Single Review: Dolly Parton – ‘Together You And I’

There is a little bit of disappointment that comes with the release of ‘Together You And I’. The follow-up to 2008′s Backwoods Barbie, a stunning return to mainstream country, was supposed to be a dance album – even the title Dance With Dolly was doing the rounds. The old remixes of ‘Peace Train’ confirm that she could be a club diva if she wanted to be one, and while that would have been amazing, ‘Together You And I’ picks up where the last album left off. Thankfully, this is Dolly Parton we’re talking about, and everything has worked out fine.

The three years that seperated 2005′s Those Were The Days and Backwoods Barbie were the longest gap between studio albums since the start of Dolly’s career. Another three years have gone by and now that we anxiously await the new record Better Day, it is both comforting and a bit underwhelming to know that not much has changed in that time. ‘Together You And I’ doesn’t break new ground, and as a song it would fit right in on modern country radio. It is Dolly’s stunning voice that sets it apart from being merely average. Instantly recognisable, always emotional and never monotone, Dolly has always put everything into all her songs, from the big hits to the hundreds of deep cuts hidden in her vast discography. This is no exception.

I hope one day Dolly returns to less sunny material, as most of her greatest songs are about being angry or betrayed or desperate, but her latest reinvention doesn’t allow much sorrow. Still, ‘Together You And I’ is joyous, and if Better Day is similarly up I’ll be satisfied, because if she was pleading with Jolene all the time things would get tedious quite quickly. One of the few female country legends who are still in the spotlight on a regular basis, it would probably be beneficial for Dolly to vary her sound a bit more – but for now ‘Together You And I’ sounds bright and lovely, just like Dolly herself.

6.5/10

I’d Like To See You Live Without It: Silverchair 1994-2011

Hanson’s little-known “grunge years”.

Silverchair have an odd place in my music collection. I couldn’t be called much more than a casual fan but I have an immense amount of love for their first three albums. When I think of my favourite bands, they rarely enter my mind, yet they’ve always sort of… been there, since I first saw the video for ‘Freak’, which creeped seven-year-old me right the fuck out. I remember hearing ‘Anthem For The Year 2000′ on the Hot 30 with Kyle & Jackie O (or was it still Ugly Phil?), I remember what a big deal ‘The Greatest View’ was when it came out, and I remember when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing ‘Straight Lines’. My personal Silverchair playlist in my iTunes is a total knockout, and I never complain when one of their songs – especially if it’s one of their excellent singles – appears on shuffle.

Two things put me off Silverchair’s fourth and fifth albums: the change in sound, which saw them move from heavy-with-hooks rock to pop-rock that had sweeter choruses but was less interesting, and the band’s attitude to their early recordings, which is vaguely insulting to the fans who enjoyed them so much and put Silverchair in a position to make music that they now believe is worthy of their talents.

But from Frogstomp to Neon Ballroom they were brilliant. Why were they so great? I honestly couldn’t tell you. I could write a book about why Madonna changed the face of pop but I couldn’t do something like that for Silverchair because they didn’t change anything, really. They sounded and looked like a mini Australian Nirvana, they broke no ground and weren’t pioneers. In later years frontman Daniel Johns would push the band and himself into new directions, but the Silverchair I was interested in did no such thing. They simply wrote songs that I, and many others, enjoy listening to. Today they announced that they’re ending it (though they’ve been inactive for a while now) and it makes me think about why I love that early stuff so much.

They had a rawness that came with the youth of the bandmembers, and they often drew criticism over awkward or underdeveloped lyrics. On early tracks like ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Israel’s Son’, there’s this heat and this drive behind all the instruments and the vocals, as if this was the last chance they’re ever going to get to say what they want to say, even if the band were teenagers at the time. Their second album Freak Show was led by ‘Freak’, which became my favourite Silverchair song, and it overcame some truly silly lyrics to become a pop song disguised as teen angst disguised as a rock song. The Remix For Us Rejects is well worth seeking out too. On Neon Ballroom, ’Anthem For The Year 2000′ became exactly what it aimed to be, and ‘Ana’s Song (Open Fire)’ took a truly uncomfortable subject and brought it to Video Hits – I have a distinct memory of my father turning the TV off when the video came on. These albums remind me of that great period in the late nineties where it felt like every Australian artist, from Kylie to Savage Garden, had something dark and sinister about their image or music. Alternative was in and our music scene greatly benefited from it. Silverchair were a big part of that.

In the end, any hardcore analysis of their early material will just sound underwhelming. They succeeded because they were great even without being original or groundbreaking. Imagine how many artists would be out of work if they never got a chance because they didn’t introduce something new – sometimes taking what exists and putting your own spin on it is enough. The stats speak for themselves: albums that have been certified (by my count) 23 times platinum in total, seventeen hit singles including nine top ten hits and three number ones, plus a handful of US and UK hits – including a Billboard top ten album.

So farewell, Silverchair, even if we’ve had our issues over the years. Thanks for ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Freak’, ‘Pure Massacre’, ‘Anthem For The Year 2000′, ‘Ana’s Song (Open Fire)’, ‘Cemetery’, ‘Israel’s Son’, ‘Emotion Sickness’, ‘Miss You Love’… even ‘Without You’ and ‘Across The Night’ from Diorama. All amazing.

Album Review: Lady Gaga – Born This Way

There should be a specific term for artists who create, or at least align themselves with, pop songs that feel like massive events, not once or twice in their career, but over and over again. Madonna did it, of course. Michael Jackson did it. Cher, Janet, Beyoncé, George Michael, Britney, even relative newcomer Rihanna – they could all point to occasions where they’ve been part of Pop Events time and time again. And then we come to Lady Gaga, who has managed to squish, by my count and in my opinion, six massive 100% amazing fuck-off 10/10 pop songs into two and a half albums. ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Paparazzi’ from her debut The Fame, ‘Bad Romance’, ‘Telephone’ and ‘Dance In The Dark’ from the follow-up EP The Fame Monster, and ‘Judas’, which I have already gushed over, from Born This Way.

Born This Way is one of the strangest records to ever be released by an artist at the top of their game. Compare Michael Jackson and Madonna when they were in Gaga’s post-Fame Monster position: Madonna’s breakthrough Like A Virgin was followed by the perfect but safe True Blue, while Michael’s Thriller was trailed by Bad, which attempted to repeat the formula and almost accidentally came up with some songs that actually surpassed some of the tracks on the predecessor. But Lady Gaga comes out with a harsh, divisive, visually confused, thematically ridiculous album filled almost equally with potential singles and experiments. If nothing else, Born This Way is risky.

Let us begin with the album cover. Definitely my favourite of the year so far, the place it has in the campaign really sums up this whole shebang. On a record called Born This Way, with a first single about loving yourself for who you are and never changing, our hero decides to stick her head on a motorbike and become as removed as possible from the natural state she’s been urging her fans to love. It’s funny and certainly grabs your attention, but it also shows that in contrast with the on-point image decisions for The Fame and Monster, this album doesn’t have a clear direction. In a way, that makes the juxtaposition of title and cover the best possible representation of the music within.

This album is mostly front-loaded with the best tracks, if not the most commercial ones – some of the experiments like ‘Government Hooker’ and ‘Schieße’ wouldn’t be hit singles but they’re exciting and fun to listen to, and I can see them becoming among the songs I come back to most. There is nothing to say about lead single ‘Born This Way’ that hasn’t been said before, other than I still really, really like it. ‘Judas’ is even better and still feels like a masterpiece to these ears, and thankfully it sets the noisy-but-melodic tone for many of the other songs. ‘Hair’ and ‘Marry The Night’ aren’t quite as thrilling as the songs that surround them in the first half, ‘Americano’ is ludicrous but fun, and the slow-motion half-ballad ‘Bloody Mary’ is a bit of a throwback to some of the best moments on The Fame, which, by the way, sounds light years away now, like the work of a different artist altogether.

Those eight songs are the basis for an album that could’ve been perfect. But, on the deluxe edition, which let’s face it, everyone who cares is buying, we’ve still got nine songs to go. ‘Black Jesus † Amen Fashion’ (I know, I know) is a less successful version of the werq-werq-runway-fashion-werq style of tracks like ‘Scheiße’, while ‘Bad Kids’ and ‘Fashion Of His Love’ sort of just float past me, never grabbing my attention in any meaningful way, though they sound fine while they’re playing. ‘Highway Unicorn (Road To Love)’ (again, I know) is a precursor the orgasmic album closer, blending the power-pop of her idol Bruce Springsteen with stuttering dance beats and a Cher-when-she-sort-of-went-hair-metal-that-time vocal.

‘Heavy Metal Lover’ is a more of a mood piece than an album highlight, and ‘Electric Chapel’ is similar in that they both have vocals that are a bit more subtle than usual. All this, including ‘The Queen’, which acts like a bridge between ‘Highway Unicorn’ and what’s to come, feels like a warm up for the finalé, two huge songs that sound even bigger when played back-to-back.

‘Yoü And I’, complete with an umlaut for no reason other than to remind us that even when she’s singing a conventional power ballad like this, Lady Gaga is still wacky and ker-azzayy, is the spiritual cousin of earlier songs ‘Brown Eyes’ and ‘Speechless’. It doesn’t reach the emotional height of ‘Speechless’ but it does a great job of erasing any weakness that may have been made apparent by the preceding few songs. Imagine if the first eight songs had been immediately followed by the final two, to make a ten track album, and the remaining tracks had been above-average B-sides. That would have been too good to be true.

And so, we come to ‘The Edge Of Glory’. My third favourite on the album after the title track and ‘Judas’, it mixes so many amazing things about so many amazing genres: odd Enya-style intro, odd Aqua-style vocals at the start, Eurodance beat, and the ‘Living On A Prayer’/'Song For The Lonely’ hybrid of a chorus that is only beaten by the amazing, amazing saxophone solo. When the saxophone meets the reintroduction of the beat at about 3:30 – fucking hell, that is what music is all about for me. I live for moments like that.

I like that Gaga takes herself really seriously. Pop music is serious business, and I need to believe that because if it isn’t then my life has been a collossal waste of time. But it works against her sometimes, and it feels as though some sections of pop fandom have decided that it is “her time”, and that the backlash is due. I’m glad I don’t devote my time talking endlessly about artists I hate – imagine how fucking boring it would be for me to have to focus on Jessie J all the time – but if that’s what gets some corners of the internet going then good for them. I suppose the point is that Gaga has made an album strong enough to carry her past the hatred, at least through to the next album campaign – what position she’ll be in then remains to be seen.

I don’t think Gaga is an icon on the level of MJ or Madonna. Not even close. I don’t think she’s the saviour of pop music, or the messiah. She’s not my mother and I’m not a little monster. But she makes amazing music and amazing music is what I’m interested in. Born This Way is not perfect, it’s too long and The Fame Monster EP remains her greatest achievement, but my god when this album gets it right it gets it so, incredibly right. Take away the ridiculous clothes, the psycho fans, the psycho haters, the overly serious reviews like this one, the chart positions – does the music stack up? The answer is yes for me and that’s all that really matters.

8/10

Album Review: Kate Bush – Director’s Cut

This is such a big deal that I hardly know where to begin. A new Kate Bush album. Is there an equivalent of “shaking and crying” for fans of 52-year-old alt-pop recluses? “Smoking bongs and meditating”? Whatever it is, I’ve been doing it ever since the announcement of Director’s Cut, in which Dame Kate Of Bush travels back in time to the final two albums of her classic period as an active force in popular music. The Sensual World, in 1989, was a light, sexual companion piece to the heavy, dark albums that came before it. In 1993, it was followed by The Red Shoes, an overlong, confused album that contained amazing songs but was weighed down by an artist who didn’t have the same vision she had before.

And so, about twenty years later, eleven songs have been re-recorded, reswizzled and remixed, with many vocal and instrumental performances being completely redone. At first it can sound jarring, especially when you live and breathe the originals – the new version of ‘The Sensual World’ sometimes sounds like somebody singing along to the ’89 version but making up their own new words because they can’t remember the lyrics – but after repeated listens, Director’s Cut really comes together as a unified album.

The album was preceded by a new version of ‘Deeper Understanding’, which was always one of my favourite Kate album tracks. The new mix still sounds excellent, highlighting how ahead of its time the original was, and allowing Kate more time to explore the themes of isolation and loneliness. The middle of the album contains three of Kate’s all-time greatest achievements, ‘This Woman’s Work’, ‘Moments Of Pleasure’ and ‘Never Be Mine’, with all of them now made even more devastating than they were originally, the work of an artist looking back on songs about looking back, watching the years go past as she becomes further and further away from the parts of her life that were immortalised in these songs. Her vocals are still incredible, a real reminder that alongside her songwriting and production skills, it was that voice that pushed her from pioneer to visionary. ‘This Woman’s Work’, especially, has made me realise all over again that the song itself is one of the greatest ever written. Perhaps these updates will prove (once again) how much of Kate’s influence can be felt in the “pop weirdo” scene of the past few years, from the visual image of Florence + The Machine to the sense of drama that Hurts know all too well.

Some of the other versions are less breathtaking but still very interesting, a lot of the tracks sounding like they’ve been filtered through the style of Kate’s last studio album, Aerial. The only real misstep is ‘Rubberband Girl’, which positions Kate as she would have sounded in a garage-rock collective (or as part of the Plastic Ono Band), and while it doesn’t quite work, at least she’s still trying new things.

Director’s Cut feels like an old friend who you haven’t seen in ages, popping in to say hello. None of these revisions are improvements on the originals, but honestly, it’s just nice to know Kate is still alive and making music. The new versions are great to hear and to appreciate, and I’m satisfied that this album is reason enough to wait for a new proper studio album. Recording for that next record is apparently underway, and Director’s Cut proves that there is still a lot to look forward to.

8/10

Single Review: Take That – ‘Love Love’

The latest Take That album Progress - and especially the mindblowing first single ‘The Flood’ – has been one of my favourite campaigns of the past twelve months, and while I still hope they release ‘SOS’ as a single, I am, of course, also quite happy to hear new songs. Their latest single ‘Love Love’, from the X-Men: First Class soundtrack, seamlessly continues the brilliance of the Progress era.

However excellent it may be, it is also very close in sound to ‘Kidz’, their previous single. The fact that it isn’t on the album (two million copies sold and counting) will help it sell better than ‘Kidz’ but it isn’t a superior song. It has a great big catchy chorus, as you would expect, and some cryptic, dramatic lyrics, which is what I, as a relatively new fan, am looking for in a Take That single. If it was on Progress it would have been an obvious single, so the reason it was left off (if it wasn’t newly written and produced, which I suppose is possible) must have been a good one. It probably won’t stay with me like many of the other songs from this era have, but ‘Love Love’ is strong nonetheless.

6.5/10

Album Review: Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting

Jamie Woon is one of those names that I’ve heard thrown around in “next big thing” pieces for months, but it took me forever to get around to listening to him. When I finally sought out ‘Night Air’, his debut single, to see what all the fuss was about, I was sold instantly. The song is so removed from any commercial aspirations, standing up only on the strength of the songwriting, production and vocals. No gimmicks, no tricks, no fancy video (though the video is effective).

So with ‘Night Air’ quickly becoming one of my favourite songs I’ve discovered this year (it came out in 2010, otherwise it’d be a must for my eventual best-of-2011 lists), the next step was obviously to pick up Mirrorwriting, Jamie’s debut album, released about a month ago. And what a weird album it is.

One thing that strikes me about Jamie Woon is that his music feels to me as if it comes from the pop scene of 1999-02, where he would have been lumped in with acts like Kosheen and Jamiroquai despite not sounding like either. ‘Lady Luck’, for example, has almost nothing in the song or video to indicate that I couldn’t have seen it while staying up late to watch Rage, on some night in 2001. This isn’t a good or a bad thing, it’s just something that I noticed, and perhaps will impact how much Jamie will be able to penetrate the mainstream.

Mirrorwriting is a minimal record. The vocals are often hushed, the beats are slight and the listener finds themselves searching for hidden meaning in a song about what to do on a city street (“you can try on anything for free/pick up anything you need”). Upon first listen I didn’t quite know what to make of it – ‘Night Air’ and ‘Lady Luck’ were great songs but what about all these others? Are they quiet masterpieces not unlike a cool young Enya with beats, or are they the work of an artist who often seems unsure of how to beef up a song that is good but not yet amazing?

I think how I listen to Mirrorwriting will depend on my mood. It seems like a good album to fall asleep to – which I swear is a compliment, my favourite album of all time, Hounds Of Love, is also helpful for inducing sleep – and time will tell if the album becomes an unexpected favourite or a disappointment. Either way, it certainly is an interesting debut, with several great songs, and I’m eager to see the direction of the follow-up.

5.5/10

Classic Album: Timbaland – Shock Value

Released February 4, 2007

1. Oh Timbaland
2. Give It To Me ft. Justin Timberlake & Nelly Furtado
3. Release ft. Justin Timberlake
4. The Way I Are ft. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.
5. Bounce ft. Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake & Missy Elliott
6. Come And Get Me ft. 50 Cent & Tony Yayo
7. Kill Yourself ft. Attitude & Sebastian
8. Boardmeeting ft. Magoo
9. Fantasy ft. Money
10. Scream ft. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger
11. Miscommunication ft. Keri Hilson & Sebastian
12. Bombay ft. Amar & Jim Beanz
13. Throw It On Me ft. The Hives
14. Time ft. She Wants Revenge
15. One And Only ft. Fall Out Boy
16. Apologize ft. OneRepublic
17. 2 Man Show ft. Elton John

Occasionally I’ll find myself on the Wikipedia page that lists Timbaland productions, just scrolling through in awe of his consistent track record. The list of classics (both according to popular opinion and in my own head) he had a hand in is seemingly endless: ‘Pony’, ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’, ‘Word Up!’, ‘Try Again’, ‘Get Ur Freak On’, ‘We Need A Resolution’, ‘Work It’, ‘Cry Me A River’, ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder’, ‘Pass That Dutch’, ‘Promiscuous’, ‘SexyBack’, ‘Say It Right’, ‘Innocence’, ’4 Minutes’, ‘Give It Up To Me’… I could go on and on. His work with Missy Elliott alone would be enough to make Timbaland a legend.

The Timbaland story has two clear peaks: from about 1996 to 2002, where his work with Missy, Aaliyah and others helped define hip-hop and R&B for those years, and then the resurgence from 2006 to 2008, where he became bigger than ever thanks to three very important albums: Nelly Furtado’s Loose, Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds and Timbaland’s own Shock Value. While the former two routinely get called two of the best records of their decade, Shock Value is actually my favourite, for being more diverse, more interesting and for having more top-quality songs.

It was, of course, Nelly and Justin who ushered in the Shock Value era with ‘Give It To Me’. The sparse Timbaland single saw the three artists take stock of their triumphs over the past year, each brushing off rivals in a cool, swift fashion that saw whoever they were responding to (rumoured to be Scott Storch, Fergie and Prince for Tim, Nelly and Justin respectively) nicely taken down a peg or two. The song itself represents much of the album: out-of-the-ordinary production (this is Timbaland, after all) and a big chorus.

One thing about Shock Value is that it is quite long, even to the point that it could do without a couple of the less impressive tracks. It manages to mostly avoid fatigue by splitting itself up into sections: the first five tracks are commercial R&B hip-hop numbers with some big name guest stars, the next three are a harder, more vicious style of hip-hop, the next four are pure “urban” with a few experimental moments, and the final five tracks are what I call the “rock era”, which saw collaborations with a few artists known more for pop-rock than R&B.

The Nina Simone-sampling ‘Oh Timbaland’ is a great introduction, allowing Tim a moment alone to set the dark tone for the rest of the album. ‘Give It To Me’ follows, then ‘Release’, a standard but enjoyable track with Justin Timberlake that could have easily replaced one of the less stunning moments from FutureSex/LoveSounds. What comes next, however, is one of my favourite songs of all time and one that I’ve basically been obsessed with non-stop since it was released. ‘The Way I Are’ is a towering masterpiece, the melody, the production, the delivery, everything coming together to form both an album centrepiece and a classic single.

‘Bounce’ is another personal favourite, bringing together Dr. Dre and Missy Elliott to give two amazing guest verses (“Sum Yung Ho” and “HOLD UP, HELL NAW, LIKE BRITNEY SPEARS I WEAR NO DRAWERS” are highlights), Justin again singing ridiculous lines such as “bounce, like your ass had the hiccups”, and thirty seconds of outro that sounds like an array of pig noises. ‘Come And Get Me’, with 50 Cent & Tony Yayo, is a nineties-influenced hip-hop track, while ‘Kill Yourself’, ‘Boardmeeting’ and ‘Fantasy’ each push the album forward nicely while never reaching the highs of the first five songs.

The slight downward slide is completely turned around by ‘Scream’, the album’s other R&B classic, and another one I’ve been consistently obsessed with since 2007. Smooth and seductive, it features Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger fighting to see who can drop it like it’s hotter. With one of those choruses that are so good they feel as if they could just repeat forever, ‘Scream’ is the epic, almost six-minute triumph that emerges as one of the finest moments in the careers of all involved.

The “rock era” is indeed a great one, and could almost be half of a completely different album. The quick, frantic ‘Throw It On Me’ with The Hives throws us headfirst into it, then She Wants Revenge and Fall Out Boy enter with collaborations that are both fascinating and genuinely excellent.

It was the Timbaland mix of OneRepublic’s ballad ‘Apologize’ that would give Shock Value its biggest hit. The haunting production was reminiscent of an even slower ‘Cry Me A River’ and it was the song that would propel Ryan Tedder into the international spotlight for the first time. A piano/beats piece with Elton John called ’2 Man Show’ closes the album, and Shock Value is done. Four amazing singles, a whole host of great album tracks – this was a fully realised and satisfying project.

What happened next? Hard Candy, Ashlee Simpson, Duran Duran, Chris Cornell and the so-disappointing-it-hurts-to-talk-about Shock Value II. But although Timbaland may not be flavour of the month anymore, Shock Value stands tall as one of the best pop albums of 2007 and a snapshot of a time when this sound was exciting and inescapable.

Single Review: Rihanna – ‘California King Bed’

Rihanna has a pretty good track record with ballads, from ‘Unfaithful’ to ‘Hate That I Love You’ to ‘Take A Bow’ to ‘Rehab’ to ‘Russian Roulette’ to ‘Love The Way You Lie’, and ‘California King Bed’, the latest single from Loud, continues that run while not being quite as memorable as some of those previous hits. While I’m really just waiting for ‘Man Down’ to get a proper release, I still think this is a great song that was an obvious single choice.

The opening guitar reminds of a song that I absolutely cannot place for the life of me, and that gives ‘California King Bed’ a familiarity which makes it enjoyable but ultimately doesn’t help it to be memorable. In fact, the most striking thing about the song is probably the lyric “a little last night left on these sheets”, which is grosser than anything from ‘S&M’ or ‘Rude Boy’.

Rihanna’s vocals are excellent, just compare this to ‘Unfaithful’ from 2006. It’s clear how far she’s come as a performer – although you know which song would make her progression even more obvious? ‘Man Down’!

The song is catchy, the melody is great, and what we have here is a well-sung, nicely written (save for that one line) power-ballad that is commendable but not classic.

6.5/10

Single Review: Kelly Rowland ft. Lil’ Wayne – ‘Motivation’

I genuinely did not realise she could bomp like theeeeis. After the twin triumphs of ‘When Love Takes Over’ and ‘Commander’, Kelly Rowland’s near-mythical third album has been at the back of my mind for ages, but just when I was about to push it out to make room for some vital information (like which songs were on which country-specific edition of Michael Jackson’s King Of Pop, for example), she comes out with ‘Motivation’, the most unexpected victory I’ve heard all year.

With a glacial drip-drop beat that screams “SEX” right in your face without being obnoxious about it, Kelly stretches out and slides her way around this song like she’s Donna Summer in slow motion. The song has catchy bits here and there, and it isn’t without a fair share of hooks, but most of all it feels like unified work that moves leisurely through time, as if entranced by itself. Lil’ Wayne helps move the song forward, and his guest verse adds a male perspective that makes ‘Motivation’ even more interesting. Played back-to-back with the excellent but subtle Diplo remix, a listener can transform ‘Motivation’ into an eight-minute odyssey of sexuality and, if the video is to be believed, big piles of sweaty people.

The term “lead single” could have been applied about 47 times so far in the course of Kelly’s album campaign, but ‘Motivation’, more than any of her songs released since 2009, feels like the start of something with a more interesting direction than simply “Eurodance”. Could Kelly Rowland, of all people, turn out to be the modern artist who most effectively mashes R&B and dance, the two dominant trends of the past five years?

9/10

Single Review: Weird Al Yankovic – ‘Perform This Way’

Weird Al Yankovic, now in the fourth decade of his career, has been a presence for the majority of my music-listening life. I first remember becoming aware of him when I was about nine and his Running With Scissors album was popular. His brand of parody, family-friendly and with roots in the sort of cartoon humour that has been out of fashion for some time, has remained largely unchanged, yet – and I’m dead serious about this – he is up there with Madonna as the artist who has shifted with the times most easily and frequently over the past thirty years. The Essential Weird Al Yankovic is one of the best collections I own.

‘Perform This Way’, his first major single since 2006′s ‘White & Nerdy’ became his biggest hit ever, has all the hallmarks of  a classic Weird Al parody. The music for this ‘Born This Way’ parody is, as always, slightly less polished than the song being made fun of, and Al’s trademark delivery is as energetic and effective as it was in the eighties. ‘Born This Way’ was delivered with such earnestness and conviction that it was practically begging to be parodied, and Al transforms the call for equality into a rant about ridiculous outfits, from Gaga’s point of view.

“I’ll be a troll or evil queen
I’ll be a human jelly bean
‘Cause every day is Halloween
For me”

The lyrics aren’t quite as clever as ‘White & Nerdy’, which will likely be the only Weird Al song many of Gaga’s younger fans will be able to remember. But the sheer joy of hearing Weird Al, in classic mode, doing Lady Gaga, is enough. “I’m Frankenstein, I’m Avatar!” is all I could have hoped for and more.

7.5/10