The Click Five:
Then ~ When a nicely suited and booted Click Five first appeared on the scene with Greetings From Imrie House, it was such a blast of jangly catchy guitar pop fresh air, that it fair took my breath away. It's hard to pinpoint one song of amazingosity but certainly Just The Girl, Catch Your Wave and Pop Princess all were equal parts McFly, Beach Boys and Backstreeet Boys wrapped up in delightful three minute pop songs. I dug the album out this week and it is still as lush now as it was back in 2005. Then Eric Dill left and the band recruited a new singer and went a bit panic-at-the-disco. Whether they were trying to shrug off their boyband image, i don't know, but the album initially was a disappointment over the debut. Over time, I have revised that opinion and there are still some great tracks on there filled with melody, punch and a kicky hook - check out Flipside, Headlight Disco and brillo Summertime....Now ~ I wasn't entirely sure that The Click Five would be returning so I was quite pleased when I heard they would be. Hurrah I thought. Then I saw the promo picture on their website (above) and my heart sunk in a 'what is happening here' moment. The piccie did not represent what I wanted in a Click Five return to glory. Luckily the song I Quit I Quit I Quit does (click the link to stream). Structurally, it reminds me quite a lot of The Feeling's Love It When You Call. The chorus is quite unassuming at first but Kyle's voice soon powers it forward and there are some lovely harmonised vocals towards the end of the tune. It seems that the boys are back to doing what they do best - writing a love letter to pop and singing their hearts out about it. It certainly hasn't taken me long to fall back in love with them, horrible promo pic notwithstanding :)
(Next ~ more on Eric Dill's solo tracks soon and finally, a peek at the Taking Five movie)
Rob Thomas (not of Veronica Mars creation fame!):
Then ~ the beauty of solo Rob Thomas without his matchbox or twenty was that he embraced an eclectic mix of pop styles within his music. And he did it quite well. Smooth was/is amazing. The latin tinged Lonely No More was an urgent pop triumph. And his made-for-top-forty track Little Wonders (from Meet The Robinsons movie) was as wistful as it was lovely. And the tracks that came inbetween were all of the nearly good to quite good variety. Then he got back together one more time with MB20, produced some fairly decent tunes but left me hoping he would return to solo pop soon...Now ~ Rob is back! Doing solo pop! And i'm not entirely blown away. Yet. I have faith people. Thing is, it sounds like his album will be as eclectic and musically diverse as his debut. And there is nothing wrong particularly with the lead off single Her Diamonds (click on the link to stream). It just seems incredibly by the numbers, made for radio smash. That's not a bad thing and i'm aware that this is really what the Rob Thomas brand is all about. I kinda just want to shake him a little bit and get him to fuse those innovative moments he has into an entirely terrific album. I DO like the song, and it will probably grow on me quite a lot over the next couple of weeks and then I will profess my love for it and it will be like this write up never happened :) (the gospelly bit at the end IS great!)
(Next ~ Rob should shave his head again. Much hotter)
Let us not forget: The return of Sophie Ellis Bextor as proper popstar. HMMAD must be massive soon...
EDIT1: Ok, so after the dire situation that was his cover of Patience, Nikki is right ~ the new Nick Lachey song ISN'T terrible!!
EDIT2: I have decided that perhaps the Click Five promo pic is actually a clever "holding pic" that suggests a brand new look will be revealed soon. I am so smart :P
Coming soon: More new music (I still need to get around to Del Marquis and Marina & The Diamonds); old music (Princess, Mandy Smith, Lonnie Gordon, Halo James, Waterfront, Let Loose, Bad Boys Inc, Living In A Box and any other highlights from old albums i find), what have i missed this tv season and the predictable weekly catch up. CU soon!
Haven't heard the new Nick Lachey song. I'm quite expecting that I'll not like it. But I have to give him the benefit of the doubt.
ReplyDeleteClick Five has never been the same when Eric Dill left the group. The new group is even bigger with the lead singer. Their songs are really really being crazed over here in the Philippines. Quite appalling but it seemed okay for me.
and lastly, Rob Thomas? Okay. I'm not going GaGa over his new material. I'm really not that into his music ever since. But maybe, I'll try even just a little bit take a few spins of "Her Diamond" to lessen my dislike of him.
Here's to the return of S E-B, according to twitter she was filming her new video yesterday...exciting, I hope she has some proper success this time!
ReplyDeleteUgh. The Click Five better give us an album that can at least come close to their first one, mainly because I despise everything on their second album(except maybe for 'Flipside' - that was somewhere near brilliant..) and I adored their first one(can you believe that I gave away my physical copy of their first album because I was so frustrated with them? I so regret it now.)
ReplyDeleteHMMAD sounds massive! And the pic on XO's blog is simple and elegant. 'Nuff said!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for HMMAD - A 30 second snippet on Popjustice just doesn't do the pop justice (Haha - I couldn't resist....)
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm quite a Rob Thomas fan, This Is How A Heart Breaks is rather Magnif, his MB20 stuff is decent too as were his other solo singles - I don't think I liked the album, I'm not sure...I can't remember...
I've been waiting for "All In My Head" for AGES, since he performed it on that High School Music reality show he was doing (which I did not watch, but saw the clip of on YouTube). It's good, better than his version of "Patience" (what isn't?), but not likely to win over people who aren't at least somewhat interested in him already.
ReplyDeleteSigh...I wish I agreed with you and Nikki about the Click Five! In theory--if you were to describe all the song's elements--I should love it, and maybe I would with a different singer, but it just feels so...pedestrian as is for me. The spark isn't there and I think it's because of Kyle's voice (though not having actually heard it with anyone else singing, it is possible it's from the song itself; when I imagine the alternatives, though, I think I'd like it a lot more). Maybe it'll suddenly click with me--I really, really hope so. Also on the subject of the Click Five, I've got some giant post about them/what they've meant to me/what happened to them that I should really try to sort out.
Rob Thomas's song--listened to it once, twice. I know I'll return to it since I don't think I've got a handle on it yet. Like you, I wish the lead single was more exciting (oh, how I loved "Lonely No More" and especially "This Is How A Heart Breaks," which I think is incredibly underrated), but this has the chance to grow on me.
I too quite like Rob Thomas. Little Wonders is indeed written for top 40 but is also quite lovely. He does have a knack for exploiting genres.
ReplyDeleteAnd the new Click Five song is winning me back more than anything on their second album. I think you are right - that pic MUST be a holding photo pending new look. God i hope so!
Ken - well i'm a bit preprogrammed NOT to like Dick Lachey but this song isn't entirely horrible and is quite sing songy. I'd prefer it if westlife came back with it though! I didn't realise Click Five were so massive in the Phillipines! And also so reviled for their second album. It was a MASSIVE comedown from the first, but i do think it is quite good over time.
ReplyDeleteJames - yes she needs to return to the massiveness of her first album. I've heard the new mix of HMMAD a few times in a club the past few weeks and it's deliriously amazing :)
Nikki - that's quite the negative reaction to their second album. Like i said, i wasn't won over instantly by the sophomore set but it's settled with me over the years. I Quit is a step in the right direction but the album needs to embrace their poppy roots more for me to entirely forgive them...
Yuri - agreed. She looks gorgeous :) But she always did, even with "shit all over her face" :P
Aaron - yay! I am glad there is some Rob Thomas love out there. The singles as a sum were better than the whole of the album but really for me that was enough :)
PPG - i didn't know Nick had performed this song on HSM series. Anything is better than Patience, and i think you are right - it won't win him major new fans but for fans of his sound it's quite nice. And Click Five seem to be responsible for some severe disappointment with their second album. Please do your post on them :) Rob Thomas, i echo what i said in reply to aaron. vastly underrated singles...
Ben - well i really do hope that horrid picture is just to tide them over til a funky new makeover :)