Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The Police - Every Breath You Take
While the song sounds like a sedate and seemingly harmonious love ballad, it was actually written during the collapse of Sting's marriage to Frances Tomelty; the lyrics describe not well-meaning love but the motivations of a stalker, who is watching "every breath you take/every move you make". However, this fact has often gone unnoticed, or is ignored, and hence the song is often incorrectly classed as a love song.
Which makes the contived nonsense Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Cock Jockey made out of it even more nonsesne....
Polysics - I Me My Mine
Polysics are a Japanese New Wave / Synthpop / J-Rock band from Tokyo. The band started in 1997, but got their big break in 1998 at a concert in Tokyo. They create high energy music, fusing conventional guitar music, with synthesized and computer generated sound to create a unique mixture of punk and pop, heavily inspired by the American band Devo. Their song lyrics often consist of Japanese, broken English, or just plain gibberish ("Space Language"). The band has been noted for their extremely energetic live performances and their wild gimmicky outfits.
Sneaker Pimps - Post Modern Sleaze
The band's founding members were Chris Corner and Liam Howe (both ex-DJs), who then recruited Kelli Dayton (formerly of Lumieres, now recording under the name Kelli Ali) for vocal duties. After the first album, the band felt that demos for second album (on which Corner provided the guide vocals) better suited his voice, especially in regard to the more raw, personal quality of the lyrics. Combined with the fear of being identified with the fad for trip-hop acts (i.e. Portishead), Kelli was asked to leave the group, and Corner became the singer.
Dayton's departure was well received by some critics who felt that it gave the band a more honest, emotional timbre. Some fans feel that the songs on subsequent Sneaker Pimps albums, Splinter and Bloodsport, have lost the bubblegum feel and have gained an emotional intensity, while others enjoyed Dayton's vocals precisely because of that feel.
Currently the band are recording material for an as-yet untitled fourth album, having shelved a number of songs previewed live during 2003, and having recruited a new, as-yet unknown, female singer.
The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of The Clash, with whom they played (Joe Strummer produced one of their albums and even joined the group briefly), and used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, cittern, mandolin, accordion, and more. In the later incarnations of the band, after the departure of Shane MacGowan, rock instruments such as the electric guitar would become more prominent. The first of The Pogues' albums, Red Roses for Me, borrows much from the punk tradition of MacGowan's previous band The Nipple Erectors (later dubbed The Nips).
