March 14, 2008 Earworm

If you're going to be dissed, it might as well be by Alexander O'Neal: at least you can dance to it. With "Criticize", he puts his foot down on his girlfriend's constant commentary on all that she finds wrong with his world and yet she still manages to get the last word because she takes the chorus right out from under him.

Alexander was the Flyte Tyme crew's answer to Marvin Gaye and they even gave him his own Tammi Terrell in the form of the delicious Cherrelle. Neither one of them would ever have the pop success of that famous duo but the beautiful "Saturday Love" came close. With "Criticize", the forever undervalued Lisa Kieth stands in for Cherrelle, and almost steals the show with her perfectly delivered retorts.

Having had many a butt shaking, hairbrush-microphone moments with this one - Hey, Kmatt! - I can assure you that it makes the tedious household chores go by much faster and is also an excellent getting ready to go out soundtrack.

Have a great weekend.

March 13, 2008 Earworm

Three cheers for Vh1 Classic! It provides the ultimate reminders and the chance to change perspective without the rose colored glass of nostalgia. Case in point: The Motels.

The Motels were never as cool nor as clever as they thought they were. Between the break-ups and reformations, they sold out spectacularly by grabbing on to producer Val Garay who was hot off the Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and its parent LP, "Mistaken Identity" which, oddly enough, was far more interesting and holds up a lot better than anything he did with The Motels.

"Only The Lonely" was the big hit and rightly so, but "Take The L" is the better of the big booming ballads from the "All Four One" album. Petulant and bitchy, much like how I imagine Martha Davis to be, it's a keeper.

March 12, 2008 Earworm

After the sleaze and frenzy of the "Erotic" album /"Sex" book, Madonna managed to wrangle her angry vagina back into her skirt and released the mediocre and safe "I'll Remember" in what appeared to be an attempt to wipe the debacle from the bottom of her shoe. "I'll Remember" quickly jumped up to #2 on the big chart, behind the even more forgettable "I Swear" by All 4 One, and all seemed to be righted, yet kinda dull, in Madonnaland.

Hearing of an upcoming album release, I couldn't help but imagine amusingly awful scenarios; one favorite involved a disastrous attempt at heavy metal with an overblown video where she would bite Ozzy Osbourne's head off while being ridden by a mule.

And I call myself a fan...

Little did I know that she'd head off of the dance floor with two of the better (i.e. real) items from "Erotic", "Bad Girl" and "Rain", and make an album that not only melted in your mouth but didn't require a bottle of Quell and fine tooth comb to enjoy. "Bedtime Story" tossed aside the cold and sterile fetishism of "Erotic"/"Sex" and pumped blood into an organ that many feared Madonna had misplaced amongst her condoms and poppers. Warm and embracing, with heart as well as brains, you're invited into a bedroom but it's only for some decent conversation, honest reflection, and maybe a little cuddling: a grown up slumber party for folks who have some sorting-out to do. A friend once described it as "creamy" and that's the closest anyone's been able to get to an apt description of how it sounds to me.

Other than the heavenly "Take A Bow" - which we will leave for another time , "Inside Of Me" is the highlight of the album. Without so much as a glance at the possible double entrendre of the title, "Inside of Me" contemplates the lingering effect of loss and the simple comforts that can be found in remembering the smallest detail of what is no longer there. With a smooth jeep groove that periodically stutters like a strong shake of the head one sometimes needs to keep self pitying thoughts at bay, "Inside Of Me" places you inside the struggle to find a new you in being alone. It could be about a former lover, a best friend, or even a pet, and it's that ambiguity that made me fall in love with Madonna all over again. By refraining from telling us to get hard or to mourn the untimely death of an AIDS victim, and/or to become intellectualized by - but not intimate with - the nether regions of a woman we'd never even met, those that still cared to listen could get closer to an artist without the constraint of artful and angry posturing.

March 11, 2008 Earworm

Strawberry Switchblade were two Scottish beauties that came complete with songwriting skills, beautiful voices, and a look that seemed always to be described with day-glow as an adjective. In reality, their colors was more akin to cellophane; bright and shiny but only a minor distraction from the heart of the matter. Singles "Since Yesterday" and "Let Her Go" were such twinkling techno-pop gems that few seemed to notice just how dark the content was.

"Who Knows What Love Is?" toned down the clatter and moved the color from lite-brite intensity to Douglas Sirk lushness and searched for an impossible answer to a pointless question. Lovely...

Major label money ruined indie dreams and Strawberry Switchblade called it a day after one album and a clutch of singles that still have the power to instantly transport some of us back to 1985 and freeze us in a moment where neither the question, nor the answer, seemed so difficult.

March 10, 2008 Earworm

From 1961 through 1963**, Phil Spector's productions were tales of hearts aflutter romance and lustful angst. Midway through 1964, a melancholy mood began to descend, casting shadows on the wall of sound. The year was kicked off with The Ronettes' "(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up" but ended with The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling". Right in the middle you could find The Crystals announcing that they were "All Grown Up", and could do and go where they wanted to go and away they went from the Philles stable, leaving The Ronettes as the last chance of teeny bop romance but instead, we got the beautifully depressed yearning of "Walking In The Rain".

By the time that "Is This What I Get For Loving You?" was released in March of 1965, Ronnie no longer sounded like a girl waiting on the stoop for her dream boy, replaced by the voice of a woman who realizes that sometimes the best part of breaking up is actually breaking up. Where she once promised "I'll make you happy baby, just wait and see...", in less than two years she's now begging, "Don't leave me baby, don't tell me it's over, after I trusted you, and did my best to make you happy...", her longing vibrato clipped and her vocal bathed in so much echo that she sounds as though she's descended into a pit. A pit filled with angry bongos, to boot.

It's a hauntingly beautiful record yet it's disheartening to think that any women just barely twenty years old could sound as weary as this, particularly at the moment when, as the record fades to silence, you can just barely hear her sing "You know I love you baby" as the needle hits the run-out groove...


**
1961:
100 There's No Other Like My Baby - The Crystals
1962:
102 Uptown - The Crystals
105 He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss) - The Crystals
106 He's A Rebel - The Crystals
107 Zip-A-Dee-Doo Dah - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
108 Puddin N' Tain - The Alley Cats
109 He's Sure The Boy I Love - The Crystals
1963:
110 Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Heart - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
111 (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry - Darlene Love
112 Da Doo Ron Ron - The Crystals
113 Not Too Young To Get Married - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
114 Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home - Darlene Love
115 Then He Kissed Me - The Crystals
116 Be My Baby - The Ronettes
117 A Fine Fine Boy - Darlene Love
118 Baby, I Love You - The Ronettes
119 Little Boy - The Crystals
1964:
120 (The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up - The Ronettes
121 Do I Love You - The Ronettes
122 All Grown Up - The Crystals
123 Walking In The Rain - The Ronettes
124 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - The Righteous Brothers
125 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
1965:
126 Born To Be Together - The Ronettes
127 Just Once In My Life - The Righteous Brothers
128 Is This What I Get For Loving You - The Ronettes
129 Unchained Melody / Hung On You - The Righteous Brothers
130 Ebb Tide - The Righteous Brothers
1966:
131 River Deep-Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner
132 White Cliffs of Dover - The Righteous Brothers
133 I Can Hear Music - The Ronettes (produced by Bob Crewe)
134 Two To Tango - Ike and Tina Turner (produced by Bob Crewe)
135 I'll Never Need More Than This - Ike and Tina Turner
136 A Love Like Yours - Ike and Tina Turner