Lopez Blogs

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wicked Watch: Deborah Gibson IS that girl

Colour me green with excitement today, when two of my favourite things collided. Yes, dreams can come true (look at me baby i got you) ~ little Deborah Gibson has gone and done a pretty live version of the rather lovely I’m Not That Girl from the lovely musical Wicked. It’s a live somewhat bootlegged version, but it’s certainly good enough quality to enjoy and shows that (as I have always known) Deborah is just as comfortable belting out showtunes as she is poptunes. This is probably the most “pop” of the songs from Wicked and works well as a touching ballad. Not sure it would ever be single quality but it would make a lovely album track on someone’s album one day. Sigh. Now if only Simon Curtis would record No Good Deed as an electro stomper, McFly tear through a punkified Popular and The Feeling turn What Is This Feeling into one of their melodic pop anthems, life would just be tickety boo.

MP3: Deborah Gibson ~ I’m Not That Girl

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Simon Curtis: Another Heartache (and McFly)

0 comments Posted by ai at 6:51 AM

Best in show:

Simon Curtis rather kindly sent around a new track to lazaps, popjustice, arjanwrites and electoqueer this very weekend. Entitled Another Heartbreak, it is possibly Simon’s most commercial sounding song to date (Xeonmania inspired Put Your Makeup On notwithstanding). Available in both a more up/mid tempo version and a ballad version (very A*Teens – who of course Simon adores – Heartbreak Lullaby), I am going to focus on the ballad version today, because I am a sucker for a piano led little number. The thing about this song – most Simon songs actually – is that he lets his abiding love of pop shine through in the music, yet still manages to make it totally his own. It’s a rare talent and one he should nurture. The piano at the start reminds me of the gorgeous melody from Silent All These Years by Tori Amos, the verses (lyrics) are reminiscent of Savage Garden meets early Darren Hayes, and the chorus evokes memories of the great boybands from the 90s. I can see this making a great double a side at Christmas with a song like Religion Reduced or Left Right Left. It’s nice to see Simon try different things and I eagerly anticipate the formation of his sophomore set... Meanwhile, McFly have returned with their own musical pastiche to herald their forthcoming greatest hits collection. The Heart Never Lies is another gently starting, piano led song (yay!) that starts off all sweetly All About You, before jacking up the tempo and practically morphing into Sheryl Crow’s If It Makes You Happy (really – try singing those lyrics over their music!) Finally it settles on vintage McFly sound – radio friendly choruses and a booming sing a long finish. I can’t help but feel that both of these tunes will feature highly on my end of year fave song list.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Bye for now: I'm off to Berlin tomorrow.

0 comments Posted by ai at 8:44 AM

Well it's almost time to head off to Berlin with my faithful travelling companion to discover all the delights that this big lively city has got to offer.

Planning to do lots of sightseeing, eating, drinking and of course shopping for CDs and souvenirs. Also going to take lots of pictures with my all new digital camera.

EuropeCrazy will return on 17th September, hopefully with lots of Berlin stuff. In the meantime I'd just like to thank everyone who's taken the time to read and comment on this blog - always appreciated, and much love to my fellow bloggers out there.

See you all again soon.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Spring 2007

0 comments Posted by ai at 8:30 AM

And now we have reached the end of our series .... well at least until the next holiday.

Seems no time from when we were in Stockholm. To be in Stockholm in post-Melodifestivalen season meant that you were only ever minutes away from one of this year's MF hits.

"Cara Mia" - Mans Zelmerlow: he may not have won, but this got more airplay than anything else that week.
"Live Forever" - Magnus Carlsson: it still remains a mystery to me why this never made the final.
"The Worrying Kind" - The Ark: and I can't understand why this flopped in Helsinki either!
"I Remember Love" - Sarah Dawn Finer: one of the artists catapulted from nowhere to household names by this year's MF, and now she will be appearing in the "Jekyll and Hyde" stage musical.
"Trying To Recall" - Marie Lindberg: the singing schoolteacher who was one of the year's most unassuming and unlikely popstars.
"A Little Bit Of Love" - Andreas Johnson: still a great singalong tune.
And some non-MF songs too!
"Cupid's Chokehold" - Gym Class Heroes: clever sampling which brings out the Supertramp fan in all of us.
"Because of You" - Ne-Yo: one of my favourite chart hits of the year which I got into after hearing it so much on Swedish radio.
"What Goes Around" - Justin Timberlake: the Swedes just can't get enough Justin.
"7Milakliv" - Martin Stenmarck: it might be an oldie now, but it still got enough airplay to make this list.

During the coming week, I'll be compiling my holiday hit list for Summer 2007 in Berlin... watch this space.