The new Lady Gaga single is out now, accompanied by a 10-minute video thats being heralded a the successor to Thriller. Two problems: firstly, the song, called "Telephone", sucks. The second, Thriller wasn't all the great in the first place.
Anyway, I've decided to make a list of songs about telephones that are better than "Telephone".
Telephone Lines - ELO
Telegraph Road - Dire Straits
Hanging on the Telephone - Blondie
Call Me - Blondie
Call Me Up - Chromeo
Bananaphone - Alistair Hendry
I think you're getting the picture. Basically every song about telephones is better than this piece o' crap.
Dishonourable mention: Gimme A Call - Tommy Reilly, for being the only one worse than Lady Gaga. Bloody Scottish.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Friday 12 March 2010
Is Rhinestone Eyes Damon Albarn's Greatest Work?
The attentive among you may remember my blog on last summers jaunt to Hyde Park to see the penultimate gig Blur are ever likely to play, and it was brilliant. Cut to 2010 and the release of Plastic Beach, the latest and last Gorillaz album. It reviewed brilliantly, even though the 5* review from Q Magazine was written by the hated Dave Everley (happily he barely mentioned Rhinestone Eyes, confirming my view that he knows FA about music), so I bought it. Yeah that's right, an actual CD, remember them?
It arrived, I listened, I wasn't particularly impressed. I listened to it again, appreciated it slightly more, except for one song. Rhinestone Eyes. It's just brilliant. It sits four tracks in, by itself. Much has been made of the diverse list of collaborators, but Rhinestone Eyes is just Damon. There's no rapping to be found, just a gentle, far-off vocal and tasteful synths. Its all very melancholic, evocative of a time gone-by, nostalgic even, chock full of lines like "Your Rhinestone Eyes are like factories far away". And then there's the chorus, so simple yet so effective. I can't describe it to be honest.
But better than his Blur output? The other heavyweight Gorillaz tracks? Really? I'm just going to put this out there. Yes it is. The reason I love the Blur so much is mostly because of the Hyde Park gig - the songs just...lift. But stuck on a CD they feel cramped, none more so than Tender, and whilst it's not hard to imagine thousands singing in unison along with it, it nevertheless lacks the punch of the live version. Rhinestone Eyes doesn't have this problem, and can still hold its own, musically and lyrically.
It arrived, I listened, I wasn't particularly impressed. I listened to it again, appreciated it slightly more, except for one song. Rhinestone Eyes. It's just brilliant. It sits four tracks in, by itself. Much has been made of the diverse list of collaborators, but Rhinestone Eyes is just Damon. There's no rapping to be found, just a gentle, far-off vocal and tasteful synths. Its all very melancholic, evocative of a time gone-by, nostalgic even, chock full of lines like "Your Rhinestone Eyes are like factories far away". And then there's the chorus, so simple yet so effective. I can't describe it to be honest.
But better than his Blur output? The other heavyweight Gorillaz tracks? Really? I'm just going to put this out there. Yes it is. The reason I love the Blur so much is mostly because of the Hyde Park gig - the songs just...lift. But stuck on a CD they feel cramped, none more so than Tender, and whilst it's not hard to imagine thousands singing in unison along with it, it nevertheless lacks the punch of the live version. Rhinestone Eyes doesn't have this problem, and can still hold its own, musically and lyrically.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)