http://www.youtube.com/p/917942DCA6787DE8
The Reynolds Girls – I’d Rather Jack
This song is often said to be one of the worst Stock, Aitken & Waterman have made (although when you think of their more recent projects, such as OTV and the Fast Food Rockers, even its biggest critics would change their mind) but it’s actually a seriously brilliant song – probably my favourite of the SAW projects. Not only is it super-catchy but the lyrics are just what I’d say if I could release a song: “Golden oldies, Rolling Stones, we don’t want them back” and “No heavy metal, Rock ‘N’ Roll, music from the past” and “Who needs Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, That’s not our music, it’s out of date” – it’s telling those boring old folk to stop making us listen to rubbish old stuff that is irrelevant to music today. Why should we hark back to “music from the past”? This is 2006, we have invented all sorts of technology and fabulous clothes and dance routines and video/stage effects, so isn’t it a bit of a waste if we don’t use them? As usual, the old people are jealous and don’t want us to have any fun! The most ironic thing is, when I looked up the lyrics of this song it was filed under ‘golden oldies’, so I guess we kind of DO want them back, just the good ones and not the poo!
James Morrison – You Give Me Something (live performance)
This guy has already been on Jools Holland and his radio and video plays are increasing every day, but most importantly, he looks a bit like James Blunt, so stardom is almost certain. He’s one of many pretenders to the Blunt ‘throne’, others including the young Scot, Paolo Nutini (who happens to be on the radio right now as I just turned it on a second after writing his name!) and the brain-melting female version Sandi Thom, but this James has a great voice and some really nice songs (especially soulful yet catchy Wonderful World), so I’m hoping he does well when his music gets released. In fact I see him more as a UK equivalent to Gavin Degraw – I just hope he’s a bit more successful here than Gavin was!
Billie – She Wants You
In the good old days when no-one except readers of pop magazines knew her surname, Billie (Piper, obviously) released this ace single. The video must have cost about 10p, but the song is extremely catchy and shows that there was more to Billie than Chris Evans and Because We Want To, long before you could buy plastic doll versions of her in Forbidden Planet. Pop stars’ lives take strange turns sometimes, and no-one watching this video when it was first released would ever have guessed what would happen to Billie in the future, although I do remember being quite sad when I read an early interview saying she really wanted to do acting. She’s got her wish but hopefully she will one day return to make some more pop music as ace as this!
Robyn interview
Here’s an interview from around the time of Be Mine’s release, and it’s one of the few I’ve ever seen in English. It can be an advantage not being able to watch interviews with foreign stars, cos it means you really do love them for their music and can’t be put off if they’re really annoying in real life, but when you know there’s no way someone could be anything but fantastic in real life (e.g. Robyn!) then it’s a real shame that we can’t hear her thoughts more often. I so need to learn Swedish!
Pet Shop Boys – Minimal
Now a special treat for PSBs fans – here’s their new video which only went on music channels yesterday. I was going to write that it’s quite minimalistic, then I realised that’s probably the point, but don’t read that as boring – there’s actually some lovely bits with flowers, people pretending to be letters, and a large amount of those long lightbuld you sometimes get in kitchens and bathrooms. This is my joint favourite on the PSBs’ latest album Fundamental, the honour being shared with dramatically emotional ballad Numb and catchy anti-ID cards rant Integral.
Time for the DP:UK top 5…
5. Paris Hilton – Stars Are Blind
4. Pet Shop Boys – Minimal
=2. Lily Allen – Smile
=2. Madonna – Get Together
and at no.1 yet again it’s…
Pipettes – Pullshapes!
The Pipettes seem to be EVERYONE’S favourite band at the moment and deservedly so cos they are amazing! Here instead of the video cos that’s already been posted, is a video from the past of one of the Pipettes, Gwen Saunders. She used to make kooky Welsh dance music and here’s one of her singles (Môr Hud) and it’s slightly brain-boggling but really quite ace video.