Tuesday, July 30, 2002
traded out '45 rpm' for 'phat disc july 2002 II,' a disc I burned of current faves (both current and not). starts with curiousity killed the cat's "misfit," one of the great lost pop singles of the '80s (they were british, no one in the US cared, you know the drill. ibid. almost anything by level 42, johnny hates jazz, et.al.). "misfit" segues into "misfit party," a boot by dolt mixing curiousity with pink's "get the party started." I've found, to my fascination, that the only way that her song and shakira's "whenever, wherever" (almost as equally vile in their original forms) become palatable is in bootleg form. ben liebrand has done a gorgeous mashup of shakira with the bee gees' "stayin' alive" (with a little brit thrown in for good measure); there's another nice pink bootie mashed with "rock the casbah." which goes to show, I guess, that pink and shakira themselves are not intrinsically bad (though pink irritates every fucking atom of my being); it's their backing tracks which are.
we move on to one of the most purely joyous records of the year, akin to "the rockafeller skank" in '98: elvis vs jxl's "a little less conversation." it's like a '68 camaro with a souped-up engine and bangin' CD sound system, new and improved, updated, yet still essentially the same car. and this "conversation" is one helluva people-mover, even if it's not what I'd call a dance track in the strictest sense. I have reverse burnout with this song -- the more I hear it, the more I love it. track 4 is johnny hates jazz's "I don't wanna be a hero": gorgeous, fluffy, burnished pop (see curiousity killed the cat). amerie's "why don't we fall in love" follows, one that reminds me of sunshine anderson's smash from last summer, a perfect summery-smooth r-and-b hit which is nothing but so much feel-good. and as my girl t(r)ina says, we don't care if we never hear from amerie again; she's done enough.
a pair of "boy"s follow in slots six and seven: tim mcgraw's "angel boy" and andrew gold's "lonely boy." they fit together better than you might think, particularly with their shared theme of angst-y alienation and questioning one's place (as a boy?) on this mortal coil (at least, situationally speaking). "angel" is the first song of tim's I've ever truly loved (let alone liked), and oddly, I think it's because it's more polished than usual, so much so that it ceases to be a country song and is really more mellencamp-ish than anything (check that soaring guitar solo that closes the track). oh, and btw: tim mcgraw quite possibly is the sexiest man alive. or at least sexiest celebrity. I hate faith hill. andrew gold, on the other hand -- hell, I couldn't even pick him out of a lineup. that may be in part due to the fact that "lonely" is over 20 years old (25?), but it's one of those verging-on-easy-listening slick el lay poptracks from the late '70s that just kills me (the same way boz scaggs' "lowdown" does). plus, the lyrics, are sad, which I'm a sucker for, as long as they're not jerk-your-chain sad. track 8, etc. after I do some more work.
we move on to one of the most purely joyous records of the year, akin to "the rockafeller skank" in '98: elvis vs jxl's "a little less conversation." it's like a '68 camaro with a souped-up engine and bangin' CD sound system, new and improved, updated, yet still essentially the same car. and this "conversation" is one helluva people-mover, even if it's not what I'd call a dance track in the strictest sense. I have reverse burnout with this song -- the more I hear it, the more I love it. track 4 is johnny hates jazz's "I don't wanna be a hero": gorgeous, fluffy, burnished pop (see curiousity killed the cat). amerie's "why don't we fall in love" follows, one that reminds me of sunshine anderson's smash from last summer, a perfect summery-smooth r-and-b hit which is nothing but so much feel-good. and as my girl t(r)ina says, we don't care if we never hear from amerie again; she's done enough.
a pair of "boy"s follow in slots six and seven: tim mcgraw's "angel boy" and andrew gold's "lonely boy." they fit together better than you might think, particularly with their shared theme of angst-y alienation and questioning one's place (as a boy?) on this mortal coil (at least, situationally speaking). "angel" is the first song of tim's I've ever truly loved (let alone liked), and oddly, I think it's because it's more polished than usual, so much so that it ceases to be a country song and is really more mellencamp-ish than anything (check that soaring guitar solo that closes the track). oh, and btw: tim mcgraw quite possibly is the sexiest man alive. or at least sexiest celebrity. I hate faith hill. andrew gold, on the other hand -- hell, I couldn't even pick him out of a lineup. that may be in part due to the fact that "lonely" is over 20 years old (25?), but it's one of those verging-on-easy-listening slick el lay poptracks from the late '70s that just kills me (the same way boz scaggs' "lowdown" does). plus, the lyrics, are sad, which I'm a sucker for, as long as they're not jerk-your-chain sad. track 8, etc. after I do some more work.
# posted by Thomas : 8:08 AM
