"Let's go back, back to the beginning/back to when the Earth, the sun, the
stars all aligned ..." Those lyrics are from one of my fave songs of 2003
- Hilary Duff's "Come Clean." It's as wonderful a pop single as I've come
across since ... Hilary's equally catchy "So Yesterday,"
which was my co-"Single of the Year" for 2003. The latter song
has it all: a tasty melody, vocals and, yes, guitars a-plenty. No, it's
not "deep." It's pop music, best appreciated while driving in the car on a
sunny spring day, the windows down and wind rustling your hair ...
A little background, first, though.
From the '50s through the mid-'60s, vinyl 45 r.p.m. singles were the platter of choice for
most fans. On the radio, "boss jocks"
raved overtop the intros and outros of the hottest rock, R&B, pop and
country songs played back to back to back, the one common link between
the disparate tunes the fact that each was ... you got it: a hit.
The rise of FM radio facilitated the fall of AM; and also spawned the segregation of musical styles into their own slots
on the dial. Yes, of course, "Top 40"
remained; but the once-dominate force fell to also-ran status. In the '70s, Philadelphia's WIFI-92 was one
such "Top 40" station. It offered up a stew
of hits, mixing and matching music from Stevie Wonder,
Glen Campbell, Captain & Tennille, Donna Summer, Wings, the Stones,
the Police ... and even Pink Floyd,
once "Another
Brick in the Wall, Part 2" hit in 1979. "We don't need no education,"
indeed. Every song was "hot," a hit, something that transcended the
occasional pops and clicks that came part and parcel with vinyl. If you
liked a song, too, you knew: you could buy the single.
With the death of vinyl, however, record companies
shoved the concept onto "cassingles"
and "CD singles," both of which were doomed to failure. "Cassingles"
missed because, by then, CDs were the music currency of the day. With "CD singles,"
the mistakes were two-fold. Here in the States, they were initially introduced as three-inch discs
that required snapping plastic rings around the outer edges; it often took longer to
get that damn ring on the CD than it took to listen to the song. Then,
when the industry scrapped the idea and began using 5-inch discs
... the selection sucked. Yes, some of the
hits were available as "singles." More often than not, however, if
you wanted one song you were stuck with either buying the full CD or,
maybe, an import version of the CD single that cost as much, if not more
than, the
album itself!
That, I think, was the reason the original Napster
and the other illicit download sites took off. Kids were priced out of
the marketplace, pure and simple, and parents ... they can't be expected
to shell out an extra 15 or 20 bucks a week.
With the advent of legitimate
download sites like ITunes, MusicMatch and Napster 2.0, however, the tide seems to be
turning back - save for the stupid regulations most of the downloads
come with. (If memory serves, back in the day there was no limit on how
many times I could use a song in a tape mix.) Be that as it may, however, the single
- at a cost of 99 cents a track - is back. So ... if you've got a hankering for
some hits, got a sweet tooth that needs a fix, head over to your
downloading venue of choice (
is mine) and download these songs and create the CD I've dubbed--
"Pop Tarts Not: Ear Candy, Vol. 1." It consists of 20 songs,
by gals only, and clocks in at 78:01. It's a guilt-free, occasionally
subversive, submersion into the "pop
single" experience ...
"Candy Everybody Wants" -
. Subversive, indeed. A horn section adds
to the brightness of this cheerfully sarcastic song, with Natalie Merchant's "hey, hey" chirps accenting the chorus.
"I Want Candy" -
... A fun, silly remake of a fun, silly song.
"I Know What Boys Like" -
... The late Patty Donahue's sarcastic vocals
are a trip all unto themselves. One factoid I didn't know until I saw
VH1's "" countdown was that she
didn't write it ... one of the guys in the band did!
"Early Mornin'" -
... Set aside whatever
you may think of Brit and concentrate on what matters: the
music.
was my Album of the Month for March
2004 for a reason.
It's a damn fine effort packed with melodies that bubble up from the
subconscious long after the CD's left the player. This song, "Early
Mornin'," is just one example; the sultry trip-hop "Breathe on Me" is
another ... and the infectious "Brave New Girl" yet one more.
"Love to Love You Baby" (45 version).
... She moans on beat. And what a beat! A fun, somewhat kitsch hit
that was as outrageous in its day as anything Britney, Christina or any
of the gal divas have released in the new millennium. I recommend picking up the
CD, which collects 18 of Summer's hits; it contains
the hits ("Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls," etc.) in their original 45 single
edits/mixes.
"Moist" -
. A tad more explicit, perhaps, but essentially a "Love to Love You Baby" for the new
age.
Aside from Janet's silly spoken-word interludes, the album itself is mighty fine,
too. I
named it my "Album of the Month" for April 2004 ...
"Come Clean" -
"So Yesterday" -
. Two of the top pure-pop songs of recent years. They're
tasty treats both that rollick and frolic and play havoc with the mind.
"Why Can't I" -
This song stands shoulder-to-shoulder with "So Yesterday" for
my
"Single of the Year" honors for 2003. Small wonder: the same song-writing team
(the Matrix) that wrote "So Yesterday"---as well as a few tracks from Avril Lavigne's debut--helped out on the music. The main
difference between the two is Phair's is ...
"delightfully subversive." Her
, which has the track, is well worth picking up on
its own.
"Feed the Tree" -
. Driving guitars kickoff this whimsical
tour de force from Tanya Donnelly and Co., who--along with Juliana
Hatfield, the Breeders and a few others, kick-started the
gals-and-guitars pop
trend of the early '90s. Thing is, this song sounds as fresh today as it
did then: "This little squirrel I used to be slammed her bike down the
stairs/they put silver where her teeth had been/baby, silver tooth, she
grins and grins ..."
"Breathe" -
. More driving guitars matched with earnest,
aching
lyrics. Branch's selling point, thus far, is based on the idea that she
writes her own songs. Instead, it should be based on the fact that she
writes good songs. There's a difference, ya know?
"Beautiful" -
. Leave aside any prejudices you may have based
on X-tina's her oft-outrageous videos, etc. This is an absolutely beautiful paean
to self-acceptance and love; and showcases her gorgeous voice ...
"A Little More Love" -
. Pure, frothy pop at its
finest. The girl next door stakes her claim to a good time ("... no's a
word I can't say ...", indeed).
"When I See You" -
. This would've been at home if it was
released in the '60s or '70s--and would've been a smash. Totally
infectious. It'll make ya wanna dance and sing along ...
"Super Duper Love" -
"I Had a Dream" -
... A 16-year-old white English gal who sings like a
30-something black woman, her voice is as soulful an instrument as just
'bout any "new" singer to come along in eons. "Super Duper
Love" shakes the soul; and Stone's rendition of John Sebastian's "I Had
a Dream" sends shudders up and down the spine. Like a few of the other tracks mentioned
here, these two come from a simply tremendous album - one of my Top 5 for 2003.
"You Don't Know My Name" -
... Keys has been blessed with positive press, critics
comparing her music to the best of '70s soul, etc. That may well be
true, but what comes through in this song, and the album as a whole, is
less the echoes of the past than the fact it, and the album, are just
damn good.
"Move with Me" -
... A hypnotic track from what was one of the best albums of the early
'90s - criminally overlooked in the years since, perhaps because Cherry
all but disappeared from the music scene.
"I'm Like a Bird" -
... A soaring song that lifts you up
onto
its melody and never lets go. "I'm like a bird ... I don't know
where my soul
is/I don't know where my home is ..." It doesn't get better than
this. Ever.
"Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" -
... You gotta like young Ms. Moore.
Unbeknownst to her record company, she paid for the sessions that
resulted in
and handed them the disc, essentially saying "here's my new album." It's
an all-covers (hence the title) collection of tunes. Some work; some
don't. But, she gets props from me, regardless, for the effort. And here, with this
Elton John classic, she more than holds her own; and offers the perfect
end to what is a perfect soundtrack to a drive on a spring day.
