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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Mini-Reviews

  • 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-

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #92: “Christmas Wrapping”

    The Infatueighties Countdown: #92: “Christmas Wrapping”

    Waitresses Christmas Wrapping
    The cover of the Christmas Wrapping 45 by The Waitresses

    I’m not sure if this was a New York thing, but starting when I was 10 or 11, I would hear “Christmas Wrapping” on the radio constantly. For a long while, I wondered “Hmmm, where can I get that Blondie Christmas record?”, since the deadpan vocals of Patty Donohue matched the somewhat bored tones of Deborah Harry-at least to my ears.

    Wasn’t till about maybe ten years later until I found out the song wasn’t performed by Blondie after all. Talking to a friend about something or other, they casually mentioned that the chick who played bass on “The Rosie O’ Donnell Show” used to play for The Waitresses. “Who the hell are the Waitresses?”, I asked. My friend mentioned “I Know What Boys Like” and “Square Pegs”, both of which I was vaguely aware of, and then proceeded to sing a few bars of “Christmas Wrapping” to me.

    “You mean that’s not Blondie?”

    I’m pretty sure I had a copy of “The Best of The Waitresses” within a week (might have even been within a day, seeing as I was working at a record store at the time).

    Anyhow, the bassist’s name was Tracy Wormworth, the guy that formed and led the band was named Chris Butler, the singer (as mentioned before) was Patty Donohue (since sadly departed), and The Waitresses were one of the most underrated bands of the decade, as I retroactively discovered.

    Despite the sarcastic edge usually displayed on Waitresses songs, “Christmas Wrapping” is actually fairly sweet from a lyrical standpoint. The song’s protagonist is a single woman whose plans to meet up with a guy she met in a ski shop keeps hitting snags. Resigned to spending the holidays alone, she heads out to A&P to pick up some cranberries, and lo and behold, there’s her guy. By some strange twist of fate, wouldn’t ya know it, he forgot cranberries too!

    Supreme storytelling aside, this song is also easily one of the most festive holiday songs ever recorded. It’s certainly one of the most danceable, and the horns blasting on every chorus (and on the song’s bridge) are certain to inspire intoxicated dancing around the Christmas tree.

    Way better than “Do You Know It’s Christmas” and “Last Christmas” (the only two songs that would even be close in contention as the best holiday song of the Eighties), “Christmas Wrapping” is the alpha and omega of festive holiday cheer…and it’s even survived a horrid Spice Girls cover.

    And here’s the “I Know What Boys Like” video:

  • Albums Worth Reconsidering: “Garth Brooks in the Life of…Chris Gaines”

    Hey, I’ll be the first to admit that the setup of this album was way beyond wacky. Chris Gaines was a fictional character that country star Garth Brooks was to play in a film called “The Lamb”. The character of Gaines was born in America to Australian parents, formed a band called Crush out of high school. As soon Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines Greatest Hitsas Crush becomes big, one of the members dies in a plane crash. After a period of seclusion, Gaines re-emerges as a pop superstar, scoring huge #1 albums and winning Grammys. At some point, Gaines gets into a horrific car accident and has to undergo extensive plastic surgery, after which he unveils a new, soul-influenced sound and picks up right where he left off in terms of success. This album was supposed to serve as a “pre-soundtrack” to the album, a collection of Gaines’ greatest hits. If you have finished reading all of this and you still have a straight face, you’re a better person than I.

    Another school of thought is that this was an elaborate scheme cooked up by Brooks and his people to give the biggest country star in the world (and for those who can’t remember, Garth Brooks has sold more records than any solo artist in history, according to the RIAA) to jump into the pop/rock arena like a Shania Twain without sacrificing his country audience. Whatever reason this character was cooked up for, the fact is that “The Lamb” never got made, and Brooks suffered the first “flop” of his career with this album (although it’s still certified double platinum). Copies of this album line cutout bins nationwide. However, I’m here to tell you: it’s nowhere near as bad as the silly movie premise and the so-so sales would have you believe.

    I’m not sure if this was done on purpose or out of naivete on Brooks’ part, but for such an edgy looking and acting “rocker”, the music on this “soundtrack” is middle of the road adult contemporary pop with no edge at all. Not that there’s anything wrong with it-there are plenty of folks who do adult contemporary quite well! First single “Lost in You” is a soulful acoustic ballad-if it reminds you of Eric Clapton’s “Change the World”, it’s because songwriter Tommy Sims had a hand in both songs. It also highlights Brooks’ uncanny vocal resemblance to Kenny Loggins. “It Don’t Matter to the Sun” is an emotional country-tinged ballad. “Driftin’ Away”, the album’s best track, could have easily been covered by a Brian McKnight or Babyface type and turned into a huge R&B hit-I imagine that the reason Brooks sang the living shit out of this song is that he could relate to the disintegrating relationship-themed lyrics. The wistful “Maybe” has more than a hint of Beatles influence and features Brooks singing in a pretty falsetto. I mean, most of the mid- or down-tempo songs on this album are honestly pretty damn good.

    Granted, there are a couple of embarrassments to be found here. “Unsigned Letter” is a bald-faced rewrite of The Wallflowers’ “One Headlight” that’s beyond obvious, and songs like “Way of the Girl” and “Snow in July” are inoffensive pieces of pop/rock that are so lightweight you forget about them as soon as the songs go off. Then there’s “Right Now”, which finds Brooks/Gaines speak-rapping about a litany of political and social issues and then jumping into The Youngbloods’ classic “Get Together” for the chorus. While “Lost in You” became a Top 5 hit (Garth’s only Top 20 hit on the pop singles chart EVER), “Right Now” was the project-killer. Radio and video had absolutely no idea what to do with the song, which is a shame, because while it’s certainly strange (and it’s strangeness is due less to the song and more to the person singing it), it’s not a bad record.

    There was very little contemporary about this album, and I honestly think that the major disconnect was Gaines’ wild-haired, mysterious “image” not really making sense after you hear the album and realize that it’s just a slightly more pop-oriented (well, more like adult-contemporary oriented) Garth Brooks album. This was actually the first album of Garth’s that I ever owned, and I enjoyed it enough that I went back and bought a handful of his country albums. I’ve gotta admit, I still like this one better! Had Garth tossed aside the fictional character and the backstory, I don’t know that the backlash would have been as severe. But I guess we’ll never know…