Saturday Flashback: Roger Pontare & Marie Bergman – Stjärnorna

“All warm and snuggly”

Tim: Tom, I’m looking forward to December, because my word have I got some Christmas Flashbacks for you. But in the meantime, let’s turn the clock back 22½ years, to Sweden’s entry to Eurovision 1994, back in the days of live orchestra and national languages only.

Tom: Thanks for reminding me how long ago 1994 was.

Tom: Blimey, what a voice he’s got! You don’t hear voices like that in pop these days. And all the orchestration is so 90s. I can’t remember ever hearing that before, and I still feel nostalgic.

Tim: Title translates to ‘Stars’, with the titular ones being those that light up the night and power our love. The verses are are bit dull, but oh that chorus really did make me feel all warm and snuggly inside. You might not be able to sing in English, but that sure as hell doesn’t mean you can’t get your message across, and here it just sounds so lovely, doesn’t it?

Tom: Bonus points for the styling too. And yet, his name is the incredibly mundane “Roger”. Roger.

Tim: True, but don’t forget that even now we live in a world where one of the biggest tracks of the year is by a guy called Alan. It’s hard to judge a Eurovision performance from back then now, of course, but I will comment that I’m not keen on her dementor look for the first verse, and quite what’s going on with his hair/carpet dress thing I’ve no idea. But all over it’s lovely.

Felin – Gossip

“The right mix of angry, shouty and still listenable.”

Tim: This here from Finland, getting just slightly emotional.

Tom: “This video contains content from SME, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” I’m in the US right now, Tim, so you’re going to have to take this one on your own.

Tim: Oh, that’s a shame, as I think you’d have a lot of time for this. That chorus, in particular, which really nudged me awake a bit. It’s a bit dull and almost tediously downbeat up until then – it was only the strangely hypnotic video that kept me going really – but it shook me up no end and made me pay attention, and from that moment on I was hooked. I do love a big emotional chorus, particularly if it’s the right mix of angry, shouty and still listenable. This checks all those boxes nicely.

Also, pleasantly surprised to find out that it was all actually drawn on the wall physically – can’t imagine how much time must have gone into planning they didn’t run out of space.

Niall Horan – This Town (Tiësto Remix)

“Can it be saved?”

Tom: We agreed that This Town was sub-Sheeran, perhaps even sub-Odell. But can it be saved by Tiësto, the same way that Seeb saved Mike Posner?

Tom: No.

Tim: I weouldn’t say entirely not – it does come across a whole lot less melty, though, and so a fair amount more listenable. The parts with the instrumental focus don’t fit at all, though.

Tom: I will grant that the pre-chorus “I want to tell you everything” is still pleasant, but that’s because I’ve heard that motif a hundred times in other songs. The backing doesn’t really seem to work with… well, anything. The whole thing’s unnecessary, Tim.

Tim: Yes, but not entirely unappreciated.

Roxette – Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers

“It’s a track I have difficulty pinning down.”

Tim: It’s just over thirty years since Roxette’s first single, and yet here they are, still banging out the tunes. The third off the tenth album, which so far we’ve quite enjoyed. Care to press play?

Tim: It’s no It Just Happens – think the time’s coming up to guarantee that a place in the shortlist for Tim’s Favourite Track of 2016 – but it’s a solid third track from an album. To be honest it’s a track I have difficulty pinning down.

Tom: Yes, that’s fair. These sort of user-generated videos just tend to distract me from the song, so I had it in a background tab: and I realised that my attention was ebbing and flowing. It’s… it’s nice? I can’t think of a better adjective.

Tim: The ah-ah-ah-aaah-ah-ah-ah-ah running throughout is very pleasant, and there’s no disputing the quality to production, but then the quiet openings to both verses are an odd choice, though – the pacing of the first vocal couplet seems very odd without the backing underneath to give it a bit of context.

Tom: Right! As soon as the track starts to kick back in — notably that very 90s synth bit out of the middle eight — I really like it again.

Tim: Sure, and also the slow-paced portion of the first chorus is lovely, in a Cara Mia style – though with the weird structure of the song it seems almost like the middle eight got dropped in 90 seconds too early. In fact, I think that’s my main issue with it – it doesn’t quite follow a structure I’m used to, and now I feel a bit disconcerted. It’s very nice, though.

Train – Play That Song

“The lowest-effort single Train have ever produced.”

Tim: New one from Train here.

Tom: Excellent! I look forward to seeing it used in dozens of advertisements throughout 2017.

Tim: You say that now…

Tom: Good heavens, this is the lowest-effort single Train have ever produced.

Tim: Yep.

Tom: And that’s saying something. They’ve taken a song from the 1930s, changed the lyrics to be so utterly generic that they were thoroughly parodied three years ago, and added verses that don’t even seem to have a melody.

Tim: Hmm, I wasn’t going to be that harsh on it – it was the melody in the chorus that caught my ear and make me think “ah…”

Tom: Well, yeah, but that’s because it’s ripped off. And before you go “well, that’s just an obscure track they’re taking”, it’s not.

Tim: It really isn’t – a simplified version was one of the first tunes I got taught when I was unsuccessfully put through piano lessons as kid, and I suspect that’s true for many other people as well. But as for the lyrics, they have at least added the slight twist that the reason he wants the song to be played is that it gets his woman turned on and wanting to do the dirty.

Tom: Here’s the thing: Heart and Soul is a great song. There’s a reason it’s survived so long. And it only really has that chorus: if they’d just added some decent verses, and produced it this well, this’d be a fantastic track. As it is? It just feels lazy.

Hardwell feat. Jay Sean – Thinking About You

“Most Disappointing Drop Of The Year”

Tom: It’s getting late for submissions, but I think we’ve got a November contender for the Most Disappointing Drop Of The Year Award.

Tom: Which is really a shame, because the rest of the song is a pretty good Generic Dance Tune, the sort of thing that AATW or someone similar would turn out. Why Hardwell’s gone for this odd silence instead of, you know, actually making this a BANGER, I’ve no idea.

Tim: Hmm, yes, you’re not wrong – certainly a let down, though again I can’t help feeling that, like Friday’s middle eight, it was just not meeting expectations. It’s not particularly awf– actually it’s just come round the second time, yes, you’re very right.

Tom: Even in the last chorus, it doesn’t get going: the whole thing seems like a bit of a cop-out really.

Tim: And an unpleasant cop out at that.

Saturday Flashback: Matt Fishel – Radio-Friendly Pop Song

“Bluntly delivered.”

Tim: This was suggested by our reader Sophie; it’s from 2013, and is a song with a message to deliver.

Tim: And it’s a fair message.

Tom: Bluntly delivered.

Tim: We could debate for a long time how relevant it still is, and certainly about how times are changing – one of the guys from Union J came out while they were still on The X Factor and it didn’t hurt their placing; Olly Alexander’s one of the most vocal gay pop stars out there and his career’s going strong, even if he did recently admit to fancying Jeremy Corbyn. On the other hand, the fact that the only ones that come to mind straight away are those two and Joe McElderry probably does speak volumes.

Tom: Well, Adam Lambert, Sam Smith, Tegan and Sara, and a few others come to mind immediately.

Tim: Oh, yes – man, how did I forget the only openly gay man to ever win an Oscar? Hopefully it won’t, like the song suggests, be that way forever; in the meantime, though, it’s an enjoyable song.

Tom: It is, and it’s well-written, but here’s my problem with it: it’s occupying a weird middle ground between pop song and comedy song. The lyrics in that first verse set me up for something in the style of Tim Minchin, so I was expecting something… not necessarily laugh-out-loud funny, but at least a bit clever. Instead, it never went anywhere: hence my saying it’s bluntly delivered.

Tim: Hmm, good point – I must say I did laugh at the end of the first verse when he cut out before saying that outright, as I didn’t realise where it was going.

Tom: That might well be what they’re going for: but, you know, at least change the final chorus around or something like that.

Charlie Puth – Dangerously

“That sounded a lot less harsh in my head.”

Tim: Tom, I am DONE with Tropical Fridays – it’s November now, single digit temperatures and I’ve spent the last two weeks moaning about it, so let’s call it quits. Though that does leave me with nothing right now. What’ve you got?

Tom: The fourth single from Charlie Puth’s album. I know, but stick with me.

Tom: Ooh. Actually good, I reckon. It’s as if OneRepublic replaced their lead singer with someone with a more generic voice. Hmm. That sounded a lot less harsh in my head.

Tim: No, I’d take that as a compliment – it’s is good, and very listenable. The guy gets a lot of flak, and I’ve never really understood why – he’s got a great voice, even if it is somewhat generic.

Tom: The composition is great, and the production is some of the best I’ve heard in a while. That subtle harmony effect on the choruses is lovely. In fact, it’s a rare song where the middle eight is worse than the verse, but that’s happened here. Damn it, that also sounded a lot less harsh in my head.

Tim: Yes, but only because it’s a fairly high standard you’re comparing that middle eight to – still better than many.

Tom: That said, I’m now going to ruin this song for you, and for anyone else who reads this: “I love you, Dangerous Lee.”

Tim: Ha, glad I’m not the only one who heard that. Think we need to investigate who Lee is and what he’s done.

Matilda feat. OMVR – Apologize

“This sounds like a LOT of other songs, Tim.”

Tim: Both from Norway and both with this as their second single; hopefully you’ll enjoy it. Couple of notes first: a few of quietly dropped in f-bombs, and if you only want the music you can safely skip to 40 seconds in.

Tom: skips forward

Tom: This sounds like a LOT of other songs, Tim. There are melody lines in here that trigger all sorts of memories: particularly The Kinks, but a few other things too. Nothing close enough to be plagiarism, just enough to be irritatingly familiar.

Tim: It’s been a while since we had a decent ballad on here, unless I’ve just forgotten them, which I suppose kind of knocks out the ‘decent’ part of it really. Pleasingly, this is quite a nice return to them, particularly as a (slight) duet.

Tom: And doing a final chorus that is just “la, la, la” is always a nicer ending than just repeating-to-fade. That one-note-of-acapella trick works well too.

Tim: So musically we’re all good. As for lyrics: I like the message of it – I know I’ve done something slightly wrong but you’ve crossed the line, but we can still get back together if you’re sorry.

Bit like Ross and Rachel the first time, I suppose, if you want a twenty year old comparison. Speaking of which, did you see recently that Ross was voted Britain’s favourite one of the six of them? Bloody disgrace if you ask me. I know Britain’s made some dodgy decisions this year but that one really does take the biscuit.

Tom: I’ve never actually seen Friends.

Tim: WHAT. Are you kidding me? Bloody hell. I don’t know what this means for the future of our partnership.

Frida Sundemo – We Are Dreamers

“Something is clearly About To Happen.“

Tim: Frida’s brilliant song Snow was used in a film I saw recently about an A&R bloke who was a complete arsehole and needed to find some new talent; she played that at a gig and was duly snapped up. I thought that was a bit unfair really, but I guess she was happy with it, and the presumable cash that came with it. ANYWAY, here’s her new one.

Tom: That’s one of the best intros I’ve heard in a while. Something is clearly About To Happen.

Tim: Obvious criticism: there’s not a huge amount going on in the way of lyrics, and that is perhaps something that should be worked upon.

Tom: Agreed: once the Thing Happened, that was it, the song seemed to run out of ideas.

Tim: On the other hand, repeating it over and over again is a hell of a way to get a message across – “I feel like air” might not be particularly inspiring or indeed intelligible, but you can’t exactly ignore the dreamers bit, and certainly not when it’s over backing as impressive as this.

Tom: True, the composition and production is basically perfect here. I still feel it’s missing something — it may just be anything in the low frequencies, because it’s all treble and no bass — but what’s there is great.

Tim: Right, because just listen to that stuff at e.g. 46 seconds in – isn’t it just gorgeous? And it persists throughout. It’s so LOVELY.