JustMuxtape

Since the "muxtape" site is popular right now, I decided to make a muxtape for one of my friends who just listens to a lot of indie and alt-country. So basically it's a mix of indie friendly pop. I figured I could post it here, and since this is my blog I'll include commentary. The muxtape is here: http://miserlou22.muxtape.com/. Just click on a song title to listen to the song.

Track List:
1. Amy Diamond - "Domino"
Comment: This my favorite song off of the semi-underrated third Amy Diamond album. And since "Stay My Baby" was just outside my top 10 last year, that means I like it a lot. The album wasn't that good, and it was far inferior to her second album, but it had a few really good tracks, including this driving up-tempo number with a killer chorus. I also like the main instrumental riff a lot.

2. Dido - "Hunter"
Comment: Ah, pleasant, sweet-voiced female music. Will your charms ever cease to grab me? Although I'm not generally a big Dido fan, this is one of my top 5 favorite songs in that "genre" of this decade, and it's definitely my favorite Dido song. It's really pretty and catchy and I like Dido's voice. Basically, it's a better version of "White Flag", which is a pretty good song as is.

3. Natalie Imbruglia - "Intuition"
Comment: I've previously written about this song. It's not my favorite Natalie (it's probably not in my Natalie top 10), but it's really good, and it's the one that fit in best on the mix. The problem is that Natalie's style is so distinctive that she doesn't fit well on a standard mix. It's so sunny! Natalie is usually best in desperate, pretty longing mode, but this is one of her better relentlessly upbeat songs. It's kind of cheesy but I love Natalie and I love this song.

4. Blake Shelton - "She Don't Love Me"
Comment: One of my 10 or 20 favorite songs of last year, but I haven't really talked about it because it was never a single. I really like the central lyrical conceit, and the chorus is very catchy. Plus, Blake gives a great vocal performance.

5. Sheryl Crow - "Can't Cry Anymore"
Comment: This is a standout album track from her first album, Tuesday Night Music Club. The stuttering guitar and rambling, talky melody in the verse makes the song roll along nicely. The song doesn't go anywhere necessarily but it floats into the background, and the lyrics are really weird!

6. Rachel Stevens - "Funky Dory"
7. Darren Hayes - "Crush (1980 Me)"
Comment: I'd imagine that almost anybody reading my blog would already know these two songs. But, I'm sure my friend Rich doesn't know them, and they are two of my favorites of this decade. "Funky Dory" is very sleek and "Crush" is just so unabashedly poppy and catchy. I have found that "Funky Dory" holds up better than any other Rachel Stevens, excepting "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" and "Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex".

8. Miranda Lambert - "Guilty In Here"
Comment: Like the Blake Shelton, this is a superior album track from 2007. Actually, I included it on my top 10 songs of the year list to Poptimists. This was one of the most acclaimed tracks of last year, and I don't have much to add to the acclaim. Miranda is a great singer, and the lyrics to this song are really good. It was the best country song released last year, and one of the top 10 of the decade.

9. Connie Francis - "Stupid Cupid"
Comment: I guess there wasn't really any reason to include this on the mix. But, it's one of my favorite 1950's hits, and I think it sounds really modern compared to most of the stuff that gets played on oldies radio. It has one of the best all time melodies and awesome lyrics! Any pop fan should know this song, it's one of the early songs that set the template for pop music to come.

10. that dog - "Every Time I Try"
Comment: The purpose of this mix was to provide indie friendly pop for my friend to enjoy, but I threw him a bone and included a genuine indie song. That dog were the first band who I ever saw in concert, opening for The Wallflowers, and I loved them when I heard them. This album was one of the very first I ever bought and was one of the first pieces of music I really loved. It's a key part of my musical autobiography. So, obviously I have a very personal connection to it, and I love this driving, pretty ballad. It's probably my third favorite song on the album, behind "Retreat from the Sun" and "Minneapolis" (which is probably my favorite indie rock song of all time). But it's very poppy and has really good piano, even if the indie guitar does get a little tiresome.

11. Jaci Velasquez - "On My Knees"
Comment: I've slowly been reacquainting myself with my past of listening to contemporary Christan music. Most of it wasn't that good, but I've previously repped for a couple ones that hold up (Point of Grace - "Circle of Friends" and Amy Grant). Other than the very best of Amy, this testament to the power of prayer is probably my favorite contemporary Christian song. It's really pretty and Jaci is a really good singer. When she lets her voice loose at the end it's awesome! I love the way the pre-chorus builds up into insanity, and then it flows into the more subdued chorus. But then the chorus gets crazy too! This holds up with the best ballads of Celine and Mariah, and if it wasn't a Christian song I think it would be similarly remembered today.

12. Third Eye Blind - "In The Background"
Comment: I decided to close the mix with my favorite Third Eye Blind song. It's very simple, but, like the title implies, it fades into the background nicely and is pretty and pleasant. I realize that these may sound like insults to some people, but I like those qualities in songs! This is one of the best rock ballads of the 90's.

TCR Top 30 Singles of 2007

I going to wait until the new year to post this, but screw it. I'm probably not going to get the chance to post it for another couple weeks, so I'd rather get it out while I've been tinkering with it than leave it alone for a couple weeks.

30. Enrique Iglesias - "Do You Know (The Ping Pong Song)"
This is Enrique's best single in a very long while, very possibly ever. Sure, it follows the normal Enrique formula and there's not a whole ocean of difference between this and "Escape" or "Be With You", but the melody to this is just so sharp and the ping pong percussion is amazing. Just ridiculously catchy. Of course really catchy pop songs are kinda dime a dozen, which is why it doesn't rank higher, but I appreciate it for what it is.

29. Lori McKenna - "Unglamorous"
One of the best country singles of the year barely even qualifies as a country song at all. Nevertheless, it's a great celebration of ordinary life, with a good melody and a great twangy country singer. A great pop song with a slight country twang, I recommend this to anybody, even people who don't normally like country.

28. Colbie Caillat - "Bubbly"
For whatever reason, I feel free to openly proclaim how much I like Hilary Duff or Aly & AJ, but I just feel so embarrassed for liking this. It's "inoffensive" and "vanilla". Somewhere along the line, those became the biggest insults you can give a song. But I don't mind inoffensive and vanilla (both of which this definitely is). It lacks a huge vocal hook. But it's sweet and cute and infectious. I think there's a place for sweet and cute in music. I love the way the over-cuteness and preciousness of the lyrics interact with the over-cuteness of the music to make some kind of pure, uncut cute. It's like the Milo and Otis of pop songs.

27. Finger Eleven - "Paralyzer"
This is a song that I originally was not too big a fan of, but I've come around on it. Yeah, it's a "Take Me Out" ripoff, but "Take Me Out" is one of my very favorite songs of the decade so that doesn't bother me. I like the disco-fied indie rock a lot better than normal indie rock, so I'm glad that a song like this can come around a become a hit. Danceable and catchy, and one of the five or ten best choruses of the year. Not much to like about this song beyond the chorus, I'm not a big fan of the vocals, the instrumentals are boring "Take Me Out"-lite, and the verses go nowhere. This is scientifically exactly how far a great chorus can take a mediocre song.

26. Ciara - "Like a Boy"
Possibly underrated here. I love the minimalist beat and the vocals are great. The lyrics do nothing to grab me, and while I like the melody I don't love it. It's still one of the best R&B songs of the year and it's a real damn shame it wasn't a bigger hit. I just wish it had a bigger hook.

25. Miley Cyrus - "Start All Over"
A great slice of catchy teen pop-rock, manages to keep an extremely high energy throughout without becoming tiresome. Great for dancing around to, and one of my very favorite melodies of the year. A true highlight from Miley's sophomore album, which even though it was exactly as good as her first album was still disappointing.

24. Sara Evans - "As If"
Really weird and unsettling to think about these lyrics in the context of her personal life, so I just ignore that aspect. It does have good lyrics though, about ignoring all the bad crap in a relationship in a desperate grab to hold on to the good stuff. Easily relateable and not too common in song lyrics. What is harder to ignore than the lyrical context is the awesome pop country melody and Sara's knockout vocal performance. Better instrumentation/production could have pushed this a lot higher.

23. Ashley Tisdale - "He Said, She Said"
Ashley Tisdale's vocal performance is very, very bland in this song and the lyrics are very generic and boring. Which means there's nothing to recommend this song beyond the melody and the production. Fortunately, they manage to be strong recommendations. I love the clappy, stuttering percussion on this song, it really lends a sense of urgency to the verses. It's all building up with a stuttering rhythm and swelling music in the pre-chorus, then it all falls out into a gorgeous, spare chorus. Amazing.

22. Tim Armstrong ft. Skye Sweetnam - "Into Action"
A ska song in my top 25! A song off the Tim Armstrong solo album in my top 25! I never would have guessed, even though I do like a lot of the old Rancid ska songs like "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho". This is the natural extension of the sound he had there, and it rolls along nicely into the second or third catchiest hook of the year, as sung amazingly by Skye Sweetnam. It's a lumbering rhino of a song, but it's a great one nevertheless.

21. Cupid ft. DJ Unk and Fabo - "Cupid Shuffle (Remix)"
I think it's well established by now that I love novelty songs an unhealthy amount, and this is one of the best in a long time. I've never actually danced this song, nor have I heard it played on a dance floor, I just genuinely like the song on its own merits.

20. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - "Catch You"
The best Blondie song never released by Blondie. A real dizzying delight, and the first song of 2007 that I really loved, even if it is a bit of a pure pop overload.

19. Katharine McPhee - "Over It"
I have long been a fan of Katharine McPhee, ever since I first saw her on Idol. She was my favorite that season, despite a bad tendency to oversing songs and her seeming compulsion to be the big Whitney/X-tina diva that she totally is not. I worried that would spill over to her music, but turns out her album is mostly just a bunch of warmed over R&B stuff. There are some highlights on there, like "Open Toes" and especially this song, a direct "Too Little, Too Late" rip that works because the formula is so awesome and because Kat sings the hell out of the song. In it's own subtle way it manages to be one of the prettiest ballads of the year. (Not that I mind blatantly pretty ballads a la Mariah but they just aren't right for Kat).

18. Ne-Yo - "Because Of You"
Speaking of which, this mid-tempo ballad is one of the prettiest songs of the year in an unsubtle way. The strings and bass in the musical backdrop are awesome, and the melody is just such an awesome gliding, soaring triumph. This is what Ne-Yo excels at, and he sings the hell out of it. It's the male "Irreplaceable", and though I don't like it quite as much as that song, it's still a really great one.

17. My Chemical Romance - "Famous Last Words"
"It starts out fairly standard, but ends up being nothing short of a genuine rock epic, weaving about 3 or 4 different, equally big, parts together with a great deftness, and all 3 or 4 parts are great, especially the main chorus! It sneaks up on you, but once it hits, it hits hard: emo-rock has met its peak with this song." -- That's my singles jukebox review of the song, and I'm a little bit lower on it now than I was then, but it's basically true. (In particular, it is not even the highest rated emo-rock song on this list).

16. Vanessa Anne Hudgens - "Say OK"
I think I've run out of words to say about this song. I still think it's the second-prettiest dang song of the year and that Vanessa's blank, piercing voice is just startlingly perfect for this song. Nobody appears to like this as much as I do, and I've come to terms with that. I'll just keep listening.

15. LeAnn Rimes - "Nothing Better to Do"
The best country song of the year is this barn-burning stomper by LeAnn, that is probably underrated on this list, but this is where it felt right. High energy and catchy and awesome in the same way that the best Miley songs are high energy and awesome. It hits you right in the face. Probably the best song she's ever released.

14. Fall Out Boy - "The Takeover, The Break's Over"
This is emo-rock only because of who it's by. It sounds like a normal rock song to me, and Patrick Stump is one of my favorite rock vocalists working today. It intricately weaves melodies together just as deftly as "Famous Last Words" and while it's not nearly as anthemic as that song, it's just as well-constructed. The way it bursts into its main chorus is great, and it manages to hold it all together with a simple but great "We don't fight fair" hook and a simple but great guitar line.

13. LCD Soundsystem - "Someone Great"
This was immediately my favorite song on the LCD Soundsystem album, which is possibly a sign of rapidly approaching middle age. Actually, I just love the hooks to this song, though the emotion is apparent throughout and lends it a certain depth. I don't have much to say about this song that any other publication doesn't.

12. Amy Diamond - "Stay My Baby"
Man, it's so awesome. Amy's made a habit of actually releasing her best songs as singles (except "All The Money In The World"), which allows her to do really well on my lists. This Max Martin penned ballad is just as catchy a ballad, it's own way, as most of his classic boy band ballads were. A great return to form from both Max and Amy.

11. Eve ft. Sean Paul - "Give It To You"
For whatever reason, I've always really loved Sean Paul, even though his hooks kinda are all the same. This is his best song since "Get Busy". Not to minimize the accomplishments of Eve, who provides amazing rapping, and this is all on top of a ridiculously catchy guitar loop. A real surprise.

10. Girls Aloud - "Call the Shots"
Much better than anything off Chemistry, and just as good as all of their classic hits. I guess "The Show" and "No Good Advice" are still their best songs, but this is a great ballad. I never thought they would release another song I loved this much, much less a ballad! I love love the bouncing rubber bandy musical backdrop to this, and the slight electro-flair in the chorus. I often think that GA songs go too far on the electro stuff, but it's really restrained here and I think the song really benefits from it. Another real surprise.

9. Britney Spears - "Gimme More"
IT'S BRITNEY BITCH. Not that much better than a few other similar songs on her album, I guess, but the melody to this grabs me. Who could have guessed this song would be this good? More on Britney in the rest of my year end stuff. "Gimme gimme more/gimme more/gimme gimme more" is my #1 favorite hook of the year.

8. Shop Boyz - "Party Like a Rockstar"
Awesome novelty song+really catchy chorus+rap song glorifying golf+genuinely funny lyrics+"t-t-totally dude"= top 10 spot on Greg's list, guaranteed.

7. Natalie Imbruglia - "Glorious"
The higher we get up the list, the more we get to songs I've already written a lot about, which makes it hard to add more. This is still the absolute prettiest song of the year and Natalie is still probably my favorite female vocalist. Oh hell, I'll quote myself: "A really pretty acoustic ballad from Natalie. OK, all of Natalie's songs sound kinda the same -- that's true, and this will win her no new fans. But I'm a previously declared fan of Ms. Imbruglia, and I really, really love this song. It's so pretty and summery! It's got a very catchy melody, and Natalie continues to be one of my 3 or so favorite vocalists in pop music today. This contends for her best non-"Torn" song. Really fun and amazing."

6. My Chemical Romance - "Teenagers"
This is bratty, entitled pop-punk in the way a lot of people hear Avril, but I always just find Avril silly. Not that I don't like Avril. Anyways, this is MCR's "Girlfriend", and it beats Avril at her own game, as it manages to have an even more infectious chorus, and be self-entitled in a much less annoying way.

5. Rihanna - "Shut Up and Drive"
I love the lyrics to this though, even if the central analogy is a bit obvious (Prince, for one, made the same analogy 20 years ago). The melody grabs me too, and yeah the "Blue Monday" sample is a bit too obvious for my tastes, but I think it all works.

4. Spoon - "The Underdog"
Yeah, this one shocked me. I thought there was no way I could like another indie song this much, and had basically written off that "Take Me Out" was a fluke and I was done with indie after that. This, on the other hand, is definitely the best indie song since "Take Me Out", with it's stuttering guitar line, hand claps, and great horn hook. The vocal hook is deceptively simple on this, it seems like he's just rambling on and on, but it gets hella stuck in my head anyways. It's all about the instrumentation on this, and it manages to be really danceable too!

3. Aly & AJ - "Potential Break Up Song"
OMG Greg likes an Aly and AJ Song. I dedicated an entire post to this song. It is located here.

2. Natasha Bedingfield - "I Wanna Have Your Babies"
I'm absolutely shocked that TashBed released a song that I like even more than "Unwritten", but here we are. If Natalie Imbruglia is not my favorite female vocalist in pop today, then TashBed is. I dunno what it is about her mannered vocals I love, but it just works for me. This is completely bonkers in both the music and the lyrics, and I admire its sheer dedication to bonkers-ness. Tash's performance really sells here that she's holding in, about to explode, ready to burst. The whole song is just bursting just below the seams with warmth and energy and love. It makes this the most true to new crush/first love song I've heard in a long, long time. This was #1 on my list for a lot of the year, and I keep liking it more and more. I like this song more than I liked "Sweet Temptation", but less than I liked "Not This Year".

1. Miley Cyrus - "See You Again"
Obviously, this is not a surprising placement. I have written very much about this song already, which is my favorite Miley song ever and has the best pure melody since "Come Clean", at least. And NOT ONLY that, but it features Miley's best ever vocal performance, by far. The whole chorus is just pure musical genius. Best part is still "My best friend Leslie says 'Oh she's just being Miley'."

Thus we have the best 30 singles of the year. Future posts will explore best albums, TV shows, and movies (featuring a TRUE SHOCKER at #1), but not for another week or two probably.

New Pop

I heard them too late to be on my singles list, but they'd contend:

Carrie Underwood - "So Small": The debut single off of her new release, this song is a dramatic, sweeping country ballad, along the lines of "Jesus, Take the Wheel". Now, we'd all like to hear more poppy stuff like "Before He Cheats" out of her, but let's not forget that "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was a completely brilliant single as well. And, oh yeah, so is this one. The production on this is a bit cheesy and so are the lyrics, but she's an amazing singer and what an awesome melody! The type of song that can really sweep you up and carry you away, if you let yourself give into it. It's a really pretty song, and I'm so pumped for this album. [8.5 out of 10]

Girls Aloud - "Sexy! No, No, No": My favorite GA single since, oh, 2004 or so? It's a lot harder and more electro than most of their singles, and a bit less based on melody and more based on music. Those usually portend ill for me, as I tend to love songs with strong melodies, but the propulsive rhythm and vocal/musical effects make this their most infectious single in a while. It's fun, and I'm sure it would be a great dance song! I wish the clubs in America would play this song, but that's clearly never going to happen :(. [8 out of 10]

Natalie Imbruglia - "Glorious": A really pretty acoustic ballad from Natalie. OK, all of Natalie's songs sound kinda the same -- that's true, and this will win her no new fans. But I'm a previously declared fan of Ms. Imbruglia, and I really, really love this song. It's so pretty and summery! It's got a very catchy melody, and Natalie continues to be one of my 3 or so favorite vocalists in pop music today. This contends for her best non-"Torn" song. Really fun and amazing. [9 out of 10]

Career Retrospective: Natalie Imbruglia

Today's post will discuss Natalie Imbruglia, who is key in my autobiography of a music fan (as will be later explained) and who remains one of my favorite pop stars.

My first introduction to the music of Ms. Imbruglia was "Torn", as was everyone else's. I was 15 when it was released and it was a revalation. Unlike many music critics and especially one would presume most pop music critics, I did not grow up listening to music at all. I never listened to the radio and was entirely not cognizant of pop music at all, until high school. Oh, certainly I "liked" some songs, like "Losing My Religion" and "Motown Philly" and "Under the Bridge" but only because my older brother liked them and I was trying to fit in. For my 13th birthday, in 1995, my parents bought for me a CD player. It went unused and gathered dust for well over a year. In high school though, I was introduced, via a couple of friends, to They Might Be Giants. Flood was the first album I bought and I quickly purchased the rest of their catalogue. I started listening to 80's pop. My older brother listened almost entirely to modern rock radio (99X forever y'all), and I enjoyed listening to some of the poppier modern rock hits of the day. I even bought some albums, albums I probably still have around but am now rather embarrassed about, like Radish and Cowboy Mouth and Monaco. In short, I was a pop music fan who knew nothing about pop music and so didn't like any current pop.

Anyways, I was 15 when I first heard "Torn". I first heard it when I saw the video on VH1. I was transfixed. (It remains to this day probably one of my ten favorite music videos of all time). My friends had introduced me to artists, and I had liked bands my brother liked, but this was a pure pop explosion, and I loved it. It opened my eyes to the world of pure pop bliss. It was my first favorite song, and I found out about it all on my own and loved it all on my own. I had first heard it a bit before it absolutely broke out into a smash and never listened to the radio anyways. All I knew was that none of my friends liked it and my brother didn't like it. Music had been kind of a social thing to this point, but this was all mine and I loved it. I guess my entire history as a music fan can, in some ways, be attributed back to this song. (Not to be too melodramatic though, if it hadn't been this song it would have been something else, like "My Favorite Mistake" or "Steal My Sunshine" or "...Baby One More Time").

So, yeah, in America at least, Natalie is the ultimate one hit wonder. "Torn" ruled the US airplay charts for 11 weeks (though it wasn't allowed to chart on the Hot 100 until well after it had peaked, thanks to Billboard rules at the time which eliminated airplay only singles from charting). The followups "Big Mistake" and "Wishing I Was There" more or less failed to make any impact at all, though "Wishing I Was There" was a minor hit. Any discussion of Natalie has to start with "Torn". It's lovely and it's poppy and it's sweet and it's beautiful and I can't possibly be objective about it but I love it to pieces. I've heard it a million times now (quite possibly more than any other song) and I still haven't gotten tired of it. And yeah, it's a cover of an indie song, by a band named Ednaswap, but it's about 100x better than the original. Ednaswap, who had written the song, somehow felt the need to bury that beautiful lifting melody behind layers of distortion and instruments and fuzz. But the point is, while any discussion of Natalie's music has to start with "Torn", by no means does it have to end there.

The weird thing about "Torn" is that it's not really typical of Natalie's music at all. Natalie's music, for the most part, is characterized by oddball, spare instrumentation and very simple melodic lines. These aren't hook filled acoustic pop songs like "Torn", but they generally sport interesting instrumentation, nice (though generally fairly simplistic) lyrics, and one big central hook. Oh, and Natalie is a first rate singer. Her phrasing is outstanding and it turns very simple melodies into amazing ones. What's ironic about Natalie's music is that all of her songs sound like pop covers of grunge/modern rock songs except "Torn", which is her only song that actually is a pop cover of a grunge/modern rock song.

Right from the time I bought Left of the Middle, one track stood out in my head, in addition to torn. "Big Mistake" builds up slowly, with rather spacey instrumentation and not much melody during the verses. But it explodes in the chorus, which is rather rockin. Anyways, at the time that was my favorite non-"Torn" song on the album, but one song that I might now like even more than "Torn" is "Smoke", which IS rather typical of Natalie's career. It's a very, very pretty ballad, well sung and with nice lyrics and with a chorus that's way catchier than it seems like it should be. The lyrics are rather imagery based, about feeling pain and hurting. And the piercing "Whyyyyyy" in the chorus just cuts straight to the heart. It's achingly beautiful and it makes me want to cry every time I hear it. Thanks to "Smoke" and "Torn", this is one of the few albums which have multiple 10/10 songs on it. The actual followup, in America at least, is "Wishing I Was There", which is sunny pop along the lines of "Torn" and which is probably one of the weaker songs on the album, though the verses are great.

It's not just the singles on the album, pretty much all of the songs on the album are at least very good (heh, except "Impressed"). Personal favorites are "One More Addiction" which is probably the most alt-rock songs on the album and features psychadelic guitars in the chorus, which is possibly the catchiest on the entire album; "Pigeons and Crumbs" which is another very pretty ballad like "Smoke", although it's got more busy and more oddball instrumentation behind it, although the melody never really goes anywhere; and "Intuition" (even better than Jewel!) is very mid 90's, but it's got a nice sunny alt-rock sound to it and the melody is extremely strong throughout (warning: will get stuck in your head).

Natalie followd this album up with White Lilies Island, which is a much more downbeat affair entirely. Most of the songs are co-written with Gary Clark, and you can tell because it's all a bit same-y. Though very good nonetheless! This is a whole album of "Smoke"s and "Pigeons and Crumbs"s, gone are the sunny pop numbers like "Torn" and "Intuition" and "Wishing I Was There". The closest to it is "That Day", unsurprisingly a single from the album. The main guitar hook is nice enough here but what really makes this song is Natalie's performance. The verses are basically spoken word, but remain extremely catchy, due to Natalie's phrasing and wordings. It all leads up to a chorus which not much above spoken word itself and which features musical background that is substantially similar to the verses. The whole song plows ahead like a charging rhino, barely going up for air and just showing a hint of vulnerability. Like most Imbruglia songs, the lyrics are extremely imagery based and don't necessarily tell a complete narrative. As far as I can tell it's a breakup song, but clearly the lyrics are conflicted. The conflict in the lyrics though, is belied by the confident and charging vocals, which makes for an interesting contrast. The other single from this album is "Wrong Impression" , which has a very catchy chorus but isn't really as good as some of her better work. In any event, the album is good, though due to the saminess it's the worst of her three albums.

Other than the singles particular highlights: "Beauty on the Fire" rolls along with a very laid back melody into a prechorus. The song seems to die off right after the prechorus, and I start to lament that she hasn't taken it far enough. But just when it seems about to fade off back into the verse it blows into the chorus which really works in the context of the song. More of the odd spacy instrumentation though. "Satellite" is an acoustic pop song, though it doesn't soar like "Torn", it just kind of rides along sweetly and is very pretty. A great love song. If I could play guitar I would totally cover it. "Talk In Tongues" is a very simple song with not much of a melody at all, but it's very low and sad. And it's catchy enough anyways.

I feel like a broken record here which I guess hits to the main criticism of Imbruglia, which is the similarity of it all. Basically spoken word, very melodically simple verse building up into a big catchy pop chorus, is the basic Imbruglia song structure and most of her songs fit the bill. But the pop hooks are good enough and the verses are pretty enough and her performances are charismatic enough to overcome it all. To me at least.

The singles on her third album are "Shiver", which is a nice ballad that has a good catchy bass hook. The melody on the verses is very classic Imbruglia (one Imbruglia criticism: the verses all sound kinda alike), and it builds up to a pretty standard rock ballad chorus but is catchy. "Counting Down the Days" contends for my very favorite non-"Torn" Imbruglia song, with "That Day" and "Smoke", as it's very pretty and very catchy! It's a song about regretting a breakup, and it probably sports the best lyrics of any Imbruglia song in her catalogue. The production adds a lot to the song too. And it's a hundred times more lively than anything on White Lilies Island.

She only turns to Gary Clark for 2 songs on this album, "When You're Sleeping" and "Sanctuary", and you can tell because they sound exactly like the songs on her second album. Gary Clark is apparently kind of a one trick pony here, but when he does the one trick well enough I'm kinda willing to overlook it. I'm glad she's decided to work with multiple co-writers here though, because it adds a bit of new life to the album. She even turns to Kara Dioguardi for two songs, "Starting Today" and "On the Run", which are two of the particular highlights on the album.

Anyways, the music isn't as relentlessly hooky as most of the stuff that I talk up on here, but if you are in the mood for some more downbeat and pretty pop music, Natalie Imbruglia is one of the finer purveyors of that form. Her songs are a bit soundalike, especially on White Lilies Island, so that means it isn't going to be for everybody. But if you find that you like some of the singles that I linked, definitely go out and buy Left of the Middle and Counting Down the Days. She's just finished up a new album, and apparently it will be released in "Spring 2007", which would be any day now.