Saturday Flashback: Play – As Long As There’s Christmas

You’re going to love this.

Tim: You’re going to love this. Absolutely love it.

Tom: Ah, it’s December; which means that the Advent calendar of Christmas Saturday Flashbacks is starting up. All right, Tim; I’ll take the bait. Why am I going to love it?

Tim: Three reasons. The first is that I said on Thursday that Play have been unheard from since last December; this is true, but they did this back in 2007. It’s a cover of a song off (really, you’ll LOVE it) the straight-to-DVD 1997 Disney release Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, done for the Special Edition release.

Tom: Crikey, that’s obscure.

Tom: And, my word, that’s by the book Disney, isn’t it? I… damn it, I do like it. It’s just hitting every note, as a Disney Christmas song should.

Tim: Certainly is. The second reason is those trumpets in the chorus that I think are brilliant.

Tom: They are brilliant, and properly Christmassy. I’m guessing the third thing is the key change? ‘Cos it’s a top key change.

Tim: You are very very right. Those three aside, though, I don’t have much to say about it really. But those are three good things, and overall it’s just a bit nice, isn’t it?

Tom: That’s the epitome of a Disney Christmas song; in one ear, out the other, and it’s “nice”.

Saturday Flashback: Nikki Yanofsky – I Believe

The lyrics are exactly as they should be.

Tim: On Thursday we waffled on about an Olympic song, which wasn’t that great. This, on the other hand, is.

Tim: It wasn’t the official song of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, but it was CTV’s theme song for all the promos and TV broadcasts, and I reckon it’s just lovely.

Tom: Ah, you were over there for the Winter Olympics, weren’t you? This’ll have got itself ingrained in your head, then.

Tim: The lyrics are exactly as they should be for a song about a world sporting event – “I believe in the power that comes from a world brought together as one” – and unlike another song aren’t about making friends with your stuffed toys. The music is full of happiness, though admittedly not without a gimmick or two – the rising ‘I believe’s in the middle for one, there to build up the listener’s emotion (although don’t deny it didn’t).

Tom: I won’t deny it. It’s a textbook power ballad, isn’t it?

Tim: The children’s choir at the end will likely split opinion, as depending on how cynical you’re feeling it’ll either make the song complete or just push it up to a level of tweeness never previously experienced; I myself am in the former camp.

Tom: I’m in the latter. But we’ve established in the past that I don’t like children’s choirs; this one’s no exception.

Tim: Overall, it’s great. Also, the video makes me feel all nostalgic and happy, which probably helps.

Saturday Flashback: I Fight Dragons – The Power of Love

Hmm. Intriguing.

Tom: Got introduced to this band by Charles, one of the team I’m working with at the moment. I Fight Dragons are a rock band that use regular instruments for the main parts and old Nintendo consoles for backing instrumentation. While while that might seem a bit, well, niche… have a listen to this cover. And give it thirty seconds or so to kick in.

Tim: Hmm. Intriguing.

Tom: They do original songs first and foremost, but a cover will always be a more accessible way to introduce a new band to someone. Particularly a cover that’s as ridiculously overblown as this is.

Tim: Yeah, and overblown as it might be, it’s enjoyable enough.

Tom: And yes, the 8-bit noises in the background can be a bit annoying until you get used to them; but they also distinguish it quite well from all the other Huey Lewis covers out there. They might well be a novelty act – but they’re a novelty act with a lot of actual talent backing them up.

Tim: That they are.

Saturday Flashback: Yelle – Ce Jeu

I can’t tell if it’s 60s, 80s, or modern.

Tim: Friend of the site Ed has demanded that we review this band, suggesting a rap song they did, Je Veux Te Voix, or this one, the video of which has considerably fewer terrifying cast members. So we’re going with this.

https://youtu.be/GxFa9HLdhIY

Tom: That’s… well, I can’t tell if it’s 60s, 80s, or modern. Perhaps that’s just the video’s effect, though. I must thank the numerous YouTube commenters pointing out the brief flash of nipple there. I might have missed it otherwise.

Tim: No doubt the various toys and things in the video would make sense if my French was at a decent enough level to understand this (though I’m not sure anything could justify two dinosaurs mounting each other); musically, though, well, it’s alright. It’s admittedly not what I’d choose to put on a playlist, but I’d be happy hearing it at, say, a house party or something.

Tom: See, I rather like it. It’s happy, bouncy, and even ends on a little whistle.

Saturday Flashback: Charlotte Church – Back To Scratch

Rather lovely.

Tom: I missed this when it came out, which isn’t surprising since it didn’t make much of an impact on the world. But this song is rather lovely.

Tim: Ooh, it does start out nice and tinkly, doesn’t it?

Tom: In particular, it’s one bit of the chorus – that first line, with the unexpected melody line that reminds me of something but I can’t think what.

Tim: IS IT: Then I saw her face! Because the first time kind of reminds me of that.

Tom: No. Anyway – the rest of the song is pleasant too, but it’s that chorus part that made this song stand out to me in the background music of a pub the other day. And that video takes a brilliant concept and plays with it well enough to be interesting.

Tim: How they did that is fantastic. I love it.

Tom: I wonder if that studio tech’s been used for porn yet?

Tim: Eight Welsh folk, eight sheep – yeah, I can see that working.

Tom: Ah, going for the “acceptable targets” comedy there. Classic.

Saturday Flashback: Westlife – My Love

For some reason I’m holding a lighter in the air.

Tim: Last week, sad news hit much of the music world: after twelve years of making music, Westlife are to disband. If we wanted to (and I won’t deny there’s a teeny tiny part of me that wouldn’t mind) we could probably do a fortnight-long retrospective of their work; for everybody’s sanity, though, it’s probably best just to keep it to one track, and we’ll go with this one, which starts with them making a somewhat curious travel decision.

Tim: Quite why they’d bother walking (or even flying) when then can just magically change their surroundings at will is beyond me, but anyway.

Tom: It’s such a bizarre line – for a brief moment, my brain accepted it as a perfectly reasonable option. Of course you’d walk.

Tim: This was their six release and sixth UK number one, and their first (and only) Swedish number one, and it’s my personal favourite of theirs. Why?

Tom: I don’t know, but for some reason I’m holding a lighter in the air. I don’t even own a lighter.

Tim: Because it’s by the book, brilliantly done, boyband stuff. There’s the slow and understated first verse. Then comes the emotional chorus, leading in to a more substantial second verse with a beat behind it. The chorus comes back again, perhaps seeming a little bigger this time from the context. The middle eight, split in two with the calm bit at the end leading into the soaring vocals of the stunning final section. We get fanfares (actual fanfares!) in the background just to signify what a brilliant song this is.

And there’s the video as well. There’s the inevitable hammy acting, which can sensibly be ignored.

Tom: A couple of them do the same thing I do – they forget how to walk properly when there’s a camera pointed at them.

Tim: Then at the end it too tries to get the message across, with the flying cameras and impressive peninsula, that this is a Song That Will Be Appreciated. And personally, I can’t help but appreciate it.

Saturday Flashback: Jessie J feat. B.o.B – Price Tag

Bugger me, that’s a big teddy bear.

Tom: 150 million views on YouTube, still in rotation on the radio. Why am I talking about this? Because it’s exceptional.

Tim: Bugger me, that’s a big teddy bear.

Tom: Now there’s a sentence that’s not been said before. Anyway – twice now, while listening to the radio, I’ve wondered ‘ooh, what’s this song?’ and put it through Shazam. That’s rare for me – I’ve only used Shazam a dozen or so times in the last year.*

* I was almost disappointed, when it came up a second time, that Shazam didn’t say “you’ve already tagged this, you idiot, and then promptly forgotten it”.

Tim: Ah, well if you want to have fun with AI, you want to get yourself Siri.

Tom: Okay, we get it, you work at an Apple store.

Clearly something in the song really works for me; while I might like other songs on the radio, I don’t like them enough to find out what they are – twice – so I can download them later. It’s a textbook pop song, really; happy, entertaining, and a proper singalong hook.

Tim: Part of it is the unexpectedness of it – you’re sort of thinking it’ll be along the lines of Do It Like A Dude, or whatever that other crap one was, but it’s actually good. (Think I might have made this point before – I remember saying California King Bed was a fantastic prime example.)

Tom: And here’s the bit that really gets me: a rap bit that works. B.o.B is damn good at what he does, and he’s mellow enough to fit with the rest of the song. Put Flo Rida in here, and it’d be bloody awful.

Tim: I have a new-found annoyance about rap bits in songs: ever since Tulisa became an X Factor judge, it has seemingly become compulsory to rewrite the words if you’re performing it yourself (or even add new ones to originally good songs). I find this HORRIFICALLY irritating.

Tom: My word. That’s the first I’ve seen of this year’s X Factor. It’s… it’s terrible.

Saturday Flashback: City Stereo – The Rapture

Very good, but that energy just doesn’t quite translate.

Tom: I saw City Stereo live last week, and – my word – they deserved to be so much more than the first support act. Live, they are stunning, with every bit of stage presence that you’d expect from a band that have supported McFly in the past.

Tim: Hmm, not bad.

Tom: If they’re not live, though; they seem a lot more generic, somehow. Still very good, but that energy that I saw on stage – that converted a dull early-night crowd to enthusiastic cheering – just doesn’t quite translate. Most pop-punk bands can sound like this with a decent producer, but to sing and play that well live on stage takes some serious talent.

Also, I feel I should mention the gratuitous partial nudity in the video. I’m not complaining at all, just mentioning it.

Tim: When have you ever complained about partial nudity?

Tom: In a music video? Not since Robbie Williams in Rock DJ, I reckon. Put me right off my lunch.

Saturday Flashback: Secret Service – Ten O’Clock Postman

I can only describe that beat as righteous.

Tim: I saw this shared on Twitter recently; until then I had never heard of them, but I think this is most definitely worth a mention, because it’s fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMRzgyLY3c0

Tom: Some old school disco! I’ve not heard it before, but I can only describe that beat as righteous.

Tim: First, the song: I think it’s lovely that this bad wrote a song dedicated to a postman.

Tom: The Carpenters did the same thing, but with significantly less funk.

Tim: Second, the band: well, according to their biography on Spotify, these guys (from Sweden in the early 1980s, incidentally) have quite a distinguished background – they wrote a few Melodifestivalen entries, though nothing that won, then decided to go into the singing business. Multiple Europe-wide hits, including their first release, 1979’s Oh Susie, this one from 1980, and their biggest hit, 1982’s Flash in the Night.

They split in 1987 and the lead singer, Ola Håkansson, became part of a song writing team known as Norell Oson Bard, who then wrote all sorts of songs. (‘Bard’, by the way, is the same Alexander Bard who would later be in BWO and Gravitonas.)

Tom: And so it all becomes interconnected. If you have that urge to write music, then a band breaking up won’t stop you – you’ll just form a new one.

Tim: Absolutely. And that, children, is this weekend’s musical education and message. Wasn’t it fun?

Saturday Flashback: The Feeling – A Hundred Sinners

How about something joyful from a couple of months back?

Tom: How about something joyful from a couple of months back?

Tim: My first thought comes directly from the nerdy part of me that’s into typography: I feel a bit sorry for Anna, lumbered with a monospaced font while the others all get fancy writing.

Tom: Blimey, I’m a typography geek and I didn’t even spot that. Anyway: The Feeling. Purveyors of jaunty bubblegum tunes that wouldn’t even count as ‘indie’ if they were a more well-known band. And what a jaunty tune this is.

Tim: Jaunty is an excellent and sadly underused word. And appropriate for describing this song.

Tom: “We threw a party. It was a lot of fun. We should do it again.”

Tim: Ah, see that’s wrong. It’s sad, it really is, but one of the immutable laws of the universe is that any attempt to emulate a previously good night will never ever be as good.

Tom: Regression toward the mean. An important concept.

Tim: Ooh, Education. Children, I want you all to go and study that, as you may be tested on it later.

Done? Good. Relating it to this situation – the original party is already being built to be better than it was (amazing though it may well have been), and it just won’t live up to the promises – at least some of the best people won’t be there, the atmosphere won’t be quite the same, and worst of all, the highlights won’t be spontaneous, and therefore not as fun. Sorry.

Tom: Ah, but the chorus is “should’ve been there, should’ve been there”. Which is odd, because the rest of the song is in… huh. Actually, I’m not sure what tense it’s in. It’s all over the place. Can we stop over-analysing this, please? It’s too lovely for that.

There’s nothing deep to this track, and I don’t mind that one bit. In fact, it’s a pop song that isn’t about love or relationships – and that’s a rare thing indeed.

Tim: Yes. And despite my views on the song’s philosophy, it’s still good fun to listen to.