Tuesday, May 22, 2007

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.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your blog.

Kevin said...

Odd, I performed a search for the Danny album at the usual places, and I found it on each site. It's definitely available at Skivhugget, which ships to the US.

The press release for his album says that his mother is Bolivian and his father is Polish, but that can't be right, can it? Wouldn't Saucedo be his mother's surname? Danny is way to Euro-cheese for me, I hated "Tokyo", and the album's artwork does not give me high hopes.

As for Magnus, as far as I know his new album is slated for release next month. I so dislike him, not to mention he is über creepy. If there was a "Razzie" awarded for "Worst International Music Video", "Live Forever" would definitely be crowded the "winner". To paraphrase Comic Book Guy: "Worst.Video.Ever!". :0

PS: PG, did you give the International keyboard a try?

Paul said...

I need to give the internatoinal keybaord a try. I copied and pasted Kevin's instructions so it seems rude not too. I keep looking for Danny at CDON but can't find him. Maybe i am stupid! I'm so glad you are loving both those albums, they really are top notch and i can't wait to hear more of your thoughts on them. I too am currently a little worried about the Click Five. I'm not loving Jenny as much as i should, and I am getting bored of Eric Dill's solo stuff. Oh no! Hopefully when the album comes out all my worries will be over. POssibly

Kevin said...

Ha ha, Paul.  That was for Ms. PG, but I'm glad you found some use for it.  ;)

You can find the Danny album here, while you can find his latest single, "Play It For The Girls" over here.

PS: Am I the only one who has problems with PG's word verification? I always have to (try to) post it 2 or 3 times before it takes. :(

Poster Girl said...

Anonymous, thank you so much! :) That means a lot.

I'm apparently search-disabled--how do you find everything when I can't? ;) I'm not positive, though--the international version of Skivhugget doesn't seem to list it, so if I order it from the Swedish version, will they still ship it to me? Megastore doesn't seem to list it either.

Danny's MySpace ( :-/ at myself--at least I don't "fancy" him) says his full name is Danny Saucedo Grzechowski, so I'm guessing for stage purposes he dropped his father's name since it was difficult to pronounce. I do tend to like Eurocheese ;) Plus, the fact that at least one of the September producers is involved intrigues me--I think she (they?) has had some really good songs; I like "Cry For You" a lot. If you're lucky, though, that stolen video will have something scandalous on it and sink his career.

I did try the international keyboard and it's amazing! It'll take some time to remember the key combinations for certain characters, but look, now I can type "Måns Zelmerlöw" (also useful for Spanish and French names) without any copying and pasting! Thank you so much! :) The only issue I have relates to quotation marks (they don't appear until you type the letter after them), but that's no big deal and the page you linked to says to expect that.

(Oh, and I'll answer the 3SL question later today--I don't know them well enough to identify by look, but I'm pretty sure the video has their names, so I'll check.)

I've had one other person mention the word verification thing before, although they could never get it--there's not supposed to be any problems, but I'll see if Blogger knows anything about it.

I'm so worried, Paul :( I hope they prove my fears unfounded, but maybe you can't catch lightning in a bottle twice.

Poster Girl said...

P.S. Scratch the Skivhugget thing--it's now listed on the .com version, so I'll order it (even if will be exorbitantly expensive, especially with shipping) :) I swear it wasn't before, though!

Adem With An E said...

The Erasure album is pretty lovely yes? I'm a bit like you on the album front at the moment but with Sophie's "Trip The Light Fantastic". I have about 7 new records here I should give a first listen to but I'm too busy admiring La Bex.

Nyco has nice eyes, ps.

Poster Girl said...

It is lovely! And I'm sure I'm going to be completely distracted by the Sophie EB album as soon as it gets here--"If You Go" still has me completely enchanted.

It's a pretty deceptive picture of him--in the video, he alternates between looking like Dougie McFly, Kevin Bacon, and someone I haven't identified yet. Eyes stay the same, though :)

Troy said...

Poster Girl!

Do you know anyone who has the Ballad version of Live Forever yet?! It better be on the album!

Poster Girl said...

I do :) Coming right up...

D'luv said...

I just bought the Maroon 5 and Erasure CDs today... I hope you got the version of Erasure's with the two bonus tracks, because "Be My Baby" and "I Don't Know Why" are fantastic!

Poster Girl said...

Oh, no, I didn't even see a version with bonus tracks--was it one of of those "bonus tracks only available at certain stores" things?