The Pop Dude Top 10 - (wk. beginning 3/12/05)
1. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Downtown/Atlantic USA)2. Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On (EMI UK)
3. Orson - No Tomorrow (Mercury UK)
4. The Feeling - Sewn (Island UK)
5. Robyn - Crash & Burn Girl (Konichiwa Sweden)
6. Madonna - Sorry (Warner Bros. USA)
7. Meck f. Leo Sayer - Thunder In My Heart Again (Free 2 Air UK)
8. Hard-Fi - Better Do Better (Necessary/Atlantic UK)
9. Rihanna - S.O.S. (Universal USA)
NEW!10. The Streets - When You Wasn't Famous (Vice/Atlantic UK)
NEW!
The Pop Dude Top 10 - (wk. beginning 3/5/05)
1. Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On (EMI UK)2. Orson - No Tomorrow (Mercury UK)
3. Madonna - Sorry (Warner Bros. USA)
4. Editors - Blood (Kitchenware UK)
5. Meck f. Leo Sayer - Thunder In My Heart Again (Free 2 Air UK)
6. Robyn - Crash & Burn Girl (Konichiwa Sweden) NEW!
7. The Feeling - Sewn (Island UK)
8. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Warner Bros. UK)
9. Kiff - Now (Peacelabs USA)
10. Hard-Fi - Better Do Better (Necessary/Atlantic UK)
The PopDude 10 (wk. beginning 2/26/06)
1.
Madonna - Sorry (Warner Bros. USA)2. Meck f. Leo Sayer - Thunder In My Heart Again (Free 2 Air UK)
3. Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On (EMI UK)
4. Orson - No Tomorrow (Mercury UK)
5. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Warner Bros. UK)
NEW!6. Coldplay - Talk [Junkie XL Mix] (Parlophone/Capitol UK)
7. Kiff - Now (Peacelabs USA)
NEW!8. Hard-Fi - Better Do Better (Necessary/Atlantic UK)
9. The Feeling - Sewn (Island UK)
10. Editors - Blood (Kitchenware UK)
The PopDude Top 10 (2/19/06)
Here's the return to regular posting:
1. Coldplay - Talk [Junkie XL Mix] (Parlophone/Capitol UK)2. Madonna - Sorry (Warner Bros. USA)
3. Meck f. Leo Sayer - Thunder In My Heart Again (Free 2 Air UK)
4. Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down (Domino UK)
5. Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On (EMI UK)
6. Richard Ashcroft - Break The Night With Colour (Parlophone UK)
7. Orson - No Tomorrow (Mercury UK)
8. Editors - Blood (Kitchenware UK)
9. Hard-Fi - Better Do Better (Necessary/Atlantic UK)
10. Shapeshifters - Incredible (Positiva UK)
The 2005 Mixtape...A Best Of...
January 2, 2006; and most of the last few, and for the record, stone cold sober, hours, have been dedicated to putting together the official...
POPDUDE's 20 BEST OF 2005This list will not be most
popular singles of the last year, but a thoroughly subjective (and therefore correct) list of the twenty best singles of 2005. I'm sure a couple times you'll nod in agreement and a couple times, you'll shudder in pain, but a couple FAQs quickly:
1. Level of cool is not considered. The list has songs that have yet to be released in the US, and songs from albums that have sold upwards of 5 million. This is not the top 20 songs that you would've known if you were cool enough, but you're not-- so there, it's a straight up top twenty best of.
2. The track had to have been released in 2005. No greatest hits, no reissues, no oldies. The song had to be from an album actively being promoted in 2005. The album may have been released in 2004, but if the SINGLE was released in 2005 (meaning a commercial release or a radio one), it's been considered for this list.
3. As the blog is PopDude, the list is weighted (obviously) toward pop songs. We considered everything that made a dent in the greater consciousness, but sorry, really indie stuff didn't crack the list, neither did hardcore anything or clone acts. Sorry, Jessica Simpson.
Without further ado, 20 from 2005
20. James Blunt - "You're Beautiful" (Custard/Atlantic UK)Ex-Army officer makes 2005's most beautiful pop ballad in a year utterly devoid of them. In fact, an album full. Powerful for its borderline obsessive lyrics and lilting vocal, this is top-shelf stuff.
19. Arctic Monkeys "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" (Domino UK)3 minutes of crunching guitar driven dance-rock from the band scheduled to break bad in about 5 minutes. A thoroughly manic, yet engaging, escapist and shockingly excellent single.
18. Robyn - Be Mine (Konichiwa Sweden)Shamefully forgotten for her 1997 run of pre-Britney pop hits and the platinum album from hence they came, Robyn returns a decade later with a catchy thoroughly modern, thoroughly grown-up, upbeat, string laden tale of unrequited love. If this whets the appetite for more, check out 2003's even hotter "Keep This Fire Burning"
17. Stereophonics - Dakota (V2 UK)Toiling in the shadows of England's Coldplay and Ireland's U2 is Wales' greatest musical export, Stereophonics. Retooling their sound by adding heavier guitars and submerging Kelly Jones' vocals in the mix a bit more than usual, "Dakota," is a triumph of a kiss-off record blanketed by an irresistible wall of sound.
16. Coldplay - Talk (Parlophone UK)Once more to the podium for the Princes of Rock. While latest collection
X&Y was buried under the weight of world-beating expectations, this singular moment shows the boys still have it, even if the album didn't deliver. Riding a Kraftwerk riff for all it's worth, they deliver the energy and vitality you rarely capture on a Coldplay record but is so evident live.
15. Kasabian - Club Foot (RCA UK)All swagger and cojones, this brilliant single shows dance rock less light on its feet as when the Brothers Franz serve it up. Gritty, grimy and primal, maybe the most aurally sexual three and a half minutes to show up in years. From their excellent, sadly overlooked self-titled debut
14. White Stripes - My Doorbell (V2 USA)Every White Stripes album has a moment of utter transcendence that makes you realize they are frickin geniuses. This is it. All piano stomp, rudimentary drumming, bluesily howled vocals and crazy sticky chorus, the White Stripes continue to make a case for being America's best band.
13. Hard-Fi - Cash Machine (Necessary/Atlantic UK)A pop fable told by the light of the empty ATM, lyrically in the school of Mellencamp's regular guy down on his luck (they even use a little harmonica on this one), but sonically right in the pocket of contemporary British post-punk. An excellent introduction to a first-rate band that should make big waves here any day now.
12. Bodyrockers - I Like The Way (Mercury UK)The best dance record of the year not to make a conscious bid to be anything but a club banger. Swarthy vocals that drip of intent, not to mention sweat, balance on top of the chugging guitars and a four-to-the-floor house backbone. So dirty, so fuckin' brilliant, even after it was in a Diet Coke commercial.
11. Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl (Interscope USA)On first listen this is one of the WORST records of the year, exempted because its drumline and overtime cheer-routine vocals are the most addictive thing since Coke (cola or otherwise). Thine mind doth protest, but thine ass shaketh. And really, that's the mark of a great pop record. The ability to invoke surrender in people who should know better.
10. The Killers - Mr. Brightside (Island USA)Another excellent salvo from the most promising American band to debut in ages. Lyrically engrossing, sonically undeniable and delivered with Brandon Flowers' trademark evocative wail, "Mr. Brightside" is a latter-day classic, growing more vital with every listen.
9. Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends (Warner Bros. USA)The most important album of the decade so far is such because it is full of songs like this one. Alternating between seeming navel-gazing and aggression, Green Day sparkles when their songs say something, and this is one of their best moments. (Editor's Note: "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" was considered a late 2004 release)
8. Gorillaz f. Shaun Ryder - Dare (Virgin UK)Perhaps one of the best ass-shakers to come out of the pipeline in ages, almost no one would recognize Damon Albarn's pitched up vocals here. Almost nonsensical in a way that only a band without a human face would be allowed to be, but undeniable for sheer catchiness alone.
7. Madonna - Hung Up (Warner Bros. USA)Even PopDude gets 'em wrong. Late last year I reviewed this track and basically, I did not think it a fitting return for the Queen of Pop. The first time I heard the album version instead of the castrated radio edit, I realized how wrong I was. Maybe it's the fact that in the context of its parent album
Confessions On A Dancefloor it sounds infinitely better, or maybe (as I suspect) the breakdown that starts at about 4:02 in the album version and the build-up back toward the final chorus make the whole record worth it. A true hands-in-the-air moment of pop transcendence.
6. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (RCA USA)One of the few galvanizing moments of 2005, and hopefully a slap upside the head to the people who A&R American Idol winners' records. "This is what happens when you give one a good song!" There are so few people who dislike this record, that you start thinking maybe the key to world peace doesn't go through Baghdad or the West Bank, maybe it goes through a 3-minute pop/rock throwdown that Avril is killing herself for not snapping up first.
5. Kanye West f. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger (Interscope USA)Every now and then a hip-hop record shows up that not only doesn't fall into self-parody, but is equal parts of the moment and game changing. This time we can thank Kanye. The lyric rings true, the hallmark of a great rap record; the beats are typically club hot and the use of Jamie Foxx evoking Ray Charles is awe-inspiring. Yes, it may have been played into the ground, but unlike other records with a similar fate (the thoroughly mindless and grooveless "My Humps, anyone?) Kanye delivered a record that people will reference five years from now when realizing music back then (today) wasn't as bad as we thought at the time.
4. Robbie Williams - Tripping (Chrysalis UK)For the sake of argument, the (British) King of Pop returned to active duty in '05 with this ska-inflected piece of experimental pop that while being borderline too cool for the room is undeniably catchy and a blueprint for state of the art pop. Cribbing shamelessly from prior works and the music world in general, Robbie throws strings, woodblocks, background harmonies and horns together while alternating between sing-song verses, a falsetto chorus and rapping in the bridge to create a richly textured recording that took him to places no one would have expected him to go. A more than worthy, challenging four-minute escape from the banal, repetitive world of pop by numbers.
3. Mariah Carey - We Belong Together (Island)Within three and a half minutes this spring, Mariah Carey managed to erase four years of jokes; four years of believing her career was over and about ten years of mediocre recordings. This was a veritable sea change for one of the greatest voices in pop and all it took was returning to the secret of her success. The formula. A good song, squarely in the pocket of radio trends, plus
that voice equals a hit. Echoing her 1995 hit, "Always Be My Baby," "We Belong Together" was so much more than a great single, but at its essence that's exactly what it was. A yearning plea for her own celebrity or a lover, we'll never know, but we know it's an undeniable record.
2. Athlete - Wires (Parlophone UK)While we were busy lauding Snow Patrol in 2004 as the band most likely to steal Coldplay's mantle as the kings of brainy rock, Athlete were busy refashioning themselves into worthy challengers who would open 2005 and the campaign behind their second album
Tourist with "Wires." The lyric is an elegant rumination on a father's reaction to seeing his newborn hospitalized at Christmas. The gentle, emotional vocal backed by a minimialist piano line, shimmering guitars and seemingly fragile drums reaches an emotional climax with a whisper rather than a wallop. A fine piece of songcraft from a woefully underappreciated act.
1. Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat (Necessary/Atlantic UK)While Hard-Fi's debut album
Stars Of CCTV has a solid cache of singles, "Hard To Beat" is everything a great pop record needs to be. The lyric is a universal boy meets girl tale with a chorus catchier than bird flu (in a good way). The vocal (on which singer Richard Archer swaggers like a young Jagger) rides a rump-shaker of a disco-rock backing track that recalls at turns Chic, the Stones, Martha & the Vandellas and Stuart Price. It's a record that grabs you, shakes you and makes you hit the repeat button without breaking a sweat. Best described as the love child of Franz Ferdinand and Madonna, I would be shocked not to find this record topping many 2006 lists following its US release.
The Word on 2006
So this blog opened up with a cavalcade of info. and a bit of a manic posting schedule, then for all intents and purproses absolutely disappeared. The word for 2006 is BACK ON!!!
PopDude will beback in 2006, and we have every intention of maintaining a regular schedule of new info, reviews and a weekly PopDude Top 10...or so we say until April when we find ourselves tiring of the entire enterprise. Anyway, the next post will be one near to my heart.
Stay tuned...
An open letter to pop stars
We hold this truth to be self-evident, a pop star without a decent song is NOTHING.
Rock snobs will almost be able to claim some level of superiority because they've learned how to pull pleasant sound out of various pieces of oddly shaped, lacquered wood.
Classical artists will claim it's their passionate reinterpretation of the brilliant music of ages prior that make them worthy of ear-time.
Jazz musicians will just say they're cooler than you'll ever be and walk away from the discussion.
Pop stars have only ever had one defense: great, memorable songs.
Unfortunately, the latest generation of pop acts have been weaned on American Idol and Mariah's vocal acrobatics to the point that they've forgotten (and to be fair, so have many CLASSIC pop artists) that their only weapon against obsolescence is having good songs.
As easy as it is to dismiss Britney Spears as a singer, actress, songwriter, tv star, perfumist or clothing designer, no one can dismiss how great a song "...Baby One More Time" was.
As easy as it is to make urinal jokes upon hearing the name George Michael, let's not forget that his greatest hits album "Ladies & Gentlemen" was a virtual masterclass in the art of pop songcraft. Take 20 minutes and you've got "Freedom," "Father Figure," "Jesus To A Child," and "Too Funky." Absolute classic pop records.
As easy as it is to dismiss Madonna as a trifle, a marketing genius, with a thin, nasal voice and a penchant for being as naked as the laws would allow. I dare someone to honestly deny the exacting brilliance of a record like "Into The Groove," "Like A Prayer," "Secret," or "Frozen."
No, our stars are created in a culture obsessed with celebrity. People are selling a million records because they can get a friend of a friend (who happens to be a multi-million selling rapper) to drop a new middle 8; or they ride the coattails of this year's hot production team "1 Thing," was a helluva record, but it was great when it was called "Crazy In Love" and catchy when it was dubbed "Get Right," wasn't it?
Worst case scenario, they become their own tribute act. "You Rock My World" sounded like an outtake from the "Bad" sessions for a reason people.
No, no pop artists of the world. I want you to take a lesson from a rock band. From Green Day.
They've been around for well over a decade. they've worked with the "right" producers at a given time, they've toured with guys who could bring them a bigger audience in their turn of the millennium decline. They even tried re-delivering a record we liked years in the past. When did they make a run for the top of the charts again? They did it when they decided to say something and make some great songs again. "American Idiot," was hey, we're back, and we're back with a boatload of tracks that you just cannot deny. Give us your $14 and do it with a smile. So we did.
Good songs will make you greater than your talent level ever gave you license to be. Terrible ones will either keep you from ever having relevance or tarnish an otherwise respectable career.
A pop star without a decent song is NOTHING.
The Pop Dude Review - Madonna "Hung Up" (Single)
Madonna - Hung Up (Warner Bros.)Oh dear, we're really done this time aren't we? Remember that old pledge about Pop Dude being about the positive in the music world? Scratch that. I've got to review this one and it's not going to be positive.
I'll start off with the good though: It's stuck in my head. Like the Madonna of old she has found a way to create an easily memorable singalong that's going to do well in the clubs.
Here's the rub. Madonna has apparently been listening to people at her fansites. But not the rational ones, no, no, she's listening to the loud, whining ones who want to dance to Lisa Scott-Lee, and don't think Madonna has done anything of note since "Like A Prayer." Here, she pleases them, and virtually pisses on the pop credentials she's built over two decades.
What have we got here, an ABBA sample, a mindless lyric and another loser of a single from an ever less-certain queen of pop. In fact, it most echoes her one of her last singles, "Nothing Fails," a bland, pandering piece of self-referential and reverential tripe that tried to remake the aforementioned "Like A Prayer" 15 years hence and could in no way recapture that majesty.
Madonna's best singles (and there have been a truckload) have always been undeniable 4 minutes slices of pop perfection with some underlying thought, see: "Into The Groove," "Papa Don't Preach," "Open Your Heart," "Cherish," "Express Yourself," "Vogue," "Justify My Love," "Secret," "Human Nature," "Frozen," "Ray Of Light," "Music," "Don't Tell Me" or any of the 40 or so other pop gems she's unleashed since 1983.
On this measure, "Hung Up" fails and miserably so.
I hold Madonna to a higher standard than the multitudes who've come in her wake, but there's a reason for it. She's earned it, raising the bar for decades. She used to be a trailblazer, taking pop music to places only she could. By being bold and innovative and NOT falling on her face, we've expected her to stay bold, to keep innovating, we've expected constant reinvention.
Based on "Hung Up," the next move should be an intervention.
The PopDude Top 10 (9/10/05)
1. Bloc Party - Two More Years (Wichita/Vice/Atlantic)2. Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat (Atlantic UK)
3. Gorillaz - Dare (Virgin)
4. Kanye West f. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger (Roc-A-Fella)
5. White Stripes - My Doorbell (V2)
6. X-Press2 - Give It (Skint UK)
7. Robbie Williams - Tripping (Chrysalis UK) NEW!
8. Funeral For A Friend - Monsters (Atlantic UK)
9. Foo Fighters - D.O.A. (Sony BMG) NEW!
10. Republic Of Loose - Comeback Girl (Big Cat Ireland)
New Look
The hideous old look is gone, say hello to the new Pop Dude site.
The Pop Dude Review - Robbie Williams "Tripping" (Single)
Robbie Williams - Tripping (Chrysalis UK) The story is familiar. Boyband makes spot-on teen pop ditties that five years later no one will admit to liking, member of said boyband gives his two weeks' notice and sets out on a quest to conquer the pop charts on his own. Some (see: Michael, George; Timberlake, Justin; Jackson, Michael) succeed beyond anyone's wildest imagination, transforming into a stardom so large that people almost forget their boyband roots. Others (see: Knight, Jordan; Carter, Nick; Barlow, Gary) sink into an abyss that can only (temporarily) be salvaged by a reunion tour and album and inevitably results in an embarrassing stint on VH-1.
One guy who went the former route is Robbie Williams. Arguably the UK's most important popstar since George Michael, Williams has managed to produce an astounding
21 UK Top 10 hits on his own since 1996 (not counting the 10 in his previous life as a pinup), each of his albums have reached UK No. 1, his record label paid him $80 million to stick around (putting him in the same rare air as Janet Jackson, U2, Madonna and pre-Glitter Mariah) and--unless you watched MTV's castrated coverage of Live 8, you know he absolutely stole the show from Madonna, McCartney, Mariah and the rest with such aplomb that no one dared question his position as the show's UK nighttime headliner. He's best known stateside for a brilliant pop single "Angels" that Jessica "I've never seen a magazine cover I didn't want to be on" Simpson unrecognizably mangled with her chain saw of a nasal snarl.
Now that you've been introduced, about his latest single "Tripping." If this becomes a US hit, the apocalypse may well be on us. Why? In brief, because it's good and it's different. It's smart, it's not hip-hop, he sings the chorus in falsetto. Sorry Robbie, radio's waiting for the next 50 Cent record instead and a check from Universal Music.
"Tripping" is a reggae/ska-inflected, lyric driven, grower of a tune that wraps itself around your brain with each ensuing listen. The result of Robbie ditching longtime collaborator Guy Chambers is that he's become a musical adventurer. Ditching his trademark pubcrawl guitar-pop singalongs is an obvious risk for someone who's hit after hit after hit with them and in doing so has raised the bar for pop songcraft to a level that few, if any of his peers attempt to even eye, let alone vault. Robbie succeeded with his Killers-hued "Radio" and he succeeds here with "Tripping." In a time when most artists and labels are content to keep the money trucks backing up to the mansion gates, the Robster has done the one thing that makes that less of a certainty, he's taking risks. He could've written another "Millennium," another "Feel," yet another stab at recapturing the glory of "Angels," and he would've sold 5-6 million copies of it. What he did however was to give us something we've never heard, least of all from him. And it feels oh, so refreshing.
To hear "Tripping" visit
www.whatsyourfuture.com and click "Inspired." Give it two listens and write me a comment in the morning. Or go listen to 50 and please...keep your comments to yourself.
The PopDude Top 10
The PopDude Top 10 will now begin being posted weekly:
For the week beginning (9/4/2005)
1.
Gorillaz - Dare (Virgin)2. Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat (Atlantic UK)
3. Bloc Party - Two More Years (Wichita/Vice/Atlantic)
NEW!4. Kanye West f. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger (Roc-A-Fella)
5. White Stripes - My Doorbell (V2)
6. Simon Webbe - Lay Your Hands (Innocent UK)
7. X-Press2 - Give It (Skint UK)
NEW!8. Republic Of Loose - Comeback Girl (Big Cat Ireland)
NEW!9. Funeral For A Friend - Monsters (Atlantic UK)
NEW!10. Charlotte Church - Crazy Chick (Sony/BMG UK)
History Lesson - Real McCoy
Pop Dude strongly encourages people to know their history musically and part of that history, and the history of pop as a genre, is pop's lighter side. As much as they've contributed to music, every discussion of pop shouldn't start with the Beatles and end with Madonna.
The genre's history is littered with songs that sound great, meant little, the songs and artists remain a piece of the soundtrack of your life long after you should know better.
One such artist for me has the somewhat dubious distinction of having the longest running No. 3 hit ever (11 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100, the Real McCoy.
The single "Another Night" was a first class slice of mid 90s Euro-dance (not that today's Eurodance doesn't sound similar) of the male rapper, vaguely soulful female vocalist blueprint that hip-hop would crib as its own around the turn of the millenium.
Here's a little gem I found a link to Real McCoy rapper Olaf Jeglitza's own blog, all you've ever wanted to know about Real McCoy and far, far more INCLUDING the secret scandal that almost kept them from ever hitting the States.
http://the-realmccoy.blogspot.com/
The PopDude Top 10
If for no other reason than to give me a reason to post on a more regular basis, I'm going to begin posting the weekly top 10 here on PopDude. There's really no rhyme or reason to the list, it's just the 10 currrent singles (that includes re-releases and much belated domestic releases) that I'm loving to hear right now.
For the week beginning: (8/21/05)
1. Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat (Atlantic UK)2. Gorillaz - Dare (Virgin)
3. Simon Webbe - Lay Your Hands (Innocent UK)
4. Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot (B-Unique/Universal)
5. Kanye West f. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger (Roc-A-Fella)
6. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done (Island)
7. White Stripes - My Doorbell (V2)
8. Charlotte Church - Crazy Chick (Sony/BMG UK)
9. Chemical Brothers - The Boxer (Astralwerks)
10. Jamiroquai - Seven Days In Sunny June (Columbia UK)
The Pop Dude Review - Faithless - Forever Faithless (Album)
Faithless - Forever Faithless (Cheeky/Arista) AMERICA MUST REPENT FOR ITS SINS! OK, that might be a tad dramatic, but after ten years of ignoring one of the most important bands of the last decade a bit of extremist rhetoric might be warranted. In the mid 90s America gave the world...well, a lot of crap. Some of America's top-selling records of the last ten years include absolute garbage by the likes of Creed and Limp Bizkit, derivative re-imaginings of earlier glories by acts like R. Kelly and Garth Brooks and the irrestible, well-crafted if soul-numbing pimple pop of Britstina and Syncing Backstreet No. 98. Meanwhile, filling arenas and stadiums around the globe--except in this country--was a band that launched (seemingly) a thousand sounds and careers, we call them Faithless.
As much a rotating door as is Nine Inch Nails, except that these guys had some input into the music they produced, Faithless has launched some of the most interesting recording artists in recent memory. Guest starring here are pop siren Dido (band-leader Rollo's sister) as the angelic beacon on their epic, anthemic first single "Salva Mea" among others, Jamie Catto (whose later effort 1 Giant Leap would score a UK top 10 with Maxi-Jazz and Robbie Williams) on the folk-hop, plaintive, but heartfelt "Don't Leave," and on a number of their early records, fellow dance legend Rob Dougan, who would go on to create numerous tracks for
the Matrix films and a stellar, predictably underappreciated album of his own entitled
Furious Angels.The core trio however cannot be ignored. Conceptualist/producer/remixer Rollo, DJ/producer/multi-instrumentalist Sister Bliss and rapper/songwriter/frontman Maxi-Jazz have spent the last decade building not only a top-shelf band and a brand name that stands for state of the art pop/house/rock/rap/folk or whatever else they decided to tackle that day, they have built an impressive resumé of hit singles and albums around the world, except here.
OK, without further harping on the lack of imagination in the mainstream American music arena, that's why you need to pick up Forever Faithless.
As impressive as the nomads are, the core act has their own stellar moments foremost among them the string-laden disco-soul stirrings of Maxi-Jazz's homage to "Muhammed Ali" and "Mass Destruction," the politically informed leadoff single to their most recent album
No Roots on which Maxi raps "whether inflation or globalization/fear is a weapon of mass destruction."
Faithless have been lyrically compelling, musically inspiring and consistently worthy for a decade. In a time when the "right" production team seems to trump talent, musicianship, imagination and passion more and more, there was this band. This, simply, is the greatest hits album of the greatest band of our time. AMERICA! PAY ATTENTION!
Music fans, this is merely a starting point, having digested
Forever Faithless download the following:
Faithless - Hour Of Need
Dido - Worthless
Rob Dougan - Furious Angels
Faithless - Flowerstand Man (Matty's Remix)
1 Giant Leap f. Maxi-Jazz & Robbie Williams - My Culture
The Pop Dude Review - The Cardigans "Fine Wine" (Single)
The Cardigans "Fine Wine" (Stockholm/Universal Sweden) Sweden has arguably has the third richest legacy in pop music, and come October, one of their finest acts is set to launch another assault on the charts. Yes, the Cardigans are back on active duty. Ten years removed from their quirky, world-beating hit/albatross "Lovefool," Nina Persson and Co. returns with a single oddly--given their cotton-candy perception--recalls Sheryl Crow, Blur and Garbage in equal measure...and that's a good thing.
That hit and their pop roots has seemingly led the masses to underrate this band. Despite being roundly ignored over the last decade they continue to produce world-class singles (see: "Erase/Rewind," "For What It's Worth"). On "Fine Wine," the band ride urgent guitar and drumwork (think a softer White Stripes) and Nina's impassioned vocals to excellent effect. If rock radio were playing female vocalists or pop radio could spin anything without a featured rapper and/or connected to a TV show, "Fine Wine" would find its rightful place to the top of the pops. It's time to throw out your preconceived notions. It's time to spend 3 and a half minutes listening, spread the word.
The Pop Dude Review - Hard-Fi "Hard To Beat" (single)
Hard-Fi "Hard To Beat" (Atlantic) We've reached the point where the nouveau wave bandwagon is so full that even acts who knock the cover off the ball are left behind by the press in favor of the establishment: witness the brilliant (and oft-ignored) Kasabian. Unfortunately the same chasm is ripe to swallow the London-based quartet Hard-Fi. With their third UK single (and first top ten) "Hard To Beat," Hard-Fi has crafted a thoroughly irresistible slice of disco-rock that while not quite measuring up to the genre's current high-water mark "Take Me Out," beats the crap out of anything The Bravery or Bloc Party have served up to date. Commercial success unfortunately depends on whether the ever-dwindling ranks of alt-rock radio have available playlist space when the album drops at the beginning of 2006. In the meantime, the savvier of us will revel in the brilliance of a band wearing its Duran Duran influences on its sleeves and the word "superstar" emblazoned on its chest.
The Pop Dude Review - U2 "A Man And A Woman" (album track)
u2 "A Man And A Woman" (Interscope) - One of the best tracks U2 has offered in years, "A Man And A Woman" shines amongst the otherwise "good enough" effort that was How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Here, for the first time since "Pop," U2 slips out of its comfort zone ever so slightly to astounding effect. No, this is not a too-cool-for-the-room electro-rock anthem à la "Discotheque," but instead a gently urgent four minute love song driven largely by an uncharacteristically effortless vocal performance from the Bono. U2 has made great anthems of late, saving or savoring the world at every turn. Here, taking the focus down from such grandiose ambitions, Bono and co. create a world-beater. Have a listen.
The Point
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