Lopez Blogs

15 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Stand By For: Ah, little Mans. Doesn’t he look lovely above? Like he’s going to create one of those explosive fireballs a la Peter Petrelli in Heroes, back when it was good. What is good is this debut album from another PPG graduate. It mixes a healthy dose of euro pop with sturdy melodies, a charismatic vocal style and a plethora of musical genres. Heck, even the rubbish cover of Maniac has grown on me. Icing on the cake? The duet of All I Want For Christmas Is You that i added to the end of the album playlist on my archos…

3 key tracks: Cara Mia (acoustic); The Prayer; Miss America

14 ~ Magnus Carlsson, Live Forever: It’s the album that is named after the single! And it was as good as the single promised it would be. Apart from the cover of Danny’s album, this is probably the gayest thing I have heard all year. Borrowing from disco and 80s, Magnus weaved a spellbinding magic around these europop tracks and made them sound deliriously edible. It seems tragic that my head is telling me this album couldn’t possibly be a success in England at the moment. Sweden’s listening pleasure is our loss…

3 key tracks: Crazy Summer Nights; Waves of Love; Live Forever

13 ~ McFly, Motion In The Ocean: Britain’s most underrated boyband continue to garner great first week sales before the bottom falls out of their fanbase. And therein lies the real shame. Were more people to look past their preconceptions, they would find a “teen” band at the peak of their game, spewing out intricate lyrics, courageous instrumentation and a more accomplished arrangements than most “credible” indie acts can string together. Plus their regular foray into b-side cover versions never fail to be interesting (see Umbrella; Born To Run, etc)

3 key tracks: Transylvania; Sorry’s Not Good Enough; Bubblewrap

12 ~ Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Trip The Light Fantastic: Why oh why oh why was this album not a million times huger than it was? Much like Rachel Steven’s Come and Get It excellent opus, this album was probably not of it’s time, to be appreciated by only a few. Pure polished pop with an edge of class, a dollop of dance and an elegance that other artists would kill for. And she did it all so effortlessly that she made it look so very simple, when in fact it’s a complex piece of work. Plus my beloved Dan Gillespie Sells contributed, tiding me over til his new material comes out in 2008…

3 key tracks: New York City Lights; Catch You; Love Is Here

11 ~ Kylie, X: She could have shat on a turntable (and did if Nu-di-ty is anything to go by) and people would have been interested. Sales have yet to match the hype, and i’m always a little worried about putting an album so high on the list that was released so late in the year. However, several last quarter releases have been standout and this is one ~ a sparkling celebration of life, with a couple of poignant references to her battles of the past few years. I suspect this may feature as highly on next years list, as I digest it more…

3 key tracks: Wow; The One; Cosmic