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17
Jun
11

Day Two – Nanne – Alla Mina Ansikten (All My Faces)

By twistinthedark Leave a Comment
Categories: Music, Nanne and Sweden

A Swedish album for day two. “Alla mina ansikten” translates to “All My Faces” and shows different sides of Nanne. Rockier, harder and a lot more personal. Unfortunately, this was Nanne’s least successful album commercially which is a shame since it does contain some excellent songs.

There is one English song on here, “Men”. Nanne sang this song in the British pre-selections for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 but failed to qualify. It doesn’t really fit on this album but it is a bit of light-hearted fun and provides a counterpoint to the rest of the album.

The lead angle was the totally theatric “Svarta änkan” (aka “The Black Widow”"), one of my favourite Nanne songs. Another favourite is “Jag har inte tid”, “I Don’t Have Time”, a song about a woman who is too busy for family and friends and even death itself.

“Hatar, älskar” or “Hating, Loving” is a song with a punch. It is about her relationship with her alcoholic mother and is deeply personal. The title song is about self doubt and anxiety. “Fördomar” (Prejudices) was written for Nanne’s many gay fans and is about prejudice and intolerance.

Relistening to the album after many years, it does come across as disjointed and maybe just a little too dark for audiences back then. As I said it does have some excellent songs and is worth a listen. The original version of the album does flow a little better than the rejigged version that came out the following year. The song order had been juggled around (unsuccessfully in my view) and another song added which really didn’t fit.

Okay, now for some videos. First up is “Men” as performed in the British Eurovision pre-selection. Nanne was very sick at the time. Being a real trouper, she knew the show had to go on.

Here is Nanne performing “Svarta änkan” in that amazing outfit that would put Cher to shame.

And “Jag har inte tid” from the same show.

Finally, “Fördomar” on another TV show.

16
Jun
11

Day One – Thompson Twins – Big Trash

By twistinthedark 1 Comment
Categories: Music and Thompson Twins

Today is my birthday and for no reason in particular, I thought I should play an album from a favourite artist that I had not listened to for a long time. Thinking in terms of the blog, it occurred to me that over the next seven days, I would pick an album from each of my top artists and share it on the blog. Of course, it would be an album that I wanted to rediscover. Self indulgent? Naturally but it is my blog after all. :-)

For my first choice I went to my second all time favourite group, the Thompson Twins. There was a time when the Thompson Twins ruled the world back in the 80s. They could not put a foot wrong but then it did all go wrong. It seemed like the success was too big and too much and all too quickly. The group themselves started feeling the pressure and the sin of over-exposure hung over them. Really sad actually since the Thompson Twins were a brilliant band in terms of music, image and showmanship. It still bugs me that no one ever really mentions the Thompson Twins these days, despite many other 80s artists jumping on the bandwagon. It probably hasn’t helped that the former members of the Thompson Twins seem to shun the spotlight meaning that they have become a distant memory. Criminal in my view.

The album I chose was the 1989 gem “Big Trash”. By the time this came out, the Twins were down to two members and the glory days were behind them. The album was very under-rated and barely caused a ripple. They had just signed to a new label and this album was a step in a new direction. It had a much harder rock edge to the sound although it was still full of the trademark hooks. A great album to play really loud.

The album came out about the same time that Deborah Harry had a huge world-wide hit with a song penned by Tom and Alannah, “I Want That Man”. Actually, I would love to hear Alannah sing this and it makes me wonder if there could be a long lost demo in the vaults. One can always dream.

Actually Ms Harry has contributed backing vocals to two of the songs on here which surely makes this album an essential item for the completist Blondie fan.

One good thing is that the lead single, “Sugar Daddy” was a hit. Dance fused with rock and very sing-alongable. The second single “Bombers In The Sky” was featured in the “Gremlins 2″ movie.

Some kind soul put together an album sampler featuring clips from all the songs. Check out the wonderful “Salvador Dali’s Car”, “Queen of the USA”, “Wild” and the title track.

Here is the video for the 12″ mix of “Sugar Daddy”.

I couldn’t find the promo clip for “Bombers In The Sky” with scenes of Gremlins so here is a fan video set to the Razormaid mix. Rather fab.

I remember not even knowing that a new album was coming out back in 1989. This was back in the days prior to the internet when going to a record shops was an adventure and not knowing what treasures one might find.

03
Jun
11

Dark, melodramatic with a bit of vamp thrown in

By twistinthedark 1 Comment
Categories: Music

Dark, melodramatic with a bit of vamp thrown in? Sounds like Diana, one of the greatest science fiction villains, from the TV show “V”. But no, it describes the music of songstress Jane Badler.

Of course you should all know that Jane Badler played Diana in “V”, the classic 80s mini series. She also played a different but still imposing Diana in the “V” reimagining. And lets not forget her stint in “Neighbours” playing, who was it again? Oh yes, Diana!

What you may not know is that Jane Badler is a talented singer in her new hometown Melbourne and has released two albums.

Jane’s latest album is “Tears Again”. Her website describes the album as follows:

On ‘Tears Again’ she has also worked with internationally acclaimed producer Paul Grabowsky to deliver a record that reflects Jane’s long and varied career in Hollywood B films and television soaps throughout the 70s and 80s. The album pays homage to the smoothness and the melodrama of the era.

A perfect description.

Jabe has recorded a video for the song “Men Who Lie”, a tragic story about failed relationships with an awesome spoken monologue. Check it out.

The album is on iTunes along with Jane’s debut “The Devil Has My Double”. With song titles like “I Want A Lot Of Boys To Cry At My Funeral” and “The Doll That Cries Real Tears” you just know that you’re going to love both these albums.

17
May
11

Nina from Serbia

By twistinthedark 2 Comments
Categories: Eurovision, Music and Television

I am still processing the Eurovision outcome and wondering why such a boring song won. In the meantime, look what I found.

This is probably old news for many but there is actually an English version of the Serbian entry, “Caroban” by the spunky Nina.

“Caroban” was actually one of my favourite songs this year. I would even place it in my top three after Sweden and Hungary. The 60s vibe struck a chord with me, I loved Nina’s look and I loved the psychedelic light show going on behind Nina and her backing singers even if it did make my eyes hurt.

One thing I did appreciate and respect was that Nina had the balls to sing the song in her native language. That is one thing I miss about Eurovision. I really think that they should go back to the native language rule. One has to wonder if the disappointing position that the song came was because it was in Serbian. Surely Europeans are not that shallow?

Anyway, doing some surfing tonight and I discovered that Nina did in fact record an English version and also recorded a music video for it. In English, the song is called “Magical” and magical it is. I hate to say it but maybe Nina would have scored higher if she had performed the English version. I guess we’ll never know and part of me is still glad that we got the Serbian version.

Here’s the English clip. Enjoy the groove.

14
May
11

Nice pic of Eric Saade

By twistinthedark Leave a Comment
Categories: Eric Saade, Eurovision and Music

I love this pic of Eric Saade, taking some time out during the high pressure atmosphere of Eurovision. Eric is justifiably one of the favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 for Sweden.

Although winning the Contest a respectable four times, Sweden has had a run of bad luck over the last few years and didn’t even qualify for the final last year. I am confident that Eric will do well enough to break the bad run and get Sweden back into the top 5, and quite possibly the top spot.

Go Eric.

13
May
11

If You Hold My Hand

By twistinthedark Leave a Comment
Categories: Music

I mentioned the song “Hands Free (If You Hold My Hand)” by Sonny J a while back. I thought I would share it again since the 50s b-grade horror/sci fi flick inspired video fits with my Friday the 13th theme. It’s a big song with big vocals from the amazing Donna Hightower. Sonny J claims that he sampled Donna’s 1972 single “If You Hold My Hand” but there is so much of that song in there, I think this qualifies as a remix and Donna should have got the top billing.

Anyway, here’s the clip.

As a treat, here’s Donna’s original version which is fab. They really need to release a compilation of Donna’s 70s material so people can discover this sadly overlooked talent.

13
May
11

Things That Go Bump In The Night

By twistinthedark 1 Comment
Categories: Music

In honour of Friday the 13th, I present “Things That Go Bump In The Night” by the group allSTARS.

allSTARS was one of those groups put together for a TV show like S Club 7 in 2001. The TV show was called “STARStreet” and was  pretty woeful, truth be told. The music, on the other hand, was rather good. Yeah, there was a lot of that type of pop music coming out of the UK at the time and I didn’t like that much of it. I still get told off for not liking S Club 7 or Steps. allSTARS, however, really struck a chord with me as did Scooch. I still have the album and it’s still good for a spin when I’m in the mood for some bouncy pop.

I loved “Things That Go Bump In The Night”. The clip was meant to be Scooby Doo meets Blair Witch Project but doesn’t quite pull it off. Still, there are some pretty boys and girls to look at and, as I said, it’s a great song.

08
May
11

The ice continues to melt

By twistinthedark 2 Comments
Categories: Music and Sweden

I discovered Simon Hassle earlier this year and fell in love with his song “Now Is Here”. It is topical and addresses the world’s concerns about the environment. It proves that a good pop song can still deliver some social commentary. Simon has sampled part of Oren Lyon’s famous “the ice continues to melt” speech to the UN Millennium World Peace Summit – with permission of course.

The song is available on iTunes around the world including Australia so I’m happy. I’m hoping this isn’t the last we’ve heard from Simon Hassle.

If you’re interested, you can read the speech by clicking here.

08
May
11

The Brandur video is here – The Illusion Of…

By twistinthedark Leave a Comment
Categories: Brandur, Music and Sweden

Back in January I mentioned the new single from Brandur, the Faroese singer based in Stockholm. The song is “The Illusion Of…” and is a high powered piece of electropop.

The video is now out and is a classy affair featuring a lot of feathers, balloons and a good/evil thing going on with what appears to be Celtic undertones. Brandur himself is shirtless throughout and looking good in what might be an attempt to pitch him at the teen market but don’t let that put you off. Brandur is a very talented singer/songwriter and I’m sure he’s going to be around for many a year.

The song is available digitally at iTunes internationally. I was able to buy it here in Australia which means that it should be everywhere.

08
May
11

Whatever happened to Taylor Dayne?

By twistinthedark Leave a Comment
Categories: Dusty Springfield and Music

Taylor Dayne was (and as it turns out, still is) one of those singers with a big, powerful voice who can make your toes tingle when she hits the money note. She was around in the 80s and 90s and had such mega hits as “Tell It To My Heart” and “I’ll Be Your Shelter”.

In Australia, Taylor seemed to disappear around 1993. She recorded my favourite song of hers. “Original Sin”, the theme song for the movie “The Shadow” starring Alec Baldwin as a shadowy super hero. The movie was OK, I guess, but the thing that I really loved was the song.

“Original Sin” was written and produced by none other than Jim Steinman, an obvious choice to work with Taylor. It’s big, bombastic and dramatic. Another obvious choice for the clip was the director, Russell Mulcahy (also directed the movie). Typical Mulcahy with billowing capes, billowing hair, attractive bare chested male dancers and more billowing, interspersed with clips from the movie. The song actually wouldn’t be out of place in a James Bond movie. One of the lines even refers to a “license to thrill”.

Anyway, here’s the clip in all its glory. I’m sure you’ll see why I love it so much on a number of levels.

Getting back to my question that forms the title of this post – whatever did happen to Taylor Dayne?

A quick visit to Wikipedia shows that although Australia turned their collective back on her in around 1993, Taylor has continued to record and have hits up until today. I was surprised to discover that she even recorded her version of the Dusty Springfield classic, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” – and it’s not too shabby at all.

It appears that there is work on a new greatest hits album underway which will include a new song called “Right Time”. This should be out later this year. In the meantime maybe we should start a petition to have Taylor Dayne and Jim Steinman record the theme for the next James Bond movie.

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