Minister of Silly Walks and Grandmaster of the Masonic Lodge, Terry Owen, reveals his loyalties with this week’s single of the week, while Be Your Own Pet, Sugababes and Panic at the Disco come under the radar.
The Secret Handshake: Gamegirl – Single Of The Week
Luis Dubuc (aka TSH) has his heart firmly entrenched in the 80s in this impressive helping of synth rock. With space invaders sound effects peppered throughout, Dubuc has conjoured up a a wonderfully dark and sometimes offbeat three-and-a-half minutes that New Order in their prime would have been proud of.
It even brought back memories of a euphoric high after top scoring on Space Harrier at the Golden Goose Amusements in Southport. Sad. More of the same please, Mr TSH!
Sugababes: Denial
A slightly disappointing offering from the ‘Babes compared to some of their previous barnstorming classics. The melody’s nice enough, while the pulsating bassline ultimately offers a misleading hint of the calm before the storm. And just when you’re expecting the tempo to rise, the Babes frustratingly settle back into a comfort zone that in the end leaves the listener reaching for Push The Button instead. Lovely picture of the girls on the sleeve though.
Tom Baxter : Tell Her Today
Throw in a bit of flamenco, a bit of jazz and Tom’s your man. While the whole affair owes more than a casual nod to the Gypsy Kings and Sergio Mendes, it’s only the last 30 seconds or so that Tom lets loose with his haunting wail and the entire show comes crashing down. You need quite an acquired taste for this and I’m not sure how much patience the listener would need to sit down and listen to his Skybound album in full, but this effort is a bit of grower. Not a massive grower mind, just a bit of one.
Be Your Own PET: Black Hole
Short, sharp and straight to the point. An ear melting slice of teen punk from the Nashville foursome that never comes up for air up from start to finish. It’s got the lot, and probably sounds even more exiting live.
Reminiscent of The Buzzcocks in their prime, this feedback laden assault is guaranteed to have the youth of today locking themselves away in daylight deprived bedrooms for a good old headbang out of sight of disapproving parents.
James Blunt: Carry You Home
Every now and again you’ll hear a song on the radio that makes you sit bolt upright. You simply have to know who it is and what the song’s called and you’ll go to any lengths to find out. You might even ring the radio station if you’re that desperate.
No chance of that happening here though.
This is little more than the hellish bastard child of You’re Beautiful and the truly sickening Goodbye My Lover. Of course, it’s fashionable to take the piss out of the likes of Blunt but he’s doing himself no favours at all here. If I’d been reviewing this single at home I probably would have ran out the house and attacked the first human being I could find. Absolutely horrible.
Robyn: Who’s That Girl
X-Factor winner Leona Lewis and celebrity no-mark Perez Hilton are both big fans and it’s not hard to see why. Not a cover of the Eurhythmics classic but rather an infectious electro driven effort from the Swedish popster. All the necessary ingreidents are there – an overpowering bassline, distorted synths and a cracking hookline. It’s a HIT!
Panic at the Disco: Nine in the Afternoon
More of a trot than a sprint. PatD make a fairly bland attempt at going for the big sound singalong. There’s even a riotous round of applause at the end to suggest that the band have achieved their goal of hitting an anthemic high but in truth, this effort is unlikely to be doing the rounds for long. Even the ‘look what we’ve done there’ song title is annoying.