Tag: Play

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”.

Stellar Project feat. Emelie Norenberg – Strong

You may remember the fantastic Destiny from last year.

Tim: You may or may not remember the fantastic and so-cheesy-it’s-practically-a-fondue Destiny from the end of last year.

Tom: Ooh, yes! I remember wanting to wave my hands in the air in a manner suggesting that I just didn’t care.

Tim: Upsettingly, they’ve now split up, more or less, and one of them’s gone a bit more grown up and done vocals on a dance track. This one, to be precise.

Tim: Is this bog-standard Eurodance stuff? Absolutely.

Tom: And I couldn’t give a damn. That starts well and keeps going.

Tim: Indeed, although it does have a slight summer beach feel to it. Much as yesterday’s track, this is fairly routine middle-of-the-set keep-people-going stuff, and I rather like it. Mainly because of that summery feel to it, because otherwise it would be entirely generic.

Tom: I doubt it’s going to be on an “All Time Dance Anthems” compilation in five years’ time, but there’s nothing wrong with it at all.

Play – Destiny

Describing this as cheesy would be like calling the Pacific Ocean a bit damp.

Tim: Some kids’ film soundtracks are sensible, proper music, that it is respectable to like. Others are a little bit cheesy, and the only acceptable response when in decent company is something like, “Oh, good heavens, no.”

Then there’s this, from Avalon High, and you couldn’t sensibly describe this as cheesy, because it would be like calling the Pacific Ocean a bit damp.

Tom: Oh, blimey, Avalon High is actually a Disney movie, isn’t it?

Tim: Well, technically speaking it’s a Disney Channel Original Movie. The key difference? They’re not targeting mainstream audiences, they’re targeting people who’ve paid a subscription because they just love Disney.

Tom: Somehow I have a feeling this is going to be more You’ll Be In My Heart than Circle of Life. And this version’s a rip from Radio Disney. I feel like I’ve fallen into some kind of corporate nightmare.

Tim: Now now Thomas, open mind please.

Tim: So, yes. The lyrics are stupidly Disney, the chorus does its best to sway you right out of the window, and when the key change inevitably hit I actually laughed at the unashamedness of it all. And yet, it’s not horrendous.

Tom: I actually made a brief, guttural “gak” noise when the key change hit. And then I had an urge to wave my hands in the air. Damn it, Disney. They’ve actually gone and put a crowd-handclap sample on beats two and four. All the way through the song. It never, ever stops, not even during the bridge. Once you notice it, it’s permanently there. You can’t hear anything else. It is quite horrendous.

Tim: But, it really isn’t. I don’t know, maybe I’ve been sucked in by the level of sugar it emanates, but I really like it. It’s almost heartwarming, although I never thought that word could describe a song, and after hearing it a few times I’m just left with a massive grin on my face, as though everything is now going to be fine, and that any nastiness has vanished from the face of the planet.

Tom: That’s not the song, that’s that damned new iMac you’ve just bought.

Tim: Perhaps, although I’m not the one waving his hands in the air, am I?