Mr Poo Sky

Jeff Lynne seems like an affable bloke. He always comes across as a normal guy with a huge talent who has nothing to prove to anyone. He made the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) a phenomenon in the ‘70’s and rode the wave of stardom from the bleakest parts of Birmingham to the brightest lights of Los Angeles. He has written and produced some of the greatest pop songs of the 20^th century and has collaborated with The Beatles, George Harrison and Roy Orbison to name drop but a few.

So why in the name of god has he resorted to producing the cynical pony that is “Mr Blue Sky”? Is his Los Angeles mansion costing him a fortune to air condition and he can’t afford the electricity bill? Lynne justifies the existence of “Mr Blue Sky” in the same way Mike Oldfield defended the re-recording Tubular Bells: new technology and experience means the flaws of the original can be rectified and a long held dissatisfaction can be eradicated. But as with all such re-recordings, people love the original recordings so much that a modern version is going to have to be very special to even come close to matching the original.

I for one don’t like these new versions. The opener “Mr Blue Sky” is OK, but suddenly ends where the extended coda of the original took the song into a dream like fantasy. Sure, the song is Lynne’s to do with as he wants, but as he points out in his liner notes, “Who’s in charge, you or the song?” For me it’s the song; and Lynne is trying to wrestle back too much control. Most tracks rumble by as just flat versions of the originals with the exception of “Telephone Line” and “Showdown” which I single out for special criticism. The only track to be improved is “10538 Overture” which was aptly the starting point for the band and the end of this album. Let it be the end of ELO.

Scissor Sisters Live

Until last night I had never seen Scissor Sisters live. But as Ana Matronic phrased it: Boy, I was bent over a barrel last night. It was not only the outstanding musicianship on show from the band, but the energy and sheer sense of fun that made this an outstanding performance.

As Jake danced around peeling off his clothing (a la Andy Bell circa 1988) and Ana whipped the crowd into action you couldn’t help but be drawn in by their enthusiasm. A great set list saw all the old favourites played with the assurance and self confidence of a band that have been performing together for ten years. Special mention also goes to the backing singers who were quite briliant when allowed to shine.

Wikipedia describes Scissor Sisters performances as “controversial or transgressive”, but I saw no evidence of that whatsoever last night. All I witnessed was great musicians and in an inclusive and fun loving atmosphere. Scissor Sisters live come highly recommended.

Pet Shop Boys, not my Elysium, yet

Awaiting the release of a new Pet Shop Boys album is always a difficult time. Are they going to dress up in silly outfits or grow their hair long and scowl in shades? Is the music a series of electro classics or is it a guitar driven dirge? So many questions to be answered.

With Elysium due to be released next month I was on tenterhooks until I heard it. Now I have listened to it a few times, I will pass my considered opinion. I will start by saying I hope this new album grows on me; a classic slow burner. The first impressions haven’t been good. The Andrew Dawson production seems to drag the sound of the album down and can hardly be considered fresh in the same way as its predecessor “Yes”. The whole album is very ‘down tempo’ and brooding: a pop tour de force it is not.

The opener “Leaving” is as upbeat and “pop” as this album gets, and thus becomes the logical choice for their second single cut. “Invisible” sounds out of place as the second track and kills any atmosphere the opening track may have created. Don’t get me wrong, I like the song very much, it is just in the wrong place in the running order. Next comes the first single “Winner” with the fun of “Your Early Stuff” close on its heels. Here Neil treats us to snippets of the acerbic comments he has (presumably) received in recent years in the same way as he did with “Yesterday, When I Was Mad” in 1993. Not a new idea admittedly but entertaining none the less.

“Face Like That” sees Neil complimenting the looks of an unknown individual whilst Chris turns his synths back to the sounds they used in 1988 (and that is a very good thing). This track is the logical opener for the album but, in this crazy running order, it is lost at number 5. “Breathing Space” is one of those sweeping, orchestral tracks that highlights what outstanding songwriters Messers Tennent and Lowe are, whilst “Ego Music” and “Hold On” do everything they can to undermine this statement. Here the album loses its way and the quality of both the production and the song writing takes a sharp downward turn. “Hold On” starts well enough but soon turns into a toe curling pastiche of the worst musical you have ever heard. “Memory of the Future” tries to return us to electronica nirvana, but the memory of the previous three tracks is just too much for it to overcome. “Everything Means Something” is intricate and sounds like it should have been sung by Elbow: not a natural fit for the Pet Shop Boys. However, “Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin” is as natural a fit as is possible for Neil and Chris, but not a logical end to the album for me.

To make a version of “Elysium” better for me, I would chop out “Ego Music” and “Hold On”. I would then take the tracks in the order of

1. Face Like That
2. Winner
3. Leaving
4. Your Early Stuff
5. Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin
6. Memory of the Future
7. Invisible
8. Everything Means Something
9. Give it a Go
10. Breathing Space

But what do I know?

I just hope it grows on me and that I can begin to cope with “Hold On” in the same way as I do “Happiness is an Option” and “Release” et al.

The death of the physical single

Things change. Music has moved on. The days when an artists released their singles as physical discs are almost at an end. And it upsets me greatly.

I have collected records by the Pet Shop Boys for 25 years and their singles have always been important epochs for me. Every release evokes a memory or is associated with a person, a place or a point in time. I still recall the thrill of going into a record store the week after a single was released to buy the Remix 12" ('It's Alright' and 'So Hard' stick out for some reason). Import singles were like some magical exotica with different covers and remixes that always cost far too much. I still marvel at the cover of the 'DJ Culture' 12" and the double sleeve edition of 'Suburbia' is a work of art that I treasure. In short, it isn't just about the music these discs contain; it is also the experience of owning and buying them.

The fact that Neil and Chris had to persuade EMI to release a physical disc of 'Winner' is a stark contrast to the myriad of single formats that were being released  in the late 80's. We are losing an art form and the soulless click of a mouse on iTunes or amazon doesn't feel anything like walking in to Our Price and seeing a display stand bursting with shiny new 12" singles.

Yes, vinyl and CD singles are not totally dead, but they are on the endangered species list. I for one, will miss them more than I ever thought I would.

Into the blue: a loved track

OK. So what happened in 2005 that was so important? Pope John-Paul II died. Tony Blair was returned as Prime Minister. The Live 8 concerts were held. Some wacko surgeons in France performed the first face transplant and we decided to put Saddam Hussein on trial. Strangely none of these events have left a mark on me and never enter my daily life. So if nothing of extreme importance happened to me in this year, why in the name of God did I miss the release of the Heaven 17 album “Before After”?

You may find this a curious statement; so let me explain.

I like music, more specifically I love electronic music and I adore good electronic music above almost anything else. I have ‘loved’ 123 tracks on last.fm and they are all worthy of this accolade. However, few are more admirable than the 124th and latest selection: “Into The Blue” by Heaven 17. Whilst this track was released 7 years ago, I only heard it in the last few weeks and I can't explain why this should be.

Martyn and Glenn. Nobody is sure where Ian is.

Heaven 17 were always The Human League’s weirder half brothers and nobody pretends they sold anything like the same number of records. But then they never really set out to be especially commercial. Heaven 17 seemed to record the music they liked and waited for the rest of the world to catch up. Like many others I never really did catch up and left them behind in the early 90’s – dance music exploded and I got lost in 'The White Room'.

In the new millennium I delved into the electronic music that influenced me and the dance music I had become enamoured with. Yet Heaven 17's more recent work seem to have remain at arms length and “Before After” went un-purchased. It turns out it was my loss.

A recent buying spree (yes, CD’s not mp3s) saw me purchase the missing albums from Heaven 17's back catalogue. Ironically, the album "Before After" consists largely of dance music that sounds ten years out of date for 2005 but is actually pretty damn good when I put my rose tinted spectacles on in 2012. There are many good tracks on this album but I am consistently drawn to “Into the Blue” like a moth to a flame. It's difficult to define what draws us to one song in particular. I'm sure some will listen to the track and wonder why I would become so obsessed by it. I could see why you may think it is a one trick pony and is nothing without Glenn's sampled "doo wap" refrain. But I don't care: it's my new "You Grow More Beautiful". Bliss.

Good but not gold

Some posts are easy; they just seem to write themselves. You get a thought in your head and it simply flows onto the screen. This isn't one of those posts.

Opinions amongst Pet Shop Boys fans regarding the new single `Winner` are divided. Initial reactions labelled the song `worthless chart fodder` and a shameless Olympics cash in. Others have pronounced the song to be ‘soaring’ or even ethereal. Yet almost everyone agrees that it isn’t the sort of track one would normally expect for a ‘first single’ from a new album. Winner is not a dance track and is more akin to ‘Home and Dry’ (I just hope to god the album won’t be like Release).

The first thought I had when listening to the track was ‘This is a shameless tie in for the Olympics’. Like others who have posted on the internet I can already hear it playing during a BBC Olympics montage and I’m not entirely comfortable with that. It’s one thing to find your song used on such occasions but to write a song almost for this purpose seems a bit cheap. Maybe its just coincidence that Neil and Chris wrote this song and decided it would be fun to release it at this time. Who knows?

I like the song but also think that it makes a poor choice as a ‘first single’. At the end of the day the ‘Olympics tie in’ aspect of its release leaves me somewhat repulsed and smacks of a commercialism that I wouldn’t normally associate with PSB.

Chip off the old block

I really don’t know what to make of Hot Chip. When I first heard “And I Was a boy from School” I thought I had found my new electronic music gods (if gods can be quirky geeks). With 2008’s “Made in the dark” I was sure the band had ‘come of age’ and that such a strong album would open doors. I even heard ‘Ready for the floor’ played on mainstream, daytime radio; heady days.

“One Life Stand” was good, but didn’t move them on either artistically or commercially; it sounded less cohesive and left me feeling a tad disappointed. Alexis Taylor’s solo album stunk higher than a kipper left out in the sun and anything labelled “Hot Chip Remix” is best approached with caution (but never as bad as a Caribou remix admittedly).

Thus I feared their latest offering “In Our Heads” could signal Hot Chip’s slide down the league of mediocrity into the relegation slots Simian Mobile Disco are intent on inhabiting. But the opening track “Motion Sickness” soon dispels the fear that the album is a complete loss. Alexis’s reassuring vocal floats over a kind of electronic soul track that is both eclectic and mesmerising (they even manage to throw in some 303 style acid riffs). The house tinged “How Do You Do?” sounds like it has been beamed in from 1988 via a Mylo remix. There is a smattering of duff tracks whose inclusion makes me wonder if their presence is simply to offer a blinding contrast to wonderful songs such as “Flutes” and the truly sublime “Let Me Be Him”. So a mixed bag, but ultimately one worth investing both time and money into.

It seems Hot Chip albums will never be consistent, but the highs far out weigh the lows. It will just take their record companies longer to generate that retrospective “Best of” compilation.