Saturday, November 29, 2008

You're flirting with the music like it's your beau



Important facts about Darin's new album Flashback that you need to know (there will be a proper review--you know, written in an attempt at measured language--coming later):

  • "Seasons Fly," Darin's favorite track, was co-written by Linda Sundblad and Johan Bobäck, the team behind Elin Lanto's "Speak 'n Spell." It's also co-written by Darin.
  • Darin's co-written all but two tracks, in fact (those two being "Karma" and "What If").
  • The bridges (pre-choruses) to "See U At The Club" and "Girl Next Door" are AMAZING. Or maybe I should just say that I love them--I'm always anticipating when I'll get to hear them again and, if you think I don't mime singing along to the "sexy body" and "naughty naughty" bridge of the former, you are crazy.
  • "Road Trip" is SO. CUTE. and SO. POPPY that finally listening to it in proper quality was what turned me into the aforementioned pile of goo.
  • There are additional bonus tracks (besides "What If"), though they may not be on all editions of the album--probably just digital, I'd guess. The important thing is that they are a good quality recording of that live ballad version of "Breathing Your Love" I linked to a while back, a radio edit remix by The Attic of "Insanity" (I ADORE their reworking of "Who's That Girl," so getting another remix of a Darin track from them is like someone has and a new track, "Brought Me Back," co-written by RedOne.
  • "I lost my license, but I could still drive you crazy, baby" is ALMOST the new "not only does your body bang/but I miss the conversation too."
  • If I am not obsessed with some of these tracks for quite some time to come, something is wrong with me.
  • You can buy it digitally right here, right now, regardless of country (albeit in DRMed WMA format, but that's easily remedied by burning to CD and ripping back). Did I do that the instant I discovered it, regardless of having already preordered an autographed copy of the album? Without a moment's hesitation.
I should really post something like "See U At The Club" or "Girl Next Door" or "Flashback" or "Seasons Fly"--all edgier, more mature, or more dancefloor friendly--but I simply cannot resist posting "Road Trip." I've been craving this track since we first heard a clip of it back in that making of video, and I literally could not be any happier now that I finally own it. Pure uncorked pop joy.

OK, scratch that: I think I'm going to go with "Girl Next Door" instead, even if it isn't necessarily the most original track on the album (there are a few moments of kind of "really? There was nothing better to say?" lyrics, but it's all made up for by the whole "but I never made it to your crew" [or whatever he's saying there] section and the song's general greatness). If you love pop, though, you NEED to hear "Road Trip."

It'll only be up for a really short time, though.

Next up: as if I'll have the ability to think about anything other than this album for the next few days. Tomorrow I'll probably be gushing about some other track.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

could you post the ballad version of "Breathing Your Love" :)

Anonymous said...

I am really quite obsessed with this album at the moment.
Im in danger of overplaying it like i always do lately.
My favourite track seems to change a lot but im going to buy those bonus tracks now as a ballad version of Breathing Your Love and a new remix by the Attic is most likely to be amazing.

Surprisingly ive briefly stalled my Darin obsession for 'Juliana Joya'. Its certainly nice when great music adds me on myspace and i have to say 'Better Be Good' is brilliant along with 'Shackles' which reminds me a bit of Robyns WOEH.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=289939152

AcerBen said...

Have downloaded and I'm halfway through listening to it in full and I just can't get excited about it. I am in a bad mood anyway which doesn't help.. but all these songs sound like ones that I rarely listen to on previous albums like Everything You're Not, Laura, Like No One etc... whereas I wanted Extraordinary Love, Step Up and What If I Kissed You Now.. so I'm a bit :(

It all sounds a bit too much like Usher or Ne-Yo or something. It doesn't sound like Darin.

Breathing Your Love is still amazing though.

Anonymous said...

PPG gets hold of Darin's album. All is well in the world.

Poster Girl said...

Anonymous, give me a bit to see if the album ends up being released on all iTunes with that version--if they end up doing that, I'll just encourage people to go buy it from there instead, but otherwise I'll try to post it in the comments here.

Conor, I just remembered this afternoon that (I think) the remix was released when Darin released "Insanity" in Germany...I'm not positive on that, though, and I need to go check! I think "Brought Me Back" is kind of a nice bonus track to throw on the end since it's fairly up-tempo, even if not really a full-on party track or anything. How great is Juliana?! I'd never heard of her before and from the first two tracks (especially "Shackles") on her MySpace, she's great! It's so random she's got a track called "Shackles"--I've been keeping an eye open for a track of that title since apparently Anders Johansson (the Swedish Universal Music guy, not the singer) thinks a new Tysper/Grizzly/Mack song by that name is fantastic.

Ben, I think it's an album that (for me--I don't think this would fix it for you) is in real need of some sort of great up-tempo fun track in the middle, and there aren't enough of those on the album for me to go rearrange the tracklisting. "Step Up" is VERY Usher's "Yeah"-but-more-pop to me; I still think it's a great track but (and it bothers me that I feel this way) it hasn't aged in the best manner for me (awesome at the time but a little less so now, you know?), so I think that may be why I've latched onto sort-of-similar "See U At The Club" so much. I can't believe I didn't think of the Ne-Yo thing with "Road Trip" until this afternoon, but I actually love it a LOT more than, say, something like "Because Of You," which was a song I sort of respected (and liked!) but pretty much never played of my own volition. I'm holding out on giving my official opinion on the whole thing for now, though.

Rick, peace on Earth surely can't be far away. With luck this will mean I'll be able to write about other things shortly.

Aaron said...

Haha - There is no way this is the end, it's only the beginning of the Darin Posts!!!

I can't wait to get my hands on it (I have to wait till the new year....SO LONG!) - I hope they release the bonus tracks physically...