Category: Music essay

Record Store Day 2019: Second Look

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My eyes are pretty rubbish because the Royal Glamorgan Hospital don’t think I have a squiggly line in my left eye…

Anyway, it turns out that when I sorted the wheat from the chaff in my original post on the best picks ahead of this year’s Record Store Day, I missed LOADS! So, here’s the best of the rest….

Bananarama: Remixed Volume 1/Drama/Viva

The English girl group who started at the beginning of the 80s and have gone on to be one of the biggest girl groups ever, consolidate with the success of their reunion tour of 2018, with a trio of special vinyl releases this RSD, before the release of their next album as a duo, “In Stereo”(out end of April).

“Drama” and “Viva” were 2 of the albums Bananarama released during their noughties renaissance. Played to death at gay bars across the world, these packages include the amazing Buzz Junkies remix of their cover of Three Degrees hit, “The Runner”, along with “Love Don’t Live Here” and “Hypnotic Tango”. The remix 12″ is a selection of new mixes of pre-SAW-era tracks “Aie a Mwana” and “Cruel Summer”. One to look out for!

Brian May New Horizons

This latest solo track from the greatest mainstream guitarist of all time (in my opinion), is a little bit lacking in structure. Maybe one for the hardcore lovers of the poodle-haired one.

Fatboy Slim Right Here Right Now

Fab new remix collection of the 1999 top 2 hit!

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac Alternative

As per the last couple of deluxe Fleetwood Mac re-releases from the Warner Bros. years, a special release of the alternative takes from their eponymous 1975 album, has been extracted from 2018’s deluxe editions. The phenomenal set preluded “Rumours” and features classics like “Rhiannon”, “I’m So Afraid” and “Say You Love Me”. Someone’s got to keep Lindsay Buckingham’s income going now that he’s been sacked from the group he helped become megastars.

John Lennon Imagine Raw

Just like the Fleetwood Mac, the bonus disc from 2018’s rerelease of Lennon’s 1971 solo album, is separated for a special Record Store Day vinyl release of its own.

Kaiser Chiefs Oh My God

This is a special rerelease of the original version of a track which would become a top 10 hit 2 years after its original 2004 unveiling. Mark Ronson would have a hit with the track in 2006, with Lily Allen on vocals.

Purple Disco Machine The Soulmatic Remixes

I’ve featured his tracks on Tim’s Top 20 regularly since I discovered his reimagination of Man2Man’s “Male Stripper” upon release in September 2018. A selection of remixes from the Italian DJs 2017 album get a special purple vinyl release on 13th April!

South Park The Movie: Bigger, Longer and Uncut OST

21 years after the release of the cultural phenomenon at the cinema, the superb soundtrack to “Bigger, Longer and Uncut” is being released in a super deluxe vinyl format, including a book and postcards featuring 2 of the 4 main characters (a fab money-spinning tactic there…) 10 of the copies will also have a signed photo from South Park’s creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They’re going to kill my bank balance, you bastards!

Antoine Dodson ft. The Gregory Brothers Bed Intruder

Remember the guy who was interviewed in 2010 for a news report on a girl from the “Projects”, who was almost sexually attacked? He was the brother and he advised viewers to hide their kids and hide their wives. Some clever dick over at the Autotune the News team turned the interview into YouTube gold and the track, along with several other selections from the team are being released on physical media for the first time this Record Store Day!

OK, I don’t think I’ve missed any of the highlights from the 500+ selection of records out especially for the UK’s Record Store Day’s participating stores. There are a few locations around me where I may be able to get my hands on some of these records. There’s the Red House in Aberdare, Diverse Vinyl in Newport and of course, the supposed oldest record store in the world, Spillers in Cardiff.

If you’d like to look at the records I mentioned in my original post, click here.

Tim’s Top 20 has been uploaded. See if Jess Glynne has made it 2 weeks at the top by clicking here.

COMING SOON:SMASH OR GASH #002. I’ll review the new single releases later today, with a special review of Marina’s new digital album “Love”.

Britney Spears Album Rank

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So, I saw a tweet from Gay Times earlier this week, linking to a feature on their website, ranking Britney’s 9 studio albums to date. I felt compelled to start a rank-off (I said rank) with the long-running publication, as their columnist, Daniel Megarry reckoned “Glory” was the best she’s managed in her whole 21-year recording career…

Anyway, without further ado…

9 Britney Jean (2013)

I won’t be too mean and say the album is a f*cking embarrassment, shambles, Myah Marie’s debut album proper etc. However…

There was an air of excitement around the launch of this album, particularly when Britney returned to the public eye for the first time since she’d topped the charts worldwide with the Tulisa-penned “Scream and Shout”, 9 months before her appearance in the Nevada desert one September morning in 2013. She was there, with a gaggle of Britney-alikes to announce the announcement of her Vegas residency! Also, there was news that will.i.am was the executive producer on the forthcoming album, which Britney herself proclaimed to be her most personal album to date…if I didn’t think someone had been drugging her before……

Logic should have said something was going to be wrong with that statement… a “most personal” album, executive produced by a man, who had become famous the world over for taking any trace of personality out of the big-mega-radio-smashers he produced.

There was no reason for any PR to tell Britney to tell her interviewers, that the album was going to be that meaningful. She had been the queen of bops for 14 years by that point. However, her fans would have liked to have heard her voice on more than just one song, the Sia-penned “Perfume”. If and when Britney is heard on the rest of the album, she’s been layered numerous times with effects and/or Myah Marie, the controversial “backing singer” who was given a more prominent role on Britney albums by 2013.

The backlash was obvious: upon hearing the album, it tanked in the charts, with her lowest peaking album to date in the USA (#4) and even worse in the UK (#33). Team Britney realised the mis-step as well. Other than the one saving grace on the album, the top 10 hit “Work Bitch”, no other song was performed from “Britney Jean” on the Piece of Me residency by the time the next album was released just 2 years later.

5/10

8 Circus (2008)

This album was out in a flash; a clever piece of damage control on Team Britney’s part. I’ve mentioned Team Britney a few times, implying I don’t think Britney has been capable of doing anything herself. This isn’t her fault particularly. The way she has been put out there since the ambulance incident of January 2008, has suggested she has become more of a pop puppet since then, than when she was on top of the world in 2000/01.

The album came a year after the release of “Blackout” and sounds like its weaker sibling. Danja was on hand for the album’s best deep cuts, including “Kill The Lights”. The album also had a perfect collection of singles “Womanizer”, “Circus” and “If U Seek Amy”, all accompanied by killer promo videos. The best song otherwise, was relegated to “bonus track” status, the garage-band-lite “Amnesia”. I think the reason why the song works so well is it’s one of the few songs Britney doesn’t sound electronically perfect, in fact she sounds so out of tune in parts, it’s refreshing! The rest of the album is either filler, unheard of on any Britney album since her 1999 debut (“Blur”, “Phonography”) or it’s verging on cringeworthy (“Mmm Papi”, “My Baby”, raise your hands). However, the damage was controlled successfully and a major tour went without a hitch if we ignore the Australia episode.

6.5/10

7 …Baby, One More Time

From reading articles on this album and its singles, I seem to be in the minority of people who think the Stop! Remix of “Crazy” is superior to the original mix, as featured on Britney’s debut album. It’s appearance would have been welcome on a hypothetical reissue of this collection.

Like with many pop debuts, a lot of shit was thrown at the wall to see what would stick. No surprises, it was the Max Martin songs which shone the most (the title track, “Crazy”, “I Will Be There”) and would shape the sophomore album. Her first single carries the collection well enough on its own to not be further down this chart.

Other notable songs: “Born To Make You Happy”, “From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart”.

7/10

6 Glory (2016)

A lot of fans regard this as part of the “Holy Trinity” of Britney albums, along with “In The Zone” and “Blackout”. I can only assume that is because it’s the first album in recent history where Britney sounded like a human rather than a humanoid.

This is Britney Spears, a girl/woman who made a brand for herself by being affiliated with songs that you danced hard to, shoved a straw behind your ear and pretended to have a microphone to lip-sync in (just me?…) I don’t know anyone who bought into the brand for her vocal acrobatics. Her tone is enough (this is no excuse for Myah though!). They should have just let the music do the talking.

Instead, what we were given as an apology for “Britney Jean”, was a collection of MOR songs which wouldn’t have sounded wrong on a Justin Bieber album. No surprises then, that the same writers that he used on his most recent album were drafted in to create most of “Glory”.

There were some high points, don’t get me wrong; “If I’m Dancing” (WHAT A SONG!), “Private Show” (yes, I’m the one who likes “Private Show”), “Do You Wanna Come Over”, the modern day sibling of “Toxic”.

Although Britney’s worst selling album to date (this can be somewhat attributed to the collapse of the physical album market against her aging core fan base), “Glory” served the purpose of telling people Britney is still around, to a small degree…but not enough that she needs to carry on down this route for the forthcoming 10th album. Please bring Danja, Max and Bloodshy & Avant back!

7/10

5 Britney (2001)

I was bought “Britney” for my 16th birthday, by which point the song “I’m a Slave 4 U” had been the only single from this album. I therefore didn’t hold much hope that this album would be a patch on her previous collection, “Oops….”

For all the bitching the stans do about Britney’s team, the more I type, the more I realise how much of Britney’s career has been successful because of the team who are now so derided.

This album was the one where she started to become a woman (“I’m Not a Girl”…) and was loosely the soundtrack to Britney’s only feature film to date, “Crossroads”. It was also the last album for 10 years that Max Martin and his writing team at Cheiron were involved with. Bubblegum was out and Janet Jackson mk2 was in.

For me, it took until I was 22, to get into this album. Then it all clicked. The collection has a lot of of-its-time sounds in the form of tracks like “Lonely”, “Boys”, “Slave” but also one of Martin’s best compositions “Cinderella”. Word has it the upcoming Britney musical will feature this track which is excellent news! This is also the last album where you really hear “sweet” Britney, in the form of “When I Found You”.

A great album, even if it took me 6 years to realise it.

7.5/10

4 Oops! I Did It Again… (2000)

This is one of those albums I remember where I was the first time I listened to it- the listening post in Our Price, Burton-on-Trent. It was like an eargasm, hearing the first growling note of “Stronger”, coming straight off the back of the “innocent” on its title track, without a stop for air, before it abruptly hushes….just stops, in fact. Like WTF?!

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough pocket money that day to buy the album there and then. Sad times.

When I did finally have the album in my little Boots CD micro system, I was overjoyed. The best bits of “Baby, One More Time…” stretched across 15 songs, courtesy of Max and co. It takes 9 songs to hit a bump in the road (“Where Are You Now”)…Before then the listener is treated to all the singles, including “Lucky” and “Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know”, plus a cover of the Stones’ “Satisfaction” and Britney speaking to her friends on the phone in somewhat unnecessarily forced segues into the next songs.

In hindsight, having Britney change tact for the 3rd album was probably the best career move. I don’t know that a 3rd collection of bubblegum gems would have worked in the long run, especially knowing how fickle us pop fans can be in our formative years.

8/10

So my Holy Trinity of Godney goes like this:

Blackout, Femme Fatale, In The Zone. But, in which order?

So, let’s start with the common favourite…

3 Blackout (2007)

I’ll be honest, the music is probably ever-so slightly better on this album than my #2. However, sentimentality has come into play with this one.

What a perfect urban/pop crossover album. Saying that, when the album was released, I connected to it about as much as Britney seems to have done with “Britney Jean”. I was much more invested in Girls Aloud and my first boyfriend.

As I mentioned in my recent post on the 8th anniversary of the leak of “Femme Fatale”, it’s only been recently I’ve appreciated just how shit a time Britney must have been having during the post-Kevin, pre-Vegas years. So, the trips to the hairdressers, the hospital and the umbrella shop all now shape the way I listen to “Blackout”. The song that always makes me the most emotive, is “Break The Ice”. This was released as a single not long after Britney looked like she was going to do something catastrophic to herself, not helped by the fact the promo video was an animé film, which ends halfway through the song. I always now think about the what ifs, get quite sad but, this feeling helps me really feel the song more as it plays.

Other highlights are “Gimme More”, “Piece Of Me”, “Radar”…actually it might be easier to mention the lowlight, “Ooh Ooh Baby”, which ironically seems to have been the inspiration for the perfect “Womanizer”.

I get why this album is adored by the gays fans so much. If it weren’t for sentiment, I’d put it at the top of my list too.

9.5/10

2 In The Zone (2003)

This was a massive surprise. After still not being enamoured by the whole not-a-girl phase, all I could go on, in a time before I had a computer to listen to any leaks, was the first single, “Me Against The Music”. The single was picked up during my lunch break when I was a trainee accountant, from Woolworths if my memory serves me correctly. The Rishi Rich remix was also perfection.

But, even-so, could one single really be enough for me to be ready for what I was about to experience?

2004 would become the year I saw Britney live for the first time, she’d become a bad bitch in the news and, I’d batter my copy of “In The Zone” through constant plays. I think the only other albums that would get a look in that year would be Scissor Sisters’ debut and Anastacia’s “sprock” album.

“Toxic” was perfect, obviously. Bloodshy & Avant were the producers of the moment (and would become Galantis years later) and Cathy Dennis was the songwriter of the time, responsible for “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” for the real Kylie, “Don’t Stop Movin'” for S Club 7 and “Anything Is Possible” for Will Young. The combination of this songwriter with these producers also created Rachel Stevens’ debut solo smash “Sweet Dreams My LA Ex”. We’re all glad the other singers rejected “Toxic” though.

This album was so good because it, like its predecessor, “Blackout” felt a bit darker than what had come from Britney previously. The vocals on “In The Zone” were less processed, the tracks were mainly co-written by Britney for the first and (to date) the last time. It has her apology to Justin, “Everytime”, which she managed to mime on piano during the Onyx Hotel Tour. Queen of Faking It! ❤

It also helped that this was the year I went from a Britney fan to a Britney stan. The press started going to town on her but, at this time time she seemed to relish in it. I remember shortly after her quickie wedding to Jason Alexander, she was in a newspaper stating she was planning to get one up on Justin Timberlake, after he’d managed to forge a solo career with significant help from the diss track “Cry Me A River”, and beat the levels of success he’d managed the previous 12 months.

Oh and she sang about her hand as well.

9.5/10

1 Femme Fatale (2011)

I’m not going to say much about this album here as there’s plenty of detail in my post, celebrating the 8th anniversary of its leak here.

However, this is my favourite Britney album, because it’s just got the best writing and production team (personal lives aside) in Max Martin and ** ****. It had just enough will.i.am, Ina Wroldsen and Darkchild thrown in for good measure. I’m a stereotypical gay to a certain degree, therefore I love the album for its saturation in autotune. The vocal effects are part of Britney’s legacy after all.

It has “I Wanna Go”.

Enough said.

10/10. I’d give it 11 if that wasn’t stupid.

So, it’s over to you now. In which order would you rank Britney’s 9 albums? Let me know in the comments below.

Rolling Back the Rivers in Time: #001 Britney Spears- Femme Fatale

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12 March 2011

What a day to be alive. While I was going through emotional turmoil, what with University work coming out of every orifice, coupled with my OCD manifesting itself in a variety of manners, there was one saving grace: Someone leaked Britney Spears’ new album, the first one since the alleged secret 2nd breakdown in 2010, “Femme Fatale”. I only found out it was the anniversary earlier today, after seeing various posts on my Timehop banging on about how I thought this was her best album since “In The Zone.”

REALLY?!

Has my opinion changed in the 8 years that have passed, to fall in line with that of most Britney stans, that “Femme Fatale” falls short of being in the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Britney albums- 2004’s “In The Zone”, 2016’s “Glory” and, most importantly, the one I ignored this time in 2011, the 2007 hot mess of “Blackout” and all that went on around its creation and such like….?

Well, it’s only more recently, since the highly popularised Bradley Stern and T. Kyle podcast, celebrating 20 Years of Britney (click here to listen), that I’ve really recognised all the shit Britney went through back in 2007 and early 2008. Naturally, I remember it and recall the unfortunate events in everyday conversation with friends who are also Britney stans. But, it’s only been the last few weeks it really hit me how awful all that stuff must have been for her at the time, and I can appreciate why she still isn’t the woman she was (but then who really is the same person they were 12 years ago, eh?)

I hadn’t even considered, prior to listening to the aforementioned podcast, that Britney may have a 2nd breakdown away from the glare of the paps, in the spring of 2010. It would certainly explain how Britney started the year without the desire to dance on point and, ended the year with, not only without the desire to dance on point, but an album of songs autotuned to within its last “woah-oh-oh-oh”, except for “He About To Lose Me”, for which Ina Wroldsen provides the high notes (thanks, Ina). It seems Britney lost her top notes if her Good Morning America promo from March 2011 is anything to go by…

Plus she looked older than my mother!

The album is 16 tracks of perfection. “I Wanna Go” remains my most played song ever, according to my Last FM profile (Last FM link).

Max Martin has been a saviour when it comes to providing the best songs for the best female vocalists, Britney being the most famous of course. He returned to the flock after being completely dismissed by the time “In The Zone” was in production in 2003. He came back at the right time as well. “Circus” contained a bit too much filler and, in hindsight feels like it was thrown together just to keep Britney busy instead of being in the back of an ambulance again. There’d been the moderately successful “The Singles Collection” and “3” released in 2009, to keep the money rolling in in the interim. But, I think without Britney having a tried and tested songwriter/producer at the helm, the album we now know as “Femme Fatale” could have been a marketing disaster.

The most noticeable quality of “Femme Fatale” is its accessability. There’s no grower, it’s all shower. Even, the less ‘bangier’ tracks, like “How I Roll” are so unusual in their structure when placed straight after the mega “I Wanna Go”, you can only listen and think ‘wow, that’s different in a good way’ and want to listen again and again.

“Femme Fatale” served its purpose as an album to keep the money rolling in and to keep the Britney brand selling, while the face of the brand was apparently dealing with her demons for a while yet. In hindsight, and coming to the realisation Britney was clearly the consummate professional when creating “Blackout”, I can understand why the fans want a Part 2. I can therefore understand why many don’t want her to go back to Max, nor Dr. Luke (obviously), when she seemed so disinterested. Personally, I don’t think we should go backwards. Isn’t it our Queen who is “stronger than yesterday” after all?

And whatever happened between the atrocious “Britney Jean”/start of the Vegas residency, and her ability to string a sentence together that consisted of more words than just “cool” and “artsy-fartsy to record the more engaged “Glory” 3 years after, “Femme Fatale” remains her best album ever as far as I’m concerned. Let’s just enjoy the music, celebrate 8 years of “Femme Fatale” and keep on dancing till the world ends.

Listen to “Femme Fatale” here via Spotify

Baby Love: Why is Emma Bunton seemingly the Favourite Spice?

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Hold On To Your Knickers, Girls…BABY GOT BACK!

25 years ago, Emma Lee Bunton joined a girl group called Touch, and was the one who replaced Michelle Stephenson as she didn’t gel with the other 4 members. Emma completed the line-up that would evolve into the Spice Girls. There’s not much point going into what happened between 1994 and 2000, that’s been documented enough!

In 2001, while the biggest girl group of the century quietly split up, Emma was readying the release of her first solo single “What Took You So Long”. The single would hit #1 in the UK, just weeks before Geri Halliwell would have the last solo Spice single to top the charts with her cover of “It’s Raining Men”. Several singles followed from her top 5 album “A Girl Like Me” before the label who’d funded her career since 1995, Virgin Records, unceremoniously dropped her from their roster, along with 2 of her bandmates Melanie B and Melanie C.

Victoria made a promising start with her solo career after she appeared on 2000 hit “Out of Your Mind” with the Truesteppers and Dane Bowers. The single received a ton of publicity after being pitted against Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Groovejet”. It was the latter that would win the chart battle right at the finishing line.

Nevertheless, Victoria’s #2 start with 200,000 sales in week 1, was incredible at the time and, in 2019, would be practically unheard of. Sadly, after she was pitted against Kylie in 2001, with “Not Such An Innocent Girl” being released the same week as the most-played song in the UK ever (according to PRS, if my memory serves me correctly), “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”, it all went sour very quickly. Posh decided to do fashion instead and now she’s rolling in money like a pig in sh*t”.

So, the Spice Girl bubble seemed to have well and truly burst by 2003. The 2 Mels had to spend their own money and release music on their own labels, Mel B’s 2nd solo album sold just enough to make the top 500 in 2005, Geri released one last album with EMI shortly afterwards called “Passion”, which flopped as well. Victoria didn’t even bother after her new label Telstar folded and not even a hit TV show with Goldenballs Beckham in 2003 could help her to the top. But, Emma, good old Emma (even though she is the youngest Spice Girl), kept going with the solo material.

“Free Me” was released under the guidance of her reinstated manager Simon Fuller and his label 19 Records. The album spawned 3 top 20 hits, “Free Me”, “I’ll Be There”, her best solo single “Maybe” and, “Crickets Sing For Anamaria” and the album sold more than her Virgin Records debut. She had adapted a 60s girl-next-door vibe, similar to Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black. The formula worked so well, the label brought out another successful single, a cover of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” in 2006. But that was it. Its parent album “Life in Mono” barely hit the top 75, much like the 2nd single “All I Need To Know”.

It didn’t seem to hurt Emma too much though as, just several months later the unthinkable happened and all 5 Spice Girls announced their reunion tour. The money came in, Baby had a baby and then another one. Next thing she’s on Heart FM presenting with Jamie Theakston, her Top of the Pops pal from their heyday.

Fast forward to 2019. Emma has released her first single in 13 years called “Baby Please Don’t Stop”. The song is reminiscent of the 60s Bond music she was doing before, while also managing to sound a bit like her sole chart-topper to date. So far she has appeared back on Heart to promote the single and, the track has helped generate pre-orders of her 4th solo album “My Happy Place” out in April. At the time of writing, the album is #445 on Amazon’s pop chart, which may not sound very impressive but, it’s not out for another 5 weeks! The album will feature duets with Will Young, Robbie Williams and her fiancé/the father of her children, Jade Jones, formerly of boyband Damage.

Meanwhile, Melanie C has been releasing songs and albums, with diminishing success each time. You know the sort of act where someone will say “I haven’t heard anything from her for ages” although they’ve remained active. Geri has joined a panel of 100 industry insiders to help make singers rich on the BBC show “All Together Now” and married a billionaire motor racing bigwig. Her single “Half of Me”, which she promoted during her stint on the Australian X Factor, sold just a handful of copies in that country, while her George Michael tribute song a couple of years later called “Angels In Chains” flopped just as hard…(a tribute to one of the biggest artists of all time…GEORGE EFFING MICHAEL!!!) Melanie B has been relying on her appearances on Simon Cowell’s talent show panels around the world and her book about her life with that positively vile-sounding ex-husband of her’s to pay her creditors. Her amazing single “For Once In My Life” was a banger and even had a Desperate Housewives-esque video but even this wasn’t enough for the single to register on anyone’s radar.

Victoria…well, we don’t talk about her anymore…JUDAS!

So, what is it Emma Bunton is doing that has people interested in her 2nd comeback attempt, when nobody has been particularly bothered by the others’ music of late? I asked 100 people to name a possible reason for this anomaly (well, about 3 people, including my fellow WordPresser Hannah Brown whose amusing blog A Diary Of A Fat Bird is viewable via this link)…

Emma’s public relationship has always been impeccable. She’s unarguably the least offensive Spice Girl. She’s stayed in the limelight for the right reasons and allowed herself to be humiliated just enough through her appearances on Celebrity Juice, appearing with her celeb pals Keith Lemon/Avid Merrion/Leigh Francis and Holly Willoughby. She’s been successful with her radio stint. Emma has never come across like the fame and fortune has gone to her head and she just seems like a genuinely nice, girl next door type. You’d be happy to take her home to your mother if you were of the right persuasion, she was interested and she wasn’t about to marry Jade. After 20 years being together, that in itself must be a sign she’s not a complete cow.

One other small matter…there’s another Spice Girls tour of the UK this summer. Demand for tickets was that great they increased the number of dates from a cautious 6 to 13, including 3 nights at Wembley Stadium, a venue they last stopped off at on their Spiceworld tour in 1998.

Whatever the reason Emma Bunton has managed to stay relatively successful in music for 23 years, when her bandmates have spectacularly flopped, one thing I can confirm is I’m a 30-something gay who is naturally super excited for a Spicy 2019 and will be investing in the whole shebang!

I know what you’re all wondering now, don’t I?…

….WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BOMB ON THE BUS?!

“Baby Please Don’t Stop” is out to download and stream now.

The album “My Happy Place”, featuring 2 new songs and 8 covers of some of Emma’s favourite songs, is to be released 12 April 2019.

Spice Girls kick off their tour in Dublin in May! Hold tight!

My Record Store Day Ones To Watch

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The history of Record Store Day goes back to 2008, at a time when the vinyl medium for recorded music was reserved for indie snobs and audiophiles who could tell the difference between digital and analogue, preferring the alleged warmth of sound, and flaws that come with the material used to create the discs.

Every April since, Record Store Day has celebrated and, particularly at the time of its inception, provided a lifeline to the vinyl record. 2008 saw sales of mp3s increase exponentially while, the hard copies of records were left to supermarket shoppers and those willing to travel further afield to the last remaining record shops. 11 years later, not only have sales of CDs and downloads collapsed, with Amazon gobbling up every HMV shopper in its midst, the one medium that has skyrocketed in revenues is the vinyl record! So, it’s probably unsurprising that there are more cash-ins from major record labels releasing special editions of massively popular artists’ discography, than at the event’s conception.

I can’t say I’ve been averse to buying the aforementioned cash-in releases, after all I am a pop kid and, as a former radio colleague of mine once said, us pop kids of the 90s/00s golden era of manufactured artists, have been “brainwashed” into what music we like. But, generalising aside (this topic is for a blog posting of its own some day), the records that have piqued my interest/I’ve bought over the last couple of years have included:

Little Mix Glory Days (pink vinyl album)

The Beatles Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever (50th anniversary remix)

Frankie Goes To Hollywood Welcome to the Pleasuredome (singles box set)

ABBA Summer Night City (40th anniversary edition)

Madonna You Can Dance (Japan edition replica)

Madonna Madonna (Japan edition replica)

Although most of the 500 special releases on Saturday 13 April will pass me by here are the ones I’ll be hoping to nab in the 2019 event (subject to price):

Queen Productions Ltd have never been shy to rerelease material featuring the sorely missed Freddie Mercury. Now, a 7″ single of “Bohemian Rhapsody”/”I’m In Love With My Car” is being reissued. The twice-million-seller was recently announced as the most streamed song of the 20th century. The new disc is dual-coloured, featuring the pink and yellow shades used for the promotional fliers and home media covers of the movie. The soundtrack also gets a double picture disc release for Record Store Day as well. I can’t imagine this will be a limited edition though…this is Queen after all.

Steve Bronski and I almost collaborated when he was recording material in the early 2010s. Sadly nothing came of it. If you still want an angelic voice, Steve, drop me a line 😉

The Scottish face of mainstream gay pop in the 80s, along with his once-bandmate Jimmy Somerville, releases a new collection of remixes of Bronski Beat’s pension pot song “Smalltown Boy”.

Sweden has provided most of my favourite artists and/or writers: ABBA, Max Martin, Bloodshy and Avant to name but a few. 2 of my Scandinavian faves have a place on the shelves of the mostly-independently-owned shops eligible to take part in Record Store Day 2019. Robyn releases a 2-LP edition of her 2010 album/3-EP collection “Body Talk”, home of the classic “Dancing On My Own” as well as fan favourites “Call Your Girlfriend”, “Hang With Me” and “Time Machine”(co-written by Martin). Also, Max Martin’s dearly departed colleague from the 90s Denniz Pop’s production “The Sign”, a number 1 in the US for Ace of Base also gets the rerelease treatment.

2019’s replicas of Japanese Madonna EPs are for “True Blue” and “La Isla Bonita”.

Also getting the RSD exposure will be Greatest Hits collections long out of print for the Rolling Stones (Big Hits volumes 1 and 2). Supergrass’ 1999 smash hit “Pumping On Your Stereo” gets a picture disc release and, finally, Status Quo’s 2010 album, once a Tesco exclusive release “Quid Pro Quo”, is out on vinyl as well.

I’d be a hyprocrite if I didn’t say I now bought most of the music I still get hard copies of, from Amazon. However, I still love the bricks and mortar record shop and can spend hours in them, leaving with a nice big bag of goodies. I can’t wait to see what now happens to HMV following its change in fortunes over in Canada, where vinyl is pushed big time. I also love buying from smaller, independent record shops. I will therefore be supporting Record Store Day once more on 13 April 2019. Visit http://www.recordstoreday.com to find out where your nearest participating store is and, to find out what special performances will be going on at each store in celebration.

I give it another 12 months before we get Cassette Day….

No?

Tim’s Top 20 Number 81

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This week’s chart is the post-Brits-effect list, with many of the tracks featured being from artists who featured at last month’s Brit Awards; the main beneficiary being Little Mix.

Following on from the essay I posted last week here on what the future may hold for the group after a lukewarm reception to recent album “LM5”, I gave the album another chance. Now that the hype around rereleased music for Christmas is over (I’m looking at the Carpenters and Queen in particular) I have been able to pay attention to this album once again. Although I still completely get why the album has returned the group back to their pre-Get Weird period in terms of sales, the collection actually has a number of gems, given a few chances. 7 of the songs feature in this week’s top 20, one of which (“Woman Like Me”) is also back in the top 2 after being rereleased with a remix featuring a rap by Ms Banks, reminiscent of the Brits performance.

Little Mix still didn’t quite have enough push to get to number 1 again, however, “Think About Us” has, impressively re-entered the chart at a very high number 4. It would seem last week’s disappearance from the top 20 was an anomoly, which can be partly explained by my reduction in listening to current tracks last week.

Also benefitting from the Brits is George Ezra who, prior to this week, had not featured in any of my charts. This week he has 2 entries!

I gave in my fan club membership after 2009 when it comes to P!nk (minus 2012’s “Blow Me” which was the exception)…it all got a bit too dull for me. “Walk Me Home” is very intriguing to listen to though. I’m still trying to work out what the hell the time signature is! Great, singalong song for the Radio 2 listener, which is no bad thing. This song may have a few weeks’ steam left in it yet as it climbs in its 2nd week on the chart, to number 18.

Calvin Harris’s superstar collaborative performance at the awards has helped the fortunes of “Promises”, which re-enters after a 17-week absence, and “Giant”, which benefits from one of my favourite newbies, Purple Disco Machine, remixing the track to hang around for a 7th week.

The week’s biggest loser, down 17 places and hanging on at #20 is Zedd and Katy Perry’s “365”, which hasn’t lit up any chart except US iTunes for about an hour upon release. It’s likely to have had its run on TT20 as well.

COMING SOON TO TIM’S TOP 20:

Emma Bunton whets the Spice Girls fans’ appetites with a new song called “Baby Please Don’t Stop”, which is ever-so slightly like the spawn of her 2001 UK #1 “What Took You So Long” and, her top 10 hit from her ’60s phase’, “I’ll Be There.” Released last week, this track is likely to enter highly on next week’s chart.

The Ariana tracks have hung around longer than I expected and a lot of the songs, admittedly, are earworms…others not so much… There’s still some life in the music from “Thank U, Next” yet.

The Bohemian Rhapsody movie is out on bluray and DVD next week so, there could be one or two entries back soon from the soundtrack.

Record Store Day is on 13 April and the list looks reasonable. Check out my other post “Got Got Need” with more info on this year’s event. (COMING SOON). Maybe there will be one or two tracks from the special releases make an appearance on the chart in the coming weeks.

Tim’s Top 20 Number 80

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So, Westlife have climbed back up to number 1 to score a 2nd week on top with their comeback single “Hello My Love”. It’s still selling and streaming exceptionally well in the UK, 2 months on from its release. It recently passed its 3-millionth stream on Spotify UK.

It seems my prediction for Avril and Nicki sticking around the top end of the chart for a while was absolute rubbish as it suffers an 8-place drop to #11. This is even more significant given this week was its full week to be streamed.

Little Mix’s presence at the Brit Awards has helped “Woman Like Me” climb for a 4th week, back into the top 5 for the first time in 12 weeks. The track is also this week’s longest-staying song on the chart.

Let’s attempt a few predictions for next week’s chart, for what its worth…

Marina will continue climbing with her earworm song “Handmade Heaven”, Kelly Clarkson will climb yet again following another remix of “Heat” being released this week. Also, I think “Woman Like Me” will climb once more following the release of its Ms Banks version and remix by Da Beatfreekz.

#LM6? What’s Next For Little Mix?

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They were the darlings of the Brit Awards 2019. Following a controversial performance of “Woman Like Me” where Jesy nearly got her tuppence out on national telly, managing not to mis-step during the awkward-as-hell, but equally hilarious, interview with show host Jack Whitehall, and THEN going on to win the “Best Video” category, with the aforementioned song, they had a decent night.

The award could have been for “Best Hair” for all it mattered as this award was, essentially a fan vote, based on who could get the most hash tags on Twitter. It would seem the Mixers (the fans) are a devoted bunch of girls and gays.

So what happened to all those people who got off the bus between their biggest era to date, the “Glory Days” album campaign, and this, the “LM5″/leaving Simon Cowell phase?

In summer 2018, following another successful tour, Little Mix were the featured vocalists on Cheat Codes’ most recent hit “Only You”. Formulaic, plinky-plonky EDM-lite for the Capital Radio listener to lap up. Even that wasn’t enough to reach the top 10 in the UK. The last time the girls were linked to a single, unavailable on any album, was when they teamed up with CNCO for a revocalised version of the Latin American boyband’s record-breaking smash, “(Bailamos) Reggaeton Lento”. This song, released in the UK just 8 months prior, smashed into the top 5 and helped propel (a 4th edition of) the 4th Mix album, over the million sales barrier, something they’d not achieved before.

Go further back and, Little Mix could have been as musically credible as Girls Aloud once were when they were released from the X Factor(y), by unleashing songs which bucked the trend time and time again: “Wings” (UK #1 in 2012), “DNA” (UK top 3 hit), “Move” (UK top 3 smash in 2013). The first 2 albums, “DNA” and “Salute” weren’t particularly big sellers- they sold well, don’t get me wrong, about 1 million globally between the pair of them. The music was well crafted as well as the injection British pop needed in the first half of this decade.

Rather than continue down the precarious route of music snobbery and turning into the NME’s bum chums, someone saved the group from Simon’s free-swinging axe, by giving them “Black Magic”. The song was the soundtrack to the summer of 2015 even though it had more than a whiff of 80s throwback to it. Being so backward-thinking was a pretty radical move. This song helped turn the group from fair-to-middling chart touchers to ring-shitters round every girl group since the Spice Girls 15 years before them.

2016 and 2017 saw Little Mix become Simon Cowell’s biggest act at the time and with it came a deluge of singles featuring tagged-on rent-a-rappers including Machine Gun Kelly, Stormzy and Kid Ink. Was this Syco’s attempt to break the group into the American market after the almost-but-not-quite attempt a few years before? Well, it didn’t work and the Mixers started to get a bit fed up of it. The Twitterati began to question whether the group would ever release a single on their own again?

So when “Only You” was the first new single in a while, there was a lot of anticipation. What a disappointment it turned out to be. Where was the bombast and sass that made Little Mix trail blazers? OK, so no act gets a 100% strike rate. (“Headlines” anyone?) Let’s see what happens when NICKI MINAJ is featured on the first single proper from “LM5”. Nicki can be the icing on most pop singles if she’s affixed somewhere in the proceedings. “Woman Like Me” was the start of Little Mix’s Year of the Woman campaign, aka the LM5 era. After the success of the last few ‘first’ singles from their albums, there was expectation for this song to blow everything before it out the park.

Instead, the song didn’t hit the top spot and 4 months on from its release, its UK Spotify streams aren’t as stratospheric as those LM songs before it. Never mind, the album will rectify this surely? The answer was a resounding “no”. Upon release, the album sold 50,000 copies in week 1, reaching number 3 in the UK, before falling out of the top 10 within a fortnight! “LM5” has now been out for 3 months, with a moderately successful first single proper and 3 promo singles which went OK. “Strip” was the biggest hit of the promo tracks, hitting the top 30 for a week. Not bad, but, in a market full of ladies promoting stripping back to basics, including the massive Christmas hit “Thursday” by Jess Glynne (who, coincidentally or not, co-wrote “Woman Like Me” and shares certain lyrics on this song with “Strip”) it feels like the track didn’t go on to become the runaway hit the record label hoped (the fact a video was made for it as well suggests there was an attempt to push this all the way). Again, something didn’t quite connect with the general public.

2nd single “Think About Us” has yet to even enter the UK top 20, even with a feature from Ty Dolla Sign, who helped make fellow X Factor group Fifth Harmony score their biggest hit with “Work From Home” 3 years earlier. The album has struggled past the 100,000 sales mark in the UK which is pretty awful for their standards and is so far their worst seller by a mile. Now the Christmas market has long died, which they relied on for the last 7 years to hit the massive sales, it’s not looking good. Is this the reason Simon split with the girls? He jumped as soon as he could see the Little Mix ship was sailing.

The group have stated that “LM5” is the album they always wanted to make. Maybe, too much input from the girls is the reason they’ve disconnected somewhat. Manufactured groups who go from having everything mapped out for them to trying to do it their way hardly ever works very well (examples: Spice Girls ditching their manager which undoubtedly helped Geri think she’d be better to leave, STEPS going for a more grown-up sound in 2001, Girls Aloud doing a song without Xenomania?!?!) Perhaps poorer ratings for The X Factor in 2018 and their absence from the series finale, which they were usually the star performers in these shows, meant too few people in their target audience were watching what they were doing.

Here are my predictions for what will happen next for Little Mix:

Once the campaign for this album has dried up (which I fear will happen sooner than anyone had hoped during its creation), they will announce an “hiatus” upon completion of their Autumn tour, for which tickets luckily went on sale before anyone could get used to LM5 (or not as the case seems to be). I would hope that the girls realise from history, that going solo probably won’t work out and they still need each other to be successful. So, they could return in 2021 for a 10th anniversary celebration and bring out an album free of featured rent-a-rappers, with a sound reminiscent of their “Get Weird” collection. Maybe they could do an Olly Murs and tag on a 2nd CD with their greatest hits.

I really hope Little Mix don’t quit altogether because the coins aren’t coming in as vast an amount. I don’t think they’ll be able to pull off enough of a credible facade to reclaim their former glory days without the power of the Syco machine chugging along in the background…especially when the music isn’t quite there either.