See Below
JUST LIKE THE FORMER DUKE OF YORK, POP IN THE REAL WORLD IS GIVING UP ITS TITLE THIS WEEK.
Starring
Barry Walker Unit. Haim, Mark Bacino, Not Me But Us, Tom Grennan
Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn't Want To Be : Tom Grennan
Best for : People with short attention spans who like contemporary Radio 1 pop
Tom Grennan fits right in to the kind of radio show playing in the background at your local barbers. He's relentlessly cheerful and high tempo, and taking aim at our pre-uni youth
There was a time when songs were deliberately made louder, because they would sound better on the radio. Even the quieter songs sounded louder and, as Tom Grennan demonstrates on 'I Won't Miss A Thing' it still feels as if he's shouting. It was a trick played by producers and record companies that was linked to the compression of the sound. The problem is that studies have been carried out proving it becomes difficult to listen to excessively compressed music for more than fifteen minutes or so. In making the music sound better it becomes unlistenable.
It's a practice that does Tom Grennan no favours. If this fifteen track album was split into three five track EPs, we'd be hailing him as a pop legend of Robbie Williams proportions. He'd be cool with that, and the house pop of 'Full Attention' and 'Cool With That' would be on the soundtracks of our summers.
En masse this is an album of songs aiming for inclusion on playlists, one at a time to maximise streaming play. The songs lack any other identity, They're completely interchangeable. 'Somewhere Only We Go' - nice reminder of Keane's chart friendly pop - is typical. Wham, bam and then it's gone. It's a tribute to him and his production team that every song could be a generic single sparking arm waving and delirious singalongs. He even paves the way for this by having his own posse of backing choruses on most of the songs.
Here, he takes us on a journey, from "Wow, I quite like this" to "Er.. could we have something else" to barely endurable submission. It's an album that increasingly seems all empty fun, fun, fun with no attempt to show a serious, sensitive or introspective side until 'I Won't Miss A Thing'. The addition of brassy pop funk with a touch of light rap to 'Certified' is the sound of an over-caffeinated Rick Astley. The perky, slightly less manic 'Cinnamon' is a reminder of Elton John around the time he wrote 'Passengers'. Everything else is sherbet music - fizzy, enjoyable in small packets but ultimately unsatisfying.
Tom Grennan - are you cool with that?
Taster Track : Cool With That
Top of the World : Mark Bacino
Best for : Enjoying yourself when you're not bothered by looking cool.
Mark Bacino and Tom Grennan (see above) are, in many ways, polar opposites. Where Grennan provides an all you can eat feast that leaves you stuffed, Bacino provides a selection of sweet tapas delicacies that satisfy as they leave you wanting more. While Grennan aims to provide crowd pleasing cool, Bianco would be content playing his music to just one interested listener. When Grennan is driving the pre-uni crowd wild, Bacino is amusing the mums, dads, aunts and uncles waiting patiently for the show to end to provide the lift home.
Those older relatives will have musical tastes formed in the mid to late 70s. Bacino knows this, and his songs are painted in the bright warm colours of happy memories and more innocent times.. The album fits ten songs into 22 minutes.They're not even three minute singles, they're compressed bursts of sunshine in song. They may be out of time, but they get the day off to a good start.
You'll find influences in the oompah of Harry Nilsson and the acute brevity of Nick Lowe. Later artists have dipped their toes in the same musical pool but one song at a time. Think of John Grant's 'Silver Platter Club and Father John Misty's 'Mr Tillman'. Such brief songs may feel like throwaway, disposable numbers but listen again and you'll hear the care and attention to detail heard in Brett Mackenzie's 'America Goodbye' or 10cc's later pop. The brass and orchestral arrangements mark this out as a highly successful labour of love.
It won't be long before the next sitcom trawling through the 70s comes along. They need these light and happy songs as their soundtrack.
Taster Tracks : Any, but out of necessity to choose just one 'How The Story Ends'