EricMontreal22

I admit, I was one of those "bad fans" Alison Goldfrapp complained about who found their last album, the tinkly synth/folk (!) album largely a yawn fest. And I'm sure tons of critics AND hardcore fans are already all eagerly shouting sell outs about the pure 80s cheesefactor of their new album--by far their most instant and poppy yet, but I admit I kinda love it, especially the first half in which they hired a fave dance/pop producer of mine, Pascal Gabriel to add polish to their production (the second half, which they produced themselves is a bit more typical Goldfrapp mood music). And as mentioned elsewhere, how could I not love a Moroder homage: Much more of a guilty pleasure is Sophie Ellis Bexter's new one with Freemasons and Biffco (who collaborated together on a fave Kylie track of mine, The One, and Biffco of course have been her best recent production house). I hope this gets Sophie back in the UK charts, after her massive early '00s hits like Murder on the Dancefloor with their great videos, this one looks as cheap as the latest Dannii Minogue cheapie vid--but the powder effect is neat, and the song is a lot of dance/pop cheeze, fun. (Oddly, the New York Post gave it a good online review--I have no idea why they're reviewing UK dance records, but...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAK0U1RJZdU

Ever since Mylene Farmer and Laurent Boutonnant stopped writing/producing for her, she's been pretty boring--her last album (first without them) was lyrically flat and sounded dated, and not in the way I like. Not sure I'll even bother with this one, which makes me a little sad. Still, I know she's going for a more British audience, with more English lyric songs (which is worisome to anyone who's heard how piss poor her English pronounciation is when singing...) This was their last massive hit, but I admit it took me nearly a year after getting their last CD to like this single--I prefered much of the rest of the album (which was more typical Xenomania production) to the 60ness and start/stop rhythm I guess--but it has finally really grown on me. I still wish Miss You Bow Wow Wow, one of those songs only Xenomania could do, was the lead single as planned.

This is shameful even by my standards, but I got an Italo (ie that slower, camptastic form of Italian based synth dance from the 80s) compilation for my birthday and have been hooke don this 1986 gem. The only video online shows just one minute, so I'll also link a fan vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miL848jX28I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYEHUdyeVVQ

S Club 8 LOL Producer files US$35M lawsuit against Grammy Award-winning singer Lady Gaga Lady Gaga with her Brit Awards for Best International Female, Best Breakthrough Act and Best International Album at the Brit Awards 2010 in London, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Alastair Grant NEW YORK - A songwriter and music producer credited with helping launch pop star Lady Gaga says in a New York City lawsuit she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he co-wrote some of her songs, came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal. Rob Fusari filed a US$35 million lawsuit Wednesday against the Grammy Award-winning singer. He says his protege and former girlfriend ditched him as her career soared. Fusari's lawsuit says he has credits on such hits as Will Smith's "Wild, Wild West" and Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious." It says a friend steered the piano-playing singer to him in March 2006, when she was known by her real name, Stefani Germanotta. Lady Gaga spokesman Dave Tomberlin hasn't responded to an email sent Thursday seeking comment. The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan state court. Fusari did do some of my fave Gaga tracks, like Paparazzi and I wondered why she quit working with him, but come on. He got full credit and payment for those tracks--people often don't continue to work with their ex's, plus she's been more successful with RedOne anyway. It seems pathetic to me to file such a lawsuit (and surely the man behind Bootylicious, etc, can't be hurting for dough...)

The thing where I do give Gaga credit (and I already mentioned I hate her interviews) is that she was clever enough to do mainstream appealing music that is aware and self knowing of its camp. There was an allmusic.com review by that Madonna fanboy Stephen Thomas Erlywine that summed up what I mean (though I think he gives her a bit too much credit, this is true on a level): "The times were crying out for a pop star like Lady GaGa — a self-styled, self-made shooting star, one who mocked the tabloid digital age while still wanting to wallow in it — and one who's smart enough to pull it all off, too. That self-awareness and satire were absent in the pop of the new millennium, where even the best of the lot operated only on one level, which may be why Lady GaGa turned into such a sensation in 2009: everybody was thirsty for music like this, music for and about their lives, both real and virtual. To a certain extent, the reaction to The Fame may have been a little too enthusiastic [...]Like the marvelous Madge, Lady GaGa ushers the underground into the mainstream — chiefly, a dose of diluted Peaches delivered via a burbling cauldron of electro-disco — by taming it just enough so it’s given the form of pop yet remains titillating. Sure, GaGa sings of disco sticks, bluffin’ with her muffin, and rough sex, but her provocation doesn’t derive solely from her words: this is music that sounds thickly sexy with its stainless steel synths and dark disco rhythms (something sorely lacking from American radio)[...]but none of this meta text would work if the songs didn’t click, functioning simultaneously as glorious pop trash and a wicked parody of it. " Again I think that gives her a bit too much credit, but there's a lot of truth there (of course, already she's unleashed a sea of sub Gagas)

I loved loved Love Profusion and some of the mellower tracks on there--Easy Ride with its gorgeous strings, etc. Ilike American Life even if it has even more than the usual amountof cringe inducing lyrics for me--alot of it is very very good, I tend to prefer the quieter moments on it. Her work with Mirwais though (who seemed so fresh on Music) was prob past its peak already. My only comments about it was that it was prob her least successful or remembered recent album--and I was really disappointed that she actually backed down from controversy and allowed the lead single to be banned (and then filmed that el cheapo "drag queen" one--I honestly think this was the moment she lost interest in trying to do interesting videos) HAHA Actually I think the best dance music (prob cuz I love that Euro Disco sound) uses a mix of synths and beats with real instruments--particularly strings. It just adds such a great layer to things--in the 80s ALL live instruments fell out of favour in dance music--(compare Moroder's major work in the 70s like Last Dance and Mac Arthur Park to Flashdance in the 80s for an obvious example) and I think that sound got boring fast, as much as I love a lot of 80s synth pop. SO I'm with you there... Ugh when she pulls out that guitar on tour The thing is she'llnever be a great guitarist, and she STILL seems aawkward with it--she moves so much in her concerts, then she gets the guitar and is static. But yeah she does seem to be more over it. Wasn't he involved in the movie musical she was writing? The one that somehow Devil Wouldn't Recognize You came from apparently? Leonard is a good example of someone who is ace with Madonna and very meh with everyone else (which does show she has some creative pull, something people often doubt)-- Yeah, I love that aspect even if I can't quite mix the high glam Gaga we got in Paparazzi (which I prefered) with this "American Prison Chic" one Well apparently her next big single is the ABBA/Ace of Bass hommage Alejandro (I guess Speechless isn't getting a video?) so... I expect maybe it'll show her having fled to some latin country Shame, I wanted Dance in the Dark.

Depends what you mean by success--X was seen as a slow seller, but it ended upbeing in the top 10 UK albums that year (and top 5 in Australia). But she's getting to be a bit like Madonna--her tours sell out instantly (of course I'm not discussing N America where she's still a cult oddity really), and she ended up touring the X show endlessly it sold so well. Still I'm excited to hear her album with Stuart Price, out pretty soon (it was a smart decision to go with just one producer as her albums as of late have all suffered from too many producers). And I do agree with her--and Madonna about sticking now more or less at what they're good at.

I think I like Gaga, her image, her live performance and presence, much more than you, but I will agree there. Actually, I wish she'd just stop giving interviews I find them so embarassing to watch--that's where you do start to wonder if the emperor has no clothes, because what she says sounds so phony and rehearsed. I don't find that even with her most stupidor ridiculous outfits in her tour, etc--but when she speaks to an interviewer

Sleaze? It's one of the Madonna videos with the least skin Yeah the shot of the shores andher walking is a literal reshoot of the beach scenes in Humoresque (I think there's a youtube that shows them back to back). When Frozen came out a lot of people compared it to some similar Bjork videos of the time... (Funny what you learn from threads--I never knew Y&RWorltTurner's name was Alvin )

Ha fair enough--I dunno, it made me picture Enya or something kinda dull like Dido by your description Glad it's not. You love Ke$ha but not Gaga? Still, I'm glad you're not a secret metal head

Well the fact is, she's too old to do most of the ones that are out there (there surely are new underground trends she hasn't explored, but yeah, little would fit now). I dunno, I almost think she should start just making an album for herself--at this point in her career, when frankly she's not gaining a ton of new fans anyway with her new stuff, that would be the mostinteresting. But that would come hard fro Madonna I think--to do an album and not care about its chart success, etc... (Kylie Minogue is ten years Madonna's junior--and a very different performer of course, I'm not comparing them even if the European media constantly does and has all through their careers--but she's been having some similar problems as she gets older, finding an image that still fits her campier, pop princess icon yet is a bit more mature and, frankly classier).

Great! most of my Madonan friends seem to find the Drowned World video boring--but yeah I really love it. I guess there's some truth to Madonna's comment about Power of Goodbye's video, yet... I dunno, I think that's kinda the vibe--that it is utterly gorgeous in a sorta meancholy way (if that makes any sense). And as you say--don'thire a fashion photographer then

Sheesh you Nowhere, but you didn't offer suggestions so I was drawing straws. Most critics would call the songs on Something to Remember among her most melodic stuff

I wish she'd do one final video with him. LOL. He really really wanted to do Evita but wasn't a big enough name to get the rights--I think Parker's Evita is a decent film, but Fincher's would have been more interesting anyway. (The man has said repeatedly how much he likes musicals but wants to do a dark one--and he's amazing at filming dance--even in non Madonna videos like Abdul's Cold Hearted Snake video with its Fosse's All That Jazz hommage).

Although by the 90s Madonna's interviews became a real chore to sit through--I think I have a bunch on tape (yes I was obsessed) from Ray of Light where she tries to be deep and they're just ENDLESS--this was before the British accent but they do remind me of Gaga interviews where she says pseudo "deep" things in a quiet monotone voice with little excitement.

My fave from ROL was actually Power of Goodbye, video wise even if it's a complete hommage/rip off to the Joan Crawford movie, Humoresque--it's just shot SOOO beautifully. But actually I prefered all the ROL videos (even the UK only Substitue for Love) over Ray of Light's--but I know that video still made more of an impact.

I liked when she sang In This Life on the Girlie Show, but I have to agree (I, being a Madonna completist, made the mistake of getting the original uncensored Erotica--which has that HORRENDOUS song by some rap group Maverick records were promoting Did You Do It or whatever tacked on right near the end--UGH)--still I really love the album overall (I do agree with one critic who said that it really wasn't about erotica and sex as much as she claimed--the quote was something like "when an album that's meant to be as explicit as a porno has the song Why's It So Hard, and it's not about teh obvious but a plea for AIDS tolerance..." lol). Oh and I'd drop the one joke Where Life Begins too... And yeah, I was just starting high school when ROL came but you're definitely right--it really proved that Madonna was still relevant, etc--it was a big risk forher that paid off, which leads us to... Hard Candy is a mess. While I was so underwhelmed by the tour for it, I admit I realized some of the tracks (Dance 2Night is a fun Chic style disco number, and I think overall the Pharell produced tracks like Incredible and Heartbeat are way better than the Timbaland by numbers stuff) are fun on their own. But the album just feels so cynical and routine, like you say, and like she's the guest. It's telling that she doesn't even get co-production credit with Timbaland--a first for an album of hers since Like a Virgin I think. I also found her image from the time really misguided--just... meh. As much as Celebration (the song) was such a date Oakenfold production, I admit as a long time fan I breathed a sigh of relief just to have the silliness andold school Madonna back (not that the song made any impact really--funny I just realized Ackerlund directed the *awful* video for it too--I guess comparing his work for Gaga on Paparazzi and then Celebration which came out a few months later does say something about what product placement willget you budget wise). Apparently David Guetta is working on a song with Madonna now, which I found kinda disappointing but at least it's a better fit than the Timbaland bandwagon. What was most ironic to me about Hard Candy was she was going urban at a time when American radio top 40 was finally moving away from that and starting to use more dance and euro elements... For the first time in a long time Madonna truly felt behind the times (but I guess the dire 4 Minutes was a chart hit in the US--and for some reason Madonna still really cares about the US market. Of course it's been an awfully long time she's had a SECOND single in the US from any album that's had much impact...) Right, but why would you expect that (of either lady, really?) *confused*. And what is an example of such an album? I keep on picturing you listening serenely to Enya or something, by that definition

It's funny, I loved Ray of Light so much when it came out--and I can still appreciate it, but it's VERY VERY dated. In its way I find it even more dated than her 80s stuff or the now archaic "sleaze" sound of Pettibone's production for Erotica (which, despite being overlong is prob my personal fave). Madonna still tries to do a few, as Sylph says, "melodic" tracks an album-- (The second half of Bedtime Stories--the Bjork song aside--actually is pretty much all in that style and of course around the same time, partly to get past Erotica backlash, partly to court Evita, etc, she tried to model herself as something of an adult contemporary singer even--the Somethign to Remember compilation of slower songs, Take a Bow, the David Foster stuff). Sylph, I mean this with all due respect, but when I read your post about music "now" being a gimmick, etc, I just pictured that crotchety old neighbour everyone has on their block growing up shouting at the teens to turn down their infernal music. Are you 83?

Sorry I wasn't clear--I meant that only recently music videos have become more important again thanks to youtube, etc. And you're right, the early Gaga videos were pretty generic (though I suppose it could be argued they did help introduce people to, tamer versions, of her look), still I think it's undeniable that, at least since Paparazzi her videos have gotten quite a bit of buzz, and will help sell records (but I agree, the way videos are used for promotion, etc, is a very different game than 20 years ago).

Yeah, I can agree with all of that (though the Music videos in did make some impression--the Don't Tell Me one was a bit of a pop culture item with the MTV parody, etc). Still, I woulda liked or hoped Madonan would continue making interesting videos maybe partly out of her own pocket--but I guess I get why she hasn't.

It was Madonna who broke Akerlund into the trendy mainstream with Ray of Light (before that he had done many Roxette videos...), so I think it makes sense. I thought Madonna was at her worse when Hard Candy came out--suddenly she seemed to becoming the joke people mocked her about--self serious, looking her age but trying to look young and hip, etc. But I agree that even just in the past year suddenly she seems to be getting more of a sense of humour about herself. Her tours are funny--she always complains about how so many tickets go to casual fans who just wanna hear the 80s stuff (to her credit, or not depending on your POV, she always focuses on her new stuff--even the ReInvention tour which was billed as a Greatest Hits still had nearly half the program devoted to her underselling American Life album)--and that too many blocks of tickets are sold as corporate seats. But at what she charges she can't get all the younger fanboys (and girls)--even though many do still manage to come. So it's her own fault. (I paid prob about a fifth to see Gaga than I did to see Madonna the last time--actually I paid even less to see Kylie Minogue's tour last year--both Gaga and Minogue's concerts were actually MORE elaborate with much better staging than Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour--you certainly didn't see the money on stage).

I won't disagree with any of that--I used to think at the least she always would do a good live show, but after how good Confessions was as a concert, to do the awful mishmash she did with her Sticky and Sweet tour (regardless of the fact it promoted a dull album) was I admit a bit of a shock to me. But my point was, you used to be able to depend on Madonna to at least attempt to do an ambitious video. She's still (no matter how half heartedly or with mixed results) trying to do new music genres, etc--yet the fact that she herself, who was madeby videos, seemed to lose any real interest in them 6+ years back seemed telling to me. (then again her last ambitious video--the runway models with war one for American Life was banned, something she oddly never fought, and with that she seemed to lose any interest in the medium) Yes and no--youtube and other online sources has made a big change again. Certainly a lot of Gaga's sustained success has been partly due to word of mouth from her videos--

It is a sad statement of the times when Madonna hasn't even attempted to make an interesting video in over 5 years... (and HASN'T made an interesting one in far longer...) So I do appreciate that people get excited about Gaga's videos, when they'll premier, etc and it is bringing some interest back to the dead genre. That said, I think Gaga (and Ackerlund, no slouch when it comes to classier and better videos) would herself say it was meant to be trash--it's very much in the LaChappelle style (which is kinda played out by now, but...)

Don't forget Dark Shadows did it first...

I agree with that--it doesn't need to be 9 mins with the prison AND the truckstop parts and more of a dance off between the two women woulda been appreciated.