THE TOP 31 LP’S OF ’11 > #7. M83 – HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING

Posted by Adem on Feb 2, 2012 in Albums of the Year 2011, M83 | 0 comments

#7. M83 – HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING

Although it’s too early to tell if Anthony Gonzalez has trumped himself with this, his bands sixth studio effort Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, it’s evident at least from the get-go that it’s a spectacle of intricate sounds and shoegaze fusings. A twin-disc set of songs that weld the forces of breezy, synthy and nostalgic pop heard on their last album Saturdays = Youth, while implementing the kind of ambient sounds heard across the bands second and third albums, particularly the mostly great Before The Dawn Heals Us. It may be a surprise then to hear that the record was heavily inspired by the legendary Smashing Pumpkins double-album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, but don’t hold that against them. In all seriousness though, there are some bizarrely great parallels between the two albums – disc one’s mood is incredibly different to disc two’s, for example – in the sense that there isn’t a single shit song across the entire two disc set. Most artists can’t even get one disc right in today’s climate.

A particularly happy medium through the album, M83 take elements of everything that has made them one of the more worthy ‘tastemaker’ acts and turned what they know into a fresh, often spacey adventure that also makes you simulateneously feel like you’ve been here before. Gonzalez has this incredible knack not only for pristine production but also with the way he adds his fairly unique signature upon each of his songs, and that signature is spread-eagled across on Dreaming. Something as fully-loaded as the John Hughes-driven “Reunion” shows hints of Noblesse Oblige thanks to the vocal stylings of Morgan Kibby, whilst giving you that huge, stadium-ready synth-rock finish the band are renowned for. “New Map” is all gazey before paying homage to Burt Bacharach, “Soon, My Friend” is one of the sadder, more darker but musically beautiful tracks on the record, but it’s the nitty-gritty of that operatic shoegaze approach M83 nail so well in “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea” that, without any vocals, transcends you exactly to where Gonzalez wants the song to take you.

Hurry Up‘s two biggest explosions come in the form of magnetic single “Midnight City” and the straight-forwardly titled “Outro.” Midnight City fronted this albums campaign as its first single and remains one of the Top 3 songs of 2011 – the undeniable magic of an M83 tune meshed together with the years best sax solo in pop is hard to fault. It delivers enough shade through the verses so that things are all the more heightened once the extravagant heights of that almighty saxophone barricade through. There’s a somewhat melancholic message within the lyrics – if you can understand them, that is – but that final sax solo is what this album is all about; there’s enough emotion in the tracks final few seconds that you don’t even need lyrics. M83 serve a death-defying finish on almost every track here. Not many acts in what I’d call the alternative spectrum inspired me much in 2011 but M83′s efforts are (and always have been) light-years ahead of most alternative programing across radio stations globally.

Midnight City have have given serious bang for your buck but when talking death-defying finishes, it’s perhaps Gonzalez’s most complex and delicate production Outro – a slow burner that builds quietly into this sonic, operatic explosion of shoegaze appreciation, that details itself as being his finest, most refined piece of work. Violins and vocals that erupt into such a finale you feel like someone you know has just died, emotion brought on with the simplest of melodies. It’s incredibly powerful and one of the most admirable ways to close any album.

The thing that grabbed me the most about this record was that during interviews, Gonzalez dedicated the album to himself and his 30 years of life, describing the record as primarily being one that was “mainly about dreams, how every one is different, how you dream differently when you’re a kid, a teenager, or an adult.” There was something that resonated about the whole package of it all; Gonzalez’s comments regarding the album and how the album actually sounds, that made “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” one of my continuous go-to albums throughout 2011.

So yes, perhaps it IS too early to say if Gonzalez has trumped himself just yet with “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”, but it’s not too early to say this is definitely his most bold, daring and experimental (yet undeniably pop) record to date. As I said earlier, putting out a double disc is almost always a recipe for disaster. But, for M83, it’s a piece of the sweetest angel cake you’ve ever tasted.

Frida’s 10 best faces in the “Head Over Heels” video.

Posted by Adem on Jan 26, 2012 in ABBA | 1 comment

The ABBA #hottest100 – It’s Top 20 Time!

Posted by Adem on Jan 26, 2012 in ABBA | 0 comments

Thanks to a lack of Interets at my house for almost five weeks now, I’ve been unable to finish everything; Top 10 albums, the Top 100 which I was supposed to announce today – thank you Telstra BigPond :/ – but that hasn’t stopped me from launching another Hottest100.

As some of you may know, Australia’s “Youth” radio station Triple J is running its annually rigged run “Hottest 100″ on this very afternoon that is NOT going to feature anything by Selena Gomez. It is also Australia Day. In lieu of Triple J’s awful countdown, via iTunes and my iPod I have dedicated myself to The Hottest 100 ABBA songs, in no particular order. However, now as I am fast approaching almost listened to 90 ABBA songs for the afternoon, I guess it’s only fitting I announce some kind of Top 10, right? No, how about a Top 20? Yes, yes that’ll be fine.

I have been in major ABBA mode for just over a week now and the news that their greatest album, The Visitors (also their final album), is being rereleased as a deluxe edition, fully-loaded with bonuses plus a never before released song – AND all on April the 23rd – my birthday! – it’s all just been too much and I’ve been listening to so much ABBA I’ve considered changing my name to Muriel Heslop.

Anyway, I actually probably COULD have done a full 100 list of ABBA songs but that can be a project I can expand on at perhaps a later date.

ABBA are my favourite group of all time; they were my Beatles. I grew up in a house that worshiped ABBA and their involvement in the person I am today is as big as Madonna’s.

Believe me when I say, I’ve been at my mates place working on this list for the last couple of hours – leeching his Internets, and it was incredibly hard to narrow down the 20 best ABBA songs. You may think I’ve excluded your favourite, but know that it was considered because there’s no such thing as a bad ABBA song.

Well, maybe except for “Rock Me.” And those asking for “S.O.S.”, “Waterloo”, “Thank You For The Music” and “Dancing Queen”? Numbers 21, 22, 23 and 24.

20. HEAD OVER HEELS

An incredible song with what could be Frida’s finest video clip effort. I might actually do a post a bit later on the 10 best Frida-Faces from this video; such a hoot! Props must also go to the video for “Chiquitita”, when Frida tries incredibly hard not to laugh every time the wind blows the same piece of hair into her face as she’s trying to sing.

19. WHEN I KISSED THE TEACHER 

Keep an eye out for the moment Frida writes “I am a comic genius” down in her notebook.

18. ONE OF US

The best bit in the whole clip is when Agnetha is painting her walls Yellow AND IS WEARING ALL YELLOW. And also too, Legendfrida’s stunning headband and do-up.

17.  THAT’S ME

“Are you suuuuuuuuuuurrrrre, you wanna hear morrrrrrrrrre?” Yes girls, yes.

16. DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW?

That intro remians ABBA’s best. Once you get over the fact it’s not Agnetha or Frida on lead vocals you realise this is a cracking choon with one of their most infectious choruses.

15. THE VISITORS (CRACKIN’ UP)

ABBA so-ahead-of-their-time with this corker – and so late in their career. “I have been waiting for these vi-si-torrrrs.”

14. EAGLE

Nobody has nailed harmonisation as well as ABBA, and “Eagle” is one of their most defining harmonies.

13. FERNANDO

I remember my parents telling me stories of this song being at Number One for so long in Australia that Countdown, the Australian music TV series (like TOTP) at the time, refused to play it in the final weeks it was there. This single sat at Number 1 in Australia for fourteen weeks and it’s not hard to see why.

12. ON & ON & ON (EXTENDED VERSION)

It’s ALL about that extra verse. Some of my favourite ABBA lyrics in general through this song.

11. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

One of the earliest ABBA songs I can remember hearing from my childhood, my parents owned the 7″ vinyl and I played that bitch TO. DEATH. The thing about this song – and I’ve said this before already about another of their songs – is that it was so hugely ahead of its time. That bonkers disco bassline teamed with the cabaret stylings of a bar in Berlin is better than anything on the radio now.

10. KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU

Hugely deserving, one of their mightiest choruses. The Matt Pop Mix is bloody remarkable too.

09. UNDER ATTACK

Their last music video (but not their last recording), “Under Attack” is ceiling-to-floor amazing, and anybody who says it isn’t worthy of being in the ABBA Top 10 can just bloody well exit stage right.

08. GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! (A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT)

Whilst Madonna may have made it all about that riff, the biggest beacon of light on ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” is no doubt that insanely good breakdown. One of the absolute greatest fucking songs of all time. “Tired of TV; I open the window and I gaze into the light, but there’s nothing left to see, no one in sight. There’s not a soul out there… no one to hear my prayer.” A disco sensation that remains as poignant now as it was when first released. Stormingly good.

07. SUPER TROUPER

Contains what I’ve always thought was (somewhat deceptively) depressing – and maybe their most – lines ever; “All I do is eat and sleep and sing, wishing every show was the last show,” and “Beams are gonna blind me, but I won’t feel blue, like I always do, coz somewhere in the crowd is you.” Amazing

06. ARRIVAL

The only song in the world with no lyrics that can reduce me to tears – and I’m not just talking a few streams here and there either, I’m like a Greek Nonna at a funeral when I hear this. Speaking of which, this is totally my funeral jam. The Matt Pop remix is, once again, a thing of true beauty.

05. SUMMER NIGHT CITY (FULL VERSION)

That gorgeously deceiving intro gets you before pulsating into one of their tightest disco explosions. An underrated GEM.

04. VOULEZ-VOUS (EXTENDED REMIX)

Do a search for the extended version; I’ve included the original clip in the YouTube link above but the Extended Version is where it’s at. Once again ABBA slam it down with one of the most defining disco breakdowns of the era. A proper fucking explosion of a song.

03. WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE

My favourite song from my favourite ABBA album “The Visitors’, which detailed the divorce of Frida and Benny. Another one of those songs I can’t listen to without welling up; incredibly personal and radically moving.

02. THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL

And speaking of divorce, this is the moment in ABBA’s defining back catalog that detailed the divorce of Agnetha and Bjorn. There is no show-down like the final show-down in “The Winner Takes It All.” None.

01. THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME 

Of every ABBA song, none rips me apart like Agnetha-lead “The Day Before You Came.” The story goes that this was the final time the band ever recorded together, and Agnetha sang the entire song with every light in the studio switched off – complete darkness. It adds an intense sadness to this song; not that it isn’t an intensely sad song already. The lyrics of a woman going over the mundane and routine grind of her life… the day before you came. Perhaps not so sad for some but it’s all in the interpretation, and mine has always been that when he came, she finally found happiness, even though she’d no idea she was living without it for so long. The sadness in Agnetha’s voice in this – not only feeling the lyrics but obviously feeling the very end of ABBA as she sung each line – is what makes this such an understated classic. “I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half-past-two, and at the time I never even noticed I was blue. I must’ve kept on dragging through the business of the day, without really knowing anything I hid a part of me away.” But there isn’t a line in this song that doesn’t shoot through my spine and up my neck, producing full-body-goosebumps. It would be typical that the greatest ABBA song recorded would be their last – right when they were at their most experimental, most intelligent and most broken, they go and call it a day. The Matt Pop remix – introduced to me by @ANTmusik on Twitter – is one of the greatest remixes of all time as well.

Eight extraordinary albums, countless tributes, timeless tracks, and this year marks 40 years since ABBA came into our lives and changed them forever. And in fourty years time from now people will still be thanking ABBA for the music.

 

 

 

THE TOP 31 LP’S OF ’11 > #8. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR – MAKE A SCENE

Posted by Adem on Jan 10, 2012 in Albums of the Year 2011, Sophie Ellis-Bextor | 1 comment

#8. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR – MAKE A SCENE

Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s fourth studio album was somewhat of a drawn-out process but, as the overused music cliche goes, it was a process worth waiting for. “Make A Scene” may feature songs that hark back to 2008, however the strength in how new all of the older songs still sound is a testament to how classy this record of whimsical, driving and sometimes insane electropop really is.

Sophie is usually at her best when she’s throwing everything atop a thumping yet melancholic disco beat and Make A Scene is chock-full of these defining moments. The brilliant “Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)” – which you may remember was only beat-out of the #1 placing in my 2010 Song of The Year list by Gaga’s “Bad Romance” – and the gravity-defying “Bittersweet” (both courtesy production-wise of the Freemasons) are each classic examples of the full-throttle, crying-at-the-discotheque special that Sophie serves better than anybody else. Four albums in, Bextor has shown a stronger dedication to being The Queen of Clubs than the reigning Queen of Clubs, Dannii Minogue. In fact, Sophie’s even found herself echoing through the sound systems of raves across the world with the Armin Van Buuren collaboration “Not Giving Up On Love”, a truly momentous excursion into lovely, proper-banging (but always melancholic) vocal trance.  There’s also her Junior Caldera collab “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, a thrusting love-song for the club with more depth and personality than any of the songs about being in ‘da club’ from 2011. SEB has mastered the art of blending world-thundering pop with spiky dance floor beats and it spreads like wildfire – and possibly stronger than before – throughout the flawless Make A Scene.

Roisin Murphy and Calvin Harris‘ aborted production for Murphy’s Overpowered long-player from 2007 “Off & On” plays out as if it was Sophie’s song all along, proving Murphy correct when she initially decided against using the song for her own record. It was great in its original demo form with Roisin’s vocals but this song now belongs to Bextor, no question. Pay particular attention to the frenetic ending; a true treasure. Whilst the sad-disco we all love from Soph gets enough mileage across Make A Scene, radio-ready 80′s electropop monsters like the life-affirming “Starlight” and “Magic” – both Richard X slabs – or the iconic party chunks of “Under Your Touch” and the dizzily-fun “Dial My Number”, also make an appearance, the latter complete with a chorus ripped right out of the Read My Lips era.

Some people have argued throughout 2011 that Sophie hasn’t challenged herself or pushed any boundaries this time around. This is something I would strongly debate; Sophie’s most incredible, experimental and forward-thinking moment in all of her career serves as the title track on this stellar album. The Metronomy/Future Cut produced number “Make A Scene” is an exciting foray into bizarre but sickeningly-catchy pop music. The use of the now signature loop of Metronomy’s beloved Melodica adds the perfect amount of magic to the proceedings as the song celebratorily smashes along, misplaced-thud-meets-melodica-horn to create the right element of chaos in which the songs lyrics are illustrating. “Come one now let’s make  a scene,” she demands in the chorus. “Be Queen & King and King & Queen / Swing from the chandelier / Let’s make a scene!” Its cheeky and deviant nature plays to the musical backdrops advantage; particularly with the balearic show-down of that bloody Melodica in the tracks final, climactic minute. A breathtaking moment that will criminally remain unreleased as a single and unheard by most. Which is a shame because if this track had been done by some Indie Darling it would be all over radio and received its more-than-deserved accolades. It may not be much, but I will be showing the song ‘a good time’ (so to speak) when I write about it in my Top 10 Songs of the Year later this month.

The Greg Kurstin produced opener “Revolution” and the bonkers “Homewrecker” are A+ floor-fillers, but its the simplicity, drama and total beauty of a Sophie Ellis-Bextor ballad that serves as Make A Scene’s show-stopping, jaw-dropper moment. Stunningly depressing, the flaming torch of album closer “Cut Straight To The Heart” may even be Sophie’s finest ballad and that is bloody saying something. Ed Harcourt makes an appearance as co-producer on this heart-wrencher along with Dimitri Tikovi, taking Bextor’s voice into huskier territory not heard so strongly since her theaudience days. MAJOR.

Make A Scene is a strong step in the right direction from Sophie, and in 10 years when she releases Album Number 5 I hope she goes back to the likes of Metronomy, Ed Harcourt and Richard X for the bulk of it. Five cuts with Metronomy, Two with Ed, Two with X and fill in the blanks with dance stompers (Freemasons). Even though it may not be commercially so, the formula she has going with Make A Scene is her most inspired so far, and it’s a crying shame this album isn’t sitting in more CD collections.

THE TOP 31 LP’S OF ’11 > #9. RIHANNA – TALK THAT TALK

Posted by Adem on Dec 27, 2011 in Albums of the Year 2011, Rihanna | 0 comments

#9. RIHANNA – TALK THAT TALK

I’ve always been a casual fan of Rihanna‘s over the years but aside from Good Girl Gone Bad, I’d never really gone on record as saying I enjoyed any of her albums. A firm believer that my favourite Rihanna album would be one released in the future titled “Greatest Hits”, I wrote Rated R off as a tragic mess.  But in hindsight it was actually not only quite ahead of its time but also her greatest album. Then there’s last years Loud which admittedly did not resonate with me until earlier this year. And if you’re going to ask me about the first two albums all I’m going to say is that I am only here for their singles, nothing more. But Rihanna’s actions as a pop star – everything from ordering a Fillet-o-Fish burger from a McDonald’s drive-thru by foot, to the way she engages in interviews – these things have always interested me and with a huge revelation like “We Found Love”; a bold, simplistic disco excursion with a tragically twisted yet equally beautiful video, it was hard not to get on board as a full-blown Rihtard in 2011.

Knowing full well that Talk That Talk was going to be somewhat of a rush-job I still threw myself onto the Rihanna Stanwagon well before we’d even heard a second song from the record, all under the affirmed view there’d be nothing to worry about - because she’s Rihanna. And I was right, because for the most part Talk That Talk plays out with as much confidence (if not more) than last years Loud and whilst it may not be as classic an album as Rated R, it very nearly gets there.

There is no denying that the opening five tracks are a burst of excitement which easily take this record into legendary territory, if not alone for the outstanding levels of power contained in those first five immediate songs. Current single “You Da One” is a tough electro track that deep-roots itself into the basics of dancehall and reggae before treating you to a slight (but highly effective) foray into dubstep; all genres Rihanna has played with unashamedly in the past. Calvin Harris production “Where Have You Been” is destined to be a single and is the first of two non-apologetic proper dance bombs on Talk That Talk. With its bellowing production and noisy, very-now dance hooks, both “Where Have You Been” and the monstrous “We Found Love” place Rihanna into territory she’s never really been before. And I don’t mean just vocally either, these two songs are the first time for a long time that a mainstream pop artist has given us not just one, but two straight-forward dance songs that are indicatory of what is happening in the dance world rather than what is happening in the pop one. Both songs may have unforgettable pop hooks but these are founded club tracks – not just because they have a club-friendly 4-by-4 bassline but also because their individual constructions have ripped more pages out of the Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder playbook than from the Pop-Songs-You-Can-Dance-To one. Whether or not this was Rihanna’s decision (or Calvin Harris’ for that matter) is completely irrelevant at this point because whatever the story, these two tracks are the biggest, most symbolic of both their careers.

The only vocal collaboration assistance on here comes courtesy of another future radio-bomb, the Notorious B.I.G. sampling title track “Talk That Talk”, which is to be celebrated as much for its brilliant Ri-peddled chorus as it is for Z’s thunderous opening rap. The fully-loaded-entendre’s of the filthy “Cockiness (I Love It)” are incredibly moreish; particularly as a repetitive Rihanna seductively utters “I love it when you eat it” to the man on the receiving end of this burst of sex and desire. Cockiness may be a moment that has been considered too tacky by a number of music elitists but is an absolute treat for those of us who love a good cock and balls pun. And if Talk That Talk was to suffer from penile dysfunction at any point, that point would be at around “Birthday Cake.” This is when things start to take a slight shift for the regrettable. In fact, had the potentially explosive Birthday Cake been presented in its entirety, Talk That Talk would have placed a lot higher in this chart. Clocking in at 1 minute and 19 seconds does not a song make, and the abrupt fade-out makes for uncomfortable listening. A song that is reported to run for well over 3 minutes in full; the “Birthday Cake” fiasco is one of the most confusing and totally unexplainable moves in pop this year and, above all else, is one of the stupidest decisions anybody in the music industry has made all year. The buzz on what we have for “Birthday Cake” may be huge and I’m sure the big reveal of the full cut is not far off on the horizon, but if I have to google-search for a fan-made extended version to feel like I’m experiencing the full song when listening to an album then there’s something very wrong with what you’ve deemed is supposedly good enough to sell to your loyal fans. The other negative here is the very good “Red Lipstick.” My use of ‘negative’ and ‘very good’ in the same sentence will be justified when you hear what Red Lipstick used to be,  a powerhouse of a dubstep DESTROYER featuring Nicki Minaj called “Saxon”, a demo recorded for Loud that was thrown to the dumper and has since been recycled. Lipstick gives you all of the thrills that “Saxon” delivered musically, but the vocal repore between Rihanna and Nicki sounds less phoned-in than the vocals do across Red Lipstick. I see what they were trying to do by salvaging a thumping song that was never supposed to be heard, but “Saxon” has such a strong fan-base online that it’s hard to understand why they didn’t just tack it on as it were. There’s no question here that had “Saxon” been used in place of its musical twin “Red Lipstick”, and if “Birthday Cake” had been presented on its proverbial tray in full that Talk That Talk would be a year-end Top 5 Record. But these are admittedly small blemishes in a thoroughly enjoyable ensemble.

After the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it disappointment of “Birthday Cake”, Talk That Talk is gradually salvaged  by slow-burning, heartfelt and sincere ballads like “We All Want Love” (complete with explosive production from No I.D.) and the goosebump inducing “Drunk On Love” (which samples the xx), but it’s the thrilling climax of the heartbreaking “Farewell” and the strapping “Fool In Love” that play as Talk’s biggest ballads. The lyrics in the former are beyond tearful, fused together with strong vocals that are boarded up with thick, melancholic beats. The latter is also Talk’s most commercially viable ballad, yet is somehow relegated as simply being a bonus track on the deluxe edition. Sex-talk returns on urban-monster “Watch ‘N Learn” and the synthy-sunshine of hideously titled “Do Ya Thang” are very welcome surprises amongst a principally ballad-heavy finish, making Talk That Talk a relatively diverse and a mostly cohesive listen.

Rihanna’s got at least another three singles from this album and although I want her to take a year-long break once all of the promotion and touring for this record is done, I also secretly want her to return in 2012 with album #7. As my friend William says, There is no such thing as a bad Rihanna song. Talk That Talk proves that, aside from the first two turkeys, there’s now also no such thing as a bad Rihanna album either.

THE TOP 31 LP’S OF ’11 > #10. LADY GAGA – BORN THIS WAY

Posted by Adem on Dec 26, 2011 in Albums of the Year 2011, Lady Gaga | 0 comments

#10. LADY GAGA – BORN THIS WAY

As ‘controversial’ a move as people may think placing Gaga’s Born This Way at Number 10 may be, believe me when I say that it was a hard decision that wasn’t made particularly lightly. I have had to take a lot into account to really generate a worthy final placement for such a complex album and believe me, there hasn’t been an album so delightfully complex as this one for decades. But there are startling complexities to Born This Way that are far from positive in their nature. For starters, I could no longer ignore the blatant thievery that can be heard on one of the albums strongest songs (and its second single), “Judas”.  Just how identical that riff is to a Loli Lux track, which the unsigned artist had sent months prior to RedOne in an attempt to bait him to work with her is immediately obvious within seconds of hearing the riff under question. RedOne obviously liked what he heard because it seems to appear quite prominently in Judas. It’s things like this that really can’t be overlooked when doing an end of year chart and whilst Born This Way is a (mainly) magical German Techno assault with choruses ripped straight out of Eurovision and basslines comfortably paying heavy homage to Eurodance of the 1990′s, it’s also an album that serves the listener with a lot of bullshit, something Gaga’s particularly fond of serving up for her fans on a more rotational basis of late.

Firstly, Born This Way is precisely four songs too long. “You and I” (a song in which Gaga, not content with just ripping off Madonna throughout her career, makes a very weak attempt at recreating the magic of Shania Twain,) should not have been on the album let alone a single, “Fashion Of His Love” is nice enough but has no place amongst what is primarily a heavy-bassed techno-pop theatrical, the absolute turkey “Black Jesus | Amen Fashion” is the most insipid and offensively boring thing Gaga has ever put her name to, and the final minute of the otherwise patchy “Highway Unicorn (Road To Love)” saves the song from being just a series of great verses with a truly unstomachable and god-awful chorus. It’s the brilliant production in that final minute of Unicorn that have made me ditch the original from my iTunes playlist and replace it with the superior instrumental, a move others may find is a lot easier on their ear-drums too. You cut those four songs off this very busy and often messy album, use each of those four songs as B-Side’s to entice the fans to buy the singles as they are released because they are getting a new, unreleased song that is great but doesn’t belong on the album, and what we’d have is a 12-track masterpiece – one that’s on-par with the genius of The Fame Monster. Instead we have something that plays more like a Greatest Hits collection; kind of like Madonna’s Immaculate Collection but unlike that Greatest Hits, Born This Way is full of glaring imperfections.

The brilliance of title track “Born This Way” is not lost some 10 months after its initial release, but there’s no denying that bassline and elements of the song were heavily inspired by Madonna’s “Express Yourself”, and she can sit there sobbing her heart out denying it till she’s black and blue to Peter Robinson all she likes; I’m not falling for that bullshit and nor should you. My problem here is not that she’s ‘ripping’ Madonna off but more that she’s doing it and then pretending she has no idea what you’re talking about. That on-stage ignorance is starting to affect the way people process her incredible music. Single releases “Judas” and “Marry The Night” are proper pop belters but when sitting amongst company like the Iconic “Bloody Mary”, “SchieBe” or “Government Hooker”, it’s a wonder how any of those album tracks were not selected as singles over what was to become. “Hooker” has this really exciting and sexual thrust to it without actually being a sexy song, whilst the flawless “Schiebe” is basically Gaga doing all of Sash!‘s discography (mainly “Encore Une Fois”) and throwing a fat-as-fuck Eurovision chorus over the top. This should have been the second single and would have made a bigger impact chart and career-wise than the backfire of “Judas.”

Another big, brassy moment (and the lyrically most advanced) on Born This Way is the Balearic bonanza “Americano”, one that is overlooked by many as the weakest moment but in truth is one of the most thrilling. That thundering bassline combined with that spot-on chorus makes for one of the biggest european techno assaults on pop music this year. Beautiful pop plays on with  “Hair”, a song that might be a little lyrically naff but is incredibly relate-able whether you’d like to admit it or not, the blitzing “Bad Kids” which sounds like it was influenced by the Scissor Sisters, the astounding “Electric Chapel”, which is as close Gaga will ever get to sounding like the Divinyls, the touching sentiment of “The Queen” is only magnified by that incredible Carlos Santa-esque throwdown in its final quarter, and the second best song on Born This Way, “Bloody Mary”, looks set to be The Most Amazing Gaga Single that Never Was, much as the forward-thinking genius of “Heavy Metal Lover”, another incredible moment on this mainly brilliant album that will serve as a missed opportunity. Born This Way still belongs to “The Edge of Glory” however, whose impact as a song has somewhat been overshadowed by its very lazy video clip but is still, nonetheless, one of the greatest pop songs of our generation.

I may not consider myself to be a “little monster” or even a very big fan of Gaga’s anymore – her constant transparency is getting beyond the joke at this point and just saying her name these days leaves a sour taste in my mouth – but she is one of the most talented pop acts in the game and there’s no denying Born This Way is full of pop classics. It’s just a huge shame that every single chosen so far has pretty much been The Wrong Choice, and all of this really does make you wonder just how much she maybe misses making that boring, unsigned Norah Jones shit she used to write. She’s always plonking about at that piano, turning her massive dance bombs into yet another ballad for the stage. Maybe we’re all in the process of being had? Maybe Album number four or five is going to be her “really stripped down”, “Please call me Stefani Germanotta now”, and making the music “she always wanted to make” when she was still peddling that piano and was a brunette. Who knows? But right now I am just a spectator with interest strictly in what she has to offer musically. Anything else that the Haus of Gaga has to offer me and I am going to have to politely decline; I’m just completely burnt-out on being force-fed this year.

SIDENOTE – For those interested in what I think would make the perfect Born This Way track list; Marry The Night | Born This Way | Government Hooker | Judas | Americano | Hair | Bad Kids | Scheibe | Bloody Mary | Heavy Metal Lover | Electric Chapel | The Queen | The Edge of Glory.

THE TOP 31 LP’S OF ’11 > #11. ADELE – 21

Posted by Adem on Dec 26, 2011 in Adele, Albums of the Year 2011 | 0 comments

#11. ADELE – 21

I know that this album has probably been talked about on blogs and music sites more than any other record this year and has, in fact, found itself atop of many End of Year lists so far that it’s inescapable to have an opinion on Adele. The opinion I have is a very high one, founded by the fact that there is such an alarming level of growth as a musician and songwriter between this record and her debut, 19. The singles are killer, there’s pretty much no filler, and there is such a stunning and delicate respect held for the classic soul records Adele has so obviously been heavily inspired by.

So perhaps instead of talking about each song from this album, or the direct emotional impact each of these songs had on me in 2011 (mainly because I can’t deal with the emotional breakdown right now), or sit here explaining why the album isn’t in my Top 10, I figured I’d just quietly narrow down the record with a few simple sentences. 21 features 13 songs that made me howl like a newborn baby each time I heard them. A truly spectacular and amazing record but I’m quite sufficiently depressed as it is to have to deal with her baggage as well as mine – and all at once.

I will however just casually list the best songs on 21, and perhaps that enough will be a  glimpse into the kind of review this album would have gotten from me. “Someone Like You”, “I’ll Be Waiting”, “Rumour Has It” (which sounds like the Eurythmics and is exactly the kind of sound I’d like to hear more of on 23), “Rolling In The Deep”, “Set Fire To The Rain”, “One & Only” and “He Won’t Go.”