Glee: Keep Me Hanging On

I've been watching Glee religiously. Unlike other 'girls' around my age, I didn't start watching the musical series because I'm interested in High School Musical, or teen comedy-dramas. Those ended for me when Marissa died; I've still to watch a full episode of Skins. I was initially drawn to Glee because of creator Ryan Murphy. He worked on two of my most favourite series ever made: Popular and Nip/Tuck. And like these programmes, Glee contains hilarious surreal tangents, flashbacks and witty dialogue.

Yet Glee ultimately fails in two places where its predecessors reigned: it lacks any sex appeal and fails to approach (or mock) any issues of moral panic, instead opting for incredibly conservative story arcs. Whereas Popular would look at eating disorders, and Nip/Tuck would introduce viewers to such ethical minefields as the possibility of letting Catherine Deneuve have her husband's ashes put into her breast implants, Glee doesn't get too specific on its issues. Or the way they're handled.Have you noticed that whenever a woman is pregnant on a FOX-syndicated TV series, she'll either have the baby or die herself? Funny, that.

The didactic nature of the programme slows its progress, but I take great comfort in watching a complete season of a series. I hated Ugly Betty, but insisted on watching to the end of season 1 before forgetting all about it.

However, there is something brilliant about the songs on Glee which may well keep me hanging on. As they are covers, the songs introduce the audience to a whole new world of genre and possibility. For example, the recent cover of You Keep Me Hangin' On. In ascending order of brilliance.

5. The Glee version. The shit version. It's got as much soul as a melting ice cap.

4. The 60's psychedelic version - Vanilla Fudge

3. The 90's country/house genre-bender - Reba McEntire

2. The 80's synthpop version - Kim Wilde

1. The astounding, 1960's Motown version - Diana Ross and the Supremes (although it was argued that Flo Ballard sang most of this track...)

Let The Music Play

In the case of Jordin Sparks, I've always had a soft spot for 'Battlefield'. The lyrics are so emotional and hyperbole, in a way reminiscent of everything good Phil Spector did. And the mid-tempo, yet euphoric nature of the song is actually pretty similar to most of Florence and the Machine's album. By disguising good music as shitty R'n'B, Jordin's doing really well. I don't know where the hell she's come from, I'm guessing it's an American talent show competition...

There we go. I just wikipediad (sp?!) her, and she's the winner of the sixth American Idol and looks a fair bit like America Ferrera.

I've recently become partial to latin freestyle music, starting with Nayobe's 'Please Don't Go'. Not only do I like the idea of going to Mexico in the 1980's to score, I really like women with strong voices barking on about their weak souls and wildly romantic dispositions. When I discovered that Jordin's 'S.O.S. Let the Music Play' uses a sample of Shannon's 'Let the Music Play', I jumped up out of my seat. I've been a fan of Shannon's 'Give me Tonight' for a while, but apparently it was nowhere near as commercially successful as her debut single, 'Let the Music Play'. The latter pushed dance music to a new place, and is a credited as a revolutionary song, putting dance music back in the mainstream, when so many had shunned disco that it had spent the past couple of years hidden away in the exclusive gay clubs of the big cities (Paradise Garage, Chicago Warehouse etc).

Shannon - Let The Music Play

A little more exploration has informed me that there are loads of remixes of Shannon's 1983 hit, but they are all abominations to the ears, and are most probably heard in the less glamorous Mediterranean holiday resorts. Jordin's sampling is very splendid, though. Just like old-school Xenomania, the producers and writers have crammed in a brilliant middle 8, and as many melodies as they can get their grubby mitts on. Embedding is disabled by request, so there you go.

Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love

Unfortunately I can't embed it, due to YouTube becoming increasingly restricted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiy_UsrPDs

However, it is bloody worth a look. When I first heard the track, I was saddened by the use of vocoder, and the apparent quest to appeal to an American audience by replicating the Pussycat Dolls' sound. Then I watched this video and realised that Cheryl Cole is really good at selling the unsavoury. [See: making the world think that, to Mr. Cole, she is a genuine spouse and not just a beard.] Why? because she is ostensibly, ridiculously beautiful. Also, by nicking from La Roux, the producers have made a catchy chorus.

In terms of the actual look, I'm quite pleased that her stylist's letting her brave big shoulders and hair. She's looking reaaal Gloria Estefan in that part of the slightly tacky video. The naughty leopard pyjamas are a nice touch, but I'm not quite sure if the forehead shading make-up is meant to flatter Cheryl or indicate that she's got quite an unsightly fuzzy/wide forehead.

The sequins and ratty hair, both bereft of classy styling, could be percieved by Brits as the 're-chavinisation' of Cheryl Cole. Yet this will inevitably go down well with Americans, as they tend to lap up anything a bit glossy. The only setback is that there's only one incredibly attractive woman in this video, whereas PCD, Destiny's Child, Danity Kane and even TLC have always worked by having a variety of fit girls in the video, if not on the tracks themselves. She's trying to Scherzinger before she's ready.

Chew Lips Autumn residency at Catch

Chew Lips are a really great band. They perform really funky, syncopated, stripped down electropop soul. I got lucky enough to turn up late to my job working on the fancy dress tent at Bestival, and saw them up real close:

They've got a residency at Catch, a real intimate bar on Kingsland Road.

Dates are: Oct 6th / Nov 3rd / Dec 1st and it's FREE, so I strongly advise that anyone who reads this blog (...) should get down to it.