Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Gucci shoes, beluga caviar

It's been a while (well, comparatively, given that my support of him has already been established ridiculously often) since I've written about Gareth Gates, hasn't it? I've neglected to mention loads of news--new songs on his MySpace, album cover, Popjustice interview, and so on. With the physical single of "Angel On My Shoulder" out this week and the album out June 25, there may not be a better time to revisit him. I said once that I could run this blog for a month on good songs Gareth has done, and I wasn't joking--I really could (though don't worry; I'm not planning on it). I've heard "Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)" several times on Internet radio recently, surprisingly enough, and each time I'm reminded of how good a song it is--good enough that it's been released in several other countries by several other singers in their native languages (I know I've posted Swedish singer Mathias Holmgren's version before and Sarbel, Greece's representative to Eurovision this year, has released a version as well; his version includes more differences in the music itself than Mathias's does). I can't believe I've never posted the following song, but it doesn't show up when I search, so I guess I haven't!

Absolutely--Gareth's second album is full of great songs, but I think this is one that seems to be popular (relatively) among people who don't particularly think of themselves as Gareth fans. This song is one of the Tyler James-penned ones (along with "Foolish"), but it's less soul-inspired than I guess I think of Tyler's work as generally being; you could probably call it "funky," though that's somewhat of an awkward adjective. "Absolutely" is thoroughly pop, completely catchy, and very electronic--not in the sense of electronica, but rather that it's not a live instruments sort of song. Hinged upon a prowling sort of electronic line, the song, an ode to the pinup model who you also happen to be sleeping with ("I've got your pictures all over my wall/But I've got the greatest secret of all"), also throws in some repeated nonsense syllables for good measure; it all adds up to a song with a little attitude and a whole lot of catchiness.

To buy Gareth Gates's second album, Go Your Own Way, go here (physical) or here (digital). You can pick it up on eBay or Amazon Marketplace for incredibly low prices and, given that it's a double album and has tons of great songs, it's definitely a good investment. Possibly more important, though, would be getting his new (not-yet-out) album Pictures Of The Other Side, which you can buy here.

Next up: maybe something Swedish. But I'll try to avoid going so Swede-crazy again, at least as much as possible.

11 comments:

Robpop said...

Poor Gareth. Poor Tyler! DSTP posted the his original all the way back in march :( and still no news on one of the most talented singer-songwriters this UK has ever offered.

here is the old old old DSTP link (http://dontstopthepop.blogspot.com/2006/03/tyler-james-absolutely-exclusive-first.html#links)

Comparing the two Absolutely's....it would appear Tyler is taking most of the vocals!

Robpop said...

I just noticed we quoted exactly the same lyric!

Poster Girl said...

Ha ha--we did! Great minds, and all that ;) Would you possibly be able to send Tyler's version to me? I'd love to hear it--he needs to make a comeback pronto...

Robpop said...

Will do...working on it darling ;-)

Paul said...

poor gareth. i think june 25th could be the day for albums that are probably quite good but could've been a lot better. I shall sit down with him and the click five and form a considered opinion! Why am i awake at 4am is beyond me!

Adem With An E said...

You're quite convincing missy. I've just bought a copy of his second album from ebay. I look forward to its arrival.

D'luv said...

I completely forgot GG's second single is out... and that I have it somewhere as an MP3! I guess I should go listen to it for the first time...

Digital Technique said...

I love both Gareth and Tyler's versions of this song!! Totally agree that Tyler needs to make a comeback soon, was listening to the song that first introduced me to him years ago, his collaboration with Stargate on Wilder recently.A great song that should have been released as a single!!

Might post Wilder on The Digital Technique soon if I can find it again!!

Poster Girl said...

Thanks so much, Robpop! :)

On the other hand, Magnus Carlsson's album also comes out that week, so, if nothing else, we've got that to look forward to. Talk about perfect summer songs...

Ooo, you've got me all nervous now, Adem! I hope you like it--and glad you bought it.

I've sort of avoided listening to it, Adem, thinking that if I gave it more time, I might come back to it and suddenly get it--just listened to it yesterday and it was already better than I remembered (even if not mindblowing), so fingers crossed the album will be good, if gone into with the right perspective.

Digital Technique! Yay! You're back :) And I'd love to hear that song. I wish we at least knew what Tyler was doing, but it's like he's dropped off the map.

Digital Technique said...

Check out Pop Unlimited for the Stargate/Tyler James track that I was talking about above!!

Poster Girl said...

Perfect!