.

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Rachel Stevens � Come and Get It (2005)
Track: Funny How

Definitely not a one-tracker, this is a really good listen from start to finish. There are great Moroder-like rhythms on So Good / Negotiate With Love and Glam-thump synths on I Said Never Again but they were all singles and hits so they�re no good to us.

Crazy Boys is a crunchy synth Glam stomper but is let down a little by a weak chorus. A thudding rhythm that sounds like the backing of every Mud song ever written reveals Every Little Thing is another Rob Davis composition. It�s bouncy and enjoyable but isn�t quite up to scratch.

To my ears the pick to go on a No Hits Required compilation is Track 11. Funny How is a fit-for- purpose pounding slice of Trancey House with a small but wonderfully spacey break slap bang in the middle of it with strange Erik Satie-like undertones to it. The downside is that it�s only 4 minutes long. Boooooo. It�s rare I want a track to be longer but in this instance I was bloody craving it. A marvellous pounding Moroder-like feast of yearning with Donna Summer sighing angels and bleeps galore. Grab a copy from a booter for 50p to hear it full belt at home. You won�t be disappointed.

Notes :
Shawn �Ping Pong Orchestra� Lee is on guitar for Funny How which is written by Rachel Stevens herself plus M. Cooper, B. Higgins, N Coler, L Cowling and T. Powell.

Another name of note who crops up on several tracks here is Belgian born producer Pascal Gabriel. His curious career path from punk band the Razors, through remixing for Marc Almond and Yello, writing and producing for Bomb The Bass and S�Express and on to pop can be read about on his Wiki page.

Summary :
This CD is a total keeper and definitely not a one No Hit wonder. I belatedly found out The Guardian newspaper included Come And Get It in their �1000 albums you must hear before you die� list. For the record, Rachel is sandwiched between Stereolab and Sufjan Stevens (no relation) But don't let that put you off.

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Coming in Part 2
- Geri Halliwell is rescued by Jethro Tull
- The song that sank the good ship Liberty X
- The Great Atomic Kitten Mystery

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Current J-Pop Girls Chart

Striker — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:15:38 GMT

I've always loved Japanese pop culture, childhood obsessions with Battle Of The Planets segued easily into the first flush of anime being popularised in the UK with Akira in my late teens. This coupled with the obsession with music that we all suffer from has led me to keep an eye on Japanese pop music.

Years of working in a record shop led me to completely dismiss the idea of genre as a judging tool for music, my early days of being sure that I didn't like Jazz or Country were slowly chipped away with my increased exposure to stuff that I didn't consider to be in my wheel house. Now I only believe there's two types of music, Stuff that I like & stuff that I don't like.

People get judgmental about pop music, once you start to "grow out" of it, it can be easy to dismiss more frivolous sounds and begin to rewrite your history to seem cool amongst your peers. I could easily gloss over some of my biggest childhood pop crushes with my more astute musical choices of the time, sit there enjoying the smug aroma of my own farts telling tale of how I bought 2 Tone 45s with my pocket money when I was 7 years old (which I totally did).

But f**k it, that's not me.

The first record I ever bought was Meatloaf & Cher doing "Dead Ringer For Love" I still think it's great, "Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat was my jam when I was 9, I rated Mel & Kim but wasn't feeling Kylie & Jason, I knew "Popped In, Souled Out" by heart, "Actually" by the Pet Shop Boys was rarely out of my walkman. Pop music was my thing & I suppose it has been ever since.

Nowadays like many people here, failed pop music, B sides & obscurities are largely what drives me to seek out great music I don't know but I still believe pop can be awesome & transcendent but current western pop music is a tough place to find gold right now.

Our boy & girl bands seem to have had any personality drained out to appeal to lowest common denominator, the boys ballad heavy, almost exclusively romantically marketed at girls, the girl bands are hyper-sexualised and also seemingly marketed at pre pubescent girls. I suppose the route people are expected to take now is to go straight from the factory farmed current pop crop (once you've "grown up" of course) into the increasingly sectarian & narrowly defined genre ghettoes.

J-Pop is different, and I can't begin to untie the knot of confusion & cultural difference that surrounds it, It can be as confusing as it is charming, at it's most alien it can be uncomfortably worrying (see the western press's collective clutching of pearls when Minami Minegishi of AKB48 shaved her head recently). Also it doesn't cater for the casual browser, It can be hard to wade through to find stuff you like & also hard to buy with familiar barriers like lack of international shipping & having to set up a Japanese account to even buy digitally (this is getting less painful though). But with all it's problems it's still a miliion times more interesting & just plain better music than Black Eyed Peas/Jessie J whatever.

What I'm saying is basically I'm in my 30s and with the experience of nearly 10 years selling second hand records for a living & varying depths of research into some pretty dusty & scholarly areas of music, there's not much that brings me more musical joy than some of the current Japanese pop music.

So here we go. ^o^^o^^o^

Toquiwa - Tokyo Merry Go Round

I started off with these to ease you in a bit, signed to David Gedge's label this lot were discovered busking (as The Pinky Piglets) & swiftly signed up. The album's great and they are so good live go and see them if you get the chance.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Invader Invader

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu was a Tokyo fashion blogger who decided she should also be a pop star, possibly the most accessible to people over here due to a heavy western pop influences, but she doesn't just ape & recycle these she makes an awesome cake out of them then wears it on her head. I love her so much. This is her latest single.

Momoiro Clover Z - Roudou Sanka

This lot are terrifying & awesome, like a nuclear explosion, I added a track by them on the Best Of bonus CD. Part of the Idol sub genre which for a dude of my age is best kept at an acceptable distance, which is usually quite easy with the confusing military structures & graduations of AKB48 & Morning Musume and the general "creepy dude" vibe you can get spending time digging around in this genre. It's mostly not worth it for the lacklustre music you are rewarded with.

Momoclo are different, they're f**king amazing.

They have weird connections with heavy metal, Japanese pro wrestling & have caused controversy by acknowledging & making fun of the nerdier older male "Otaku" portion of their fan base, something that usually remains unsaid in the Idol world.

This one is about how great it is to work really hard at your job & oddly it's composed & arranged by Ian Parton of The Go! Team, take that Girls Aloud.

I often judge bands by how interesting or how much fun it looks to actually be in. Dress me up as a drunken salaryman & sign me up.

The Suzan - Home

I've mentioned these guys before, this album's still on regular rotation, they seem to be avoiding the UK in their tour schedule :( Amazing video.

Vanilla Beans - Nicola

These two are great, remind me of St.Etienne a bit. Perfect pop with out there tendencies coupled with a great image, what's not to love.

Momoiro Clover Z - Z Densetsu: Owarinaki Kakumei

These guys again, this is like a statement of intent for the band singing about how they're here to cheer you up with introductions for the individual members & involves the vocal talents of anime music legend Ichiro Mizuki and Pride Fighting Championship (?) narrator Fumihiko Tachiki

If I had to compare it to anything it'd be a teenage Japanese girl version of "Hey Hey We're The Monkees".

The video's pretty great too if you're a fan of Sentai TV shows like Kamen Rider/Ultraman.

Mishmash & Julie Watai - Soul Of Love (short version)

Julie Watai comes from the world of Furby hacking� I'm not kidding. Anyway this is great and the knitted space age video is a work of genius, not sure what Mishmash's deal is but I like this, definitely one to watch.

Mon not a band! - Pahipahi

Not sure if this is the right band name or title, i don't really know what's going on but i love the slightly off key vocals, and the fact that it's completely insane, apparently the girl tells the other girl who's trying to hide her mole that "Didn't you know? Facial moles are like a black hole for romance." It gets really odd & confusing about 4 minutes in, I'm not entirely sure knowing the language would help. I love this.

Vanilla Beans - Chocolate Mint Flavor Time

The lovely Vanilla Beans again, this time they seem to be singing about ice cream and revealing their baffling preoccupation with Scandinavia, and fair play to them. Their microphones are ice cream cones� ICE CREAM CONE MICROPHONES� People might think they're cooler than Vanilla Beans, but they're probably not.

Momoiro Clover - Chai Maxx

OK last one from these I promise, This was from before they added the 'Z' and when the still had Blue in the band (they all have a different identifying colour, because of course they do). I don't know what a Chai Maxx is, for some reason this is a boxing themed video, seems to be a 'don't give up/keep fighting' theme in line with their usual positive vibes assault. I wasn't convinced by the first 49 seconds (Momoclo are not averse to putting out a bit of filler) but then, holy shit� these people know how to write a pop hook.

I have the almost uncontrollable urge to learn this dance routine, it looks so much fun.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Candy Candy

And finally I'll leave you with Pamyurin, I love everything about this. The toast run, Mr Onion. Watch this then try & sit through a humourless self-reverant Lady Gaga video. Pop deserves better, Long live Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

Link to Vid

So that's it for my J-pop girl chart (I don't know why it's only girls, the boy pop seems to be a lot crappier & less interesting for some reason, if you know good stuff that I'm missing, fill me in), I don't know whether my facts on the above are 100% I just dig around and rely on google translate most of the time. All I know for sure is that i genuinely love this stuff and I hope that this might help you if you're interested but don't have the time or inclination to zip up & wade in.

(Mods if the videos kill your bandwidth or something give me a shout & I'll turn them all into links)

Eclectic Mud Sunday Session - 5th May - 52 Canoes

LDJB — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:50:16 GMT

A cracking night - great bar - good drinks I hear (I was tee total :o ) and the food looked nice. Tunes were played and the punters seemed to dig it - the only outburst being caused by an earlier Ivor Cutler tune!

Many thanks to Felenoius and Steven for making the journey! Great tunes fellas!

Here's Felonious' partial play list from the event thread:

Quote:

El. Chicano Viva Tirado Kapp
Gloria Lynne Watermelon Man Fontana
Willie Bobo Evil Ways Verve
The Atlantic Sounds Pata Pata Atlantic
Dyke and The Blazers you are my Sunshine Original Sound
Lee Webber Good Day Sunshine Chess
Sam Cooke Little Red Rooster RCA
Lavern Baker & Jimmy Ricks You're The Boss London
Redbone Come and get your love Epic
The Wild Magnolias Smoke my peace pipe Barclay
Reuben Wilson I'll take you there Groove Merchant

Tony Joe White - The Swamp Fox

Expiry2011 — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:07:51 GMT

In my mind very much in the same bag as Lee Hazlewood and Elvis, Tony Joe White is another favourite of mine.
Funky, rocky, soulful, country, and with some of the best song titles ever, Tony Joe cut six amazing albums between 1969 and 1973
These are my favourite tracks from them.

1. They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas
2. Polk Salad Annie
3. 3000 Pounds of Hongry
4. Willie and Laura Mae Jones
5. Whompt Out On You
6. Voodoo Village
7. Soul Francisco
8. Save Your Sugar For Me
9. Sidewalk Hobo
10. Rooseveldt and Ira Lee
11. Stud Spider
12. As the Crow Flies
13. Don't Steal My Love
14. I Want You
15. I Want Love (Tween You and Me)
16. I've got a Thing About You Baby
17. High Sheriff of Calhoun County
18. Groupy Girl
19. Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll
20. Elements and Things
21. Backwoods Preacher Man

http://www.divshare.com/download/24023341-836

http://www.divshare.com/direct/24023341-836.zip