Back where we left off

The first time I heard "Back Again," the comeback and greatest hits-promoting single from late '90's Finnish Eurodance group Waldo's People (previous post about them and their fantastic single "1000 Ways" here), I thought it was generic, just a tossed-off "anything in the genre'll do" sort of song with, typically, the female sung part being better than the male pseudo-rapping part. Then, this morning, I put in on again, and thought it was really fun. I'm sure by this afternoon I'll have changed my mind again and be regretting this post, then a week from now think it's a fantastic song I should never have brushed off, then a few months from now realize I haven't played it in ages so I can't really love it that much, and then in November play it again and decide it really is great.

Back Again--the basic Waldo's People formula: Waldo doing those talking guy bits, the girls singing the chorus hook, hard-edged guitar riff tossed into the midst of the whooshy Eurodance (Eurodance of, say, the E-Type sort, not the Cascada type) backing. That's no surprise, though, because the song's co-written by the guy behind the Waldo's People project in the first place: Ari Lehtonen (a.k.a. Eric Le Tennen). "Back Again" is big silly dance music, catchy and upbeat, and I think my initial disapproval of Waldo's part was off base: I actually really like it now. All the pieces are exactly where they're supposed to be and, even if that means they're exactly where we expect them to be, it still adds up to a great song very much worthy of the hit status it's currently got in Finland. There's something about the beginning of the verses that seems genuinely fresh to me, too.

I don't know of anywhere beyond Finnish-only stores where "Back Again" is being sold (it's on Finnish iTunes, for example), but you can buy Waldo's People's self-titled first album here (digital). Their first and second albums are also available in some countries' iTunes stores (not the U.S.'s, though).

Next up: maybe something Greek.