Lopez Blogs

Bless my barnacles, i've had "a week" I have... busy busy busy with lots of things work and friends related, and not really felt inspired to blog. I did learn essential things like not to walk home from work bopping along to Lily Allen and mouthing the words to F*** You at everyone I pass. Also Spectacular the Movie is a whole lot of fun - i finally saw it and will write about it soon! Still 3 days isn't exactly a massive break is it, and now I've once again got loads of ideas for things to bore you with :) I was going to start with a post about the melodifestivalen singles, but realised I'd included a few thoughts on the key tracks i adore from that in the most recent Fizzypop Chronicles (needless to say, I am obsessed with Mans and BWO tracks - the latter particularly in it's many remixes, which are bloody bonza ripper; Alcazar is blooming great, and Marie and Jonathan have really grown on me). Anyway, I've had one of those weeks where i have felt the need to dig out key albums I have adored in the past, no matter how craptacular they may have been. This is the first in probably an ongoing series...

Sheena Easton ~ What Comes Naturally (1991):

Thanks to Whitney's ace I'm Your Baby Tonight album, I was all about New Jill Swing in 1991. I was definitely a rhythm nation boy who was forever your girl. Er, or something. With my boy yearnings blossoming, i wanted to kick off my mormon shoes, and dance like Kevin Bacon in Footloose. Only wearing glasses so thick you could rebottom beer bottles with them :( (Style eluded me until i was 20, fashion fans!) I became interested in Sheena after her quite bonza Lover in Me album, and her syrupy but delicious duet with Prince on the Batman OST (Arms of Orion - utterly delicious, like a slightly edgier version of Linda Rondstadts Don't Know Much!!). So I spent all my money from my weekend job and got myself the What Comes Naturally import. A-may-zing. I think the first thing that hooked me in was the delightfully dance oriented title track, complete with whispery, not quite rap Middle 8, the style of which would become a fave of mine over the years (see also En Vogue's Strange; Madonna's American Life)...

"ooo crazy crazy, it's getting kinda wild. Is that a yes I'm seeing in your smile? I don't know you but I feel we're connected. One look from you and baby we're affected. I can tell that you're reading my thoughts, but let me tell you now I'm not afraid of getting caught. The risk is worth any chance that we're taking. Cos this could turn out to be lurve we're making"

The single rather obviously mixes r'n'b and pop stylings in much the same way Paula Abdul/Janet Jackson did on their recent aforementioned releases. It had a great beat and catchy chorus - it's almost like something Vitamin C would sing, if she were still recording. Dance was the mission statement of this album and quite evident on tracks like First Touch Of Love (an urgent rhythmic track with shades of electronica), You Can Swing It (elements of hip hop, though to be fair, hip hop lite) and Somebody (like a Blackout era Britney demo). And rather brilliantly, to satisfy my power ballad needs there was the lushly produced To Anyone - a gorgeous tune that threw any hint of subtlety out of the window and went for grandiose, dramatic feel. Which, to be honest was fine with me as a teenager - everything was a drama back then. It was indeed just one psychological drama after another. I loved - and still love (it's great for a nice aerobic workout) - this album. It wasn't particularly cool, it's not aged amazingly well, but it made me dance, and reminds me of my carefree last year of school days.

To evidence how much this album soundtracked my A-level revision in 1991, it was on the stereo in the sixth form common room and I was singing along to the "crazy crazy" bit. My friends were teasing me that I never did anything "crazy crazy" and when i went to have pee, one of them dared me to pee out the window (oh the things kids do at school - it's not a bit like Skins). So i knelt on the cistern, opened the window, hoisted my little todger up and got ready to spray for England (which incidentally would have been all over the teachers parking lot). Then there was this sickening crack. Apparently toilet cisterns aren't built to hold the weight of 17 year old boys. It broke - i had absolutely nothing to grab onto, such was my weird willie in the window position and fell backwards so hard that I knocked the locked door of the hinges, and knocked myself out temporarily - all while the toilet water from the cistern flooded over me, and to the sounds of Sheena's Manic Panic. Oh. And you do still pee while you are unconscious. Marvelous. I came too in the nurses office with a headache, borrowed sports kit on my bottom half and in a lot of trouble from the headmaster :( Still, i finally did one legendary if immensely stupid thing at school to the subtle beats of Sheena Easton. Ace.

Coming next week: Spectacular review; Little Boots n Pixie; best one album only acts ever; more albums i've loved; some new music including the AMAZING PPG/Popjustice approved Erik Hassle!