Tim: Another day, another Beautiful Life.
Tom: And none of them will ever beat Ace of Base, of course. Anyway, it was Union J last time: what’ve we got now?
Tim: We’re replacing a British boyband with a Swedish singer and an initially gentle guitar backing with an initially gentle piano backing.
Tim: But isn’t that just wonderful? Such a fantastic soaring vocal, such a brilliant crash of instrumentation in the chorus, and such uplifting vocals. Gosh, I’m feeling enthusiastic for this song – I keep trying to find better things to say about it, and there aren’t so many songs that’ll make me do that. Make a list, sure, but keep trying to extend that list, not so much.
Tom: Oh, man, have I just been in a funk for this last week or something?
Tim: I don’t know, have you?
Tom: You keep getting all enthusiastic about tracks, and I keep going “well, that’s quite nice, but it’s not really going to bring the house down”. Everything seems to be stuck in a vague sense of ‘that’s generic’.
Perhaps I just want something startling, something that doesn’t seem like it’s by-the-numbers pop: C2C, the Pet Shop Boys’ new album, anything that doesn’t just fade into the background. I mean, this is nice, it’s soaring, but it’s… it’s just a bit generic.
Tim: Hmm. I’ll have a rummage, see what I can find that might excite you. But back to this song, there’s a lot of emotion in here, and it’s all very positive. Very positive indeed.
Tom: It is. I just wish some of it would rub off on me.