A Man's Words, A Woman's Voice

Try this, Mutual Attraction - a rock-solid slab of mid eighties R&B funk.


Original album version from Turn On Your Radio (1985) Atlantic (US)/Cool Tempo (UK)

Its by Change, who are a relatively little known Italian and American (not Italian-American) studio group. They put out a string of albums in the first half of the eighties, and had some hits on both sides of the Atlantic, most memorably "A Lover's Holiday", "Searching" and "Change of Heart". In all honestly, they'll go down as a only footnote in the career of Luther Vandross.

So why Mutual Attraction? Well, it's been on my mind since I first heard it, the vocal is by Deborah Cooper, who does a fine job, and the song is written by Timmy Allen, who is now best known for writing and producing some of Britney Spears' more treacly ballads. Well what's struck me is the lyric, which for the most part is a totally par Change lyric, concerned with dancing, love and a sensual subtext. Listening a little closer and you'll recognise that its a paean to a man, and is highlighted by lines such as:

"When I first saw you, you blew me kiss, I smiled and laughed it off, I tried to resist, you look so good, so inviting, I can feel a mutual attraction"

Perhaps it Allen's lack of subtlety, or Cooper's yearning vocal, but every time I hear that I think not of a woman addressing a man, but man imagining himself from the perspective of a woman.

Sure there is nothing new about men writing songs for women, or even partners writing songs for one another to sing. Though I think you could almost place "Mutual Attraction" in the same category as Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). Quite a stretch? Probably. What strikes me is the mirroring and the switching of subjectivity. The real curiosity of Vertigo is not that the lead character (Scottie/Jimmy Stewart) is obsessed, but rather that he comes to realise that what he has obsessed over is not it appears. Not a real woman, a trap and snare yes, but actually another man's idea of what will ensnare him. The sad predicament is that Scottie has fallen in love with another man's dream.

Returning to "Mutual Attraction", an ironic title perhaps? Isn't Allen 'dressing up' Deborah Cooper? This could be painted as a solipsistic song about a person's - arguably a man's - desire to be desired, rather than to desire for another. This has hardly moved the point along, but i'm left pondering if both possible meanings are nakedly obvious. I wonder what Deborah Cooper thought about it? Was the song written without specifying a gender for the vocalist?


Mutual Attraction (Nick Martinelli Version) - This is the version I prefer

Be Right Back

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been aiming to post once of twice a month. I won't be posting another for at least another week. This is because i'm finishing up my MA dissertation. Its on three of Hayao Miyazaki's films, my favourites of course, the three are My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away.

So here are my favourite pieces of music from each film:

"Tonari No Totoro" by Joe Hisaishi and sung by Azumi Inoue


"Hareta Hi Ni..." by Joe Hisaishi


"Ano Natsu he" by Joe Hisaishi

Chic Cheer

I've been listening to Chic all weekend, I don't have very much of their stuff, so You Tube has proven to be a goldmine. One of the real finds was this live recording from 1996 of "I Want Your Love". It was a historic night for the group because they were performing to celebrate the awarding of producer of the year for Nile Rodgers (Guitar). It turned out to be even more important for less jubilant reasons. Bernard Edwards (Bass) had fallen ill that day but insisted on playing, likely because of the trouble the group had gone to travelling to Japan with special guests. He clearly did not want to appear to be letting everyone down. Sadly he died that night from Pneumonia. His death makes this performance the last of its kind as he was co-producer, co-songwriter and co-founder of the group with Rodgers. Few had such a distinctive bass style, that's not to say the group do not continue to this day as a successful live act.

With that in mind one can't help but notice how subdued Edwards looks, but it isn't worth reading in to it too much, especially since he grooves with Rodgers so well in the breakdown. This live take on the song really builds to an intense climax. The horn section and Tony Thompson's drumming deserve to be singled out for credit. Look out for Prince-protege Jill Jones on secondary vocals. So, enjoy this performance live from Budokan.

Neu! '86 Review

A Music Review.

Below is a review that I have composed for amazon.co.uk (there wasn't one up yet). My thoughts on the release of their out-takes album got a bit out of hand. I don't really want to post an overlong review, especially since amazon reviews should be short and punchy. Excessive length hasn't stopped me in the past, but I think its for the best. Enjoy!



Neu! '86 is the long awaited fourth album by the brilliant and obscure (until about 2001) German group, Neu! It was recorded in the autumn and winter of 1985-86, hence its name. While it is very exciting to hear this music, it is actually the second release of the sessions. Without going deeply into the inter-group disagreements between Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, the material was released by Dinger on a small Japanese label in 1995 under the title Neu! 4. That album was a real ragtag collection of music with several tracks sounding like different takes and mixes of one another. It was a mess but an engaging mess. Dinger appears to have thought that titling the album as '4' connoted the half-finished brilliance of Neu! 2, their second album. That album however, was a side of complete and enthralling music backed with a side of discordant non-music that was created in the studio to fill out the LP. Neu! 4 simply sounded unfinished, it was badly sequenced and left the impression of a rip off.

Neu! '86 then, made since the passing of Dinger, inevitably resembles Rother’s take on the album sessions. It is an unusual prospect of an album, akin (I imagine) to listening to Let It Be Naked, the Beatles revision of their final album, or one of Jimi Hendrix’s or Otis Redding’s posthumous albums. So, a cynical 1995 album gets a cynical 2010 re-release? That’s one view, but I don’t take it, for two reasons. First, there will always be people who hanker after demos and aborted sessions, and Neu! '86 at the very least prevents them from spending ridiculous amounts of money for music. Secondly, I think Rother has done a good job, I really do.


Young (in the 1970s)

Neu! '86 does one thing that the former incarnation does not, it sequences the music well and thereby presents the unfinished music in the best possible way. The first half of the album is arguably the better with the more finalised songs like 'Dänzing', 'La Bomba', 'Crazy' and 'Drive (Grundfunken)'. The second half has more fragments of songs, but these are short and multi-layered. Rother appears to have taken the master tapes and mixed together a lot of the material. Dinger had chosen to extend and expand this material. Again, I can see advantages and problems with each approach, but the difference is that Rother's is a better listening experience and a less repetitive record.

So what of the actual music, how does it fit with that of their three albums? Well, and this is, depending on your tastes what makes the album a failure or a success. The music is, to crowbar in and alter John Peel's summary of The Fall, different but the same. In places it sounds very of its time, the 1980s, with Synthesizers and Keyboards everywhere. These sound a bit cheap, and a little daft in their application. Yet, detractors should remember that Neu! '75, their third album had a lot of keyboards. Thankfully there is some very Neu! music to be found, 'Crazy', 'Drive' and 'Wave Mother' each have the smack and formula of Dinger's drums complemented with rock riffs and beautiful patterns of Rother's guitar. On the debit they sound a bit like minor homages to their trademark sound, and the short length of each is disappointing (the longest is six minutes). Vocals are prevalent on the album, which is probably the biggest difference. Dinger sings (i.e. shouts) over a lot of the music, much like he memorably did in the 1970s on 'Super', 'Lilac Angel', and 'Hero'. Those songs while defining and brilliant were complimented with long instrumental tracks, which in my opinion, were their forte. Neu! '86 ends up being a bit too talky, with sung songs from 'Dänzing' on down all having the same and therefore tiring sloppy, silly, and playful abandon. Neu! '86 just isn’t as majestic or mysterious as their best work.


Old (in 2001)

In summary, Neu! '86 is a good record. It isn’t seminal, and probably says more about music in the mid-1980s than it does about the music of Dinger and Rother. Taken with their other albums it is refreshing and different. It still sounds like Neu!, but it is the distillation of the rock ethos of side 2 of Neu! '75 with the synths of side 1 of that same record. In failing, Neu! ended up sounding truer to themselves than they perhaps realised. Try It.

By the way, I haven't posted it yet. But if accepted it will appear here.

Bad Music, Bad Movies

Film-makers are idiots, most of them are, or at least the people who choose the soundtracks are. Anyway, its someone's fault that music is often used in a revisionist manner. Let me explain.

I'm not sure where it all started but American Graffiti isn't a bad bet. What i'm talking about is the selective use of music in cinema to present a past where consciously good music exists. A case in point, American Psycho, not a bad film, having its cake an eating it with a critique of eighties materialism and style, while revelling in it. Famously, our 'hero' Patrick likes bad music, Huey Lewis. This is countered with 'good' music in the form of the early club scene, where we hear True Faith by New Order. I love New Order, and it is one of my favourite songs, but lets be a little more honest, the club should be playing dross. Apparently bad music doesn't exist in the imaginations of film makers unless they are consciously describing it as so. Look at Violent Cop, from 1989, where our club, which isn't a nice place, plays extremely loud dated house music.

For example, would it be easier to believe in the characters of a Wes Anderson movie, if each one didn't have such perfectly manicured taste? People like rubbish, we should stop pretending they don't.

British films can't escape this, and are arguably more guilty than most when it comes to neat musical use (Trainspotting, Withnail and I). This Is England, Shane Meadows' film about the presence of right wing politics, and skinhead culture in the north of England in the early eighties is a prime example. One scene in particular stands out for me with a stunning lack of imagination, when we see Shaun our lead, running home from school. He passes a newsagents that is blurting out the superb Tainted Love by Soft Cell. Yeah, Tainted Love; only one of the key songs of the eighties, a song that links 60s R&B to Northern Soul and Synth Pop. Once again, where is the rubbish that people had to sit through? Its too big a song for a small usage, it doesn't underscore a point, beyond, pronouncing that it is 1982. Admittedly, I have to give some kudos to the film-makers for including Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade, even if it is the wrong year. (Have a look yourself at this link for a too good to be true playlist). My point, is that bad music, or at least critically derided music defines the past as well if not better than 'good' music. Now with a raft of nineties-set films coming out, i'm having to experience the musical revisionism in film that has plagued nostalgic films set in the previous decades. Expect to hear Paranoid Android rather than the Macarena.

I feel I must mention that I am not arguing that nostalgic soundtracks are fuelling this trend. It has gone on for a long time, and in the case of soundtracks, film soundtracks made up of new popular music have been around since the advent of sound-film. The Graduate is probably the film that kick-started that trend with its Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack (looks like the AC/DC Iron Man 2 CD isn't such a new idea after all). Commercial pressure is a part of it, but film-makers, mainstream or otherwise should know better, and any blame should rest at their feet.

At the present, the only use of music I can think of that uses 'good' and 'bad' well is episode two of the first series of the TV series Spaced. In that episode, Daisy and Tim are hosting a party. Daisy decides to kick things off by putting on her ten-year-old homemade cassette compilation. Tim's reaction sums up perfectly the reaction we should have: "What is this? This is rubbish. We should be listening to firm young melodies, kicking tunes, thumping bass... God I sound so stupid".


"Stop It!"

Goodbye Cruel World

Lastfm is a funny thing. It has become one of those sites that people obsess over and an archetypal web 2.0 page. I'm about to wipe my page and start afresh.

This is from lastfm which is handily assembled by the site:
I'm into pop, rock, electronic, 80s and british, including:
New Order, Sparks, Saint Etienne, David Bowie, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Depeche Mode, Mansun, The Clash, Kraftwerk, The Flaming Lips, Blur, Electric Light Orchestra, 久石譲, Devo, Scott Walker, Electronic, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Les Rita Mitsouko, Ramones, Daft Punk, My Bloody Valentine, Manic Street Preachers, Prince, Michael Rother, The Walker Brothers, Beastie Boys, Neu!, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Was (Not Was), Leonard Cohen, Mercury Rev, The KLF, Money Mark, The Divine Comedy, The Other Two, Donna Summer, Nick Drake, The Dandy Warhols, Pulp, Simple Minds, Tiger, The Velvet Underground, The Avalanches, John Powell, De La Soul, ABBA, The Beatles, Super Furry Animals, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Kenickie.

That's four and a half years of listening.

My top 50 songs over these years appear accordingly:

01 Saint Etienne - "Burnt Out Car (Balearico Mix)", played 101 times
02 Sparks - "When I'm With You", played 92 times
03 Electronic - "Dark Angel", played 79 times
03 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - "Everyday I Write the Book", played 79 times
05 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "Joan of Arc", played 78 times
06 Neu! - "Quick Wave Machinelle, played 77 times
06 The Other Two - "Selfish", played 77 times
08 Sparks - "Popularity", played 73 times
08 Electric Light Orchestra - "Calling America", played 73 times
10 Leonard Cohen - "First We Take Manhattan", played 72 times

11 The Divine Comedy - "Your Daddy's Car", played 71 times
12 Kanako Narikiyo - "Pajama Jama Da", played 70 times
13 Les Rita Mitsouko - "Le Petit Train", played 69 times
14 Saint Etienne - "Who Do You Think You Are", played 68 times
15 Devo - "Beautiful World", played 67 times
16 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)", played 64 times
16 The Other Two - "Innocence", played 64 times
16 New Order - "Bizarre Love Triangle", played 64 times
16 Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Run Through The Jungle", played 64 times
20 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", played 63 times

20 Les Rita Mitsouko & Sparks - "Singing In The Shower", played 63 times
22 Saint Etienne - "I Buy American Records", played 62 times
23 Prince - "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", played 60 times
23 Saint Etienne - "Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi)", played 60 times
23 David Bowie - "Never Let Me Down", played 60 times
26 Mercury Rev - "My Love", played 59 times
26 Electric Light Orchestra - "Stranger", played 59 times
28 David Bowie - "Ashes to Ashes", played 58 times
28 Sparks - "Angst in My Pants", played 58 times
28 David Bowie - "Sound and Vision", played 58 times

28 Saint Etienne - "Like A Motorway", played 58 times
32 Was (Not Was) - "Anything Can Happen", played 57 times
32 Daft Punk - "Face To Face", played 57 times
34 Sparks - "Funny Face", played 56 times
35 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "Locomotion", played 55 times
35 Electronic - "Getting Away With It", played 55 times
35 David Bowie - "Strangers When We Meet", played 55 times
35 Saint Etienne - "Shower Scene", played 55 times
39 David Bowie - "Modern Love", played 54 times
39 Depeche Mode - "In Your Room", played 54 times

39 Sparks - "Just Got Back From Heaven", played 54 times
39 The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Head On", played 54 times
39 Devo - "That's Good", played 54 times
39 Electronic - "Twisted Tenderness", played 54 times
45 Electric Light Orchestra - "Four Little Diamonds", played 53 times
45 The Other Two - "Tasty Fish (Art of Mix Real Good Karma mix)", played 53 times
45 久石譲 (Joe Hisasihi) - "Hareta Hi Ni...", played 53 times
45 Girls Aloud - "The Loving Kind (Radio Mix)", played 53 times
45 Electric Light Orchestra - "Last Train To London", played 53 times
45 The Walker Brothers - "No Regrets", played 53 times

In the same format the top artists look like this:

01 New Order - 2,692 plays
02 Sparks - 2,639 plays
03 Saint Etienne - 2,513 plays
04 David Bowie - 1,944 plays
05 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - 1,689 plays
06 Depeche Mode - 1,672 plays
07 Mansun - 1,661 plays
08 The Clash - 1,558 plays
09 Kraftwerk - 1,500 plays
10 The Flaming Lips - 1,493 plays

11 Blur - 1,458 plays
12 Electric Light Orchestra - 1,289 plays
13 久石譲 (Joe Hisasihi) - 1,226 plays
14 Devo - 1,152 plays
15 Scott Walker - 1,031 plays
16 Electronic - 899 plays
17 Creedence Clearwater Revival - 733 plays
18 Les Rita Mitsouko - 712 plays
19 Ramones - 665 plays
20 Daft Punk - 657 plays

21 My Bloody Valentine - 626 plays
22 Manic Street Preachers - 622 plays
23 Prince - 609 plays
24 Michael Rother - 588 plays
25 The Walker Brothers - 573 plays
26 Beastie Boys - 567 plays
27 Neu! - 521 plays
28 The Jesus and Mary Chain - 480 plays
29 Was (Not Was) - 469 plays
30 Leonard Cohen - 460 plays

31 Mercury Rev - 452 plays
32 The KLF - 447 plays
33 Money Mark - 416 plays
34 The Divine Comedy - 415 plays
35 The Other Two - 412 plays
36 Donna Summer - 380 plays
37 Nick Drake - 376 plays
37 The Dandy Warhols - 376 plays
39 Pulp - 371 plays
40 Simple Minds - 368 plays

41 Tiger - 361 plays
42 The Velvet Underground - 352 plays
43 The Avalanches - 349 plays
44 John Powell - 344 plays
45 De La Soul - 338 plays
46 ABBA - 337 plays
47 The Beatles - 332 plays
48 Super Furry Animals - 326 plays
49 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - 320 plays
50 Kenickie - 315 plays

Good eh? But is it? I often wonder why I use the site. Originally it appeared to be a neat and slightly scientific way of finding out what music I like. I suppose you could argue that I liked it for the same reasons that I originally liked the TV programme Big Brother. That show seemed to lift-the-lid of what life is like, it was both a game show and an experiment. For example just how could you act on TV all the time?

However, like BB, lastfm became a habit as oppose to something you really wanted to do. It also began to affect my music choices. I mean, I would find myself checking my weekly charts to see what music i'd listened to most in the past week or month. This was satisfying since i'd been a bit of a chart watcher when I was a lot younger, It used to matter a great deal to me where Mansun and Blur singles charted on the UK Top 40. The problem I have is that I feel that if I like an artist I have to listen to them enough to get them on my lastfm chart. This means I went from listening to something because I liked it to wanting others to know (but mostly me) that I liked it. My other vice when using the site was and is my organisation of songs and artists and the adherence to correct titles. They simply have to be right!

Why do I and so many others feel the need to quantify that which is best qualified? I'd much rather tell someone what I like than direct them to a page of numbers.

So goodbye poorshakes of March 2005 to October 2009. Its best that you fade away and became what you always should have been; a question ("I wonder what music I like to listen to most often"). Significantly, it should remain a question that doesn't warrant an answer or an exact one anyway.

The Other Two – Tasty Fish (Art of Mix Real Good Karma mix)

is a really great mix by the way, and I don't have it any more. That is all I have really learnt!

Amazon Is My Friend

Again I've slipped into nothing-ness, I can't think of a bladdy (to adopt an Alan Sugar voice) thing to write. This post will read more like a twitter update (which I'm not on anyway) or a Facebook update. I've been watching the new series of The Apprentice (UK) which is sadly coming to an end, I've watched most of series 2 of Mad Men and begun watching The Wire - which I decided I wouldn't get into last year - but I'll be damned if it isn't seductive. For me The Wire only kicked-in when series two began, although my friend described that series as being like Cheers, which I don't think is that far off the mark.


As for films there are only a few of note, two of which are Japanese. These are Hana-Bi (1997) by Kitano Takashi and Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo (1978) (that's what it says on my DVD, but there's about 3-10 different titles). I didn't expect much from the Lupin film as it wasn't directed by Miyazaki-san, but I was a little disappointed with Hani-Bi. I just don't think it measures up to his first 3 or 4 films.

This article here (at senses of cinema) says everything there really is to say about Kitano.

The jist of the article is that the more sophisticated his work became, the more mundane and ordinarily arty it is. Then again, directors shouldn't stand still, and one shouldn't condemn him for developing. Yet I couldn't help but think - as I believe the article says - that the use of a crane shot is completely wrong for Kitano. Ah well.

The other film of note that I watched was the new version Star Trek (2008) which I was reluctant to see. For one how good could it actually be? and I didn't think J.J. Abrahams was any cop, also I've sort-of decided to avoid most blockbusters in recent years. I would say 'against the odds' but the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, but against the odds Star Trek was a great movie, I enjoyed it from start to finish, so much so that it made me think about bothering to watch Star Trek 2, 3 and 4 (I've not seen 2 and 3). I could hardly believe myself as I laughed at a string of gags involving a Russian accent and a little-green-dude. Superb, really superb fun.

The only reason I wrote this post was to bung a couple of links up of Amazon.co.uk reviews I wrote. Even though I wrote them I believe that Amazon has copyright, so I probably can't post them here. The two reviews are for the French duo; Les Rita Mitsouko. They are a band I really adore, and while I gave both albums critical comments I still enjoy both albums, and besides that's what criticism and discussion is about. So here they are (dull as they may be):

Re (1990) written today
&
Marc and Robert (1988) written a couple of weeks back

Below is one of my favourite songs and videos of theirs, lets just say that they're not for everyone.



Furthermore to overload on links. Here are my two posts that collect nearly all of Les Rita Mitsouko's usually fantastic videos: Part One and Part Two

Urusei Yatsura TV Theme Music

I have a love/hate relationship with Japanese anime theme music. In the UK it has been customary to produce short TV introductions. Aside from The Prisoner i can't think of one that is longer than 60 seconds. But its de-rigour for a lot of anime shows to have long TV introductions, for two reasons 1) it means 90 seconds less animation to produce (actually 3 minutes when you factor in the ending credits). 2) the lucrative music market and cross promotion.

I couldn't understand why I liked the Urusei Yatsura themes so much, as a lot of anime music is often tuneless or insipid. it was only later that i read that Kitty Animation - who co-produced Urusei Yatsura - specialise in theme music. Then it all fitted into to place.

These 6 themes vary in quality - music and animation - but they display a development in style and technology. You can chart the progression of 80s musical trends, this is best represented by the metal edge of 'Rock the Planet' (my least favourite), or the slamming drums of 'Pajama Jama Da'.

For those who don't know: Urusei Yatsura is the name of a Scottish indie band of the nineties. They took their name from Rumiko Takahashi's manga. This has lead to some confusion in the UK.

The plot of the show is relatively difficult to summarise. It is about an unlucky and lecherous 17 year old boy called Ataru who by chance is married to an humanoid Oni alien; Lum. Some accounts say she is a princess, but I don't agree. Anyway, an Oni is a demon in Japanese folklore, so Lum is pretty much a curse on Ataru. Her means of punishment usually takes the form of electric shocks that she gives him and her ability to fly - means she's pretty omnipotent - and therefore can catch his unfaithful behaviour. But since he has the ability to be a despicable and immature teenager he deserves it most of the time. Also Lum is a super-sexy green haired beauty who wears a tiger skin bikini and matching jump boots. From that starting point, the couples numerous acquaintances who are school friends, family, enemies, aliens, demons etc expand the scenario, the push and pull of the other characters are ones who either love or hate Ataru or Lum. In the end the show is concerned with a new and ridiculous events fuelled by the pursuit of love - that is love in its best and worst descriptions.

Anyway, that's enough plot. The whole series is on youtube. While it is not completely consistent, and dated - one has to take some of the humour and nudity with a pinch of salt - it is a really funny show.

"Lum No Love Song" by Yuko Matsutani (1981)

(the first and best, but not the one I listen to most)

"Dancing Star" by Izumi Kobayashi (1983)


"Pajama Jama Da" by Kanako Narikiyo (1984)

(this one is by far the most addictive)

"Chance On Love" by Cindy (1984)

(This has the most amazing synth-bass, but what have they done to Lums face? She looks like a pony)

"Rock The Planet" by Steffanie (1985)


"Tonogata Gomen Asobase" by Shoko Minami (1985)


(This post is from my last.fm blog, but it is a good introduction to the series, as I plan to write about it)