Lopez Blogs

Boooo! Half my holiday is now over unless i am snowed out of England and have to remain in Florida indefinitely, like all those poor people affected by the ash cloud earlier in the year. Still, it's probably been a lovely week and I've probably had a reet good time. Let's say yes and pretend I have as (as I've pointed out before) I'm writing this a week ago yet you are only reading it now. It's myfizzypop and the ultimate time conundrum. And as stated before, please do leave comments this week as they are coming right through to my phone and will give me a reet good laugh. Probably. Today's festive list focuses on harmony...

HARMONIOUS TIDINGS OF JOY:

• G4 ~ When A Child Is Born: This is one of my favourite christmas carols and I saw the lovely G4 perform it in a chilly coventry cathedral when their dulcet tones were only interrupted by my mom asking loudly if I wanted a cough sweet. Good times. An absolutely delightful version with a lovely restrained instrumental letting their gorgeous voices shine through. The standard by which all future poperatic christmas tunes need to be measured.
• Il Divo ~ Oh Holy Night: The international G4! Simon Cowell must have been furious when they did so well on the X-Factor, taking away the limelight from his long brewing multi national project! Anyway, they do a nicely reverent version of O Holy Night that absolutely rouses in the right places before falling away for a revered hush. When A Child Is Born? Absolutely - with a rousing crescendo of a finish...
• Blake ~ White Christmas: Extra kudos to the lovely Blake boys for getting their nads out for the Gay Times naked special. Not that it was necessary, they look delightful suited and booted too. Their version of White Christmas is elegant, restrained and makes full use of how their beautiful voices weave together with each note. When A Child Is Born? Oh yes, it was on their rereleased Together album last year. And mighty fine it is too.
• Only Men Aloud ~ Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: It's the choral harmony group that i think won some competition that wasn't that fiasco on channel 5. This is a very nice version indeed, rich in layers of excellent vocals and warm festive hugs. It's like a more competent Glee! When A Child Is Born? Not that I know of, but they are doing a Christmas tour so who knows what will come up!!
• Wilson Phillips ~ Silver Bells: God, i'm loving the reformed for Christmas Wilson Phillips. This is a rapapumpum driven, church bell ringing version of the tune with a intricately harmonised chorus that makes their voices sound like one heavenly instrument. When A Child Is Born? YES! It's on the album too. It's almost too much to take!!
• Puppini Sisters ~ Winter Wonderland: Another jazzy tinged, 40s inspired track that takes you back to days of yore. By god they do it incredibly well. Loving their christmas work... When A Child Is Born? No, sadly not but they do a nice O Holy Night!

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ McFly, Shine A Light
20 ~ Shayne Ward, Gotta Be Somebody
19 ~ Ola, Riot
18 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
17 ~ Westlife, Safe
16 ~ P!nk, Raise Your Glass
15 ~ JLS, Love You More
14 ~ Joe McElderry, Someone Wake Me Up
13 ~ Darin, Drowning
12 ~ Eric Saade, Break of Dawn
11 ~ A1, In Love and I Hate It
10 ~ Deborah Gibson, I Love You
09 ~ Kylie, Better Than Today
08 ~ EMD, What Is Love?
07 ~ Tove Styrke, White Light Moment (NE/VID)
06 ~ Le Kid, We Should Go Home Together
05 ~ Andrea Lewis ft Simon Curtis, Talk To Me
04 ~ Take That, The Flood
03 ~ Daniel Boys, To Make You Feel My Love
02 ~ Gravitonas, You Break Me Up
01 ~ Elouise, You'll Never Walk Alone (2 weeks)

Back Sat with some x-factor amazingness...

Ooo it really is the most wonderful time of the year. The walk to work this morning was jolly freezing, the fields were glistening with frost and I get to go home tonight and pack for two weeks of Florida! How magnifico. I have lots of posts to keep you going over the next couple of weeks and hope you will keep me entertained with plenty of comments as although I am having a self imposed internet exile (it's so cleansing!), comments will come straight to my phone. Hurrah! In the mean time (and in between time - guess that pop reference, 90s disney group fans!), here are 10 lovely new Christmas songs and one extremely brilliant non festive treat (for more excellent Christmas stuff visit John's writing on top40about.com)...

The non-festive nugget ~ Dirty Disco return with Storyteller:

Sometimes, just sometimes at Christmas you need a bit of respite from the relentless cheer and good tidings that are almost rammed down your throat. Dirty Disco's excellent and thoughtprovoking new single is just the tune to do this. Following on from deliriously bonkers yet quality pop like Sista, Vulture and White Room, the innovative and artsy group have returned with an intense, brooding, gothic electro tune. It's tinged with eerie synth sounds and a stark strumming guitar and tackles aging, our obsession with youth and fitting into a restrictive society while remaining true to yourself. If you need a comparison, try Kidz or SOS on the new Take That album - yet it's different to those and has it's own Dirty Disco charm. Adam's distinctive voice consumes the lyrics to make them both angry and regretful at times without sounding aggressive (though there is a rather glorious "fuck" early on). The instrumental parts weave together and elevate an already good tune into a great one - little touches like the sounds of strings at the end or the guitar playing off the synth give little frissons of excitement throughout. Check the video above too as Adam and the boys in some haunting costumes seek down the Storyteller they wish to become. Tremendous stuff...

10 New Christmas Tunes:

• Hurts ~ All I Want For Christmas Is New Years Day: Yay! Hurts top off a year of quality music with an exquisite new festive offering that examines the bleaker side of this time of year. With a familiar sounding shuffling beat, sound effects that sound like walking over freshly crunching snow and chiming bells through a soaring chorus, the boys look at how the hope can make one feel even more lonely and hopeless as the persevere to get through the season. I like a bit of bleakness at Christmas and this is one beautifully crafted tune that once again proves they are stars in the ascendency. Check out vinny vero's review also...
• Owl City ~ Peppermint Winter: It's Fireflies the festive edition and the complete antithesis of the Hurts track. It's a love letter to all the cheesiness of this time of year and how it's even more magical if you just embrace it. Full of feel good bon mots like "i troll through the driveway with angelic grace/til i slip on the sidewalk and fall on my face" & "the snowflakes are falling and I start to float/til my mean older brother shoves snow down my coat", it's built around a sleigh ride of bells and the glorious refrain "what's december without Christmas eve". Heavenly optimistic and joyful. Love.
• Mans Zelmerlow ~ Christmas (Baby Please Come Home): I shall return to Mans' festive album a few more times before the big day. His big band readings of yuletide faves are brimming with elegance and a genuine warmth and love for the genre and songs he sings. This is a classy addition to any Christmas dinner party soundtrack and gets you fingerclicking along. Brilliant orchestration of the music too. I'm loving Mans formal Christmas look too - you can just imagine him coming home, loosening his tie and smooching the face off you under the mistletoe. Now, that's magic :)
• Wilson Phillips ~ Warm Loving Christmastime: It's not the first time the Wilsons have done Christmas (indeed this song featured on the second Wilson linked Christmas album - Carnie's solo) but it is the first time they have all felt the seasonal pull together. And hurrah, it's glorious, particularly for a long standing Wilson Phillips fan like myself :) It's a swinging and fun pop song with enough added jingle and bells to make it feel as Christmas morn as possible. And those choruses are saturated in their amazing harmonies. So so lovely. Well worth the import charges!!
• Jessica Simpson ~ My Only Wish: Jessica gets a lot of stick and I'm not sure why. I'm glad she's done a Christmas album anyway. This single from it is a decent pop tune and a nice ode to her new fella. Showcases her great pop voice (come back from country music!) and reminds me of how fun some of her music has been. Bits of it are reminiscent of Darlene Love's Alone on Christmas (which Britney liberally borrowed for her christmas tune) but it's a catchy little number with a lovely intricate piano middle 8. marvy.
• Indigo Girls ~ Mistletoe: Who would have thought that a blue(grass) Christmas would be so enchanting? The Indigo Girls did - their Happy Holly Days album alternates between rollicking joy and reflective pauses. This is one of the most beautiful on the album - a stripped back lyrical poem, resonant in a superb tenor vocal and supported by subtle harmonies and a gentle guitar. Makes me stop and luxuriate in it's beauty each time I hear it. Reminds me a little of Bette Midler's The Folks Who Live On The Hill. Never thought i'd make that comparison, but it's a complimentary one :) Delightful tune that you should really check out...
• Pink Martini ~ A Snowglobe Christmas: It's like being transported to a simpler time when the movies were black and white and people wrote to each other using pen and paper. This is a timeless, hawaian tinged classic that would sound beautiful whatever time period you are in when sung like this. it's from a whole album of magical wonder and one that should really investigate. As close to Doris Day as you are going to get this snowglobe Christmas. Like a festive hug and kiss. Melts me every time.
• Mariah Carey ~ Christmastime Is In The Air Again: I'm sure I'll return to Mariah's new Christmas album again lots more before the 25th December. There are lots of fun moments on that but this is one of the slower, sipping mulled wine by the fireplace moments. It's a string laden track with a restrained and impeccable vocal from Mariah that enables the song to transcend genres and time. The pull of the tune is undeniable and I soon find myself having little memory flashbacks to the ghosts of my own Christmas past. Dickensian!
• Lady Antebellum ~ Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: A lovely little reading of this classic tune from the country group du jour. The cd of Christmas faves is (I believe) only available at Target but it's worth tracking down as it's full of faithful renditions like this that just sparkle with sincerity. Plus the fellas look proper foxy on the cover :)
• Puppini Sisters ~ Step Into Christmas: SCREAM! The Puppinis are back! And they have stuck to their absolutely delightful Andrews Sisters for the new millenium mantra. This has led to an amazing album of jazz tinged, boogie woogie Christmas faves and their turn on this Elton John fave is a fizzy explosion of joi de vivre all wrapped up in their tightly knitted harmonies. So much fun yet put together so very cleverly, very carefully and very well. Check out their older christmas tunes too like Jingle Bells and Little Match Girl. Top drawer!

Top 21 songs of the week

21 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, Defender (NE)
20 ~ Jessie J, Price Tag
19 ~ Ola, Riot
18 ~ McFly, Shine A Light
17 ~ Shayne Ward, Gotta Be Somebody
16 ~ Joe McElderry, Someone Wake Me Up (VID)
15 ~ Darin, Drowning
14 ~ Eric Saade, Break of Dawn
13 ~ Westlife, Safe
12 ~ Kylie, Better Than Today
11 ~ A1, In Love & I Hate It
10 ~ P!nk, Raise Your Glass
09 ~ Deborah Gibson, I Love You
08 ~ EMD, What Is Love?
07 ~ JLS, Love You More
06 ~ Le Kid, We Should Go Home Together
05 ~ Andrea Lewis ft Simon Curtis, Talk To Me
04 ~ Take That, The Flood
03 ~ Daniel Boys, To Make You Feel My Love
02 ~ Gravitonas, You Break Me Up
01 ~ Elouise, You'll Never Walk Alone (1 week)

I love Friday afternoon off. If Friday afternoon off were a hot dude, I would probably be going in for a clumsy first date smooch right about now. It's been a busy week but not an entirely bad one. The highlight was a riotous forty minutes or so, playing some new music on my now regular Larry Flick Morning Jolt slot. So much fun. A lot of time was also spent obsessively analysing queue patterns in Disney World and planning out the Florida trip. I may have overplanned and forgot to schedule "fun" in there... :P Anyway, prior to a mammoth Take That blog tomorrow and of course the monolith that is the X Factor sunday blog, here are some of the things to tide you over through the weekend...

FizzyPop Weekend Supplement:

• Nikita ~ Tonight: I am loving Nikita. Both the new show on The CW which makes me want to pretend I'm a rogue spy bringing down a clandestine government agency and this scintillating Blondie-esque disco track. It's a rather gorgeous, sparkling track that makes you want to grab the one you love and shimmy. Indeed, there is some magnificent layered vocals in the addictive chorus - part of it sounds like an updated I Feel Love while running behind that is the Blondie type Sunday Girl adlibs, all weaved together wonderfully by a pulsating electronica beat. Remember when Annie & Isabel Guzman were going to be the next big dance floor divas? They may have been outdone by Nikita. Instantly massive, this will get dance floors heated through the cold winter months. BTW, I know from personal experience that it sounds absolutely heavenly after 3 glasses of quite expensive wine...
• Annie Lennox ~ Universal Child: Annie Lennox was born on December 25th, ergo I feel she has earned her right to put out her Christmas Cornicopia. This track is the self penned lead single from that forthcoming collection and is an earnest, forthright sweeping song full of inspiring lyrics and a crescendo of instruments that never overshadow that distinctive vocal style. As a charity single it is probably everything that Madonna was trying to achieve with the somewhat weak and watery Hey You. Gets better with each listen and fine for a spin anytime of year. Love it.
• More Christmas albums ~ since I wrote about the upcoming Christmas song releases from various artists here, several more have hit the marketplace including - gasp - one of my fave girl groups Wilson Phillips!! Hurrah! They have done a Christmas album before, but that was back when it was just Carnie and Wendy! I need some Chynna in the mix. Also whipping out festive releases are Lady Antebellum (the boys look f-i-n-e on the cover), Sheryl Crow (a 2010 edition of a previously released album. Ka-ching) and uh, Katherine McPhee. It may only be October, but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

• Simon Curtis ~ Since 8 Bit Heart garnered him a ferociously loyal following, it seems like Simon has been working hard to move onto the next stage of his career. He's been busy recording the heavenly Andrea Lewis duet (read about it here; my number one song this week!) and hopefully his new album with apparently some Ace of Base-esque beats on there will be available before Christmas. He's also been involved in the Love is Louder campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the struggles bullied teens go through, and provide them with some support and comfort. Vital stuff. Surely a NoH8 photo shoot must be coming?!
• The Feeling ~ In The Year 2525: Talking of charity, while I impatiently await a 3rd Feeling album (due next year or probably whenever Sophie Ellis Bextor deigns to release hers), they have recorded a rather spiffy version of the Zager & Evans number one hit. It's for the 1969 Key To Change album, which raises money for young homeless people. The track retains the slightly spaced out, hippy-esque vibe of the original, but marries it with the trademark layered vocals of the group and it's certainly nice to have this entirely pleasant stop gap until the new album comes out (or until I can start playing Feels Like Christmas again). Dan sounds positively luscious. As normal...

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Darin, Lovekiller
20 ~ Jesse McCartney, Shake
19 ~ Bjorn Johan Muri, Once Upon A Time
18 ~ Maroon 5, Give A Little More
17 ~ Elouise, The Winner Takes It All
16 ~ Nadine Coyle, Insatiable
15 ~ McFly, Shine A Light
14 ~ Charlotte Church, Back To Scratch
13 ~ James Blunt, Stay The Night
12 ~ Westlife, Safe
11 ~ Brandon Flowers, Only The Young
10 ~ JLS, Love You More
09 ~ Gravitonas, Religious
08 ~ Pink, Raise Your Glass
07 ~ Jessie J, Price Tag
06 ~ Robbie Williams, Shame
05 ~ Joe McElderry, Ambitions
04 ~ Shayne Ward, Gotta Be Somebody
03 ~ Robbie Williams, Heart & I
02 ~ Take That, The Flood (VID)
01 ~ Andrea Lewis ft Simon Curtis, Talk To Me (NE/1 Week)

Coming soon: Sat (Take That full video breakdown!); Sun (X Factor Live Shows 2); Mon (A1 & Big Time Rush album reviews)...