Lopez Blogs

About the same time I learnt that Bananarama's excellent new single "Love Comes" is hovering around the edges of the top 30 in the midweeks, I was contemplating that, while they might quite like a more mainstream success, Bananarama don't really need to be huge to make a pop impact. Much like their 80s counterparts Erasure and the Pet Shop Boys, they have managed to carve out a very respectable career with a solid fan base that keeps them going long after other more successful flashes in the pan have fallen to the wayside. So while Viva is still totally relevant for today's pop market, it's still got that devil may care attitude that makes Bananarama Bananarama in the first place.

I need to get this out the way straight away. Viva is not a perfect album. However, it is a jolly fun album and quite entertaining all the way throughout. In terms of where it fits into the Bananarama catalogue, you're probably best listening to alongside Pop Life, Ultra Violet and Drama (and although I adored it, best skip Exotica from the pop-dance canon of the Rams!) It's pure pop dance from start to finish. And what a start - Love Comes is brash, energetic and totally in your face. Hardly what one would expect from a pop group that's been around nearly 30 years and I can't help but feel that if The Saturdays had recorded something like this instead of that Forever is Over dirge, I might be feeling a darn site more positive about their comeback right now. Check them out performing the song (at 5.04 onwards) above on This Morning as a medley with the groovetastic update of Cruel Summer. Immense comeback single whatever the chart position - and if it's not followed up with the album's best track Love Don't Live Here then my whole world will just fall off kilter. Not only the best song on the album, but one of the best Bananarama songs period (American period, not British period because that would be repugnant). It's all strings, dramatic keyboards, gothic backing vocals, lyrically downbeat and a chorus so sumptuous Harrods will want to put it in their soft furnishings department. The fairytale may be dead and gone, but with songs like this Bananarama will live on long into the future...

The album could easily support five singles. Tell Me Tomorrow is a sleek modern classic that recalls some of their S/A/W work if it was recorded with todays production values. It's almost hypnotic in it's delivery and the girls sound quite delicious in the chorus, while the middle 8 is positively seductive. Album closers aren't often singles but We've Got The Night totally deserves to be single number four. Parts of it (baby i want you) are almost Could It Be Magic samples, while the chorus line of "say that you want me" yearns to be mashed with Kylie's Come Into My World. It's a comforting moment of familiarity in a song that pulsates and throbs with synths, electro sound effects and yet is still softened by some gorgeous harmonies. Quite marvelous. Fifth single I hear you ask (Well I don't - I'm not that schizo)! I have to go for their cover of The Runner. It's a fairly traditional cover version with an updated dance sound that completely pays tribute to the disco original. Now wouldn't it be entirely delightful if they borrowed Elouise's choreography for the video? Yes it would be delightful is the answer to that rhetorical question. I can't get enough of this song this week and the girls just ooze spunk and vitality in their delivery.

Other winners on the album include the enjoyable Dum Dum Boy with it's Spice Girl tribute middle 8 ("who do you think you are/you ain't no superstar), the sultry Seventeen which succeeds mainly because of it's subject matter, it's delirious lyrics and an insistent beat, and the brilliantly bonkers Twisting. Possibly the most innovative track on the album, it's all weird sound samples, random drum patterns and a fuzzy electroclash vibe to the whole thing. It all sounds quite dark and strobe light worthy, it's a bit dirty and you feel a little bit naughty just listening to it. And that's really what Bananarama do best. It's a pity that the more generic songs on the album (such as the average S-s-s-single Bed and could-be-sung-by-anyone Rapture) don't aspire to these lofty heights. It's not that these songs are bad - just that compared to the 8 very very good songs on the album they could've done so much better. Overall though, a rather brillo and enjoyable album. And hey, even when Bananarama are just being average they still make me feel like Marilyn Monroe (ie, they are still a cut above the rest!). Long may the reign...
(Read DontStopThePop's review here)

PRETENDERS TO THE THRONE:

Dolly Rockers ~ Something has gone very wrong in the Dolly Rockers camp. They debuted at 46 with Gold Digga and I'm certainly hoping they get a second stab at the pop pie. For me the problem was the chosen single was not quite as good as the song that created all the buzz for them over three months ago. Je Suis... was fresh, exciting and a bit in your face (much like when Bananarama launched on the scene). Gold Digga was just more of the same, albeit quite enjoyable same. So the British public needs to be convinced. I just hope the record company gives them a real shot at the giddy heights of success they deserve.
Mini Viva ~ Conversely, Mini Viva - the latest horse to bolt forth from the xenomania stable - must be doing something very right. Their Mel n Kim'esque Left My Heart In Tokoyo is all set to debut top ten this week and feels both funky and fresh. Bedroom Viber is still a bit reminiscent of a Girls Aloud album track so they might want to remain entirely distinct while they stake out their musical sound in singles... (Must stop calling them Mini Vulva though)
Beauty Skool Dropout ~ Ok, not strictly a girl group (cos one of them's a dude), but instantly part Veronicas, part Shampoo, part Fuzzbox and part something quite brilliant that draws you into their f*** you sound. It's all fuzzy synths, electro clash and genius choruses that seem to embody the raw spirit of rock n roll in an unconventional pop setting. They seem - in the nicest way - utterly loony and I really can't wait to hear more and more from them.

Thurs ~ some boyband stuff. Maybe.