Tim: Barely a fortnight now until Voyage is released, and here’s a new single to accompany it.
Tom: I remember, the last time we discussed The Sound of Arrows, that I had trouble putting them into a genre. Well, no more: this is trance, surely?
Tim: It’s just as spaced out and trancey as ever, and I love it. You push play, you lie back, and you drift away. All it needs is a video along the lines of Nova and it’ll be perfect. You hear me? PERFECT.
Tom: Perfect?
Tim: Well, maybe not perfect, because it’s actually not as good as Nova or M.A.G.I.C. were, but still. Very good nonetheless.
Tom: Despite the dodgy sci-fi laser-beam sound effects, I’ve got to agree.
Tom: Okay, the song’s called ‘Lightning’. Guess what they put in their music video?
Tim: Puppies!
Tom: Lens flares and bar lighting, actually.
Tim: Close enough.
Tim: GRR. SEE MY MASCULINITY.
Tom: Yet again, you’ve got the “We are The Wanted, and We Are Men” vibe to the video, because that means heterosexual men can watch it without worrying about their erections.
Tim: There’s still that one of them – think it’s Nathan – who looks about twelve, though, and has Glee walk-on part written all over him.
Tom: Good track, though – and I can’t explain why, because it’s generic Wanted fare.
Tim: Think you’ve explained why just there – generic, yes, but generic boyband stuff and boyband managers/songwriters know how to make god tunes. Not musical masterpieces, but good catchy by the book number, with lyrics, melodies and synth hooks that just work. This is one of them.
Tom: Was I distracted by scantily clad women? Possibly. But even without the video, I found myself really liking it.
Tom: Or in other words, “a band not really known”.
Tim: Matt Hewie, a bloke who has replaced the female what was in that group.
Tom: But not well enough to just be assimilated into the credits with the main group, it seems.
Tim: Put Your Hands, their new song.
Tim: Music here is good – not sure how to describe it, but it’s the sort of back and forth hook bit that comes after the chorus. You know the bit I mean. Yeah, that one. I like it.
Tom: It sounds a bit Aqua-ish, actually; similar tone to the voice and, yes, that back-and-forth bit.
Tim: Lyrics are also fun – I’m loving the juxtaposition of ‘I want you to fall in love with me’ and ‘I want to do you baby night and day’. That last bit reminds me of a whiteboard we’ve got a work; it’s supposed to be some sort of inspirational thing and it says ‘I did something amazing today’. Every time I walk past it I wish I had the guts to get out a marker and change ‘something’ to ‘someone’, just FOR THE LOLZ.
Tom: Do it. Or, better yet, carefully alter a copy of it in Photoshop, reprint it, and see how long it takes for anyone to notice.
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.
I think this is what it sounds like when a man has a breakdown.
Tom: After the trailblazing success of ‘Common People’, what could the legendary, er, “singer” come up with next?
Tom: I… I think this is what it sounds like when a man has a breakdown.
Tim: Oh my…
Tom: It’s off his new album – entirely space-themed covers – and, well, it’s more bonkers than his last one, that’s for sure. Last one had some half-decent tracks on it – and Common People, with its enthusiastic kids choir, was almost better than the original – whereas this, it seems, it back to the classic Shatner lunacy.
Tim: Yes. Um, it’s sort of… well, just… it… um… a bit… oh, never mind.
Tim: This is nice – uplifting, the inspirational kind of charity single rather than the doom and gloom one.
Tom: There are two very different approaches to charity singles: the sad ballad or the uplifting, enthusiastic one. Or, of course, you could put zombies in your music video, but then that’s just McFly.
Tim: The thing is – this song seems really familiar. It’s not that it reminds me of a different song – I just have this feeling I’ve heard it before.
Tom: Yep. It’s as if someone mashed a dozen vaguely uplifting records together.
Tim: Given that it’s an original song, there’s one conclusion – this is entirely generic. Which, let’s be honest, it is, but it’s not a great thing, really, is it?
Tom: It’s not officially ‘released’ until Hallowe’en, but it’s been getting tremendous amounts of airplay.
Tim: I just had to watch a thirty second advert for Run For Your Life. I’m already in a negative frame of mind.
Tom: AdBlock, Tim. Anyway – this song? It’s a weird one.
Tim: Weird is an excellent word to use here.
Tom: The best comparison I have for this is the Black Eyed Peas’ “Dirty Bit” – the regular part of it isn’t all that bad, but as soon as it goes into a strange, discordant breakdown it just becomes too strange.
Tim: To be honest, I’m too engrossed trying to work out what’s moving where in the video to listen properly, and the music seems a bit secondary. Without the video – standard Beyoncé fare, it seems.
Tom: Is this even danceable? I’m not sure. It does go on a bit, certainly, and this is the first time I’ve thought that a video was just too overproduced. That final, realistic smile – the last shot in the video – really does come as a relief.
Tim: Dancing! Saxophones! People moving between postcards like they’re paingtings at Hogwarts! LET’S GO!
Tom: A proper saxophone bit! I’ve said it before – the overblown 80s sax solo is coming back.
Tim: Since I don’t have much to say about this, let’s use it to provide a follow-up to the saxophone discussion that we had regarding The Edge of Glory. Well, that you had while I kept butting in with pointless interruptions.
Tom: That’s fair enough – other than the sax part and the rather fancy effects in the video, Min Indre Stemme is a bit dull.
Tim: I basically just want to mention Lady Gaga’s ‘Hair’, which is an absolutely brilliant track and also features saxophones (and, in fact, the same saxophonist who performed of The Edge of Glory).
Tim: Somewhat convoluted history – basically, it was going to be released as a promo single for the Born This Way album, but Edge of Glory got all the attention and this was pretty much entirely sidelined, very unfortunately.
Tom: Not entirely – there was this performance on the Paul O’Grady Show, which is notable for being a beautiful acoustic piano performance and, well, the lack of hair.
Tim: Well, regardless of that, I propose that (in a shocking and controversial move) we put a SECOND VIDEO in this post.
Tim: Almost a Norwegian Taylor Swift, really. Was there a Norwegian playwright whose work she could base a song on?
Tom: That’s a fairly close vocal match – there’s that country and western twang to it.
Tim: It’s about as uninteresting as Ms Swift, really, but it’s a gentle pop ballad-y type thing that’s nice if you’re into that sort of thing, which I sometimes am.
Tom: It does have the big soaring final chorus, although I reckon that’s still a chorus too late; you could lose one of the repetitions and I don’t think anyone would really mind.
Tim: Um, yeah. That’s about all I have to say on the matter.
Tom: Really? Are you distracted or something?
Tim: Well, it probably doesn’t help that right now I’m not really in a pop ballad-y type mood, as I’m still excited with my new iPhone. Yes, I’m using this as an opportunity to boast and go on about it. Problem?
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.
