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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Mini-Reviews

  • Out There!- “It’s Christmas (All Over The World)” by Sheena Easton

    Guess who’s back, back again!  Mikey’s back, tell your friends.  I apologize for being gone for two weeks, but I’m now back to spread some joy and expose you all to some more obscure gems that shouldn’t be ignored.

    Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s now that time again; the time when every time you turn on the radio and all you hear is Christmas music.  Even though I’m a Jew, I have a soft spot in my heart for a good Christmas melody, but I can’t tolerate listening to the same 25 songs over and over again.  You know the ones (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Bruce Springsteen, Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses, Last Christmas by Wham! , and Jingle Bell Rock by The Singing Dogs just to name a few).  There is one particular pop song about Christmas that you will never hear, even though it’s sung by a relevant musician and the song has a terrific melody.  This tune I’m about to unleash on you is the key song from the infamous Santa Claus: The Movie (a movie of which I am honest in revealing that I’ve never seen nor have the desire to).  It’s Christmas (All Over The World) sung by Sheena Easton.  The producers probably figured that if Sheena Easton could score with a hit song from a movie in 1983 (For Your Eyes Only), why not try and get her to contribute another movie classic.  Anybody out there know this great song?

    I have to give credit to my pal Jim for bringing this song to my attention about three years ago.  I had never seen the Santa Claus movie as a kid because my mom preached to me about not being excited about anything relating to Christmas.  I didn’t know about this song until my buddy gave it to me because he was shocked I didn’t have it in my collection.  Upon listening to it over and over again, I began to love it!  It’s a 5 star song, and is my personal #1 Christmas tune.  The song was never released as a single, although that shouldn’t mean that we can’t hear it in the same rotation as the plethora of other Christmas tunes.  It really irritates me that radio stations are too shallow and can’t think outside the box to expose us to different Christmas songs.  Perhaps if Rihanna covered this song, we’d be able to enjoy the great melody while stuck in traffic on a snowy December morning?  As for adding it to your collection, it’s tough but doable!  The 1985 soundtrack has been out of print for years, and it’s a not a song you can find on a Christmas compilation album.  People, we have been given a gift, and that gift is Peer To Peer!!!  You shouldn’t have a problem downloading on a P2P network!

    What’s great about the song is that it is totally 80s-sounding, but has a powerful chorus that could cause many Jews and Muslims to want to convert and celebrate Christmas  Come to think of it, I’m going to listen to the song right now and prepare myself for another winter filled with commercialism, Christmas  pop culture countdown shows, and tons of Santa Claus sightings in malls.


  • 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.