The Saturdays “Chasing Lights”

The Saturdays,"Chasing Lights"

Are they the next big thing or just wannabees? With their first album “Chasing Lights“, new five-piece girl band The Saturdays give us a clue as to what lies in their future.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, The Saturdays comprise former S Club Juniors Frankie Sandford and Rochelle Wiseman; former Fallen Angelz member Mollie King; Vanessa White, who was in The Lion King musical; and Una Healy, a singer song-writer who twice won Ireland Glinsk song contest (according to Wikipedia!).

Una Healy

Two singles have so far been released from “Chasing Lights”. The first single, “If This Is Love“, sampled the 1980’s Yazoo hit “Situation” and reached #8 in the UK charts. The follow-up, “Up“, went to number 5.

Frankie Sandford

As you may have read, The Saturdays share a record label (Fascination) with Girls Aloud, and in fact The Saturdays opened for their label mates when Girls Aloud did their massive tour early this year. However, apart from sharing a label, having an Irish girl do most of the vocal duties and having five female members, there’s very little that the two acts have in common. Girls Aloud are the great pop entertainers of the decade; they aren’t the best singers or dancers, they don’t write their own songs or play their own instruments, but they project a great sense of fun and entertainment. For me, that’s what pop music should be about.

Mollie King

Despite some (at times) rather some rather play school rhyming couplets – “Me and my heart we have issues / don’t know whether to slap you or kiss you” – The Saturdays’ sound is, I would argue, far more sophisticated than Girls Aloud. Whereas GA are pop chameleons, content to try whatever Brian Higgins’ Xenomania team come up with, The Saturdays stick to one sound, a cool electro pop mixed with delicate ballads. Surprisingly this lack of variety didn’t bother me, and my attention deficit disorder is so bad I can’t even be bothered to finish a …

Rochelle Fleming

If you asked me to compare the Girls Aloud sound to a TV show, it would be something loud and brash, almost schizophrenic in its manic desire to do as much and be as many things as possible as quickly as possible – one of those Saturday morning TV shows presented by Ant ‘n’ Dec with custard pies and wacky competitions and lots of shouting. If you asked me about The Saturdays, I’d say they were ‘Sex and The City’; sophisticated, urbane, heart-stoppingly stylish – and perhaps just a little bit shallow and superficial …

Vanessa White

My one, my only complaint about this album is that the sound is a little shallow. It’s all terribly well-produced and crystal clear, but the songs are all wafer-thin. Everything you hear is right up-front, there are no hidden depths, nothing that you’ll pick up on the sixth or seventh listen and think, “oh, I never noticed that before”. It’s a terribly minor and fussy complaint, but then I’m an audiophile who cares about these things.

However, I also care about well written, well produced and catchy pop songs. I want something that I’m going to be humming for the rest of the day, and that sort of things in spades. The two singles are absolute belters, yet as different as chalk and cheese. “Keep Her”, the third track on the album, is a Goldfrapp-lite electro-pop monster that can’t decide whether it’s an uptempo ballad or a dancefloor belter. The first ballad, the previously mentioned “Issues” is another one you end up singing all day under your breath, whilst track 6, “Work”, is another track with a very simple hook that you’ll not get out of your head. And because you won’t know the rest of the words, you’ll just walk round going “Work, work!”.

My verdict? If you like your pop music in short, almost disposable chunks, you’ll love this record. If you like the simple things done well and you don’t want to work very hard for your musical kicks, you’ll love this record. If you want meaningful lyrics, more depths than the Alantic Ocean and overwright pomposity ladled on with a big spoon, leave this well alone and go listen to The Verve.

Girls Aloud: Tangled Up, Live from the O2 2008

So, the girls’ third live DVD arrives, following on from the Carling Academy and Wembley Arena gigs, and from the moment the concert states the continued evolution in the girls’ live performance is immediately obvious. Long gone are the tentative opening steps from the Carling Academy; now, the fivesome descends from the ceiling wearing capes and superhero outfits in one of the most dramatic, drawn-out concert openings I’ve seen.

The band arrive onstage

The O2 is a massive arena and the girls have a correspondingly massive set-up incorporating five huge video screens, three of which display the back-drop and two concentrate on the band.  Just like The Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon concerts, halfway through the gig a bridge descends from the ceiling and the girls cross to a much smaller, more intimate stage right in the middle of the audience to perform a couple of slower numbers. These have always been my last favourite parts of the concerts, and this one is no exception – I’m just not a fan of “I’ll Stand By You”, and the girls do a cover version of “With Every Heartbeat” that reduces it to a drawn-out and overblown ballad, stripping away what little charm the song possessed in the first place. It’s the one and only bum note of the entire concert.

The B stage

Elsewhere, when they hit the heights, they do prove themselves to be consumate entertainers. They still aren’t the world’s best singers, and their dancing can still be quite ropey and has an enjoyable ‘we’re making this up as we go along!’ kind of air, but for me that’s always been part of the bands’ charm. They never pretend to be the best at anything – they just want to sing and dance, have a good time, and make sure everyone else does too.

The band onstage

They always include a couple of covers from leftfield, which in past years have included “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus and the Kaiser Chiefs’ “I Predict A Riot” and they follow suit in this set. As mentioned, “With Every Heartbeat” is not a rip-roaring success, and the other full-length cover version here is “Push It” by Salt & Pepa. It’s a curious track; not much of a song, and here the lead guitarist really lets rip with an axe solo, making it a curious hybrid of rock, rap and pop – just like “Walk This Way” in fact, which is segued here with “Wake Me Up”.

Kimberley

There’s a point I need to make about the band here. Some of the songs have been slightly re-interpreted, which I put down to the Musical Director, who is also part of the band. For example “Biology” no longer has that rip-roaring, Kinks-esque sixties opening, it’s all a little more stripped down and possibly even subdued.

Nicola

That’s not to say the songs are any worse for it, and I think there are actually less musicians than previous tours. All I’m saying is that the songs are not note-for-note reproductions of the album versions and you should be aware of that.

Nadine

The low point I have mentioned above; the high point, for me at any rate, is “Black Jacks” from the most recent album. There’s a point on the documentary on the DVD (more on the extras later) where the girls are asked to pick their favourite parts and no-one selects this song. And yet, when I watch, they all really seem to catch fire on this one and you can hear from the strength of their vocals and the way they dance that they are really into this song. It’s just one of the moments when they click and they prove, much to the chagrin of their detractors, that they really are the top pop band on the planet.

Black Jacks

No, they don’t write their own stuff or play instruments, but pop is all about entertainment – pure escapism, which, whilst we’re in the midst of the recession that Labour seems to be pulling us into, is for me at least very welcome. So, “Blacks Jacks” is the video that I’ve posted to go with this review.

(It may be that YouTube take it down, but if so then c’est la vie. I’ve only posted it so that I could post this review and hopefully other people will be inspired to buy the DVD and if the record company don’t want that to happen, then fair enough!).

Sarah

Extras on this DVD are, as per the others, relatively thin on the ground. The promo videos rom “Sexy! No No No …”, “Call The Shots” and ” Can’t Speak French” (this latter another highlight of the live show); two TV ads; and a ‘behind the scenes’ documentary which is surprisingly entertaining. Each of the band members presents their own little section and from the looks of it they’re all ad libbed and done on the fly.

Something Kinda Oooh

Cheryl in particular is in good form. She shows the camera around the tour bus (they’ve come a long way from the first tour, when they had to do their own make up etc!) and I’m not going to give away any secrets, but lets just say that one of the girls hasn’t slept in her own bed on the tour bus once!

The band's entrance to the arena

And there’s a part where she finds a vest top and a half-finished bottle of vodka in the girls’ area, and by smelling it she can identify that it belongs to Simon, one of the regular backing dancers – quite how she identifies it from the smell, I’m not sure. She sees Simon passing by the bus as they’re filing and she goes out to confront him, leaving the other male dancers laughing at him.

Nadine not concentrating

Verdict? Probably the best concert DVD they’ve done so far and well worth the fourteen quid or so that you’ll have to shell out for it.

Black Jacks

Tracklisting:

1. Sexy! No No No…
2. Girl Overboard
3. Sound Of The Underground
4. Close To Love
5. Can’t Speak French
6. Love Machine
7. Black Jacks
8. Biology
9. Whole Lotta History
10. With Every Heartbeat
11. I’ll Stand By You
12. Fling
13. Push It
14. Wake Me Up / Walk This Way
15. Control Of The Knife
16. Call The Shots
17. Jump Live
18. Something Kinda Ooooh

Nadine

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How to polish a turd: Pussycat Dolls, “I Hate This Part”

You’ve all heard my analogy saying how a good pop song should be like a kebab: it should take about three minutes to get through, make your hands kind of sticky, and leave you feeling either happily guilty or guiltily happy at the end. However, it’s an anology that works both way; a bad pop song is aso like a bad kebab. You know straight away that there’s something wrong. There’s a bad taste in your mouth. And at the end, you’re running for the toilet.

With tham I give you the second in the series “How to polish a turd“. Viewers outside England may not recognise the metaphor here (or understand what a ‘turd’ is, but for that I can only point you to this Wikipedia page). The meaning of the phrase is this: no matter how much you shine up a lump of poo, put it in a pretty box or tie a big pink ribbon to it, it’s always just gonna be a lump of poo.

The Pussycat Dolls – where do you start? Like the previous entrant in this series, Britney Spears, PCD have acttually produced one or two decent pop/r&b records. But with the release of their recent album “Doll Domination” the quality control dial seems to have dipped way down, whilst the tackyometer has gone through the roof. Clearly only one of them can sing, and yet she’s reduced to some vocal ad libs at the end. The rest of the time it’s like watching a bunch of Playboy bunnies sing and dance (and I’m aware of PCD’s roots – we can all read Wikipedia – so don’t bother pointing out their burlesque origins). And talk about sack the stylist – have these girls no shame? There’s no combination of accessories or Ann Summers outfits that these girls won’t throw on if it means they appear in one more magazine or sell one more unit.

What really, really upsets me about this record, and this is just a personal point of view, is that one of the co-writers of this “song” is Lucas Secon. He’s a bit of a hero of mine, on account of his 1994 single “Lucas In The Middle” with it’s award winning video shot by Michel Gondry, which you can see by clicking here. I guess they must have parked a dumper truck full of cash outside his house for Lucas to be involved in this project.

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How to polish a turd: Britney Spears, “Womanizer”

You’ve all heard my analogy saying how a good pop song should be like a kebab: it should take about three minutes to get through, make your hands kind of sticky, and leave you feeling either happily guilty or guiltily happy at the end. However, it’s an anology that works both way; a bad pop song is aso like a bad kebab. You know straight away that there’s something wrong. There’s a bad taste in your mouth. And at the end, you’re running for the toilet.

So, welcome to my sporadic and probably short-lived series “How to polish a turd“. Viewers outside England may not recognise the metaphor here (or understand what a ‘turd’ is, but for that I can only point you to this Wikipedia page). The meaning of the phrase is this: no matter how much you shine up a lump of poo, put it in a pretty box or tie a big pink ribbon to it, it’s always just gonna be a lump of poo.

Hence the expression “to polish a turd” has come to represent the example we have here: “Womanizer“, the 24th single from Britney Spears. Spears has the single worst voice in pop music history – a nasal whine that sounds like a squirrel being put to death by an electric drill. And when they turn on the vocal effects, like they have done far too much in this song in an attempt to make it sound like she can actually sing, she just sounds like a robot doing an impression of a squirrel being put to death by an electric drill. And it doesn’t matter how many sexy outfits she wears, how many times she tosses her hair or thrusts her groin at the camera; you can’t see the video on the radio or when you’re playing the CD. All you have left is an achingly dull song that sounds like lots of the other dire stuff that has gone before. This isn’t to say she hasn’t produced some terrific (if badly-sung) pop records before now – it’s just that this isn’t one of them.

This single last for 3minutes 43seconds but trust me, you’ll be praying for the squirrel to expire long before that.

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The Saturdays “Up” Live at the 2008 KCA

"Chasing Lights" is released on October 27th

The Saturdays‘ album “Chasing Lights” will definitely be released on October 27th and you can pre-order the CD now. I’ve seen a couple of different tracklistings – this one is from Amazon.co.uk:

1. If This Is Love

2. Up

3. Keep Her

4. Issues

5. Lies

6. Work

7. Chasing Lights

8. Set Me Off

9. Fall

10. Vulnerable

11. Why Me, Why Now

12. Up

I’ve also seen tracklistings that have the Bobby Blanco and Miki Moto remix of “If This Is Love” as a bonus track, so it might be worth your time shopping around to get the best value copy.

This video is taken from the 2008 KCAs with the band performing “Up”:

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Ad Fundum podcast feed

Hi all

I’m experimenting with a podcast feed so that you can automatically subscribe to my music posts. You can see the podcast feed on the right-hand menu, or you can copy and paste this link into feedburner or whatever podcast feed software you use:

http://adfundum.podOmatic.com

If ot doesn’t work, or it’s just shit or something, drop me a comment and I’ll just stop doing the feed and we’ll revert to downloading.

Random image, nothing to do with the news story.

Girls Aloud new single announced – “The Promise”

“The Promise” has been announced as the title of the new single from Girls Aloud. This is the band’s 19th single and will be taken from their as-yet-untitled fifth studio album.

Girls Aloud

The full text of the press release reads:

“Girls Aloud’s 19th UK single is titled The Promise and will be available to buy in the shops and online as of 27th October. It’s a stormer of a track but don’t take our word for it, listen yourselves as The Promise gets it’s very first airing on Switch this Sunday. Make sure you tune in to Nick Grimshaw’s show on Radio 1 from 7pm to hear it.

The single will be coming along with an exclusive B side that won’t be featuring on the new album as well as an exclusive remix on iTunes.

There will also be a limited edition picture disc available which will only be available through the Girls’ official site so make sure you look out for more details.

We will be bringing you the girls‘ comeback video in a couple of weeks time along with some brand new artwork and details of the new album!”

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The Saturdays “Up”

Well, the Ad Fundum blog stats show that a great many of you seem to be visiting my little blog in search of info on new girl band The Saturdays. Well, never let it be said we’re not afraid to pander to our visitors whims! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t into their new single, “Up“, as fast I was the previous single, “If This Is Love“, but it is growing on me and the mixes – particularly the Wideboys mix, which you can hear below – are very good. Certainly that was an opinion shared by top pop music website Popjustice. And if you want further evidence of The Wideboys’ remixing pedigree, you should check out their mix of Rihanna’s “Shut Up And Drive”.

The Saturdays, in their new "Council Worker" day-glo collection

Today we have not one, not two, but three different versions of the girls’ brand new single, “Up”. The single itself will be available as a download on Sunday 12th October; the physical format is on sale the day after, Monday 13th October. According to Wikipedia, the release formats are:

The Saturdays - "Up" as seen on no#1 fansite 'The Saturdays Fan'

UK CD Single

1. “Up” – 3:23
2. “Crashing Down”

7digital Digital Single

1. “Up” (Radio Edit) – 3:02
2. “Up” (Wideboys Radio Edit) – 3:04

iTunes Exclusive

1. “Up” (Wideboys Club Mix) – 6:02
2. “Up” (Wideboys Dub) – 6:01

UK CD Promo

1. “Up” (Wideboys Remix) – 6:02
2. “Up” (Riffs & Rays Remix) – 7:00
3. “Up” (Sticky Remix) – 5:17
4. “Up” (Wideboys Dub) – 6:01
5. “Up” (Sticky Dub) – 5:19
6. “Up” (Wideboys Radio Edit) – 3:04
7. “Up” (Riffs & Rays Radio Edit) – 3:37
8. “Up” (Sticky Radio Edit) – 3:17
9. “Up” (Radio Edit) – 3:23

So, on with the videos! First up is the radio edit:

Video number two: Riff & Ray’s radio edit:

And, saving the best til last, is the much more dance-oriented Wideboys radio edit:

And finally – just because I’m that good to you – is a short feature on the making of the video for “Up”, featuring Frankie Sandford, Rochelle Wiseman, Una Healy, Vanessa White and Mollie King:

Lyrics

[First Verse - Una]
Go Go Go
It’s Time To Make A Move & We Both Know

It’s Time To Step It Up A Notch, I’m Ready To Lose Touch

Baby Boy, Go Go Go

[Bridge - Vanessa]
This Is The Crossing At The Main Intersection,
Up Is Where We Go From Here,
Finest Selection,
This Could Take Us Anywhere,
I Don’t Want Protection,
Life Is Better Off The Line, I, I…

[Chorus - All]
I’m Ready For The Lift Up, Keep Steady Beat,
Cuz I’m Ready For The Big Jump, Keep Up With Me,
If You Lose Me Then You Know, You’re Just A Bit Too Slow,
I Only Go Up, Up
I’m Ready To Be In Control & The Ground Isn’t Good Enough For Me,
I Know Where To Find What I Want & I’m Gonna Keep On Keep On Up, Up

[Verse 2 - Una]
No Turns Now,
We’re Going Straight
You Better Hold On Tight,
Cuz If You Fall You’re On Your Own,
Cuz I’m Gonna Go On,
No, No, No Turns Now

[Bridge - Vanessa]
This Is The Final Call For All Destinations,
This Is Where You’re In Or Out,
No Hesitation This Is Not The Time For Doubts,
Make Your Decision,
Are You On Or Off The Line Ine, Ine…

[Chorus - All]
I’m Ready For The Lift Up, Keep Steady Beat,
Cuz I’m Ready For The Big Jump, Keep Up With Me,
If You Lose Me Then You Know, You’re Just A Bit Too Slow,
I Only Go Up, Up
I’m Ready To Be In Control & The Ground Isn’t Good Enough For Me,
I Know Where To Find What I Want & I’m Gonna Keep On Keep On Up, Up

[Middle 8 - Vanessa]
This Is The Crossing At The Main Intersection,
Up Is Where We Go From Here,
Finest Selection, This Could Take Us Anywhere,
I Don’t Want Protection,
Life Is Better Off The Line,
I I…
(Oooooooh)
[Chorus - All With Vanessa's Ad Libs]
I’m Ready For The Lift Up, Keep Steady Beat,
Cuz I’m Ready For The Big Jump, Keep Up With Me,
If You Lose Me Then You Know, You’re Just A Bit Too Slow,
I Only Go Up, Up
I’m Ready To Be In Control & The Ground Isn’t Good Enough For Me,
I Know Where To Find What I Want & I’m Gonna Keep On Keep On Up, Up

Word was the The Saturdays’ album was to be called “Taking Back Sunday”; however, Wikipedia now reports that the album is to be called “Chasing Lights“.If there’s any further news, we’ll keep you posted!

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Sugababes “Girls”

Another change of pace today as we bring you the official video for the brand new single from the Sugababes.

“Here Come The Girls” is released through Island Records and is taken from the girls’ new album “Catfights and Spotlights“. You may recognize the chorus as being used  in a Boots commerical from last christmas, but it’s actually a track called “Here Come The Girls” by Ernie K-Doe.

Top pop music website Popjustice wrote of it:

“… one of the clever things about the track is that as well as not sounding like anything the Sugababes have done before while simultaneously sounding like a brilliant Sugababes single it also fits in perfectly with the brassy, Ronsonised soul sound of pop in 2008 (well, 2007) but, unlike a lot of stuff cluttering up the music industry at the moment, it doesn’t sound like it’s trying too hard to pull the sound off – one of the Sugababes’ main selling points has always been how effortless their hitmaking seems, and it’s a theme that continues with “Girls”.

The CD single will feature remixes from Fred Falke, Dennis Christopher and Funkerman, and is scheduled for release on October 6th, with the album coming out on October 20th.

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The Saturdays “If This Is Love”

I admit it; I’m a sucker for a good pop record. I spent 18 years as a DJ playing the very best house and dance music of various genres. My iPod contains practically every album and single The Cure ever released. I’ve got a shelf full of books about Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. But give me three minutes of throwaway melodies and a catchy chorus, and I’m as happy as a pig in poo.

So in a change from bringing you classic oldies and pop gems, I’m bringing you a relatively new record from a new band.

The Saturdays

The Saturdays are a five-piece girl band signed to Fascination Records, home of Girls Aloud, for whom The Saturdays opened on tour earlier this year. I admit I didn’t really know anything about them, but I heard their record on the radio and kept humming it and couldn’t work out what was so catchy until it was released and I had the chance to download it. Then I realised that the record is a built on a sample from Yazoo’s classic track “Situation”. This sample is the little keyboard riff you hear at the start of the song. “Situation” was originally the b-side to “Only You”, but in it’s own right it reached number one in the dance charts in 1982 and was eventually released as a single in its own right. That’s probably why an eighties music afficienado like me couldn’t get the song out of my head for days – I’ve got about ten different mixes of “Situation”, it’s my all-time favourite Yazoo record!

The band themselves have quite a pop music pedigree. Younger music fans may remember Frankie Sandford (blue dress in the picture above) and Rochelle Wiseman (green dress) from their stint in S Club Juniors:

(back row, first and second from the right)

Una Healy (red dress) was on the Irish Popstars programme alongside Nadine Coyle, whilst Mollie King (yellow dress) was in a band called Fallen Angelz (sic) from X-Factor (PS Thanks to Wikipedia, I didn’t know any of this before I looked it up!). The fifth member of the band is Vanessa White.

“If This Is Love” is taken from the band’s first album, “Taking Back Sunday“.

If This Is Love Lyrics

Tell me baby in the night do you think of me?
(When you open up your eyes am I there?)
Are you standing by my window when I’m asleep
(Why you quiet when you know that I’m near?)

You know I love you
You thought I would leave you
But baby I’ve got you still
You think you want to be by yourself don’t you?
But baby you never will

If this is love
Then I don’t wanna know what isn’t
I won’t say another word
If this is love
Then I’m about to hit on this
Were both going to get hurt if this is love
(If this is love, yeaahh)

Are you picturing me lying across your bed?
(Are you thinking you were wrong to hurt me?)
I forgive you, I’ll forget everything you said
(You will love, and you will not desert me)

You think I’m crazy
I’m not I’m your baby
I promise I’ll always be
You think eventually this too will pass
But I promise I’ll never leave
If this is love
Then I don’t wanna know what isn’t
I won’t say another word
If this is love
Then I’m about to hit on this
Were both going to get hurt if this is love
(If this is love, if this is love)

Baby, baby if this is love
I don’t know what I’m gonna do
(Don’t know what I’m gonna do)
Baby, baby if this love I will not accept it and will not if this is

If this is love
Then I don’t wanna know what is’nt
I won’t say another (no, no) word
If this is love (ooh ooh)
Then I’m about to hit on this
Were both going to get hurt if this is love

Then I don’t wanna know what isn’t (oh yeah)
I won’t say another word (ooh)
If this is love
Then I’m about to hit on this
Were both going to get hurt if this is love
(If this is love, if this is love)
(Yeah)

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