I should take it easy but I'm still gonna get around

WOAH at this album


and WOAH at this album.


They are both very good. In fact, so good and so layered that I'm really too immersed in them at the moment to engage in any other song at the level necessary to write about it. So, instead, some news:

Via the Cheiron Songwriter forum, clips of some songs from the new Enrique Iglesias album. I'm pretty excited for it, even if I'm not expecting to be knocked over by every song, and I like the first three songs particularly, as well as a couple later on. "Ring My Bell" sounded a lot better in the Tommy Hilfiger ad--hopefully the clip here was just poorly chosen.

If you're Swedish, you can buy the (live) acoustic ballad version of "Live Forever" that Magnus Carlsson performed recently on iTunes. His site also says that the countdown to the album has begun--did I miss the announcement of a release date?

Speaking of Swedish music, I really like the new Danny single, but why is it that the album Heart. Beats is so far only for sale on CDOn and Ginza, neither of which ships to the U.S.?

The Click Five are holding "listening parties" to preview the new album. I've not heard much of the entirely new songs yet, in full versions only "All I Need Is You" and "Mary Jane," which have been around forever. However, the "All I Need Is You" performance worries me.

Here's the version now, with Kyle singing.



Here's the version with the original lead singer, Eric.



This is why I shouldn't listen to live performances of not-yet-released songs--I'm going to always expect those Eric-sung high bits now; it has quite a different feel this way--it pops less. It's still good, but I don't know if it's good (note that I'm referring to what I imagine the studio versions would sound like). None of this is to say Kyle's voice won't work on songs (I hope it does, and I think it fits well with "Jenny"), but I wonder if maybe they should've scrapped some of the songs written when Eric was around...or maybe it's just my fault for "spoiling" them and now expecting them in a certain way. I'm having trouble explaining why the new version doesn't work as well for me, but it's less distinctive, less fun...I'm probably overthinking this way too much. And, knowing me, I'll love it once I get the album.

If you want to hear more, there's a Kyle-led performance of "Mary Jane" here and other assorted performances posted by this user, this user, and this user. Hopefully, there are some more fun upbeat tracks on the album--"Headlight Disco" (also watchable here, but you only get the beginning there) has an interesting title and, though it's difficult to judge anything at this quality, it sounds like it's got some nice synths (another written-while-Eric-was-around song, I think). I may be pinning most of my hopes on it.

I shouldn't doubt before I hear the album, but I'm so worried that they've gone "generic guitar band." Can a band crash from making probably my favorite album to making an album I don't even like that much? Hopefully not, but I'm fearing it.

(Shallowness: I like suits, but I'm fine with them not wearing them--did they have to switch to skinny jeans, though?)

Edit: I did some more catching up on video watching and they've stolen McFly's "doo-do-do-doo"'s for "Flipside" ;) Hopefully that's a good sign for the song! It sounds pretty good, too--all right, so my fears are being allayed somewhat. As long as there are at least some songs I like.

I love the title of this post (about Liberty X's breakup) over at Popjustice...

Next up: a Mexican or American group, or maybe something about the aforementioned albums.