Another day another poll...
Top U.K. #1 singles (compiled 01/17/05):
(this would look significantly different if I reordered it now)
1. Smokey Robinson - Tears Of A Clown
2. Abba - Dancing Queen
3. Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind
4. Abba - Take A Chance On Me
5. Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
6. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
7. Sugababes - Round Round
8. Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground
9. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
10. Britney Spears - Born To Make You Happy
11. Beyonce - Crazy In Love
12. Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again
13. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
14. Abba - Mamma Mia
15. Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
16. All Saints - Pure Shores
17. Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin
18. Beatles - Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out
19. Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
20. R. Kelly - Ignition (remix)
21. U2 - Discotheque
22. Robbie Williams - Rock DJ
23. Human League - Don't You Want Me
24. Billy Ocean - When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Goin'
25. U2 - The Fly
26. Monkees - I'm A Believer
27. Destiny's Child - Independent Woman Part 1
28. Abba - Waterloo
29. Abba - The Winner Takes It All
30. Diana Ross - Chain Reaction
31. Sugababes - Freak Like Me
32. Blondie - Heart Of Glass
33. Donna Summer - I Feel Love
34. Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way
35. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
36. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
37. Four Tops - Reach Out, I'll Be There
38. Eminem - Stan
39. Shapeshifters - Lola's Theme
40. Eric Prydz - Call On Me
41. Abba - Fernando
42. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
43. Wham - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
44. Madonna - True Blue
45. Britney Spears - Toxic
46. Sugababes - Hole In The Head
47. Abba - The Name Of The Game
48. Holly Valance - Kiss Kiss
49. Gary Numan - Cars
50. George Michael - Careless Whisper
Consensus says...
The eleven worst songs of 2004
Ok, while this is a bit much, it is pretty funny. It makes me sad how divisive U2 seems to be with music fans, because they WERE really, really great.
So yeah, I've given this a couple of days and I can say with total confidence that this is one of my favorite albums ever. Haven't yet aquired it? Here, let me help you.
Holy mother of...
So the hotly anticipated M.I.A. album leaked yesterday. I wasn't planning on writing anything about this, but I guess I have to now because it's incredible. Really, I was just totally blindsided by how good this is. I suppose a quick confession is in order before we move on. As much as I like Dizzee Rascal, his first album, aside from "I Luv U", just didn't live up to what was written about him. Not that it wasn't a great album, but it didn't quite capture the sheer level of insanity that everyone had hinted at. This album, on the other hand, is everything that I thought
Boy In Da Corner was going to be and more. Probably the most immediately engrossing thing I've heard in years. "Pull Up The People" is pure digital age witchcraft. That dominant wobbly bass line makes this sound slightly unbalanced and claustrophobic, but it's more fun than frightening...like
Pre-millenium Tension gone pop! "Bucky Done Gone", which might be the best song on the album, is an unmitigated aural assault with its demented faux horns and nonstop kitchen sink clamoring. Absolutely love the cut-up stuttered vocal bit. When I try to visualize this song it's all flailing arms, twirling bodies, and herky-jerky convulsive madness. "Fire Fire" unveils the heavy artillery and is clearly just an excuse to blow those dull thud bass bombs at will. Also a brief lyrical reference to Timbaland and Missy, who are obvious influences (among a vast host of others I'm sure). The intensity withers only slightly with "Amazon", which is evocative of jungles and third world marketplaces and whatnot. It's certainly the shiniest track up to this point, and is simultaneously exotic and technologically familiar and modern. I like it quite a bit. "Bingo" has a deliberate, straightforward sense of momentum to it, continually rumbling along, enabling you to just sit back and witness all sorts of zaniness from the side window. It's much in the same vein as "Big Pimpin'", a kind of parade from the perspective of the float, except all the wacky stuff is happening on the outside along the fringes and well, everyone is on drugs. In this case, passing by, we hear streaming airborne synths exploding into mini-showers of blunted chimes and the sound of something halfway between electroshock therapy and a dentist's drill. I love the vocal interplay as well. Moving on, the first few moments of "Hombre" are pretty standard fare for this album, but it soon breaks into this massive communal reach for the stars sing-a-long. I was listening to this on repeat in bed last night (at HIGH volume) and it sent chills up and down my spine whenever it came on. "10 Dollar" begins with a clanky synth intro, straight out of the eighties, kind of reminiscent of "I Want To Dance With Somebody" or probably a whole mix disc's worth of similar songs. Lots of big bass and squelchy 8-bit Nintendo zips. Something I love about this track, and this entire album for that matter, is the emphasis on pacing and moments. The repeated "What can I get for 10 dollar? Anything you want!" part comes in at the perfect moment, just when the barrage of "oh"'s and "hey"'s is just verging on monotony. "Sunshowers" is both pretty and ghetto, precisely constructed and offhandedly tossed together, all at the same time. I like this significantly more than the Diplo mix that was on Piracy Funds Terrorism. And of course the big single from 2004, "Galang", a sort of stumbling, crashing "Bouncin' Back"/"Tipsy" hybrid, is on here. The "purple haze"/"razor blades" thing still sounds kind of nonsensical to me, but this still ranks as first rate ear candy with its bruising, pillar-to-the-face beats. The album closes with the song "M.I.A.", which is also very nice, but I'm running out of things to say, so I'll just leave it at that.
Silly to suggest, I know, seeing that we're only two weeks into 2005, but this is more than likely going to end up as my favorite release this year. If it had been released last year, it may well have been tops then too. Surely this is better than anything I heard the two years before that. Just absolutely stellar. This is
So Addictive level striking, only it keeps up the whole way through! I feel like burning 50 copies and handing them out to my neighbors. Man, I hope this album holds up over time. If this doesn't make it big, there is no justice in this world. RCQS 9
(If you listen to this and you don't like it, just keep it to yourself. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT.)
Kylie Minogue - "Made Of Glass"
So here we are at the beginning of the new year, 2005, in the midst of the annual music release hibernation period. Seems fitting that the first new track I hear is this sleepy little pop/club churner, caught somewhere in limbo between potentially lighting up the charts as a future smash or being lost as a forgotten b-side. You have to wonder how long this one's been sitting in the Xenomania vaults, seeing as that it's much more reminiscent of Brian Higgins' early work with Chicane and Cher rather than their more recent barnstormers. "Made Of Glass" sticks to a proven formula closely, melding Kylie's whispery vocals with expansive, winding synths, subdued cymbal rushes, and a hint of guitar, all while a gentle club beat keeps everything afloat. It's very pretty to say the least and a step up from "Giving You Up" and the overrated "I Believe In You". The only problem I have with the song is with Kylie herself. I'm not convinced that her precious, wide-eyed vocal approach is the right one. I think this song is just begging for a little more stylish pizzaz. Word has already spread that "Made Of Glass" has been given to Rachel Stevens and that this current version will probably never see the light of day as an official release. Rachel isn't necessarily a better singer than Kylie (neither of them are exceptional), but her voice is certainly a bit warmer and more expressive. People always talk about Britney sounding and acting robotic in her performances, which I always find puzzling considering how Kylie seems the better target for such accusations. Now don't get me wrong, I think Kylie's released a fair amount of strong material. I just find her vocals to be somewhat joyless, even distant at times, injected with too much professionalism. I'm hoping that with Rachel at the helm and perhaps some additional reworking, we'll see this return, next time with the flash, vitality, and showmanship it deserves.
