July 28, 2009 Earworm

April 1983: the once was one Heaven 17 and Human League send out their separate, and decidedly different, messages of perseverance. With its clumsy lyric, "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" could easily be taken for a love song but I never heard it as such. It was all too spontaneous - that clumsy lyric helped, like a poorly planned pep rally, where the details are overlooked in favor of the bigger picture. On the other hand, "We Live So Fast" was as serious as you could get on a dance floor, where the pace of the damn thing forced you to commit to the endeavor. And that might be the reason that "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" became the League's first #1 on the club play chart - yes, I thought "Don't You Want Me" had already done that, too - and second top ten on the big chart while "We Live So Fast" couldn't get beyond #34 on the former and didn't get near the latter.

July 2009: I'm reminded that I could once keep up with both these records even if my coif could not and am determined to do so again.

August 13, 2008 Earworm

Carl Wilson's "I love you" at the end of "Please Let Me Wonder" traveled 25 years into the future - and possibly to infinity and beyond - to open "Please Don't Go" by KC & The Sunshine Band, providing nifty bookends to a relationship. As the intonation is nearly identical, I doubt that it's a coincidence.

If the Beach Boys personified fun in the sun in the sixties, KC and The Sunshine Band were the after the sun went down equivalent for the seventies. "Get Down Tonight" began their chart run with a number one hit extolling the getting down done once the boogie shoes were kicked off and, in a perfect way, "Please Don't Go" ended their chart run with a number one hit begging the shoes not to start walking. It has often been thought of as the last number one single of the seventies but, alas, that would have been just a bit too neat of an ending. That honor, not lacking it's own neatness, goes to "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" which "Please Don't Go" did unseat for one week, becoming the first number one of the eighties for one week before that blasted "Escape..." rose up again.

As for the song... well, it certainly has weaknesses but the sum of its parts overcomes KC's wobbly vocal and its weirdness makes it far more interesting than... say, "Escape...", and I'm pretty sure those Heaven 17 boys were impressed. The funky bassline sounds like the only organic thing in a mix full of odd noises, the synthetic strings are gorgeous, and whatever that phasing thing is at the end always makes me think of metallic lovebirds that morph into flying hearts that promptly break in two and float off into space which makes me as weird as this record. Regardless, it's a nice trick to offer up a futuristic vision while begging someone no to give up their past.