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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Mini-Reviews

  • Infatueighties #73: Squeeze’s “Tempted”

    Infatueighties #73: Squeeze’s “Tempted”

    Squeeze Tempted Album CoverI discovered Tempted in 1994. As someone who was not listening to college radio in 1981 (cut me some slack, I was five), the only Squeeze I’d heard was (what I believe was) their lone Top 40 hit, 1987’s Hourglass. So, if I can thank the Reality Bites soundtrack for anything at all, it would be for introducing me to the greatness that is this song.

    Ever listen to a song and have a nagging suspicion that “this voice sounds familiar but I just can’t place it”? Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that the voice behind this song (most of it, anyway) was Paul Carrack, who scored a handful of hits as a solo artist (Don’t Shed a Tear almost made this list), in addition to being the lead singer of Seventies one hit wonders Ace (How Long) and the Genesis side project Mike & the Mechanics. The guy gets around, yeah?

    His soulful delivery, combined with the superior storytelling skills of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook and the production of Elvis Costello (who knew?) has made Tempted a modern-day classic, even though it never hit the Top 40 on the American pop charts (wow, that was a run-on sentence).

    As a bonus, here’s the video for How Long, which would have made it pretty high if there was an Infatu-seventies column. Hmmm, that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well.

  • Infatueighties: #78: “Only You” by Yaz

    Infatueighties: #78: “Only You” by Yaz

    I’m sure this wasn’t just me. Did anyone else think Alison Moyet was a guy upon listening to Yaz’s 1982 album “Upstairs at Eric’s”. Moyet was blessed with Yaz Upstairs at Eric's Coverquite possibly the most androgynous voice of all-time. What’s up with British singers and androgynous voices anyway? Boy George? Annie Lennox? Geez. There must be something in the water across the pond.

    Anyone who considers synth-pop emotionless has obviously never heard Moyet sing her ass off on “Upstairs at Eric’s”, the first of two collaborations between her and Depeche Mode founder (and future member of Erasure with yet another androgynous singer in Andy Bell) Vince Clarke. The collection of songs on “Eric’s” contains enough drama to have any petulant schoolgirl singing in her hairbrush for months on end. “Only You”, the album’s only real ballad, brings that sense of drama to a majestic climax. Despite the wall of synthesizers, the only thing that really matters is the melancholy of Moyet’s voice. She could be singing this acapella and the song would be as emotional.

    Despite Yaz and “Eric’s”‘ lack of mainstream attention upon its’ 1982 release, both the album and “Only You” have become cult classics over time. The song’s been covered by everyone from Rita Coolidge to Enrique Iglesias, while it’s also popped up in several movies and commercials over the years. Still, it’s unlikely that anyone will come close to the soulful longing as portrayed by Moyet in the song’s original version.

  • Single Life: Nickelback, Brandy, Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent

    Nickelback “Gotta Be Somebody”

    Surprise-I’m not a Nickelback hater. I can think of 4 or 5 songs by them worthy of appearing on my iPod. Not sure if this is one of ’em though. Chad and company have flirted with a poppier, dancier sound before-I mean, Chad’s Santana duet from last year was pretty much a dance record. This song definitely has “hit single” written all over it. Unfortunately, it’s not that “wow, this is catchy” hit single vibe, it’s more of that cold, calculated hit single vibe. Plus, I wish Chad Kroeger didn’t always sound like he was straining on the toilet. Grade: C


    Brandy “Right Here (Departed)

    Guess what? Brandy’s back! Hey, if her talentless little brother can score a Top 5 hit in ’08, why can’t she? This song reunites her with Rodney Jerkins, who produced “The Boy is Mine” and several other Brandy hits, and it does have a little of that “Boy is Mine” bounce. Brandy’s voice sounds stronger than ever, and she looks good in the video, too. Going with the inspirational theme of the song, the clip shows Brandy as sort of a healing angel. It’s pretty interesting, and the song is solid enough to make some noise, although I don’t know if it’s “hood” enough for urban radio. Grade: B+

    Fall Out Boy “I Don’t Care”

    I could spend hours watching this video. Say what you want about Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz, but these guys know how to write a hook AND they know how to make a video. Although “I Don’t Care” sounds a little too much like Pink’s “So What” for my tastes, the video elevates it from a catchy yet derivative tune into a concentrated pile of awesome. Check out cameos from the likes of Pharrell Williams (who will appear in YOUR video for 50 cents and a lollipop), Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, and others, and watch out for an ending that should elicit at least a snicker. Grade: Video: A; Single: B

    50 Cent “Get Up”
    Not that it surprises me or anything, but our man Fiddy is suffering from severe artistic arrested development. “Get Up” is catchy yeah, but Curtis has been down this road with both “In Da Club” and “Disco Inferno”. This sounds like a Dre production-can’t tell whether it is, but it’s in the same vein as Dre’s seriously lukewarm production over the past two or three years (see-Jay-Z’s “Kingdom Come”). If you really want to know the difference between 50 Cent and Kanye West (even if you don’t like their music), Kanye goes out of his way to push the envelope, while 50 is content to recycle the same hitmaking formula over and over, thinking it will bring forth the same return. Grade: C-