Rachel Stevens — Come And Get It
It's quite a sad reflection on the music industry today that this album is already been written off as a commercial failure, and it isn't even out until the 17th. Now, it's a fine enough album, with a few great tracks, some ones that are quite good, and a few that are, well, a trifle dull. The problem is that it all sounds so anonymous; by the time the CD finishes, you get the feeling that pretty much any pop starlet could have been responsible for the past hour (with the exception of Some Girls, which Polydor have added to this album seemingly in a fit of desperation). I'm not one who insists that pop has to be about something, or have a message, but I would like to feel that the singer brings something to the project, as opposed to being just a simple cog in the producer's machine. People say that Stevens is a return to the sophisticated "New Pop" of the 1980s, but I think music critics have put too much emphasis on the role of the producer in that era. Sure, without Trevor Horn, Relax would be forgettable, but it's a Frankie Goes To Hollywood song, unmistakably. There's nothing here that suggests Ms. Stevens is capable of doing the same.
(Part of the commercial failure of this album, though, has to be placed at the foot of Polydor and 19 Entertainment, who released two of the weakest tracks from the album as singles. Plus, Negotiate With Love came out at the end of March, meaning that it's been over six months since the first single and the album's release, which seems awfully silly. A preferred release strategy, if I might be so bold, would have been to release I Said Never Again as the first single back in April, followed six weeks later with the Cure-sampling It's All About Me (I'm sure some interest could have been made out of that, even if pop sampling isn't all that notable these days). Followthat with the album a week or so later, and then release two more singles at six weeks intervals (probably the Eighth Wonder-aping Funny How and I Will Be There). Then, in October, cynically re-issue the album with a DVD containing the videos for all four singles (and Some Girls). Oh, and hire Michel Gondry to make one of them)
Also, I feel vindicated in my earlier Mud comments after finding out that Rob Davis co-wrote I Said Never Again…
Girls Aloud — Biology
Meanwhile, back at Camp Xenomania, they've come up with a cunning strategy: a detenté, if you will of the two main movements of British music in the 1990s. Which is to say that they've taken a Britpop song via The Kinks and ELO's Mr. Blue Sky, and stapled it to the Spice Girls' Spice Up Your Life. It really is better than it sounds, trust me, even if only the start seems to stick in the memory on the first ten listens.
You're showing an unhealthy level of Rachel Stevens interest these days, Ian.
I demand you take a cold Laverne shower - it should cool your unfortunate ardour.
My interest in Ms. Stevens is for purely work-related reasons; I'm intrigued at how the return of producer-led pop is, quite frankly getting nowhere in 2005.
I am of course, watching cd:uk without fail, admiring Lauren's attempts to get anything from the Happy Mondays (is Bez still all there?), and wanting to shoot the person who came up with the 'people with other people's names' segment…
Oh, and, worryingly, I'm turning my attention Eastwards, so expect a sugary bunch of J-Pop tunes soon…
Lots of female vocalists to choose from out East ;-)
TBH, I'm not sure that the problem with Rachel Stevens is down to a failure of producer-led music in general. Isn't it just that she's very very very dull / bland / plastic (choose your own adjective), the music that she is told to sing is similarly dull, and even her (probably fairly capable) producers can't drag her out of the doldrums?
Let's look at R1's top 40... (http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/top40/)
I'll bet that nos 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, and 19 all have far heavier producer input than artist input into the sound, arrangement, and the overall 'product'. (Some of the omissions I've never heard, so can't comment ;-) ).
True, but from the way people have been talking, it's like Xenomania and Richard X are the second coming of, well, either Trevor Horn or S/A/W, who could even stick a teaboy on a record and get a few number ones out of him (or, indeed, score a relatively decent position from two Liverpudlians who'd 'rather jack').
I would disagree about the music, I Said Never Again (actually a Jewel & Stone production rather than X/Xeno, which I suppose undercuts my argument somewhat) and Some Girls are great pop tunes. There's just something missing, and I do think it's partly the blandness you speak of, although saying that, Ms. Church didn't do too much better, and she's a little brazen at least.
And yes, lots of female vocalists in Japan, although they have a worrying tendency to dress in school uniforms and look approximately 12 years old…
I'm not sure they count, as they're Japanese but releasing on an independent US label and sing much of their stuff in English, but have you ever listened to Pizzicato 5?
Also, she's in a different vein of music, but I enjoy a bit of Ayumi Hamasaki as well. Of course... well... she doesn't always dress like a schoolgirl.
I have a few of their tracks, plus a couple of Cornelius albums.
Still, I guess it can't be more disturbing than the female presenters of Blue Peter in Tokyo dressing in Japanese fetish uniforms for the the cameras…brrrr....
Also, mentioned elsewhere, and at the back of my mind when I posted here yesterday, although they never made it to the comments - how come the Sugababes can still get to Number One? And indeed, fend off Robbie? It can't be their early 'indie cred', as they lost the NME when they kicked Siobhan out and installed a member of Atomic Kitten. They've also had the X/Xenomania treatment, and seem to be doing quite well out of it, thank you very much. Why do they succeed where Rachel Stevens, Annie, and M.I.A. have failed?
(Possible answers - sure, they have the 'the original two members hate the interloper' thing going on, they've been away for a while, they are slightly more interesting than R. Stevens, and wouldn't, say, turn up on Dick and Dom running away at the slightest hint of gunge. Annie is European, so she's not going to get a hit unless she suddenly turns into Whigfield, and M.I.A. has so many different aspects to her that they all seem to get in the way. Or something)
By the way, the new Sugababes album apparently has a track called Joy Division, which sounds intriguing…