TAT PARADE

30 December 2009

Best singles of 2009

Here goes my list, in no order whatsoever!

Paula Abdul - Here For The Music

The haters were out in force when Paula unleashed this delectable ditty on the world. Yes, it may be just a Kylie reject, but it's still good, and it's Paula! It's been a busy year year for Miss Abdul from hosting the worst VH1 Divas ever to quitting American Idol (I pray not to start a career presenting TV shows). Lets hope she's got an album in store for 2010.

Alphabeat - The Spell

I think it's fair to say The Spell didn't do very well, but this kind 90's retro dance/pop is right up my alley.

Roisin Murphy - Orally Fixated

I thought she'd lost the plot when this appeared on my the front page of my favourite daily read, The Guardian. But Roisin is merely raising the bar for electro queens everywhere!

La Toya Jackson - Home

Toy's tasteful tribute to her late brother was her first UK release since 1988! Fingers crossed it makes a chart one day soon, can I see a pig flying....

Hahahaha I love this, perhaps more for the sentiment than the questionable quality of the music. A welcome return.

I wish Shakira would do a full on disco album one of the days, this is almost there and is one of her best! Like the video too.

Teena Marie & Faith Evans - Can't Last A Day

Not a UK single sadly, but a US one at least, and a great duet between two distinctive vocalists. Perhaps the most soulful song on my list and one of the best. Teena is coming to the UK at the end of January for a show in London, I saw her in Phlly this summer and she was wonderful.

I think I first heard this when I saw Kelly headline the Love Music Hate Racism festival and I think it's brilliant. Uplifting dance music at it's best!

Martina McBride - Ride (Lenny B Radio Edit)

Country singers generally have great voices but more often than not they don't embrace the dancefloor, Martina is one of my favourites and Ride is a great positive track that I just can't resist it, in particular the Lenny B Mix!

Saint Etienne - Method Of Modern Love

This piece of plastic-pop perfection is just lovely, after lead singer Sarah Cracknell did that revolting Lloyds Bank cash-in single I feared the worst, but this is a great track! Such a shame it did quite badly.

Madonna - Celebration

I just love this! After her embarrassing foray into hip hop hell, Madge really delivered on this one. I hate the awful version in the video, it's all about the album version for me. I got to see the Hard Candy tour in London too and lets just say the TV version had some major work done on it, by ears bled.

Ain't no one got nothin' on Whitney, X-Factor performance aside this was brilliance, Whitney fans weren't overly keen on her 'taster' single Didn't Know My Own Strength so this disco gem was wheeled out and became a big hit re-establishing her as the queen that we all know she is. I have tickets to see her live next year and I cannot wait. It's based on a Loleatta Holloway song.

So much better than 'Remedy', this was her first chart hit and although I find her very boring I really like this, it's all about the chorus.

Wynonna Judd - Sing (Pete Hammond Mix)

I have a soft spot for Country music queens trying to cross over and this just sucked me in, 80's master mixer Pete Hammond really goes to town on this uplifting tune, sadly it didn't get a commercial release, but there was a promo with more mixes on it - worth checking out.

Bananarama - Love Comes

This was so good, electro-pop at its best with a catchy chorus, but in the ageist world of contemporary pop we all know that's not nearly enough - to the 20 people that bought it this is a true gem! I was lucky enough to see them live this summer.

Beverley Knight - In Your Shoes

"Get yourself a life and make it work!" Chants Bev on her funky single 'In Your Shoes' which samples Orange Juice's 80's hit 'Rip It Up' to great effect. Sadly this flopped hard, but it's in great company on this blog. I think the album version is the best but the single version is pretty hot too, although I could do without Chipmunk.

Lady Gaga - Pokerface

Gaga is absolutely amazing so it is hard to pick a favourite from Just Dance, Love Game, Bad Romance, and Pokerface, which were all hits this year, but the latter perhaps just clinches it for me. A great track from a great pop act. 2009 would have been deadly dull without her outfits and out there performances.

Janet Jackson - Make Me

In the great tradition of Janet singles you can barely make out the lyrics in places, probably a good thing, as this seems like a breath of fresh air after years of Miss Jackson banging on about her nether regions. Currently straddling the top of the Billboard Dance/Club Chart, Make Me is funky and fun and a welcome addition to any playlist. Sadly it flopped in the UK even after her X Factor performance, but who cares! This is one to get, and it can be found on Janet's 'The Best' CD.

Valerie Claire (re-post)

Shoot Me Gino - http://www.zshare.net/audio/705769397e69694e/

I'm A Model - http://www.zshare.net/audio/705809304052e9ea/ (new CD rip)

Meri D. Marshall

I don't know much about Meri D. except for this song and the 1987 direct-to-video trash-fest Valet Girls which I can't believe I sat thought! Meri starred in it, and nothing else! She did sing on the soundtrack too as I remember. I wanted to share her single 'My Obsession', an over dramatic slice of dance pop and sounds like something Laura Branigan would've cut Meri's brake cables for...

Enjoy ;)

05 December 2009

Aretha

Lord have mercy! The Queen of Soul may have been a bit quiet (musically) of late, but she sure knows how to make an appearance! From her stunning hat at Obama's inauguration, to this dazzling winter wonder. I thought I'd use this picture as an excuse to post a few of Aretha's lesser (but no less mighty) singles...

While the track Wonderful was the single that won her a Grammy from 2003's So Damn Happy, this is my favourite, the album version is a mellow gem, the Georgio Morroder Mix was the real pleasure. Here it is to download and savour!

Aretha's follow up to A Rose Is Still A Rose (the one with Lauryn Hill), Here We Go Again!

Also, check out the David Morales mix, which was the UK single version...

From 1994's Gold selling Greatest Hits here's Willing To Forgive, a lovely Babyface track which Aretha simply glides her way through. Enjoy, in glorious HD!

Everyday People is from the wonderfully titled What You See Is What You Sweat LP, from 1991, produced by none other than the late great Luther Vandross! Shep Pettibone worked his magic on the single mix, but the mix he did which appears on the end of the album is worth checking out too as it's a bit better IMHO. It's a shame this bombed because it's pure gold! "Go, go, go Queen o'Soul!"

So there you have it, a Aretha's greatest misses of yesteryear (well the last 15) - what the world needs now is a massive Aretha comeback just like Whitney! Thanks to D-Listed for the fab picture and the inspiration for this post, check out their post of Aretha singing Mariah's 'Touch My Body', wonders never cease!

28 November 2009

Mo'Nique

I'm not ashamed to say Mo'nique is one of my favourite celebrities, while she may have the best movies on her CV, or even be the best stand-up comedian, somehow I find her performances so thoroughly enjoyable, even in god-awful movies like Domino and Soul Plane. Mo'Niques performances always shine through even inn the most woeful productions.

Fans first saw the the first signs of her break away from comedy in 2007's Shadowboxer, alongside Oscar winners Dame Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jnr. Now Mo'nique herself could in the running for her own Oscar when her performance in the upcoming movie Precious is up for consideration. She's already won an award at Sundance for her portrayal of Mary, the abusive mother of the lead character in the movie, and already people are touting her as a hopeful at next years Academy Awards. Mo'Nique has gone from Vh1's Charm School to serious actress in a few short years, so there may be hope for Ricki Lake's career yet! (Somebody seriously needs to call John Waters about a Mo' and Ricki team up! It could be like Face Off in Baltimore...)

Check out the trailer for Precious here.

Watch some of the highlights of Mo'Niques stand-up special 'I Coulda Been Your Cellmate'

If you can't wait for Precious to be released, I think it's pencilled in for January 2010 in the UK, why not check out some of Mo'Nique's potential Razzie winners like 2005's diabolical Phat Girlz or 2003's highly original, Hair Show! For the literary connoisseur there's also her self penned bestseller Skinny Bitches Are Evil! Which comes highly recommended.

27 November 2009

Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone

How fab is this? I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard it until yesterday when I came across it on Youtube! Santa better be bringing me their CD for Christmas or I am going to start channeling Divine in Female Trouble, "I told you Cha Cha heels! Black ones!!!..."

When Pia Zadora decided to become the white Janet

After finally selling a few albums with her 1985 and 1986 LP's of standards and torch songs, 'Camp Pia' decided it was time to cash in on thia new found 'credibility' to launch her as bonafide pop star, without much of the 'pop'. Poor Pia could never get a break and when her private jet touched down in the backyard of 80's R&B maestro's Jam & Lewis the duo knew they had a near impossible task. They had spotted Pia opening for Frank Sinatra and thought that launching Pia as the next Janet Jackson (well more like La Toya really) would be a great challenge and cement their status as super producers with the Midas touch.

The results are pretty damn hot! From the opening bars of I Donna Wanna Love one is aware that this is a very different Pia to the show tune belting diva-ette who pulled of the likes of Maybe This Time and I Am What I Am with the style and panache of a Shirley Bassey or Streisand not two years previously. It could even be said that Jam & Lewis played down the 'showey' aspect of Pia's voice, in favour of a subtle breathy style which plays on Pia's sex appeal - and all those dirty movies she made! Jellybean Johnson guests on guitar on this strong mid-temp R&B opener.

I just adore the next track, Still Remembered, it's got a great rhythm and the chorus is wonderfully robotic, it reminds me of the stuff Jam & Lewis did with Thelma Houston, especially You Used To Hold Me So Tight. I think this could've made a great single.

Speaking of singles Dance Out Of My Head is up next, this was the first and only single taken from the album, and although it's a great track I think it was a bad choice!

All of Pia's personality is drained from this one, and while I think it's as catchy as hell, it could be anyone singing it. That said this is the most danceable track on the set and it had a whole host of mixes from not only Jam & Lewis themselves, but Ben Liebrand and my personal favourite Shep Pettibone who makes good use of Pia's soulful vocals which are relegated to the background of the album version.

Laughin' At You is so sweet, it starts of with chopped up vocal samples and tinny drums and mellows into a cute mid-tempo ditty seemingly about Pia laughing at the sillyness of her man! Like most of the songs on the first part of the album it has a very mechanical vibe, it's unashamedly proud of it's European influences too. The title track follows in a similar vein. It makes you want to pull on a pair of leggings and a chunky belt and leap around with Pia pretending to be Paula Abdul!

Pia even has her own interlude!

I Really Like You (Not Him) is the first ballad, and it's sublime. Only a decent vocalist could pull off a subtle slow jam like this and Pia pulls it off so well. Again, there's no 'belting', it's all smooth and soulful vocals and a driving backing track. I think this is one of her best songs ever, it was also the b-side to Dance Out Of My Head. Two ballads, Silence and Since I've Been Loving You tie the album up with class and dignity, while Pia's Theme (another interlude!) closes the set.

It kind of fizzles out at the very end , but overall this album is fantastic, it shows off another side to Pia which would be followed up on Pia's next big budget foray into the pop world, Pia Z! When The Lights Go Out was a big old flop when it hit shelves in mainland Europe in 1988 which resulted in it never getting a US release. Dance Out Of My Head made #65 in the UK and was her final release here.

22 November 2009

Tat Parade saultes: Kate O'Mara

I went to Memorabilia at the NEC in Birmingham yesterday and met British cult icon Kate O'Mara, best known perhaps, for her roles in 70's Hammer Horror movies, and in the 80's for playing some excllent bitches on TV shows like Dynasty and Howard's Way. But to me she is always Doctor Who's renegade Time Lady, The Rani! I loved meeting Kate yesterday and she graciously signed my DVD (of Mark of the Rani) and let me have a picture with her too.

Check out some of these clips:

Miss Jackson, if you're trashy!

I am bizzarely excited about Janet's 2 disc Greastest Hits which is out tomorrow in the UK! Simply entitled The Best, this near perfect collection features all of Janet's fabulous singles from 1986 up to her newie, Make Me. Perhaps Jan would rather forget her 1984 duet with Cliff Richard, but I digress....

Sadly I don't think this will take her back to the top of the charts, Make Me hasn't really taken off either. However, I think this will attract some fans who've fallen by the wayside during her crappy years and keep the crazies happy until she puts out her new album next year. All we need now is a DVD to accompany this set!

14 September 2009

Zone Horror to close

The worst possible news, Zone Horror - the UK's leading (only!) free to air channel dedicated to trashy horror movies is closing it's doors! Chello Zone who own the channel have merged with CBS and will replace Zone Horror and the other Zone channels with CBS produced content. So no more sleazy b-movies movies on Zone Thriller either! This is a sad day indeed.

It launched in 2003 as The Horror Channel, re-branding in 2006. Thinking about it when your best shows are re-runs of Beastmaster - The Series and Mutant X, and prime time is filled with such gems as Ghoulies and Slumber Party Massacre 3, and those are the classier ones, it's not hard to see why there was no profit in this televisual tour-de-force of bad taste. I for one will miss it, where else could you watch Joan Collins in Empire of the Ants every weekend, guaranteed! They also specialised in late night gore with an abundance of cannibal and zombie movies in the early hours. With it's average audience share of 0.1% all of three people including me will give a damn, but how could anyone hope to top a lineup like this: