When The Bird and The Bee released the rather quirky Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates nine years ago, I figured it would be their Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 — an outstanding album that would never see a second volume. Well, they've just proved me wrong with something that absolutely no one was asking for — Interpreting the Masters Vol. 2: A Tribute to Van Halen. However, we should've seen it coming, given that they signaled their love for VH with the not good song "Diamond Dave" on their 2008 album Ray Guns Are not Just the Future. Perhaps it makes a bit of sense, given Van Halen's somewhat atypical use of synthesizers in the hard rock genre. It's the one thing that made some of their music work for me. At best, this covers album takes Bird and Bee (Greg Kurstin and Inara George) into some new and interesting sonic territory, particularly on "Ain't Talking 'bout Love," which sounds like Bird and the Bee dipped in dreamwave / synthwave / retrowave, and it's a very good thing. Another highlight is "Jump," which very cleverly transforms singer Inara George's lovely voice into that classic hit's infamous synthesizer riff. Album opener "Runnin' with the Devil" works well, as does "You Really Got Me" (which really ought to be disqualified from this exercise by way of originally being a Kinks song) and "Jamie's Cryin'." "Eruption" is a roughly 90 second instrumental b-side cover, leaving us with nine actual songs, including the previously released "Diamond Dave." Overall, the song choices veer too far away from hit material for the casual listener; I would much rather hear Bird and the Bee tackle "Dreams" or "When It's Love" than most of what's here. At worst, they struggle with capturing the inherent silliness of some the originals, as in "Hot for Teacher." FLASHBACK //Back in 2010, I said the Hall & Oates tribute worked beautifully, with "The Bird and the Bee's electro lounge pop marrying perfectly with H&O's pop chestnuts."
Eddie Money does not hail from the genres that I write most about here, but it occurred to me as I played some of his songs on Spotify that his smoky voice was often pleasantly around during the time frame in which my obsession with pop music emerged, which coincided with his later period as a hitmaker. Beyond the obvious tracks are numerous worthy listens, like "Walk on Water" (#9, 1988), "Endless Nights" (#21, 1987), "The Love in Your Eyes" (#24, 1989) and "Peace in Our Time" (#11, 1989, and originally recorded by Jennifer Holliday for the One Moment in Time Olympics album). Pressed to choose a favorite, I quite like "I Wanna Go Back" (#14, 1986), but I might have to go with the somewhat uncharacteristic and softer-than-usual ballad "I'll Get By," which was his final top 40 hit, peaking at #21 in 1991. It's got an appealingly dark quality with lyrics like Lately I've been thinkin' / I should move away / No reason left to stay / This house is haunted anyway.
While most of the Ric Ocasek obits are understandably focused on the importance of The Cars and his role in their success, it’s one of his solo songs, "Emotion in Motion," that is one of my all-time favorites of the 1980s and among all pop tunes in general. There's a magical quality to the synth-driven ballad that really takes me somewhere. Released in 1986 as the lead single for his second solo album This Side of Paradise, which largely sounds like a Cars album, it was Ocasek's only U.S. top 40 single as a solo artist (#15 pop, #8 AC, #1 rock tracks). It's a sweetly romantic track, in a good way, and it sits at #16 on my all-time Last fm scrobbles chart. Ocasek's final drawing/doodle that has been featured in the news says "Keep on Laughin'," which is the title of the opening track on This Side of Paradise. It's a good tune, but the second-best track on Paradise is "Mystery." Elsewhere among his solo albums, "Hang on Tight" from 1997's Troublizing, which featured some collaboration with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins (not on this track, however), is also highly recommended, with an interesting evolution of the synth-pop-rock sound. As for The Cars' body of work, the moody ballad "Drive" and "Magic" are divine slices of pop music.
While giving this its first spin this evening, a distinct feeling emerged: This sounds like one of those Pet Shop Boys B-sides in which they are aping a specific artist, song or genre, or some combination thereof, such as in "The Ghost of Myself" (Britney Spears' "…Baby One More Time") or "Betrayed" (jungle). In this case, the imitated object would be the popular synthpop recording artist known as Years & Years. My first impression is that this new A-side is pleasant enough but not destined to be a favorite. While it was known they'd been working with Olly Alexander of Years & Years, bonus points are in order for dropping the lead single from out of nowhere on a non-standard release date, accompanying the news of a greatest hits tour and the January release date for the upcoming studio album (it's been a long wait), which will complete the Stuart Price-produced trilogy. Here's to a new era of PSB.
When The Bird and The Bee released the rather quirky Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates nine years ago, I figured it would be their Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 — an outstanding album that would never see a second volume. Well, they've just proved me wrong with something that absolutely no one was asking for — Interpreting the Masters Vol. 2: A Tribute to Van Halen. However, we should've seen it coming, given that they signaled their love for VH with the not good song "Diamond Dave" on their 2008 album Ray Guns Are not Just the Future. Perhaps it makes a bit of sense, given Van Halen's somewhat atypical use of synthesizers in the hard rock genre. It's the one thing that made some of their music work for me.
