Flatline – Mutya Keisha Siobhan

Mutya Keisha Siobhan will always be known to their fans as the original Sugababes. Since they announced the news of their comeback to pop music in July of last year it has been great following the development of their reunion and recording new material together again as a pop group. Their new single  Flatline is a return to their own brand of pop that made them stand out in 2000 when they first released their debut single Overload. It is great to see that it was Siobhan who first sang the opening lyrics on Overload and now she does the same for Flatline.

Flatline  will be released on September 15th in the U.K. and can be pre-ordered on ITunes here.

Follow Mutya Keisha Siobhan on Twitter @MKSOfficial

100 ’80’s Songs: #10: Oh Yeah (On the Radio) – Roxy Music

Oh Yeah (On the Radio) by Roxy Music was released in 1980 and featured on their album Flesh + Blood. It reached number 5 in the UK singles charts. In writing Oh Yeah Byran Ferry is quoted as saying that he wanted to capture the sound of Americana and he really succeeded. It is simply a beautiful pop song. I think it will always have that timeless quality. It is a story song, the three stages of a love affair that feature in so many great songs. It is like a beautiful tribute to the songs we hear for the first time on the radio and which we then associate with our own life experiences as we get older.

Regular readers to my blog will know that I grew up beside a radio station that my father Michael co-founded. Oh Yeah was a real late night song on K.C.R. and I will always associate it with my father’s great achievement. All those songs were the background to my own childhood and teenage years and it is because of those radio days in the 1970’s and 1980’s that music will always mean so much to me.

Here is Oh Yeah (On the Radio).

Here also is Roxy Music Top of the Pops performance from August 1980.

MDNA Post Tour Blues (Instagram Blues) – The latest video by the wonderful Charlie Hides

Over the past few months I have watched many of Charlie Hides wonderful Youtube videos where he presents his own version of various celebrities including Madonna, Cher, Lady Gaga, Adele and many other stars. What I love about his videos is his sharp and witty sense of humour, his comic timing and his attention to detail. It is always so obvious that so much work goes into them from clothes, hair and make up to the many hours of editing. There are also little details that you may feature for a moment or in the background. In each of his videos Charlie often plays each character interacting with each other and it is so well done. 

When I first start watching his Madonna videos a part of me thought this is blasphemy! no one should parody my most favourite singer and star but what I love about Charlie’s take on Madonna is that he just takes all the many elements that make up Madonna the icon and he creates his own extension of her celebrity. It is always apparent that Charlie is so a fan of her and all of the stars that he plays. I love the fact that Lourdes also appears in most of Madonna’s at home videos.   

Here is Charlie’s latest video MDNA post Tour Blues (Instagram Blues). Lady Gaga also features as does Lourdes. 

Charlie also recently posted a Gay Boyfriend Tag video with his husband James and they are both so fab, they have great natural chemistry and James is just as funny and sweet as Charlie is. They give Bridget Jones type singletons like me hope, someday!

100 ’80’s Songs #9: Hide and Seek – Howard Jones

In 2008 I finally got to see Howard Jones in concert when he performed at the Helix theatre here in Dublin. It was a truly great concert. The surprise support artist was Nick Heyward and it was for me one of those great pop evenings. I’ve been to concerts where the singer has only sang one or two of their most well known songs but that evening in Dublin Howard played all of the many songs that he is most famous for and I think that is a sign of a great music artist who appreciates his fans all these years later. In doing so singers and bands allow their fans to go back in time as only music can do. 

Howard Jones is one singer who I could choose from several songs to feature on my list of 100 songs from the 1980’s. His first two singles New Song and What is Love? are perfect pop gems but the song that I love most by him is Hide and Seek which was his third single and featured on his Human’s Lib album. 

For me great songs are like poetry or have that almost spiritual quality. When you listen to the lyrics there is definitely that element there. There is a  lovely almost 2001: A Space Odyssey atmosphere in the song’s use of the synth sound and it’s overall structure. The lyrics ‘Hope you find it in everything, Everything that you see’ are just so simple and beautiful. Listen to the entire song and it is so rich and poignant. For me Hide and Seek is one of those songs that if I ever met Howard Jones in person I would say ‘thank you’ for that song as it one his fans heard in 1984 and it meant something to them then and it still does today. 

100 ’80’s Songs: #8: Slow Train to Dawn – The The

Growing up in the Irish county of Kilkenny in the 1980’s my main popular culture interest was always pop music but it wasn’t until I was 16 that I met other people for whom music was also a very important part of their lives. The two guys that I knew then were called David and Paul and it was with Paul that I went to my first concert; Elvis Costello in the National Stadium in Dublin in the mid 1980’s. David and Paul loved Indie music the most; The Cure, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, The Jesus and Mary Chain were the ones I remember them liking the most. I would sometimes pretend to like those bands as you do as a teenager making new friends. The music that I loved the most was pop chart music; Madonna, Cyndi, Prince, Whitney, all the American and British pop music that features on my blog almost 30 years later.
However! the one band that I liked just as equally as David and Mark did was The The and especially their 1986 album Infected. The first three singles from that album are still some of my all time favourite songs; Heartland, Infected and Slow Train to Dawn. They are for me an example of music and lyrics being like stage drama, they just hit you they were so dynamic and alive.

The song I’m featuring on my 100 ’80’s songs list is Slow Train to Dawn. The vocals were by Matt Johnson who also wrote, co-produced and played guitar and keyboards. The female vocalist was Neneh Cherry who herself had a decade defining debut album Raw Like Sushi in 1989 whose singles included the wonderful Buffalo Stance and Manchild. 

As I type I’m looking at the 12″ vinyl single of Slow Train to Dawn that I bought in a little record shop in my home town back in 1986. The amazing cover art was by Andy Dog who designed all the artwork for the Infected album. Each of the main production crew are all listed on the back of the single as well and they were Matt and Neneh – vocals, John Thirkell – trumpet, Jamie Talbot – Saxophone, Dave Clayton – synth bass. David Palmer – drums, Wayne Livesey – organ and co-producer.

The music video for Slow Train to Dawn was wonderfully demented and cinematic with it’s black and white imagery being very effective.  

Merry Go Round – Kacey Musgraves

Merry Go Round is the debut solo single by Texan country music artist Kacey Musgraves. It was released in September last year. It has to date been a top twenty hit on the American Country music charts both national and airplay. This week it is currently at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 after six weeks on that chart. As ever there are many country music cross over songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Many of these songs are about life in small country towns but this one stands out. Merry Go Round was co-written by Kacey with John Osborne and Shane McAnally.

In 2011 Kacey was the guest vocalist with the Josh Abbott band on their song Oh, Tonight which reached number 44 on the Country Music chart.

Kacey has also been nominated as Best New Female Vocalist at the Academy of Country Music awards which takes place in April. The other nominees are Jana Kramer and sunny Sweeney.

Paradise (On Earth) – Cris Cab

Cris Cab has just released the music video for his new song Paradise (On Earth). I think it’s instantly likeable and is a very radio friendly song. It is part of his five track E.P. Rise. I can definitely see this doing well in the worldwide charts. It is released on the Def Jam music label. His website is here and he is on Twitter @CrisCab.

100 ’80’s Songs #4: Old Town – Phil Lynott

In the 1970’s when the band Thin Lizzy were at the height of their fame I was only a child but I remember many of their songs from the radio. In the early 1980’s it was Phil Lynott’s solo songs that I remember more. The song by him that I loved the most was Old Town. Old Town was written by Phil Lynott with Jimmy Bain. It was a single released from his second solo album The Philip Lynott Album in 1982. The lyrics are about the break up of a relationship and it’s capture that feeling so well.

This boy is crackin’ up
This boy has broken down
This boy is crackin’ up
This boy has broke down

I always loved the reiteration in those lyrics and how powerful the simple change from ‘broken down’ to ‘broke down’ is. Old Town is very much a great pop song. You can hear every single musical instrument on it. The music is joyous, the lyrics melancholic and they blend perfectly.  

The Old Town music video was filmed in Dublin and looking at it today in 2013 it is both nostalgia and you realise how little Dublin has changed. The part where Phil walks around the city centre just reminds us of how effortlessly cool he was then. 

Of all of the songs by an Irish music artist Old Town is still, decades later, one of my all time favourite songs.

100 ’80’s Songs #3: Say I’m Your Number One – Princess

Say I’m Your Number One by Princess was released in 1985 and got to number 7 in the UK singles charts and number 11 here in Ireland. It was a top 30 US Dance chart hit and it also reached number 2 in the German and New Zealand singles charts. It is one of those songs that is just pure smooth R’n’B pop. It was written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman and of all their many songs it is one that will always stand out as pure class, the perfect mix of a great soulful voice and sleek music production. I have the original single on my desk as I write, the B Side was the Senza Voce version of the song.

Say I’m Your Number One was taken from Princess’s self titled album and the following two singles; After the Love Has Gone and I’ll Keep On Loving You were wonderful too. The singles charts in the 1990’s would be dominated by R’n’B pop especially in the American charts but in 1985 Say I’m Your Number One was almost ahead of it’s time. I know from other fellow 80’s music fans it is also one of their favourite songs of that decade as well. Beverley Knight recorded a cover of the song on her album Soul UK last year which was a real fitting tribute to Princess. 

Last summer I was so disappointed when the Hit Factory Live concert in Hyde Park in London was cancelled and I wasn’t able to go to the show in the O2 before Christmas but I hope that someday I’ll get to see Princess in concert. Princess’s Facebook page for updates on her new music is here and she is on Twitter @HRSPRincess. 

Here are three music videos for Say I’m Your Number One.

The first is the original music video.

The second is the 12″ remix.

and the third is Princess’s debut performance on Top of the Pops in 1985.

100 ’80’s Songs #2: I Can’t Wait – Nu Shooz

Nu Shooz are Valerie Day and John Smith from Portland, Oregon. Their biggest hit single was I Can’t Wait. It one of my favourite songs when it was released in 1986 and it still is today. It is for me one of those all time perfect songs, it is pure pop escapism and captures all I loved about American pop music in the 1980’s.
I Can’t Wait was originally released in 1984 and it was a re-released remix version that featured on their 1986 album Poolside. It was a worldwide hit single. It reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the U.S. It reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 2 in the UK, number 10 here in Ireland and was a top ten hit in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy.

Here are four videos for I Can’t Wait.

First is the original highly inventive pop video which was directed by Jim Blashfield.

Here is the story of the song.

Here is the Long Dutch remix which features extra samples including the “C’mon” from Madonna’s Into the Groove.

and also a great performance from the Solid Gold music TV show in 1986.

Nu Shooz website is here which includes lots of information on their music from the 1980s onwards including their latest album Kung Pao Kitchen. They are on Twitter @NuShoozMusic.