borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Mar 25, 2012 18:11:58 GMT 1
I mean, despite having had minor hits, Get the Party Started is what made her popular for the first time all over the world
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vya
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Post by vya on Mar 26, 2012 22:50:15 GMT 1
Yeah, I'm another who finds "Get The Party Started" very substandard for Pink. When she's good....she can be very good ("Who Knew" especially. But also "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)", or "Don't Let Me Get Me" and "U & UR Hand"). But a lot of dross mixed up among the good stuff, and this one is clearly among the dross.
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Post by greendemon on Mar 27, 2012 18:53:04 GMT 1
hmm, it's all gone a bit downhill after the last time i commented in this thread!
i have never, ever understood the fascination with the sophie ellis-bextor song. the plummy rah accent doesn't help, but even without that, i just don't 'get it'.
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Mar 27, 2012 20:55:15 GMT 1
^I'm surprised cos I thought Murder was the typical song that everybody liked, a bit like Torn for instance... personally I do love it, and I know the lyrics and whole concept is silly but kinda works for me, also with the video and all...
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 28, 2012 16:59:03 GMT 1
16TH FEBRUARY- HEY BABY- No Doubt (1 wk)I should prefix this with an explanation that I detest No Doubt. Yes even the mighty "Don't Speak" bores me to tears (VERY oerplayed at the time) and the kind of ska influence rock they dallied in does nothing for me I'm afraid. This track with tinges of Jamaican dancehall in it is not going to redeem them in my eyes I'm afraid, the fact that the whole era seemed to fail (certainly in comparison to former glories) only goes to justify my opinion here. I really can't find a nice word for it, even the chorus gets under my tits with its repetitive cry. Anyway you get the idea I'm sure.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 28, 2012 17:09:28 GMT 1
23RD FEBRUARY- YOU- S Club 7 (1 wk)Meanwhile all is still rosy in the S Club camp. With that nasty Steps self destructing a couple of months previously, the pre teenage audience was all theirs for the taking and this motown-lite track was typical of their stock, light breezy, pop in a boy meets girl kinda way. Problem is it's all starting to wear a bit thin now, whilst it was undoubtedly a high "Don't Stop Movin" with its serious dancefloor ambition showed what a great song could do in their hands and everything post that track seems a bit, well, substandard really. Had this been 2000 it would have been perfect but there were dark clouds on the horizon with 2002 proving to be an annus horribilis for the group with Paul Cattermole's departure and the failure of feature film "Seeing Double" all occuring by the year end. "You" therefore is a track that treads water, and not even convincingly, the band barely appear to turn up for the track and with the launch of S Club Juniors imminant (who took much of their audience for the remainder of the year) it is perhaps not surprising that their only other single of the year "Alive" became their smallest hit to date making No 5 in November 02. That in itself was just a retread of "Don't Stop Movin" in tattier clothes- we'll meet them again in 2003 by that time it was officially all over.
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Mar 30, 2012 6:59:17 GMT 1
agree on No Doubt, really hate ska myself so this kinda ska/rock ouch hate it... but I do love their ballads and I really like Don't Speak even if overplayed... Gwen Stefani should have continued solo, really fearing the forthcoming new No Doubt album
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vya
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Post by vya on Mar 30, 2012 23:53:16 GMT 1
Poor No Doubt track, for sure
Now S Club 7 were never my sort of thing - too "wholesome" (or at any rate conventionally respectable) and suburban by far (even as music that is basically aimed at kids goes):kind of a Kids For Fame shrunk in scale for the more modest scales of Hertfordshire or Essex compared with the USA. But I think to say "You" barely treads water is harsh....the understatement is part of its appeal,above all in an age and in a genre that often lacks subtlety. And the chorus melody is really rather sweet, both in itself and by the way it creeps up on the song. Very very very much better than the supremely irritating "S Club Party" or the rather too brash "Bring It All Back". Better than any of Rachel Stephen's solo singles that I can recall, too... Still - - - all that said that must be the first time I've consciously heard "You" since it was in the charts, and I have absolutely no recollection of any later singles from them, or any from S Club Juniors...so my defence, while sincere, is not something I would put my life or credibility on the line for - but I still find it rather pleasant enough as such things go
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 31, 2012 10:29:50 GMT 1
Don't get me wrong I don't mind "You" it just seems a bit vapid is all.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 31, 2012 10:47:32 GMT 1
9TH MARCH- WHENEVER, WHEREVER- Shakira (2 wks)This certainly felt like a minor event at the time, the launch of a mjor new star who came in a visually stunning body and referred to her breasts as "small and humble, so you don't confuse them with mountains". With a video in which there was plenty of flesh on show it soared to the top of video playlists on countless channels pre release and confirmed sales of over 100k in its first week would easily have been enough for No 1 in most weeks in 2002 evidencing just this point, had it not run into Will Young's "Pop Idol" single then this is exactly what it would have done. Written in part by Gloria Estefan this is a track I loved at the time, a pop sensibility than seemed too strong to resist, a touch of those pan pipes making it all slightly exotic all combined to make it one of the pop moments of the year. Shakira girates her way through the track (launching many a parody- a sure sign you've infultrated the public conciousness) and all in all it's a self assured "debut" in the UK at least. She'd been releasing Spanish language albums since the 90s of course into the latin market but this was her first forray into the UK market and with such rich pickings she decided to stay (a few projects aside). Like that popular kid at school it's hard not to like "Whenever, Wherever" too tempting, too tactile, too sensuous not to indulge in- why am i reminded of those "flake" ads in the 90s right now?
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 31, 2012 11:00:25 GMT 1
23RD MARCH- ME JULIE- Shaggy Featuring Ali G (2 wks)Some jokes are of thier time, some were never really that funny, some are timeless, Ali G, for me, falls into the first category. Back in the days of "The 11 o'clock show" it was genuinely one of the funniest things on TV and a rich breeding ground for future talent (Sacha Baron Cohen, Ian Lee, Ricky Gervais, Alex Zane) but for many who weren't into late night Channel 4 programmes their first climpse of Cohen's creation would have been on Madonna's 2000 No 1 "Music" video. Inevitably the solo show followed and then the feature film in 2002 to which this is the soundtrack. I know it's all a parody of the apeing of afro carribean culture by white suburban males (rumoured to be heavily based on Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood) but by 2002 Ali G was a very old joke which had crossed into the mainstream and, like most things that make that transition, had been to some extent anesthetised for mass public consumption. Make no mistake then "Me Julie" is painfully bad now (barely passable at the time) a knowing joke too clever for its own good with a whole chorus build around the need to rhyme the word "goolies" which is so awkwardly British in its school boy humour. Of course it was little more than a promotion tool for the film so on that level it was a success but really now its a bit of head scratcher.
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Mar 31, 2012 11:22:43 GMT 1
since I'm originally from Spain, I've known and liked Shakira since day 1, when she was like 15 and super brown hair in truth, I would have never ever thought she could make it so big in the music business and go all international! Whenever Wherever is really Shakira at her best, the mix of pop and latin, the silly/funny lyrics (btw I think Gloria Estefan just helped translating the original Spanish lyrics)... that's what she should stick to. For the last English albums they've tried to turn her into what she's not, she's not rock (Don't Bother) or pop (She Wolf)... they should stick to what she is, they shouldn't try to erase the latin flavour off her... which, thankfully, is still there in her Spanish albums... it's a pity cos the UK is missing a bunch of great tracks only found in the Spanish albums like La Tortura or Loca, which should have been a massive #1 if released properly
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 31, 2012 11:39:14 GMT 1
It's been pointed out to me (and I think I missed it due to Pink returning to No 2 after slipping down to No 3) that I've missed one out- so to rectify that immediately.... 2ND FEBRUARY- CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE- A1 (1 Wk)For my sins I'm truly sorry- I BLOODY LOVE this song! Boy Band track a cut above most, guitar driven, it is to the group what "Back For Good" was to Take That, the song that opened many people's eyes to how they were more than a group for screaming pre pubescent girls. Sadly that isn't the way it turned out for the boys, next single "Make It Good" (equally good I hasten to add) only made No 11, their first to miss the top 10 and poor album sales meant the end of the group before the end of 2002. There's an emotional maturity here that is missing in much of their earlier work which was aimed at establishing them in the teenage market and was, as a consequence, mostly upbeat boy meets girl stuff, or drippy ballads, but to give them due they had run up 6 straight top 10 hits since 1999. They could play instruments and at least co-wrote much of their stuff but at precisely the point they started to truly use those talents that the market turned against them, in truth you only get about 4 years out of the boy band game (JLS take note) so perhaps their time was up but what a choon to go out on. FANTASTIC!
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Mar 31, 2012 12:09:05 GMT 1
It is what "Back To Good" was for Take That? It IS "Back To Good", surely...
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Post by thehitparade on Mar 31, 2012 18:24:17 GMT 1
I think I have to agree with everything in the Ali G review, except the bit about Iain Lee being funny. Rumour has it that Ali G did film an interview with Westwood but it was never shown because Westwood actually got the joke.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Apr 4, 2012 17:23:57 GMT 1
13TH APRIL- I'M NOT A GIRL, NOT YET A WOMAN- Britney Spears (1 wk)Two schools of thought on this one, either it's a heartfelt exploration of teenage angst and the troubles of puberty, or its a light hearted piece of americanised dross about growing up. I actually think it's a bit of both, written by Dido (Flavour of the month back in 2002) its actually quite a tender song, laden with piano hooks which ultimately is rather spoilt by that Britney inflection when she sings making it all sound a little nasally and adolescent-esque (quite apt thematically). I suspect that Britney is actually connecting with the lyrics (after all it wasn't all that long ago that she had been going through it) and in terms of her career she had gone through the flush of initial success and was out the other side. She experienced the feeling of missing the top 10 with "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know" and her third album "Britney" had been released with mixed reviews and success in 2001. What undermines it slightly is that just 6 months previously her "sexual" makeover for "I'm A Slave 4 U" had been the place where she really wanted to be at come 2002 and that seemed clear. Taking on board that this is a song penned to promote her starring role in the film "Crossroads" it seems out of place to where she was heading and indeed where she excelled by this point (the superb "Overprotected" had preceeded this release) it seems like a mis- step akin to Madonna's "Crazy For You" or Kylie's "Tears On My Pillow" all commercially very successful but harking back not forward. It's a nice enough number I don't deny but for all the reasons I state it misfires in my opinion.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Apr 4, 2012 17:31:23 GMT 1
20TH APRIL- LAZY- X Press 2 Featuring David Byrne (1 wk)It was very cool to like this song back in 2002, for my money I couldn't stand it. Vocals by former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and a standard dance beat circa early 00s add nothing much to the mix and it fails to connect. Despite this I don't HATE this song I just don't really want to hear it again and there my friends I think I'll leave it.
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Apr 4, 2012 18:25:37 GMT 1
glad I'm/I was not the only Lazy-hater!!!!!!!!!
always found that Britney song too bland!!! and the lyrics are so cliche!!! doesn't sound like a Dido song at all!!
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Apr 10, 2012 18:05:32 GMT 1
27TH APRIL- GIRLFRIEND- N*Sync Featuring Nelly (1 wk)EVERYTHING about this record should make me hate it with a vengence, yet oddly, and despite myself, I love it. Of course the Neptunes production is now quite dated and Nelly's involvement in the whole thing is slightly perfunctory, but it has a funkiness (whatever happened to that word) that just gets the feet going. Many comparisons between the Justin's have been doing the rounds in recent weeks (Timberlake and Beiber I mean) but it's at it's clearest here the whole Girlfriend- Boyfriend thing. The move to a "neptunes" style musical direction was to spell the end of the boy band pretty much immediately after this song became their biggest hit but it's a clear of indication of where Timberlake the "solo" artist was heading. Indeed in its original version it's a rather flat bog standard bit of balladry that teenage girls probably lap up, certainly in the early 00s, but the urbanisation of the track for its single release has unleashed a cracking pop record and their most arresting moment since "It's Gonna Be Me" back in 2000. This may be an ending, but at least it's with what is, in my opinion, their finest record.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Apr 10, 2012 18:39:15 GMT 1
04TH MAY- ONE STEP CLOSER- S Club Juniors (2 wks)I said it at the time, and I stand by it, had this not been sung by frankly annoying kids this would be heralded as some kind of pop classic! Of course coming the brain of a certain Cathy Dennis it had a good pedigree (she was after all on somewhat of a roll by this point) and I love every minute of "One Step Closer". For sheer uptempo pop music that is what it is, great fun, and catchy as hell to boot. Whilst it's also true that if pop isn't your bag then this won't convert you, I think you have to overlook the kids that sing it and concentrate on the song itself, and put in the hands of a more adult singer it would be much more highly regarded. Ever since the Spice Girls tapped into the market for pre pubescent pop this moment was always coming when the kids actually became popstars themselves and I have a lot of time for some of their later singles ("Fool No More" & "Sundown" are particular favourites) but "One Step Closer" will always be a slight cut above the rest for me. You can start the hate now!.....
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