Lily Allen - Not Fair - Single & Video Review
Written by Gerard on Wednesday 8 April 2009
Lily Allen is a master (or is that mistress) in the art of misdirection - while we’re all scratching our heads at her new country-music inspired song, Not Fair, Lily is singing sweetly about “spending ages giving head” which conveniently rhymes with “lying in the wet patch on the bed”.
While those lyrics put her in the running for “Perfect Woman” material, the hoedown video weirds me out completely. I think they almost did a little too good a job of transforming Lily into a country star from yesteryear, didn’t they?
Amanda Palmer wants to lose her record deal
Written by Gerard on Wednesday 8 April 2009
Remember when Sara Barielles wrote Love Song as a protest to record execs who wanted her to do more ballad-y songs? Well, she’s been trumped by Amanda Palmer, who’s pulled out all the stops in an attempt to get RoadRunner Records to drop her.
Lady Gaga’s Lovegame video - Slightly X-Rated
Written by Gerard on Tuesday 7 April 2009Lovegame is another triumphant electro-pop gem from Lady GaGa. I’m slightly baffled as to where the ‘cherry cherry boom boom’ song went - didn’t we see a video for that a while back?
Did Eoghan Quigg record the worst album ever?
Written by Gerard on Tuesday 7 April 2009
I published my interview with X Factor finalist Eoghan Quigg yesterday, at the same time as the folks at PopJustice were commenting on Twitter about the quality of the album.
Now, I received my copy at the same time as they got their review copy. Up until this point, I’d maintained a stoic silence after being Eoghan’s harshest critic throughout the X Factor. At that time, I said that Simon Cowell stood to make more money from phone votes for Eoghan Quigg that he ever would in record sales.
Anyway, PopJustice released their review of the album yesterday, and it has perhaps the most perfect analysis of the song selection and production values:
Imagine the three worst reality pop albums you have ever heard. Let's pick the Michelle McManus album, the David Sneddon album and the Journey South album. Imagine the combined badness of all those albums, then somehow imagine that ALL personality has been sucked out out. Then imagine that they kept on sucking, long after there all personality was gone, until there was a sort of personality prolapse. You are still only half way to understanding just how empty these recordings are.
Now, Unreality TV has received some criticism in our time about being so scathing about reality TV contestants. But when the quality is this poor, you can’t help but unleash the snark.
Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) - Single Review
Written by Gerard on Thursday 2 April 2009
Music blog regulars will know that the Pussycat Dolls have thoroughly redeemed themselves with the (deluxe) Doll Domination album. Jai Ho conveniently repackages the end song from Slumdog Millionaire, giving Miss Scherzinger lead vocals and a background role for the composer, A R Rahman.
Jai Ho alternates between dramatic ethnic verses and uplifting pop choruses. Sure, they go a little overboard with the autotune sometimes (autotune is the modern equivalent of helium, isn’t it?).
My inclination is to crown this the best single the Pussycat Dolls have ever released, actually. The music is amazing. There are overtones of Beyonce and Shakira on Beautiful Liar, but ten times better. The video features the girls looking stunning and doing a fun Bollywood style dance routine. Don’t they look like they’re all having great fun?
Tiresome Robbie Williams / Take That reunion rumour surfaces again
Written by Gerard on Friday 27 March 2009
It’s clearly a slow news day in Celeb-land, as The Sun and The Mirror both regurgitate Robbie Williams quotes from his visit to We Will Rock You the other night.
The Mirror reckon Robbie said he was definitely going to rejoin Take That (a dull rumour that’s been doing the rounds every month since 2005). However, while The Sun’s report agrees with this, it also says that he was dashing back to the studio to record with Mark Ronson.
Now, let’s imagine that you’ve been asked the same question for four years: “Any chance of you rejoining Take That, Rob?” Why not just nod your head and go along with it? “Yeah, yeah. Even though I’m clearly recording a solo album, I’d love nothing more than to hook up with Take That again.”
Das Racist - Pizza Hut Taco Bell
Written by Gerard on Thursday 26 March 2009
I got an email about Das Racist earlier today, and just have to share this with you. Chickenfoot to release debut album
Written by Gerard on Thursday 26 March 2009
OK, it’s the first I’ve heard of this so-called rock supergroup named Chickenfoot. And I’m guessing you’ve missed the newsflash too.
Chickenfoot is a band made up of guitar-whiz and Coldplay-litigator Joe Satriani, ex-Van Halen members Sammy Hagar (vocals) and Michael Anthony (bass). And long-time Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer Chad Smith. It seems to be a strange, giddy mix, as evidenced by the video on chickenfoot.us, their official website.

