Lopez Blogs

Despite my overwhelming love for their two singles "Its All Over This Town" and the current and quite enchanting "Black and White", it has taken me a whole two days to listen to The Upper Room's debut album "other people's problems". But as I returned to work from the holiday weekend this windy Wednesday morning, I needed a little pick me up so decided my mood would benefit from the straightforward lyrics and melodic genius that comes from this brighton four piece.

Thematically, it does kind of remind me of Hard-Fi, whom last year put out the frequently delightful, occasionally patchy "Stars of CCTV" which was a bleak look at working class life in England. TUR take a more middle class approach – or at the very least an upper lower working class perspective. A lot of the songs detail lost love and longing, broken hearts and misunderstandings, which basically could have soundtracked my life from the ages of 18 to 25. The songs definitely benefit from being polished up from their demo stages – Portrait is a gorgeous tune that just has to be the next single and it kind of reminds me of the lilac time mixed with the gin blossoms, but in a good way with incredibly bittersweet lyrics that really made me sad: "This is a portrait of my life, this is a photo on the wall, thi is the sharp edge of the knife ending it all"

The standout track for me has to be It began on the radio which closes the album. If hard-Fi appeal to people who are just living for the weekend then the upper room are going after the more lovesick younger brother who remembers when he first fell in love and exactly what he was doing. I can't imagine a more enchanting song being chosen to finish off this lyrically lovely set of tunes.

Quite quite charming

It must be clear to regular readers of this blog that i have developed a bit of an obsession with new band The Feeling not seen since i went a bit psycho for Maroon 5 back in late 2003. Oh yes since then i have fallen in love with the Killers, the Scissters, Magic Numbers, etc and adore all those bands but The Feeling have something about them that appeals to me in a different way. Their debut album 12 Stops and Home shows that they can write ornate and soaring conversational love songs full of hear, bittersweet observation and unashamed street level Englishness. And rather brilliantly, The Feeling have an ability even within the most ambitios song structure to sound as if they are singing to you in a small intimate setting. There are supertramp influences all over the debut disc, yet the songs have that something that even ELO's best songs didn't have - charm. A lot of reviewers have given this album a great write up but also said it's this years guilty pleasure. Well for me, there is no guilt in loving this, its all pleasure (god how cheesy).

I am devastated however, that the excellent Fill My Little World "only" made number 10 this week. Its one of my favourite songs of the year and certainly deserved a higher chart placing than the dreadful Daz Sampson. I just despair sometimes i really do :)

So the heavens opened up as Birminghams Gay Pride weekend kicked into gear right on my doorstep... you can always tell when its gay pride weekend as the the guys haircuts invariably get smarter and the clothes are so sharp that later you know some boozed up drag queen is going to self harm on them... of course conversely the lesbian tent is overflowing with buzzcuts and birkenstock sandals :) Here are some highlights of my weekend interspersed (love that word) with some random pics...

ruining a perfectly decent pair of ikon trainers/sneakers (more of a casual shoe really) in the mud pit that was Canon Hill Park

being given more free condoms and lube than the sluttiest of men would know what to do with...

seeing the main stage filled with reality music tv *stars* that show why they didn't make it in the first place. Yes Clea i'm talking about you!

seeing Nylon on the main stage and -maybe because of the alcopops- finding their single Losing a friend quite pretty actually (mp3)

trying to drink my can of red bull with no hands and ending up with it all dribbling down my chest... classy

having to wear a scarf out in MAY!!! because it was so freaking chilly

Having a bop to Raise the Roof which is the greatest getting ready to go out party song ever, even if the first few moments do sound like the Sex and The City theme (mp3)

Going on the worst fairground ride ever (it just spins you round in a bumpy style) and ending up bruised and battered all over...

Meeting my best friend Ruths lovely new lesbanian girlfriend Lou who really likes fishcakes - and then promptly disappeared with Ruth. Another lesbian metaphor if ever i heard one ;)

Discovering the brilliant new Loft Lounge opened just opposite our apartment block and finding that the bloke who part owns it insisting that he used to date my darren 17 years ago. Well who wouldn't? He is a stud and a half <3

Seeing one of the fairground stalls (throw the hoop over the bottle) saying "3 throws £1 or 1 throw for just £2" Aaah dyscalcia is so prevelant amongst todays carnies...

realising that as I get older all the gays get younger. While i was donning my scarf to prevent getting a chill, 100s of 17 year olds were putting on underwear and a crop top. My doom laden "it will happen to you" bitter warnings were meant with derision or shrieks of fear :(

having a drunk old tranny throw up right next to my feet as i plodded home. How vile....

So little (and she is tiny!) Nerina Pallot played an instore appearance at Borders tonight in "glamourous" Birmingham. That is so Bananarama of her ;) There was a crowd of about 60 people who listened to her sing "All good people", "sophia" and of course new single "Everybodys going to war". It was just her and her guitar and i was just mesmerised the whole time... despite being tiny she has a great unique voice, and an utterly charming stage presence. She apologised for having a wardrobe moment as she removed a cardigan, then apologised for having an accessory moment when her necklace got in the way. Bless ;)



Then of course she did an instore signing of her new album. Somehow despite being at the front, i was the last person to get anything signed. She told me a story about how this was her first instore appearance and she felt like the author of Valley Of The Dolls in "that Bette Midler movie. But I prefer Beaches!" I told her she should cover Otto Titsling for her next b-side and she said she would love that but only if she could wear something appropriate to the song (as she hoisted her boobs up!!). She then graciously waited for me to work out how the camera operated on my completely gay new gold Nokia phone (which she loved) and signed my cd for Daz (whose fave Bette Midler film is Beaches) "To Darren, I love Beaches too! Love Nerina Pallot"

Check out this strings version of her single then go buy her albums cos i am now in love with this woman :)

MP3: Everybodys Going To War (String version)

Buy Fires
Buy Dear Frustrated Superstar

Lets face it, everyone and his dog is going to be writing about the Pet Shop Boys new album Fundamental.... and thats ok because it deserves to be written about :) I always think its a bit of a back handed compliment when people call an album "a return to form". Doesn't that imply that at the very least your last record was a bit pants? I really liked Release, just as when Madonna came back with Confessions... I had really liked American Pie. But after two listens, i can confirm that this could well be my fave PSB cd since Very (and i love the packaging - completely black slipcase with dayglo pink and orange cds inside!)

Some highlights:

• Not much i can say about the lead off single I'm With Stupid other than its a bit of a bobby dazzler
• Integral sees the boys continue their political commentary ("if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear" rant about ID cards) and they sound a little bit scary and angry, but it is a great disco stomper of a track
• Numb is a grandiose track that for me sits a little uncomfortably with the rest of the album - however, for me Neil sounds emotionally devastated on the track and that's not an easy task to pull off
• The Sodom and Gomorrah Show/Casanova in Hell certainly have the best titles and are terrific tracks that show off Chris and Neil at their very best - clever lyrics wrapped in beautifully produced, memorable and catchy music
• XO wrote a lot about Minimal - and its a highlight of the album, especially the New Order-esque final minute.

it is with some excitement that i found the new Dashboard Confessional single online today. I was rather late to the DBC party when i first heard them in 2003 and Hands Down was my very favourite song of that year. You can download Don't Wait at this location. When 50,000 people have downloaded it, it will unlock the world premiere of the video for the song.

The song is taken from the upcoming album Dusk and Summer which is out on June 27th. Don't Wait continues the sound that began on their last album A Mark A Mission A Brand A Scar which featured a new plugged in version of Hands Down and saw them veer away somewhat from the more acoustic sounds of their first two long players. In some ways it reminds me of Keane's comeback single Is It Any Wonder, but this song connects with me and the melody seems a lot more accessible. And singer Chris Carraba is looking as good as ever...

Check out Hands Down, Vindicated and the new single on their myspace page and let me know what you think!

I'm perfectly willing to admit that it's probably a nostalgia thing. It's fond memories of my teen years when i thought listening to their music made me hip - or hipper than the stock aiken waterman/debbie gibson diet of tunes at that time. But i like the new Beautiful South album. Sure the title sounds like some sexually ambiguous superhero (Superbi). And sure its not a million miles from the stuff they were doing in 1989. But i like it :)

And it does sound like an album a late 30's dad might buy. Which is ok because with age comes wisdom, and with each song about a love long gone, a relationship past its sell by date or, conversely and rather lovely, a love that transcends all else, the sentiment feels like it comes from experience. Songs as varied as Bed of Nails (my fave) - a terribly sad declaration of love and Manchester, a song about how it's always pouring with rain there. Then there is the lyrically pinpoint When Romance Is Dead to 'sparring duet' Cat Loves The Mouse featuring a couple unable to connect.

MP3: Bed of Nails

It's part country, part folk, part pop, but all Beautiful South. if you like them already you'll will probably like this, but it's unlikely to win any new converts...

As the 2005/06 season draws to a close, it occurs to me that season 4 of a show is often a curse but luckily one that leads to a revitalised story if its lucky enough to get to the 5th year. Buffy was brilliant up until the dodgy Initiative storyline that drove the fourth season, but got amazing from season 5 onwards. Similarly the incredibly written Gilmore Girls suffered in the fourth season when Rory went to college but has been on a creative high since then. Smallville completely lost its way in year four but has rebounded this year... so what has scored with me and what has bored me this season...

The Great:

Second seasons of mystery dramas of Lost, Desperate Housewives and the criminally underviewed Veronica Mars rocked my world. All - but especially Lost - continue to be frustrating and brilliant in equal measures, but there is no way I won't be tuning in for their third seasons....

The Good:

Grey's Anatomy really hooked me in and continues to remind me of Ally McBeal if she had taken a different career path. Prison Break is clearly the most ludicrous show on tv but if you just go with it, its actually compulsive addictive tv. Gilmore Girls I continue to be in love with and is the most snappily written pop culture referencing show on the box.

The Struggling:


Sticking with them out of loyalty really, I felt Everwood suffered the season four curse this year and wasn't up to the high quality of previous seasons (and please this show should so be on CBS on a saturday night) and The OC is still struggling with too many repeat storylines. As its due to head into season four, things don't look good...

The Bad:

And so the Deb weekend comes to a close. Despite her best attempts to re-enter the pop market, Ms Gibson is most widely known these days for her stage work. She released an album of Broadway classics called Coloured Lights in 2003 and has appeared in the following productions:

• 1992 - Les Miserables on Broadway (eponine)
• 1993 - Grease in London's West End (Sandy)
• 1995 - Grease on US National Tour (Rizzo)
• 1996 - Funny Girl on US National Tour (Fanny Brice)
• 1997 - Beauty and The Beast on Broadway (Belle)
• 1998 - Gypsy in New Jersey (Gypsy Rose Lee)
• 1999 - Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat on US National Tour (Narrator)
• 2000 - Cinderella on US National Tour (Cinderella)
• 2002 - Chicago in Boston (Velma Kelly)
• 2003 - Cabaret on Broadway (Sally Bowles)
• 2004 - Company in LA (Marta)
• 2004 - Brigadoon in LA (Maggie)

When Atlantic had chosen not to renew Debbie's contract, strangely enough she started to gain a bit more fame in England by joining neighbours star and sometime chart botherer Craig McLachlan in the London revival of Grease. Deb's made a great Sandy and the show was sold out for the 6 months she was in it. (more tomorrow on other musicals Deb has been in...) A single was released from the cast soundtrack (You're The One That I Want) which made 13 in Britain, but I was busy swishing away to the track below

MP3: Hopelessly Devoted To You

Deb wasn't labeless for too long though when SBK (home of Wilson Phillips) picked her up and the result was the 1995 album Think With Your Heart. Considered one of her best albums, it was a collection of (mainly) piano ballads about love and loss which really let Debs perfect pitch shine through. Sadly though it was the time of Alanis Morrisette and angry grrl rock ruled the charts so there was no room for Deborah. However, i think this album was vastly overlooked and set a precursor for people like Delta Goodrem and Laura Michelle Kelly today.

MP3: Didn't Have The Heart
MP3: You Don't Have To See

With sales low and the album failing to chart, SBK unsurprisingly decided not to continue their relationship so like many other popstars Debs started her own label and started marketing herself as Deborah Gibson. Her next album came out in 1998 and was called Deborah - a more rounded set that TWYH (a more even mix of pop and ballads) the lead off single Only Words was a biggish dance smash, but is presented here in its album format. While there were no big hit singles from this album, i think several could have been marketed easily including a beautiful torchsong Naturally. There was a great b-side to that single in Japan called My Girlfriend's Boyfriend which showed a more perky tongue in cheek side to Deb

MP3: Only Words sneak preview version
MP3: Naturally sneak preview version
MP3: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend unplugged version

By the turn of the millenium, it seemed that the the pop world had all but forgotten Debs but she was getting acclaim for her work in musicals on Broadway and touring the country. She still found time to write and record in one take her feelings on the turn of the millenium on this fan club only track which is one of my all time fave songs...

MP3: With All My Heart


Deb pushed ahead with an album that I believe if it had been marketed properly could have been her pop comeback a la Kylie and Light Years. MYOB was a collection of upbeat dance/pop and a more languid almost jzaay style to her ballads. The title track was remixed for the clubs but is best in its album version while Your Secret was also a Billboard Club Chart smash that came in a variety of mixes. Deb even got to tour as opening act for NSync in a bid to get back in with the pop crowd, but sadly to no avail... I remember buying this album in Vegas about March 2001 and Darren hiding from embarrassment and the young guy at the counter asking if she was new!

MP3: MYOB
MP3: What you Want pop mix2

Around the same time Deb also appeared on the Zorro The Musical concept album "playing" Carlotta. I can't say I have listened to the whole album, but the standout for me is What Makes A Hero which Deb rewrote the lyrics to for a 9/11 benefit concert. I have often belted this out at the top of my lungs on the way to work in the morning...

MP3: What Makes A Hero

And that was the last original Deb studio album we have had. There is still more to come, but below is how I think her second greatest hits package should have lined up...

1. For Better or Worse (mp3)
2. Didn't Have The Heart
3. Think With Your Heart
4. You Don't Have To See
5. Only Words
6. Naturally
7. Cry Tonight
8. Moonchild
9. With All My Heart
10. What You Want
11. MYOB
12. Your Secret
13. Down That Road
14. Wishing You Were Here (remix) (MP3)
15. What Makes A Hero

Tomorrow! theatre! Collaborations!! What next for Deb??! If you like the music let me know :)

(buy debs albums here)

Aah, in 1988 and 1989, there were only 3 singers i was solidly listening to - Madonna, Kylie and Debbie Gibson. And they still happen to be my 3 favourite singers to this day. I can't really write anything about Kylie and Madonna that people don't already know, but Deborah Gibson has had a varied career over the years and continues to churn out music on her own terms that still enthralls and inspires me. Today - 1988-1993...

Back in 1988 in the USA you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing Debs sing Only In My Dreams or Shake Your Love. She was, I guess, the Britney of her day but without going through the whole dodgy marriage/active womb thing. And it was clear Debs had talent - she scored 4 self penned top 5 USA hits and when Foolish Beat hit number one, she claimed the record (that she still holds to this day) for being the youngest person to write, perform and produce a number one single...

Her debut set Out Of The Blue sold over 5 million copies worldwide and was a mix of poppy dance tunes and a few piano/sax ballads. Debbie was busy touring the world and recording the follow up....

MP3: Out Of The Blue album medley


Electric Youth was preceded by the number one single Lost In Your Eyes, another piano fuelled ballad that I gave to my then girlfriend Jenny Jones (not that one!) on valentines day. Oh how things have changed since then... For the longest time, this was my favourite song, although (despite 4 British top 20 hits from OOTB) it stiffed at 34 on the British Charts. The album also topped the US charts and went top ten here - selling another 5 million worldwide...

MP3: Lost In Your Eyes Piano & Vocal Mix

The title track was released as a single with Debs most ambitious video to date. Set in a castle with a dance routine that had my video on slo-mo and pause for days (even Darren knows it now!) it came in a variety of club mixes, my fave being the latin edit below. But the law of diminishing returns kicked in and EY stalled at 11 in the US (14 here) and No More Rhyme - another ballad - 17 (unreleased UK)...Then came Debs only UK date in 1989...

MP3: Electric Youth latin edit (previously unreleased)


And I was there! Bros in 2 Summer was the Bros concert to be at, although I was only there for Debs support slot where she premiered 2 songs from the still in gestation musical Skirts. Live fave We Could Be Together made 22 in England (71 stateside). It seemed sadly that Debs star was waning...

While waiting for the 3rd album to be released, Debs recorded 2 songs for the Wonder Years tv show soundtrack - a cover (her first one) of In The Still of The Night and the lilting acoustic throwback Come Home, which still makes me want to curl up with a mug of cocoa to this day...

MP3: Come Home

1. Only In My Dreams
2. Shake Your Love
3. Out Of The Blue
4. Foolish Beat
5. Lost In Your Eyes
6. Electric Youth
7. No More Rhyme
8. We Could Be Together
9. Anything Is Possible
10. This So Called Miracle
11. One Hand One Heart
12. One Step Ahead
13. Losin Myself
14. Shock Your Mama
15. Free Me
16. How Can This Be
17. The Most Beautiful Love Song (MP3)

Aaah, i quite by accident remembered Tommy Page the other day. i think I was trying to be funny with XO and it reminded me of the Daniel Powter of the early 90s... Actually if Tommy was around now (er, he is) he would probably come 3rd in X Factor or something....

I first discovered TP in 1988 when taping songs from American Top 40 on a saturday afternoon was the only way to get music before it was released in those days. Qu'elle horreur! It was pretty much how i discovered Debbie Gibson and spent many afternoon shaking my love in the privacy of my bedroom. Any moving swiftly on... One Sat pm I heard a song called A Shoulder To Cry On which i think peaked at 29. I just thought it was the most beautiful song, and actually i remain startled that Westlife have yet to cover it... And thus began a brief but torrid love affair with Tommy Page...

Between 1988 and 1991 he released 3 albums which pretty much stuck to the same formula - cheesy ballads with lots of piano and sax or more uptempo dance tunes. His only other top 40 hit stateside was a duet with New Kids On The Block called I'll Be Your Everything which topped the Billboard 100 and therefore naturally is his worst track ever.

My fave tracks of his from his early career are Republic of Idols - a great breezy track that was released on some Japan only EP and the second single from his third album From The Heart called Under The Rainbow. I think harnessed in the right way TP could have been quite the talent, but there is something quite guilty pleasure about his songs that makes me ashamedly love them to this day. Check them out for yourself!

MP3: A Shoulder To Cry On
MP3: Republic of Idols
MP3: I'll Be Your Everything
MP3: Under The Rainbow

Tommy released an internet only album in 2001 called Ten til Midnight which not too successfully took a much dancier direction. Best of the bunch is below - and hey at least he got better looking with age ;)

MP3: Kissing In The Rain

In concert, the upper room are just lovely. They certainly fair well in the intimate acoustic setting of Birmingham's Bar Academy (where The Modern and The Feeling played a few months back) and hopefully when they return to Birmingham they will have upgraded to the Carling Academy next door...

The crowd certainly was appreciative of the band who played a decent sized set and i imagine most of it will appear on their debut album 'Other People's Problems' which i am eagerly anticipating on May 29th (that will make up for the cack single Keane release the same day. Knobbos)...

Setlist:

• Combination
• Girl
• All over this town
• Kill Kill Kill
• Your Body
• The Centre
• Never Come back
• Portrait
• Once for me
• I will follow
• Black and White

I am really starting to like Simon Curtis. Not only did he battle leukemia when he was younger, but he's quite talented and certainly knows how to write a decent pop tune - for example, check out the rather brilliant show mix of Broken. The Disney Channel seem to be all over him which isn't surprising because he is fresh faced and looks 14. However, don't let that put you off, because you can't help but think that there is something more sinister and dirty hiding behind that angelic facade. god lets hope so...

Sequinned gold pants, a big fat disco ball, copious amounts of champagne and five grown men dowsed in glitter? That will be Trabant then - Icelands latest craziest rock export who sound like a dirty one night stand The Ark had with those Sisters of Scissor... and who are currently wooing the population in their homeland with electro sleaze anthemic pop ditty LOVING ME and a stage show that reminds me of San Fran Pride circa 1976... They flirt outrageously with the theatrical end of gay culture from cowboy chic to leather fetish and tunes swing between filthy electro trawls like NASTY BOY to outrageous power ballad Emotional Meltdown. That will do nicely til the new Scissters album then...

MP3: Trabant-Nasty Boys
MP3: Trabant-Loving Me

The Show Queen...

Laura Michelle Kelly had the daunting task of trying to make audiences forget about Julie Andrews when she became uber nanny Mary Poppins in the new stage show - and having seen the premiere in Bristol a coupla years back, I'd say she did a mighty fine job... Laura pulls another magic trick out of her carpet bag this week as her debut album The Storm Inside is not a collection of showtunes but a contemporary set produced by Maurice DeVrais who has worked with Madonna and Rufus Wainwright to name a couple. Highlights include a twisted take on Sondheims Losing My Mind, a cover of Nick Drakes Riverman and her sublime debut single presented below. Its supercalifragilisticexpialidocious...

MP3: Laura Michelle Kelly-There Was A Time

What else can a guy do on holiday apart from browse for new myspace bands while sunning himself by the pool?? This is what I came up with...

SHINY TOY GUNS~



Shiny Toy Guns are from Los Angeles and have this amazing front woman who commands the stage just like Shirley Manson from Garbage did. Unlike Garbage, however, they have this incredibly inventive use of synthesizers which produces a rather crazy sound. If you check out the tracks on their myspace page, you will see what I mean. Chatter in the caff says that they are fantastic live because they put so much energy and emotion into their music.

MP3: Shiny Toy Guns~You Are The One

DANGER RADIO~

Seattle's Danger Radio remind me of a pre Thriller era Michael Jackson (anyone else remember when MJ comparisons used to be a compliment??!) crossed with Panic! At The Disco. Which can clearly only be a good thing... They are very reminiscent of a 70s pop which puts a refreshing and new twist on the well used emo/punk pop formula. Don't be put off by the singers high pitched voice - it's not nasally so it doesn't grate as much as I feared :) You can listen to their music on their myspace site but my favourite has to be Groovin'. Catch them now so that when they are huge you can say you were there at the start...

MP3: Danger Radio~Groovin'

ROCK KILLS KID~



I know I have written about them before but I think they have a strangely brilliant name for a band. They have this whole Modern English collides with modern rock sound thing going on that is unusually polished and stands out above other wannabe I Love The 80s synth riff bands emerging since the success of The Killers. Debut single Paralyzed does evoke the neo new wave of said Killers and Franz but others including a great ballad Are You Nervous? and 'prominently used on the OC' Hideaway are in the arena rattling vein of u2. Or probably the future disappointing direction of Keane. (BOOO!) Still for now, dance rock rules!

MP3: Rock Kills Kid~Paralysed
MP3: Rock Kills Kid~Hideaway