Here we are at the 31st and last match of Europop 2008 - Switzerland v Italy. As ever, track details and analyses can be found below the cut!
How to vote: Just pick the track you like best. Please don’t download if you’re not intending to vote! This match will end at noon on TUESDAY 1st JULY.
Switzerland v Italy: Which track do you prefer?
Total Voters: 44
Poll closes: July 1st, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Loading ...Posted by Tom in Pop | 14 Comments
Errol Brown brought angst to the dancefloor as regularly as Michael Jackson ever would, but Hot Chocolate’s neuroses were way more effortful, dredged up from some inner coil of dissatisfaction. The rising riff on “So You Win Again” sounds - in the best possible way - leaden, an anchor chain around Brown’s hopes, forever pulling him down. “Here I am again - A LOSER.” It’s not the best Hot Chocolate track - that might be the dystopic “Mindless Boogie”, or the uncomfortably pitiful “It Started With A Kiss”, or “Everyone’s A Winner”, this track’s savage flipside - but what it shares with the band’s best work is the sense of a man wearing a shabby overcoat of disappointment, doomed to misery.
Posted by Tom in Pop, Popular | 71 Comments
And the final will be…
Switzerland v Italy
Congratulations to Matt and Pete, commiserations to Alyson and Greg, both of whom produced performances that lit up this tournament. Switzerland powered through their semi, whereas Italy beat France by a single vote. Which of them will triumph? The final tracks go up on Thursday, and on Wednesday we take a look back over the tournament with the Europop 2008 Muxtape.
Posted by Tom in Pop | 7 Comments
I went and saw My Bloody Valentine on Friday night, at the behest of Pitchfork. Here’s what I thought of it. (photos not mine). This is, I think, the first live review I’ve ever written for (non-FT) publication - it was fun to do, especially when I put on my adjective hat. Congratulations to whoever suggested “eviscerating” at the pre-gig drinks: I apologise profusely for not fitting somnambulent in, or hypnotic oscillations, or ethereal. It really wasn’t any of those things.
Posted by Tom in Pop | No Comments
A place in the final awaits the winners of each match: Switzerland and Portugal previously drew, and France thumped Italy in their group match, but form counts for nothing now: ONLY THE WILL TO WIN (and a good track). Listen to the tracks, vote in the games, click below the cut for track info, managerial comment etc.
How to vote: just pick the track you prefer in each game. You’ll need to press vote separately on each poll. Polls open until Monday lunchtime.
Switzerland v Portugal: Which track do you prefer?
Total Voters: 25
Poll closes: June 23rd, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Loading ...France v Italy: Which track do you prefer?
Total Voters: 27
Poll closes: June 23rd, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
Loading ...Posted by Tom in Pop | 18 Comments
In a bold embrace of technology, you can now read Popular, my #1s review blog, on Twitter. If you don’t know what Twitter is, it’s either the future of communications technology or a glorified profile update service for mobile and vain tech professionals (depending on yr prejudice).
Go there and if you’re a Twitter subscriber click “follow”, and you can get - yea even via your MOBILE PHONE - 140-character summaries whenever a Popular post appears. These hand-crafted updates will feature the artist name, a link to the post, a short phrase from the review representative of my opinion, and of course the all important mark out of ten.
Be the first “kid” on your “block” to know when Popular updates!
Gimmicky? Us??
Posted by Tom in Pop, Popular | 4 Comments
A key player in Popular to come steps lightly onto the scene: Michael Jackson (with brothers) was already a star but his ball-of-energy performances on the Jackson Five’s hits had always just missed out on the UK #1. On “Show You The Way To Go” he’s a subtler presence, cajoling rather than exploding. His presence - still charismatic, still show-stealing - is a ripple of excitement in “Show You”’s smooth groove. Or maybe that’s just hindsight?
Disco was good to Michael Jackson: it came along at just the right time for the child star to cut the glorious forcefulness and find a voice and style that could carry him along. Jackson realised that the unwavering beat of disco left room for doubt and hurt even while the dancing went on, and on “Show You The Way To Go” you can hear him developing that trademark agonised quaver, that pleading squeak which would take him higher than anyone. The other Jacksons are hardly lacking in suppleness, mind, and this would be a pleasure even if it didn’t point futurewards so tantalisingly.
Posted by Tom in Pop, Popular | 58 Comments
Greece and Italy battle for the last semi-final place. Listen to the tracks, vote in the poll, click below the cut for analysis, comment and previews.
How to vote: Just pick the track you like best! Please don’t download the tracks unless you intend to vote. This poll will close at lunchtime on Tuesday 17th.
Greece v Italy: Which track do you prefer?
Total Voters: 25
Poll closes: June 17th, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
Loading ...Posted by Tom in FT | 12 Comments
France take on Russia for the third semi-final place: listen to the tracks, vote in the poll.
How to vote: Just tick the track you like the most. Because I’m going on a mini-break at the end of the week this poll will be up until Monday 16th. If you download the tracks, please take the time to vote!
France v Russia: Which of these tracks do you prefer?
Total Voters: 22
Poll closes: June 16th, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Loading ...Posted by Tom in Pop | 22 Comments
For a long time all I knew of “Lucille” was the mournful swing of its chorus, and it struck me as quintessential country - catchy, corny, sentimental. Listened to in full, though, it’s a stranger creature, an uncomfortably unresolved study in being a minor character, the intruder in someone else’s drama. Rogers is a barfly with his sights on a pick-up who ends up hearing both Lucille’s side of her story and a snatch of her ex’s, and is left confused and (literally and metaphorically!) impotent. … read on …
Posted by Tom in Pop, Popular | 67 Comments
Tom invented Freaky Trigger on a bus journey in the mid-90s. Typically, it took him 5 years to do anything about it. He also runs a marketing blog - blackbeardblog.com - and writes about pop music for whoever wants it.
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