Springtime and Suzy

A fan-made video for "Spring" by the British trio, Saint Etienne, from their debut album, Fox Base Alpha, one of my Top 10 albums. There are too many songs to select from this album and from Saint Etienne's long career (active 30 years now and still going strong).

There's no real deep thoughts or significant moments in my life surrounding this song or this album, although, released in 1990, it did feel as though it heralded a new era in music, at least British pop, after all the years of Stock-Aitken-Waterman and the "Sound of a Bright, Young Britain." To me a SAW production was always a bit like candy: Delicious in and of itself but not necessarily satisfying or soul nourishing. (Author's note: I love candy.) But that may depend on the person and the pop. Who am I to say your pop doesn't fill you up?

Instead, this song and this album are just joyous, lovely music to listen to, "Spring" and another song, "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" (later covered by, but dumbfoundingly released as a B-side, by Kylie Minogue) being particularly good examples of what Saint Etienne did then and still does now to a degree--a melding of Burt Bacharach and '60s pop songwriting with contemporary production. If I were more critical, I'd say that sometimes the results on this album could be too precious and arch, but I think the group figured that out early and moved on to making solid, beautiful, catchy, and even danceable pop songs.

I guess if anything this album prompted me to return to the music of childhood (The Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, even Nancy Sinatra) and appreciate it for its specialness and innocence. And in the midst of a global pandemic, a little more innocence and joy in the world are definitely welcome in my world.

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Oh look! A proper video for Saint Etienne's "Nothing Can Stop Us Now." On Kylie Minogue's version, the vocals are stronger, the enunciation better, but this certainly has the same feel (even if, in this video, the lips don't always match the music).

So, on second thought, maybe there are more memories connected to this song and this album, than I originally realized. I suddenly think of Suzy, the swingin' '60s daughter of one of our next-door neighbors growing up. Susy (or Susie or Suzie, I honestly don't know) seemed exotic: Divorced with a young son, older than me, dating a soldier (I have a vague sense that he was an officer in the US Marines), Susy must have seemed scandalous to some in conservative Eastern North Carolina. She drove a red convertible--a Stingray! And she listened to bossa nova records!

I think we've established that my life has been one long, fitful affair with the exotic, the international. It is perhaps because, deep down, I feel so un-exotic, so un-international. I have tried to remedy that through travel, through choices in music and literature, by dating people of different backgrounds (whether intentionally or not but sometimes quite intentionally I am ashamed to admit), by "living abroad" in totally un-exotic Canada. (It seemed like a bold choice at the time, although Montreal would have likely been a better, if more financially crushing [50%+ income tax rate!] option.) Maybe my fascination, dare I say boyhood crush on Suzy? is one place where that began--along with my Dad's "exotic" travels in the war-obliterated Pacific and post-war China and Japan.

So a big ol' obrigado to Suzy, whose last name I can't remember either, and those wonderful bossa nova records of hers. I remember riding around in her Stingray, I remember those bossa nova horns on the records she gave us (really, Suzy, why were you giving these away?), and I remember her giving us a lot of recordings of musicals, which, surprisingly, had absolutely no effect on me because I have never been that type of gay.

Nice try, Suzy. But I give you credit for knowing your fanbase long before your fanbase knew himself.

Got to be certain

This Kylie Minogue song has been stuck in my head all week. Now it's your turn.

I think the tune is undeniably catchy. I don't think Kylie quite sounds like herself, the way she does even just a few hits later on songs, such as on "Never Too Late" or "Better the Devil You Know." In fact, I even wonder if this is her singing--I wouldn't put it past ol' Stock-Aitken-Waterman to bring in a scab vocalist to better "package" the song.

Nevertheless, it's still a fun song, perfectly designed to launch a mid-'80s Aussie soap star's pop music career. Although when hearing the tunes during this first calculated blush of La Kylie's career, I can't help but think of that S-A-W parody that comedy team French and Saunders did ages ago:

I turn around and count to ten/And then I fall in love again

That could have been massive, my friend.

Now for the video. Oi.

The best part for me are the shots of Melbourne, especially the one of her walking along the Yarra River near the Royal Botanic Gardens (again, another mid- to late '80s adventure of mine) and the one where she's walking near the harbor. I'd like to think this is St. Kilda, which I've visited as well, but probably not. I also like the part where Kylie rides the carousel, mainly because of the way the the horse "bucks" or vibrates and how it matches the song's synthesizer riff. Made for each other.

Now as for the rest . . . good lordy. Historical fact: Sometime in late 1987, the term "hot mess" was coined to describe the rest of this meshugas.

Our Miss Kylie has always been a crowd-pleaser, but she was at her most saccharine sweet, her most teeth-rotting, cheesecakiest best/worst at this time. That mugging for the camera conveying a fantasy of I'm-just-a-girl-next-door-who-gets-to-model-hip(?)-clothes-and-make-videos--it is all too much for the bullshit detector to handle.

And the clothes. Well, I'm almost speechless about the clothes. They seem to be trying way too hard, but to do what exactly? It's like they are purposefully funky in a pre-tween girl way but aren't nearly interesting enough to convey any sense of fashion or style. I mean, really that green-and-magenta shiny Jolly Rancher pukefest of an outfit worn along the Yarra River scene. Fashion. Crime. Against. Humanity.

And the hair? Gurrrl. I know Australia's a long way off, but surely they were able to import hair conditioner every now and again or at least make their own using leftover convict labor.

A lot of these excesses should be forgiven though. It was the '80s after all, a decade revered for its "modern" style but, when it comes down to it, by 1987 or so had completely run out of ideas--but, alas. not shoulder pads, bric-a-brac, and that damnable triangle form to every outfit.

All should be forgiven. But is not forgiven.

Anyway . . . another '80s Oz highlight? Return to Eden. You get just the opening credits for now and eventually a fuller exploration of one of my favorite trash TV shows ever in a future blog post.

'Struth.

Right here, right now

"Right Here, Right Now"--the new collaboration between Giorgio Moroder and Kylie Minogue. No video yet, but the clips I've seen look gorgeous, stylish, and fun--much like the song itself (which, it should be noted, is not the Kylie tune from 1991's Let's Get to It album!).

What a wonderful collaboration! Very much in the "Kylie classic" pop-dance genre. This, in fact, could be the killer single that 2014's Kiss Me Once LP seemed to lack (even though I still think that's one of Kylie's better, more mature-sounding albums).

Here's hoping for some future musical output from the two--47 (Kylie's current age, I believe) might also be the new 74--and the new 24.

Struth!

Still sheer pop brilliance, 19 years after its release. It may have only made it into the top 15 on the UK charts, but note the singalong! Clearly, this song still resonates with Nick Cave and (long-time) Kylie Minogue fans.

I read where La Minogue said that after celebrating her "K25" anniversary year and recording "classical" covers of her hits with the London Symphony Orchestra, she had a sort of epiphany about her career. Soon afterwards, she changed her management to Roc Nation and eventually released Kiss Me Once, executive-produced by her and current pop magician Sia Fuller.

Which is not a bad album at all, although it can feel a bit disjointed at times. (Is it pop? Is it dance? Is it alternative? Pick one or two please.) There is the anthemic "Into the Blue" and the moody, subliminally powerful, "I Was Gonna Cancel." There is the emotive "If Only" and the funky, silly "Sexy Love" (which should have been a single). And then there is the turd-in-the-pop-punchbowl that is "Sexercize." And maybe "Beautiful" (a duet with Enrique Iglesias).

All this is to say that I still love you, Kylie, and I think you can still produce pop pixie dust and glow glitter.

Nonetheless, I still wish you'd, ahem, "step back in time" to the heady days of "Where the Wild Roses Grow" and Impossible Princess. You were creating small, precious jewels then--emeralds, rubies, and sapphires for the pop elite, not rhinestones and sequins for the masses.

True, the market for those jewels was paltry at best. No spend-half-your-monthly-income on this. More like "for mere pennies a day." Simply stated, you got the press and the prestige, but your records didn't sell like they should have. Although why your fans couldn't appreciate this or this or this, I'll never fully grasp.

But do the hits need to keep on comin' at this point in your career? You have squillions of dollars, can fill concert halls, work with some pop heavyweights and up-and-comers, and have some artistic credibility, at the very least for reinvention, persistence, and longevity. You may not hit the chart heights like you used to, but all the more reason to step away from the dancefloor and hang out in the after-hours lounge, crooning and trilling songs that, if not quite serious and deep, are at least poignant and lovely.

I know, I know: Nobody asked me, least of all you, dearest Kylie, and it's not like I can figure out how to succeed in my own career, let alone map out yours. But why the heck not? What have you possibly got to lose at this point in time, life, and career?

Other than the megabucks deal with Roc Nation, the homegoods line, the sell-outs at stadia, the mainstream magazine covers . . . .

Go, girl!

While I love the song, "I Was Gonna Cancel," the second single from Kylie Minogue's Kiss Me Once album, the video is a bit of a slow-burner for me.

Nonetheless, I'm warming up to it on a chilly day an ocean away from where all the Kylie action is.

I might have done it differently, but I could say that about any number of Kylie career choices. And, yet, 26 years later, she's still going. Sometimes with focus, sometimes haphazardly, sometimes unwisely, sometimes brilliantly (and I would consider "I Was Gonna Cancel" one of her better moments, at least during the Parlophone years).

Not that anyone's asking, but whose idea was it to make Kylie look so beautiful but so unglamorous in jeans and a white shirt? I also would have done some overhead shots to indicate patterns among the moving crowd, which I think would have been in keeping with the spirit of the song and the video. As Kylie posted on her Facebook page:

This video is an abstract look at pedestrian life and how we're all just trying to get through and rise above everyday challenges. Although the song talks about a real life event that happened the day I recorded the song with Pharrell, the video has a more conceptual approach and I love how surreal it looks. I found myself almost directing traffic and it made me think about how we're all just trying to negotiate our way through day to day life.

Nicely stated, Kyles.

Not sure how this single will fair. I like it much better than the lead, but . . . if I read one more quote about it not being a Kylie "classic" or her having no talent, despite the wonderfulness of the song's message and her performance, well, I shall be knocking people over the head with my first edition of Kylie: La La La.

No te preocupes--it's only Día de los Muertos

"2 Hearts" by Kylie Minogue, perhaps the only song off of her 10th album, X, that I actually enjoy. It's rather slight and quite atypical of the rest of the album, but her voice is in fine form on this track, much better than on many of the other songs from X.

This was her first album post-cancer treatment, which I suspect did a number on her energy levels and vocal chords. "But she can't sing!" Indeed, Kylie can, but too often in the 2000s I feel as though she's chosen not to, for whatever reason. Saving her energy for vamping, maybe. Compare her post-cancer treatment version of "Over the Rainbow" with her pre-cancer diagnosis version. Listen to "Aphrodite," the song that should have been a single, from the 2010 LP of the same name. Or tune into Kylie Minogue 1994. She sounds in great form on all of these. Because of her health issues at the time of X's recording and launch, I'll give her a free pass on, at least for her lackluster singing. I still can't forgive crap like "Wow" and "Nu-di-ty" though. Not feeling your best can only be excused for so far.

I really like the imagery for this video, even if, given her recent recovery from cancer, it can seem a tad gruesome. There is the fun glam band look--sort of a Muppets meet Mott the Hoople gone mod--which I have no problem with. But those skulls . . . they're a little macabre.

Which may be the point. The video imagery makes a bold statement: I've played chess with death, I kicked his ass, and I look great in a catsuit to boot.

That widow's weeds version of a Marilyn Monroe dress is not to my liking, however. William Baker giveth and William Baker taketh away.

I don't know if Kylie & Company were inspired by Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, the Mexican commemoration of All Soul's Day, in which ofrendas are built in honor of deceased loved ones and candy skulls and bread that looks like bones are everywhere. No matter. The video seems a fitting tribute to what was one of my favorite things about fall in San Antonio.

Te extraño, San Anto. Just not quite enough to move back.

Air apparent

The acoustic version of "Breathe" by Kylie Minogue, performed backstage (and "impromptu"? ha bloody ha) during the Aphrodite tour 2011.

'Struth! Kyles, this is a real bewt, right up there with the original from 1997's underappreciated Impossible Princess.

And, no, I don't necessarily mean the single remix, found here. All well and good, an honest effort to make a challenging song more palatable for the masses. But totally unnecessary in my insufferable opinion.

This acoustic gig begs the question I've asked (to myself, to the world around us) since you signed with Parlophone and released that song with the gold hotpants in 2000: Is there a reason you still can't make music like "Breathe"?

I know it didn't sell as well as you and your affiliates might have liked, but it was all so very good and, alas, much more interesting (if not as commercially successfully) as anything you've done during the Parlophone years. Dull soulless dance music, indeed.

Sorry to bitch, ma chère Kylie, but we miss the real you. Assuming that's what we got with "Breathe," you ever-confusing Gemini minx you.