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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 10, 2020 8:06:19 GMT 1
I've never understood Haven's unquestioning enthrallment with this track. I mean, its OK. But one of the best songs ever ? Nah.
I don't think Belinda is an especially good singer. On this song, she's multi-tracked lots of times, to blend into one performance which works well. I suspect, sung live, either the backing vocalists get turned up in the mix, or the audience feels a little short-changed.
The song itself hits that assured middle ground between an epic lighters-in-the-air power ballad that was so popular with American songwriters at the time (thank you oh so much Diane Warren), and the ditzy pop songs that Brits like SAW were churning out in their coffee breaks.
And the lyrics. Some nice ideas, but so lazily completed. "When the night falls down, I wait for you, and you come around. And then the world's alive..." So far, so good. But Nowels and Shipley needed two more lines to finish the verse, and something to rhyme with "alive". The best they could do was "outside". And then, feebly, "...With the sound of kids, on the street outside." Which has nothing to do with the theme of the song. If they'd given it an extra 20 minutes, surely they could have come up with something better.
Even the much vaunted chorus is a half-baked construction. The first line has too many words, and Belinda is forced to swallow some of them to make it work. "On baby, do you know what that's worth" becomes, on the record "Oh baby, do know what's worth", which makes no sense at all.
The video is lame too. Remember, this was made at a time when video budgets were immense, and MTV's appetite for them was insatiable. But Legs & Co would have felt cheap making this one. Someone, of limited imagination, thought "Ah, heaven on earth. Let's get some illuminated globes." And that was the full extent of the storyboard. Belinda, wind machine, black backdrop, some globes. In a year 10 drama class this would only have scored a B-.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike this song. But, seriously Haven, get a grip. It is fair to middling, and no more.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jul 10, 2020 8:21:43 GMT 1
I've never understood Haven's unquestioning enthrallment with this track. I mean, its OK. But one of the best songs ever ? Nah. I don't think Belinda is an especially good singer. On this song, she's multi-tracked lots of times, to blend into one performance which works well. I suspect, sung live, either the backing vocalists get turned up in the mix, or the audience feels a little short-changed. The song itself hits that assured middle ground between an epic lighters-in-the-air power ballad that was so popular with American songwriters at the time (thank you oh so much Diane Warren), and the ditzy pop songs that Brits like SAW were churning out in their coffee breaks. And the lyrics. Some nice ideas, but so lazily completed. "When the night falls down, I wait for you, and you come around. And then the world's alive..." So far, so good. But Nowels and Shipley needed two more lines to finish the verse, and something to rhyme with "alive". The best they could do was "outside". And then, feebly, "...With the sound of kids, on the street outside." Which has nothing to do with the theme of the song. If they'd given it an extra 20 minutes, surely they could have come up with something better. Even the much vaunted chorus is a half-baked construction. The first line has too many words, and Belinda is forced to swallow some of them to make it work. "On baby, do you know what that's worth" becomes, on the record "Oh baby, do know what's worth", which makes no sense at all. The video is lame too. Remember, this was made at a time when video budgets were immense, and MTV's appetite for them was insatiable. But Legs & Co would have felt cheap making this one. Someone, of limited imagination, thought "Ah, heaven on earth. Let's get some illuminated globes." And that was the full extent of the storyboard. Belinda, wind machine, black backdrop, some globes. In a year 10 drama class this would only have scored a B-. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike this song. But, seriously Haven, get a grip. It is fair to middling, and no more. Illuminated globes, the slight generation gap shows here, most of us were about 15, we didn’t notice those globes at all. But seriously, actual I am, how sexy Belinda looked in this video enthralled a generation, she was this cute, slightly dumpy girl from The Go Gos and over three years she turned into a goddess. Sorry if this sounds a bit sexist but I am talking as a 15 year old in 1987. As for Diane Warren love her songs she has written many of the best songs ever. US pop rock was king right now but the masses were as you said taking every scrap SAW through at them. It all about timing, it maybe isn’t the best song ever but it walked the line between pop and hair band rock just enough that the pop, the rock and the cool kids all liked it. That’s why it is so popular here, the cross appeal. As for the lyrics never really noticed that, interesting
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Post by o on Jul 10, 2020 8:49:47 GMT 1
I still remember her "singing" live on TOTP at some point, it was truly awful. It's a good song, she's sexy, but I'm with shireblogger, over exalted here.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 10, 2020 8:52:25 GMT 1
I'm sure Frankie Valli's mentor intends to play December 63 at some point, and only an earlier than expected exit would prevent that from happening. (The mentor might not choose that as a sing-off song, or Frankie Valli may reach the top 4 but not the final).
Frankie Valli started having hits in 1962 and it took them until 1976 to get to #1. So we can compare him to another current Haven Factor artist who also took ages to get a #1, but that will be much further up this list. Frankie Valli is the main named artist but actually it was Four Seasons members Bob Gaudio and their producer/manager Bob Crewe who wrote most of their hits, and 4 of them were #1 for other artists as cover versions before they got a #1 as an act.
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Post by greendemon on Jul 10, 2020 8:57:40 GMT 1
Alas, Belinda's charms are lost on me. I've also always found her voice a little weird.
It's a decent song - the chorus is the best thing about it; would get me dancing at an 80s-themed disco - but it's a solid 7 at best.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Jul 10, 2020 9:19:34 GMT 1
I'm sorry but I fricking love Belunda, always have always will! For me she made some of the catchiest pop/rock songs of all-time, of which I would say 'Heaven' is her third best, after 'Circle in the sand' and 'Leave a light on'.
I've seen her live four times and her voice is flawless!
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 10, 2020 9:49:50 GMT 1
Belinda Carlisle.
In the UK this was her first top 40 hit, with the Go-Go's UK chart career restricted to just "Our Lips Are Sealed" which only reached #47 for them in 1982 (but was a top 10 hit for the Fun Boy Three the following year), and her solo effort "Mad About You" failing to chart in 1986.
The comment about her being "multi-tracked" (or is she using backing singers) may come from her previously being in a girl-group but it also just works well with this song.
She didn't write her own material, she had a songwriting team behind her, but altogether this works well as she crosses the boundary of pop star and rock chick. As a member of the Go Gos her chart career goes back to earlier than Madonna or Whitney Houston who were successful at the time, and it seemed right to launch her career and the timing of the quiet market just after Christmas (albeit it entered before) helped her get that #1 single.
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Post by masenz on Jul 10, 2020 11:38:03 GMT 1
See now I love 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth'. It's just a feel good, hands in the air, driving down the highway 80s classic. It's not the best song of all time but it certainly has lasted the distance and is surely one of the best examples of songs of its ilk/era.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Jul 10, 2020 11:57:45 GMT 1
Yeah it's that big sing-along chorus. There's nothing better in a song for me, they produce the best atmospheres and crowd participation at festivals too.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Jul 11, 2020 8:03:30 GMT 1
730 - Sad! by Xxxtentacion No. 5 in 2018
When I began this thread I had no idea who or what Xxxtentacion was, but I listened to this a few times and was intrigued. It’s dark, moody, interesting, strangely appealing, and most of all it’s just different. Excited by the thought that I might be about to discover a great new artist, I headed over to Wikipedia and was very sorry to find he was shot dead in a robbery around the time this was released in 2018, aged only 20.
Xxxtentacion was a fascinating character. He genuinely seems to have had a rare talent, an ability to ignore the boundaries of different genres. He said his greatest influence was Kurt Cobain, but his approach to music reminds me of Prince. He also seems to have had a ridiculously chaotic, troubled personal life, with no way of coping with the success and wealth he achieved at such a young age. All sorts of legal problems and accusations of domestic violence surrounded him, and at the time he was shot he was carrying $50,000 in cash.
A sad story about an artist who’s on this list with a song called Sad. There seems to have been a tragic inevitability about it all. A great track though, and I think it’s wonderful that not only are there young people challenging the boundaries of music like this, but there are also so many who appreciate the results that they end up on a list with Elvis and The Beatles.
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 11, 2020 9:38:38 GMT 1
I'd never actively listened to anything by Xxxtentacion before today. I knew about his death, and he didn't sound like the sort of performer I'd be remotely interested in. Actually, I expected his material to be horrible. Based on this one track, I tend to agree with SheriffFatman, it is intriguing. But the other thought that occurred to me was "is that it ?". It seems like an unfinished idea rather than a full blown song. Anyway, not enough for me to head to Spotify next to listen to more. But sufficient for me to think there may be more to him than just another rapper who mixed with ne'er do wells.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Jul 11, 2020 9:59:35 GMT 1
I'm sorry but I would rather stick pins in my eardrums than ever have to listen to any of this mumbly kind of rap again. I just don't get it.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Jul 11, 2020 20:42:24 GMT 1
Just realised I posted no. 730 today when I haven’t done no. 731 yet. Ha ha, this thread is a shambles! We’ll do 731 tomorrow...
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 11, 2020 21:37:17 GMT 1
I'm not sure switching around a couple of randomly sequenced songs qualifies as turning this thread into a "shambles". I'm actually finding it to be a very interesting exercise.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 12, 2020 7:35:23 GMT 1
Couldn't stand the XXX track because of the f***ing autotune. It wasn't even necessary. And it has the same effect on me as drawing nails across a blackboard. Instantly turns any song into crud.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Jul 12, 2020 21:55:15 GMT 1
I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly No. 1 in 1997
I’ve always disliked the whiney, constipated male vocal end of US r&b, as pioneered by Boyz II Men. That’s very much where R. Kelly takes us here, except that he believes his message that you can do anything if you try hard enough carries such gravitas that it also deserves a gospel choir. I guess he’s kind of right, but the whole thing just seems massively overblown to me, I’m not a fan.
Interesting to note that digital sales and streams have pushed this one onto the millionaires list, so the very bad publicity R Kelly has received in recent years doesn’t seem to have discouraged people from listening to his music. Amazingly, the quality of the music hasn’t either.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Jul 12, 2020 21:56:54 GMT 1
Couldn't stand the XXX track because of the f***ing autotune. It wasn't even necessary. And it has the same effect on me as drawing nails across a blackboard. Instantly turns any song into crud. I think I’ve become immune to it, it’s so ubiquitous I don’t even notice it any more.
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 13, 2020 8:46:20 GMT 1
Repugnant. That's R Kelly.
Repellant. That's the song. The melody and instrumentation is beyond dull. Whilst, the message of the lyrics is admirable, they are also banal. And the man's singing is cringeworthy, what with all the supposedly earnest warbling and fake emoting.
Disgusting. That's his record companies and other professional associates, who have turned a blind eye to the man's behaviour, for as long as the cash has kept rolling in.
The sooner his trial goes to court, the better. Fingers crossed the alleged victims are brave enough to come to the witness box, and that they don't get bought off or intimidated into silence.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 13, 2020 8:55:29 GMT 1
Regarding R. Kelly, I would rather put aside issues of his private life, as indeed if Gary Glitter turns up anywhere on this list.
I think this song was used in a film soundtrack? Which helped its success to some extent. It's what we used to call a "smoocher" - in the old days when we used to dance with random girls as partners and possibly hoped to go somewhere with them, if you got a song like this to dance to with them you got a chance to get close to them and kiss them. That was long before Coronavirus too of course. By the time this came out I was single but 32 and past that stage in my life, and in any case I was based in Switzerland for a short while at the point this was #1. I also had little interst in this song but it came across as a "safe radio-friendly" song. And at least it's one that I can remember the tune of and try to sing along to (or whine along to). And it isn't quite as irritatingly slow as "If I could turn back the hands of time".
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Post by masenz on Jul 13, 2020 9:15:23 GMT 1
Was it Space Jam it is from?
I can easily see why it was successful but I have never liked it - just syrupy, boring, bland, obvious ballad.
The less said about him as a person the better.
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