Tom: Well, that’s the most promising intro you’ve written in a while.
Tim: Yep, she’s moved on from the dull stuff, and has finally gone back to producing the disco sound that made everyone fall in love with her in the first place.
Tom: The pendulum tends to swing back and forth: artist experiments for a bit, artist tries to please the long-term fans, and so on, and so on. Admittedly there are a few things that you wouldn’t have heard on early Gaga ten years ago here, like all those chopped-up vocal samples in the chorus, but — and I’m surprised to say this — I think it works.
Tim: The sound we now have again is FUN, it is LOUD, and it is EXCITING as far as whichever album might be coming out in the next few months or so.
Just a shame the song itself isn’t all that notable, really.
Tom: I mean, it’s still better than “meh”. By my standards, that’s practically a ringing endorsement.
Tim: I realised the other day that April marked ten years since the release of Just Dance, the debut single that catapulted Ms Gaga right to the top of music and everything, which seems worth celebrating and I’m surprised there wasn’t more of a thing about it tbh. Coincidentally, I also heard this remix.
Tim: And oh my days, it’s good.
Tom: It is: but let’s not forget that’s partly because it’s building on the original track and, despite adding instrumentation, it’s still letting those spectacular vocals shine through.
Tim: For all we talk about her frequently re-inventing herself, as far as I’m concerned she never really bettered what she began with the re-issue of The Fame, as The Fame Monster, which added tracks like Bad Romance and Alejandro, and was then followed up by Born This Way, one of the finest albums of the century. On it were fabulous tracks like Born This Way, Judas, Marry The Night, and, of course, this. One of her best tracks, and easily the best remix of a Gaga track. LOVE. THIS.
Tim: I know everyone’s probably heard this already, but I’ve been listening to it a lot lately and I have a point to make. For those that don’t know it, it’s the second release off her latest album, and the music starts about a minute in.
Tom: Believe it or not, I haven’t heard this, or at least I haven’t noticed it. It’s really rather good, isn’t it? Even if it did keep reminding me of Jason Donovan with those “reasons” lyrics.
Tim: Oh, I almost want to give you a prize for the obscurity of that reference, very good. But here’s the thing: Lady Gaga is very good at making music. Perfect Illusion probably wasn’t the best track to kickstart an album, but this is great: soulful music, emotions carried across perfectly in the flawless vocals, with a beautifully doleful backing line underneath it all. And yet the most impressive thing about all of it is this: it’s not remotely what her fans want.
Tom: Yes! This feels like a completely different artist, just one with a similar voice. There’s “managing audience expectations”, and then there’s “not giving a damn about what the audience want”.
Tim: Ever since that largely reviled jazz album, she has, in the eyes of many, been a massive let down. Hand this song to Adele or Sia, people would love it. With Gaga, though, it’s all “yes well it’s no The Edge of Glory is it so get back to the studio and do better stuff.”
Tom: To be fair, she did produce a lot of full-on bangers. And I liked them. More, to be fair, than I liked this. She’s a good Adele. But we already have a good Adele.
Tim: As for me? Well, like I said, it’s a good track. But it really is no The Edge of Glory, is it? So go on, back to the studio please.
Tim: POP MUSIC EMERGENCY, declared Gaga yesterday evening, as it became apparent that leaking seven seconds of her new song at a time wasn’t enough to stop people talking about someone else’s track. So out of nowhere, one of the biggest pop stars around yesterday decided to properly launch the much-awaited first single from her new album; here it is.
Tom: Oh. How very… 2000s.
Tim: Was pretty much my first thought. It at least doesn’t waste time not going anywhere, that’s for sure, though to be honest I’m not sure that works in its favour – for me, it never seems to be quite as big and massive as it probably could be.
Tom: It does seem to be a day for diva disappointment, doesn’t it?
Tim: For you, certainly. And for me, possibly. The crowd noise at the end is very welcome, but when your whole song’s about living for applause you want it to be properly massive throughout, no?
Tom: The first single off a new album needs to a Born This Way, an Edge of Glory, a Yoü and I. This is… none of those.
Tim: It really isn’t. It’s not bad, of course – not by any means at all, but I can’t help being somewhat disappointed. It would admittedly have taken a hell of a lot to beat some of the tracks from Born This Way or The Fame Monster. On the other hand, maybe it’s stylistic – this sounds like a track for her first album, as you implied up at the top, and I never enjoyed that quite as much as the next two.
Tom: I’ve liked most of her songs, but this is very much an “album track” as far as I can tell.
Tim: If I’m honest, then, I don’t I like it as much as I do Katy Perry’s. Sorry, but then perhaps you shouldn’t have insulted music bloggers. (Not bitter at all, by the way.)
Tom: Speak for yourself: I’ll keep listening to the Pet Shop Boys’ new single. We’ll get to that in a day or two.
Tim: Tomorrow, perhaps, and if you’re wondering about the world’s schedule for the rest of the week, I’m reliably informed it involves new tracks from Britney and Adele, and then a new Rihanna album on Friday. YOU’RE WELCOME.
Old school rock and roll? Country? I’m not sure, but it’s brilliant.
Tom: Brace yourself, Tim; she’s back to a typical Gaga video. It’s 47 seconds before the music starts. Although she does appear to be appearing almost as herself, with barely a ridiculous costume – well, barely anything – at least once in here.
Tim: Is there a point to Lady Gaga’s videos other than to get people to say, “What the hell was that all about?” Because I don’t have a clue.
Tom: But what a wonderful bit of music. It’s… well, what genre is it? Old school rock and roll? Country? I’m not sure, but it’s brilliant.
Tim: It is. Not quite Alejandro or Bad Romance brilliant, mind, and certainly not Edge of Glory, but on a par with Born This Way and Judas. Good work.
Tom: It’s not going to be lighting up the clubs without a remix, but can you imagine how good this will sound live? The woman can sing, Tim, she really can.
Tim: I think that right now you’d have to go a long way to find someone who’d disagree with you there.
Tom: Everyone’s already heard this, so why discuss it? Well, aside from the fact it’s now formally being released as a single – and that really is a formality these days – I want to talk about sax.
Tim: A noble intent, but first it must be said – this is BRILLIANT.
Tim: BRILLIANT.
Tom: Well, agreed. But when did we last get a sax solo like that in a pop song? Not since the 80s, I reckon. Suddenly, not only does Gaga have the (now sadly deceased) Clarence Clemons playing in her big album-ending track, but Katy Perry’s getting Kenny G to cameo in her terrible video.
Tom: Now, the sax solo got killed off because it’s over-the-top. There’s even a web site that categorises the solo’s downfall: from the textbook, understated solo in OMD’s ‘If You Leave’ all the way through to the stunningly overblown and possibly-synthesised droning in Eric Carmen’s ‘Hungry Eyes’.
Tim: When it come to Hungry Eyes, Eric Carmen has NOTHING on Eyeopener. (And ain’t that just a video and a half?)
Tom: That was actually James Cameron’s original pitch for Avatar. True story. Also, every time I hear that song, I can’t help but hear the lyrics as “I feel the magic between your thighs”.
Anyway, here’s the question, Tim: is it a good thing that the sax solo is back?
Tim: Erm, yeah, why not. Official Approval.
Tom: I say yes: provided it gets used in moderation. The last thing we need is a dubstep brass section.
Tim: I don’t know about the ‘in moderation’. Some people would argue, the more the better.
An emergency late-night post: It’s amazing. And brilliant. And fantastic.
Tom: An emergency late-night post from the Europlop team now, as we’ve just had our first listen to this. We’re not waiting until Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4a8QtvOkBQ
Tim: It’s amazing. And brilliant. And fantastic. And amazing. Even though I said that already.
Tom: That spoken-word introduction made me wary, but then bloody hell that is amazing. We’re talking one-man first-listen desk-rave rave here.
Tim: Is a lot of it just hype? Possibly.
Tom: A one-man first-listen desk-rave, Tim. That never happens. Although I did calm down a bit after and realise it’s probably just Very Good rather than The Greatest Thing Ever. But it’s still very good.
Tim: It broke a record, going to number one in iTunes within three hours of being released, and that certainly wouldn’t have happened if the same record had been released by some unknown person.
On the other hand, that’s a stupid thing to say because it hasn’t been released by some unknown person, it’s been released by the most notable person in music right now. And that shines right through in the music, which is brilliant. Did I say that already?
Tom: Don’t know. Too busy dancing.
Tim: You may be one of those people that hates songs with Messages, and this is undoubtably one of those. But I don’t care, even if I normally would, because it’s fun, it’s energetic, it’s happy, it’s jumping around like a kid who’s just been given a pogo stick. There is just so much here, there’s just, well, everything. Basically, anybody who doesn’t like it is a moron.
Thirty years of pop culture in three and a half minutes.
Tom: It’s been a few weeks, so let’s have some more mashups. First of all, here’s Miracles by Norwegian Recycling.
Tom: It’s one of those genius mashups that pulls in a dozen different sources to make a coherent whole. It doesn’t really seem to go anywhere, or do any building, but it’s just rather pleasant to listen to. It’s a run through thirty years of pop culture in three and a half minutes, and the video brings it all together nicely.
Tim: Ooh, I like that – I’ve always quite liked mashups that pile in a whole load of songs together just to see what happens, such as the United State of Pop ones, and Party Ben‘s Boulevard of Broken Songs, and this one pulls it off well.*
* There’s also Axis of Awesome’s Four Chord Song, which whilst not actually being a mashup is still fun to listen to.
Tom: There’s been some very clever autotuning on Cee-Lo Green, as well; while it still sounds like him, I’m fairly sure those aren’t exactly the notes he was originally singing…
Tim: Well, with so many songs you’re bound to need a little pitch correction on there just to keep them in the same key, surely.
Tom: No, it’s more than that: I think they’ve actually got him singing a different melody, not just a different key. I might be wrong, though.
Tim: The only thing I dislike about it is the Jason Derulo track – it’s one of his better ones, but it sounds like he forgot to write words to half the chorus, which gets me every time I hear it.
Tom: Second up, here’s a simple A+B mashup by Sam Flanagan. It’s called “Brimful of Bonkers”, and that tells you all you need to know really. Oh, but watch out for an unexpected cameo just after three minutes in.
Tom: It’s easy – there is, of course, not even any pitch correction to do – but it’s still a hell of a party tune. It could use being a bit shorter, but it’s good enough that I don’t really mind.
Tim: I thought that as well – it could easily lose the first verse/chorus, since it’s identical to the second. Anyway, you’re right, it is good, especially the cameo.
Tom: I know both the original songs off by heart, which normally would just make a mashup like this confusing – but this is just pulled together so nicely that it doesn’t matter.
Tim: Personally, I prefer it when I know the original songs – you get to think ‘Ooh, this is fun – never thought of these going together.’ And speaking of knowing the original songs, here’s a mixture of two Europlop favourites merged together by Benji of Sweden (apparently he’s the only one in the country) to form one big Bromance Killer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9scZ67EAGc
Tim: Aside from the Radio Sweden jingle (which is surprisingly nonintrusive anyway), I think it’s ruddy marvellous, with him still managing to keep the big Lovekiller climax and all the energy that was originally there. Well done Mr Sweden.
Tom: Wow, that’s a belter. Bromance itself is steadily picking up more and more airplay and traction in the UK – the vocal remix with Love U Seek gets released on 25th October, which means it might well be a Big Autumn Hit.
These past few weeks have been very good for mashups.
Tom: These past few weeks have been very good for mashups, so here are a few genius ones for you, starting with proof, if proof were needed, of just how good Lady Gaga is: her songs can be mashed up with nearly anything and still sound fantastic:
Tom: This is by Marc Johnce, and it combines moderately-good album track “Monster” with the Communards’ lesser hit “Never Can Say Goodbye” to create something amazing. Her modern, solo vocals over the top of eighties guitars and drums make something more than the sum of their parts.
Tim: First off, definitely no proof needed, and how can you even entertain the possibility that it might be? As for the track, it’s nice. One of the highest compliments I can pay is that I didn’t mind that it was quite long, and wasn’t hurrying it on to finish, because that’s ever so unusual on any track longer than four minutes.
Tom: Secondly, I know that this involves listening to the military-grade tactical nuclear earworm that is Katy Perry, but it’s worth it. This starts as a simple “take the lyrics from one song, add the backing from another” formulaic, and THEN Van Halen arrive. And THEN the beat kicks in.
Tom: This is one of those mashups that you can listen to for more than novelty value. And I know it’d never happen, but I’d love to see this played live.
Tim: This is Good, and something I can absolutely imagine Glen off of Tru pretending he made*. Yes, it takes a while to get going, but when it gets going it’s worth the wait. It pleases me.
* I am entirely aware that this will mean absolutely nothing to all but about twenty people in the whole world, but I feel it is a valid point and so I shall make it.
Tom: Finally, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is tired and overplayed; everyone knows it, and there’s not even any mystery left in trying to work out the words that Kurt Cobain’s mumbling. But as hundreds of mashups have proved, it can fit with pretty much anything. Including the Jackson 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNUTYHJrutw
Tom: Yes, it’s a novelty track, but I’m not complaining.
Tim: Made me smile, and overall is pleasant. The only annoying thing is those sudden pauses – I know they were in the Jackson 5 song, but they irritated me a bit. That said, I’m still feeling a little irritable after reviewing Ke$ha yesterday, and that may well have something to do with it.
