Saturday Flashback: Elton John – Someday Out Of The Blue

Many years ago, when I was a kid, I went to the cinema…

Tom: Many years ago, when I was a kid, I went to the cinema to see… something-or-other. And when I got home, and my folks asked me if the film was any good, I’ve no idea what I said. But I do remember mentioning this – because for whatever reason, they played this video in its entirety as one of the trailers. I don’t know why: but it clearly stuck with me.

Tom: A four-minute trailer that’s actually an Elton John music video. And what a video: they didn’t need to go to the expense of animating special scenes, let alone rotoscoping a cartoon Elton into it – but they did. And that’s just be a useless gimmick, if it wasn’t also a brilliant song.

Tim: Brilliant is one word to use; another word would be standard Elton John fare.

Tom: The thing is, standard Elton John fare – at least for his singles – is “brilliant”. He’s got ‘great hits’ albums that are two CDs long, and you’ll recognise most of the tracks on them.

Tim: Yes – I suppose I’m coming across slightly negative because, well, it’s an Elton John soundtrack song and I want it to be properly great.

Tom: I say brilliant because, well, it’s your quintessential Elton John soundtrack song. Everything about it is predictable in the best possible way: it’s catchy, it’s uplifting, and it’s got a key change at the end. It made me smile.

Tim: The key change made me smile as well, but mostly for the “ah yes, there it is” factor. Again, though, I can’t help feeling I’m being unreasonably negative. Sorry.

Tom: Well, like I say: it stuck with me.

Greta Salóme – Everywhere Around Me

What a voice. Oh, what a voice. And what a chorus.

Tim: You may remember Greta as half of Greta Salóme & Jónsi, who teamed up to represent Iceland in Baku with the genre-splicing Never Forget.

Tom: Or you may not. I, er, don’t.

Tim: Well, in that case give it another listen. Not bad by a long way, and it definitely deserved to do better than 20th. But anyway, this here is somewhat less metallic, but still something of a belter.

Tom: Ooh, that’s lovely. Almost menacing strings to start with, and… well, then it just keeps building.

Tim: What a voice. Oh, what a voice. And what a chorus, with the melody of that one line outshining quite a few other songs in their entirety. The lyrics and the message of the song, because this, Tom (and Danny O’Whatsisface—

Tom: O’… nope, I can’t remember his name either.

Tim: —well, whatever.) This can be an inspirational song: “I’m gonna tell the world I found the thing that turned my life around…It’s everywhere, it’s everywhere around me.” Then there’s the instrumentation throughout – this is a four minute song with fewer lyrics than most three minute ones, but what’s beneath them and between them is just huge where it needs to be and quiet where it needs to be.

Tom: It’s the first time, as far as I can remember, that I’ve thought adding a sound effects of a crowd rhythmically clapping has worked. It’s a dark song that soars – that’s difficult to pull off. And, oh my word, the quiet piano middle eight is just gorgeous.

Tim: Well, yes. And then after that there’s the key change, which is something special – it’s so slight you might think it’s not worth having, but once you notice it, it just seems so right and perfect.

In fact, everything about this seems so right and perfect.

Alphabeat – Love Sea

“Hey, they’ve covered The Who! Oh, wait. What?”

Tim: Hey, they’ve covered The Who! Oh, wait. What?

Tom: OUT HERE IN THE FIELDS! I… huh. Yeah, you’re right, they’ve covered The Who.

Tim: Yes, but then it’s not just that, is it? I mean, have they turned into a multi-target tribute band with telling anyone? Because first there’s the intro, which is, as we’ve agreed, unmistakably almost identical to Baba O’Riley (which is here, for anyone who’s not heard it, in which case they should listen to it now because it’s brilliant), and then there’s the ‘come on closer’ line, which is straight from Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know.

Tom: The first two lines are almost the same as “It’s a quarter after one…” from Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now.

Tim: OH GOD, I hadn’t noticed those as well, but you’re right.

Tom: In fact, almost everything in this track reminds me of something else. It’s strange to listen to: there’s something to be said for familiarity, but this is just plain weird.

Tim: It is, and you reckoned that their last one, Vacation, had similarities to other tracks as well.

Tom: “One two three, you’re in love with me” is probably original, that’s just because all other bands would have rejected it for sounding like it was written by a six-year-old.

Tim: What I want to know is: how did this happen? No-one — but no-one — in the music industry could fail to recognise either of those, surely, so this can’t be accidental. But their first album, with tracks like 10,000 Nights and Fascination was so original and inventive that I just can’t see quite what’s going on.

Tom: Despite all that, it’s still a catchy song.

Tim: Oh, I agree – don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a good track, as however unoriginal parts of it may be, it all goes together very well and sounds great. It’s just – what’s with the lifted stuff?

Cover Drive feat. Dappy – Explode

“Now now, don’t be so negative.”

Tom: I assume, sometimes incorrectly, that any track with Dappy on it is going to be bad. It’s the hats, the look, and the name that sounds like a reject from the Seven Dwarves.

Tim: Now now, don’t be so negative. We liked Rockstar, and I quite liked No Regrets. Although there is his current track Come With Me, which I’m not even going to link to, and you’re right, he is a bit of a tit, so we’ll see.

Tom: And despite not particularly rating Cover Drive’s number 1 from earlier in the year, I’m willing to give this a chance.

Tom: …well, consider that chance blown.

Tim: Hmm…yeah.

Tom: It’s not a bad track, by any means – Cover Drive’s section is pretty damn good, for my money, and it’s a decent fusion of Barbadian music and regular pop that manages to somehow steer clear of sounding too much like Peter Andre.

Tim: I can sort of agree with that – can’t really get with it myself but okay.

Tom: But then Dappy comes back in. He’s back to stereotypical form rather than the quite-clever, decent-singer that we heard in Rockstar. It’s over quite quickly, I suppose, but that’s small comfort. Without him, it’d be a decent track: but with him, man, I don’t want to hear this again.

Tim: I’ll pass it throughout, but you’re right – he does lower the tone. But maybe he has good periods and bad periods – this is a low, but six months from now he might be vaguely good. Possibly.

The Script feat. will.i.am – Hall of Fame

It’s Blatant Not-Quite-Olympic Cash-In Time!

Tom: It’s Blatant Not-Quite-Olympic Cash-In Time! Are you looking for a song that’ll work in the background of montages when you can’t license the official Olympic tracks? Well, has Danny O’Whatshisface—

Tim: O’Donaghue

Tom: —whatever. Has he got a track for you.

Tim: I LIKE THAT A LOT. Except for the video, which is a bit shit.

Tom: In my head, Danny O’Donnelly—

Tim: O’Donaghue

Tom: —whatever. In my head, he spent hours following will.i.am round during downtime on the set of the Voice, pestering him until he finally agreed to guest on a Script track. That’s almost certainly not what happened, though.

Tim: Probably not. But the actual song, I reckon’s pretty good. Sure, it doesn’t end up being as inspirational as it probably wants to be, but it’s decent enough nonetheless. The chorus is a bit of a belter, and the lyrics are the sort of ones that would get you going if you wanted it. When it comes back and the end, different bits all piled on top of each other, that’s just lovely.

Tom: Somehow it seems more like a pale imitation of inspiration, just going through the motions. That said, I started liking Muse’s Olympic single after a few listens, so what do I know?

Tim: Yeah, that was weird.

Tom: The thing is, the most insightful comment I have about this is to continue our occasional rant about how lyric videos – which are only cheap when you compare them to ‘proper’ music videos – still don’t get proofread properly. Apostrophe’s, people. Learn to use them.

Tim: Shame, because because I really like it. (And I see what you did there, with the whole apostrophe thing. It’s good.)

Tom: Thank’s. Other than that: I… I don’t know. I got nothin’. For a track that’s meant to be inspirational, it sure isn’t inspiring me.

Pitbull feat. Shakira – Explode

Everything about this is brilliant. Apart from Pitbull.

Tom: Everything about this is brilliant. Apart from Pitbull.

Tim: Yes, I can agree with you there.

Tom: Listen to Shakira’s vocal. It’s astonishingly good. And the slowly building instrumentation underneath it, suddenly blasting out into a brilliant dance track… it’s fantastic. I want the whole track to be like this.

Tim: So do I, and I particularly like the middle eight closing bit and then firing out that triumphant end section.

Tom: But it’s not. It’s got Pitbull in it. Bragging about himself and his travels. Again.

Tim: Actually, he seems to be calling himself Mr Worldwide here, so at least he’s got a character he’s sticking to.

Tom: Oh, that’s been his nickname for a while. How do I know that? Because he mentions it in every goddamn track of his I hear. I swear he’s given himself the name, like a kid in school trying to be cool. He’s got a decent flow and voice, I’ll give him that, but heaven forbid he do anything interesting or smart with it. Put someone else in this, or better yet put no-one else in this, and it’d be wonderful.

Tim: Yes.

Saturday Flashback: Adrian Lux feat. The Good Natured – Alive

“We should have featured him before.”

Tim: You may remember that back in March I described Adrian Lux as ‘a Swedish bloke who puts out some cracking dance tracks’, and said we should have featured him before. Well, this is from last November.

Tim: This dance tune is great; the singer admittedly not so much.

Tom: Ooh, now that’s where I disagree with you. The instrumentation didn’t work for me, but the vocals did.

Tim: Really? Because her Kate Nash style voice during the verses grates on me really rather a lot. When she starts singing for the chorus it gets okay, mind, and when she stops altogether the bit that Adrian does is brilliant. You don’t agree?

Tom: Well, it’s competent, certainly, but the favourite part for me is the build – its promise never really seems to turn into a decent chorus.

Tim: A vocal chorus, no, but the dance bit it’s got is great. I’m listening to it on repeat for that, and my god I wish she’d shut up and let him do his bit, so I’d love an instrumental.

Tom: But there’s nothing going on, instrument-wise, during those vocals. It’s be a bloody quiet instrumental.

Tim: Well, yes, obviously, because most dance-pop tracks don’t have much under the verses. I’ll rephrase it: what I’d like is a slightly restructured. instrumental with the choruses as they are and suitable material to fill in for her singing. That way there’d be no disappointing build – it would just be proper dance music at the level of the chorus.

And the level of that chorus is exactly why we should have featured him previously.

Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child

“There just doesn’t seem to be…enough, really.”

Tim: Earlier this year Swedish House Mafia announced they would be splitting up. It’s no great surprise, especially since Axwell and Avicii have both been coming out with some great stuff of their own recently, and the other one may have been as well, although I can’t think who it is right now.

Tom: The “DJ Yella” of the group, then.

Tim: But they’re officially going their own ways as of now, with this being their final farewell.

Tim: And I really, really wish I could get more excited about it. Because there just doesn’t seem to be…enough, really.

Tom: Hang on. Ignoring Pete Tong’s branding dumped all over this video like a child let loose in the National Gallery with some crayons… what’s wrong? There’s a great vocal there, a brilliant melody, even the standard euphoric build you find in everything that might get played in a dance club since the mid-90s – and it builds into a brilliant dance track. What’s it missing?

Tim: Oh, you’re right, the vocal work is excellent, and unusually emotive for a straight dance track, and the main melody itself is fantastic. But my main issue is that there isn’t enough going on under the vocal, when it’s there.

Tom: Too much slow arms-waving-in-the-air, not enough bouncing-up-and-down? Admittedly, acoustic guitar breaks aren’t common in mainstream dance tracks.

Tim: The gentle piano melody might just keep me on the dance floor, but I think the quiet bits and the gentle build are just too lengthy to get me dancing throughout. And that annoys me, because I really want to dance to that fantastic melody.

Tom: There are going to be enough remixes of this, and enough competent DJs matching it with other tracks. Believe me, you’ll be able to dance to it.

Tim: Oh, I should think so. Bloody hope so, anyway.

Scouting for Girls – Summertime in the City

“Perhaps ‘terrible’ is too strong a word.”

Tom: Last time we covered a Scouting for Girls track, I gave this formula that fits every one of their tracks, and suggested they never break that mould:

Earnest vocals over inoffensive piano, guitar and drums; vocal harmonies in the background from half way through the song; quiet piano bridge ramping up to undeservedly triumphant final chorus.

Well, they’ve broken that mould.

Tom: And it’s terrible.

Tim: What? No it isn’t. It’s good, no?

Tom: Well, perhaps ‘terrible’ is too strong a word. It’s pop music, after all. It’s no INJU5TICE. But – backing ripped from an MIA track, chorus suggesting the Lovin’ Spoonful original “Summer in the City” but never quite getting there, lyrics that could have been written by an eight-year-old. It’s inoffensive pop and it probably won’t do badly, but it ain’t going to be a classic, that’s for sure.

Tim: Well, if you pull it apart like that then yes, you make it sound bad, and there’s not a whole lot I can disagree with (especially with regard to the lyrics). But you don’t mention it all coming together and fitting well enough to make a tune that I’m still humming two hours later.

Tom: Really? I can barely remember it at all. I’ve just got a nagging feeling of irritation.

Tim: Fair enough, and you’re right, it’s not a classic. But terrible? Absolutely not.

Jippu – Eva (Nukutaan Kielletyllä Iholla)

Isn’t that just glorious?

Tim: In English, this is Eva (We Sleep On Forbidden Skin), and blimey is it a builder. I was almost quick to dismiss it, but don’t do that.

Tim: Isn’t that just glorious?

Tom: Good grief, yes. That’s a textbook build; instrument after instrument slowly, beautifully layered on top of each other. You scarcely notice what’s going on until the percussion kicks in. Something I’ve never done before: I started to mock-conduct during that middle eight, and my jaw actually dropped a little when that final triumphant chorus arrived.

Tim: Quick background to the lyrics: it’s a generic ‘you’re the only one who understands me’ type song, with a twist of ‘no-one else approves’ and then an oddity or two thrown in for good measure – the repeated line at the end of the chorus, for example, talks about braiding each other’s hair. The buildup in the middle eight repeats the main message: you see everything that no one else loves, basically.

Tom: Aww, that’s lovely.

Tim: Isn’t it just? And that music, well, like you say, plays a blinder. Yes, it starts off slow and a tad dull, but that’s only natural and proper when it’s destined to build up like it is, because otherwise it would blow out the speakers and that’s not right for a song with this sort of message. She has a lovely voice to send it out, and whoever he is he’d do very well to heed her advice and ignore other people’s views, and just sit there and listen to her sing. Whilst braiding her hair.

It’s not flawless: the middle eight goes on for one repetition too long, I reckon (although if they’d added another layer of instrumentation on the fourth go that would also be fine).

Tom: I think there is one – there’s some extra percussion that comes in, but by that point it’s busy enough it’s difficult to notice.

Tim: Perhaps, but what I’d really like is a repetition of the final triumphant chorus – somehow even at four minutes long this song doesn’t overstay its welcome (and that’s high praise indeed from me).

Tom: Agreed: and I’d almost like to hear it stepped up one more notch, just to see what a wall of sound that extra chorus would have been. Can’t ding it any points for that, though – it’s beautiful.