Cher - Backstage (1968)

Backstage is the first major stylistic shift from Cher is also the first of her truly neglected albums. The album failed to chart and yielded no hit singles anywhere.

The bluesy opener Go Now is low key and moody. It totally puts Cyndi's Memphis Blues to shame. Its slow pace is a dream: the busy organ sounds, strings and smoldering guitar elements melting into something much more mature and restraint than before. Most of the covers are equally as successful. A real highlight is the subtle and soft textures of her dark Carnival. Her voice is impressive: rather than pouncing in loudly, it showcases in turn its husky prowess and capability for a softer, more rich approach. 

The dreamy equation It All Adds Up Now is a romantic vehicle. The simplicity of the ballad Reason To Believe is another bold stroke that pays off. "Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried" flickers with a sentiment that Cher's delivering both because and beyond the lyric - her vocal expertise is well in truly coming into its own.

The brilliant Dylan cover Masters of War is deliciously cynical sounding. Seething slyly through a curtain of Indian influences, Cher sounds dry as ever but hugely passionate - her deadpan disdain is a thing of beauty. "And I hope that you die and your debt will come soon" couldn't be anymore brutal, until the final kiss-off. It plays perfectly alongside her more well known narrative songs.

She gets her stellar groove back on Do You Believe In Magic, and thank god for that. What is most impressive is that she's straddling between genres with an innate conviction that's accomplished without growling or sounding out of her comfort zone. Each song is sounding custom-designed. Her heavy flow continues on I Wasn't Ready, with more blues influences giving the groove more oomph.

Scaring the shit out of Dionne, A House Is Not A Home is dry and the production mimicking the splinters in a relationship, all the while Cher croons more smoothly than Jane McDonald polishing off a litre of gin in her bunker. Offering more still, Take Me For A Little While is girl-group heaven, supremely easy on the ears. "I gotta stop it." Those backing vocals are subtle but oh so effective. It's hard not to imagine her improvising some stand-still hand choreography whilst recording it.

The Impossible Dream pushes Cher to her voice-breaking limit.There are some unpleasant sounds here, but it's never any less than gripping. The musicality is lush and forgiving. The Click Song is just daft. I can't defend it objectively, but the bizarre choice of cover made it something of a Crickets Sing For Anamaria of its day. It would have sounded great as a dance number for Rita Hayworth in her 1953 film Miss Sadie Thompson. Ending on a terrific downer, Song Called Children is a dreamy piano ballad, with dashings of little twists and turns to its fragile melody and bare arrangement. I'd love to hear Cher sing this live as she is now - it's full of light and shade, and so sorry for itself at times. Exquisite. 

So there we have it. Cher's best 60s album, a flop. Her best 70s album, a flop, Her best 80s album, a flop. And so on. A commercial back-step, but a leap in maturity and interpretation. The songs are saturated in smoother grooves, moodier inflections and an overall sophisticated flair that make Cher herself sound like the sole reason the albums exists and not merely just lucky to be singing them.

Cher - With Love (1967)

US #47

Consistently considered Cher's strongest 60s set, With Love immediately benefits from her continually improving vocals, which are now richer with more agility and power. We're still not gliding at the same heights as on her 70s vintage peak, but it's still noticeable.

Morphing into a man well before Chaz, Cher doesn't bother to adapt the gender of You Better Sit Down Kids (US #9, CAN #7) of which Sonny had recorded first. It's the most famous Cher song here. It would be 4 years before she would grace the US top 10 again.

Failing to unlock the charts, Behind The Door (US #97, CAN #74) slams shut the fey pop she started out with in favour of the theatrical leanings of her most popular work from the following decade. One of the album's biggest growers. Initially I hated it, but I love the sense of foreboding drama that's almost too contrived to take seriously. 

Taken from the soundtrack to the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (sadly not a Cher pun), I Will Wait For You is a familiar whimsical and flighty sounding ballad with a serene string section stretching things out. Cher sings really well on it, without being drowned out or trying to hard to sing above it all.

The commercially infertile Mama (When My Dollies Have Babies) (US #124, CAN #45) is a tad meandering for my taste. The po-faced drama of the chorus is completely undermined by the fact that she is singing about her dollies having a babies. I'd say it's actually dreadful, but merely interesting for the fact that it seemed controversial for its time (and I do love this theme of Cher herself, or with Sonny, taking the American facade apart whether on purpose or not - no one was listening anyway).

The predictable Dylan cover The Time's They Are A-Changing seems like an ironic admission as to why her record sales were slowing down. My least favourite of her Dylan setlist (I'm highly surprised they were never grouped together for one separate project, which may have just sent the man himself over the edge).

But I Can't Love You More safely covers familiar ground and could easily slot into any of her previous LPs. Similarly, Look At Me is light on the ears for the same reasons (but is much better).

The show number Sing For Your Supper signifies the direction her career would soon take (songs such as this would be common place on her TV shows). On this evidence, songs such as this explain her nimble frame. 

Hello, Hey Joe (US #94), you wanna give it a go? It's a slow-burning bluesy number that gets to grips with yet more gun-related solutions. Cher's hollering with no specific aim, but thankfully avoids the rabid frothing at the mouth style she'd growl with on some of her 80s material. It understandably wasn't a hit, but does deserve attention.

There But For Fortune flirts with the chiming motif of her early records, but has a plaintive quality that's really lovely. It's also nice to hear some of the gravel-like textures to her voice alongside the smoother form being showcased. One of the highlights here.

Sadly record buyers treated With Love with indifference, which is a crying shame. The vocal improvement is a big draw for me, but it's not as songful as her debut even if it's a more accomplished record overall.

Cher - Chér (1966)

US #59 

Moving swiftly on to her self-titled third album, which may as well serve as a warning to the overall lack of originality. Of the covers, she's aiming too high: competing with Dusty Springfield on an unnecessary You Don't Have To Say You Love Me was ridiculous, although I've always enjoyed the way she seems to slur "just be close at hand" in a rather rushed manner. Her version of Alfie (US #32, CAN #26) is the one that appears on the official soundtrack, but the Dionne Warwick reading has became the most well known. Cher would later re-record the song for the movie's 2004 remake, but when test audiences thanked her with laughter the idea was quickly scrapped. Will You Love Me Tomorrow makes me hope the answer was no. Cher never suited such drippyness (even on I Got You Babe she was sticking the knife in to her soul mate). Sunny (UK #32, NED #2) is a huge success, the steady charge of the enthusiastic musical elements and Cher's grimacing chorus really take hold. Until It's Time For You To Go breathes some of the same French air of the previous record, and has always been a personal highlight - the holler of the chorus worth every dollar of the album cost. Homeward Bound is another soft stream of folk-pop agonies. 12th of Never is good, coated with a serenade of lush instruments. I Want You maintains the form of all her Dylan ditties - far more chirpier than the notable Sophie B Hawkins version, which is more meditative. Sonny's I Feel Something In The Air (CAN #89, UK #43) considers unwanted pregnancy out of wedlock with a pretty chorus, which perhaps explains why it never went full term at radio. A what will the neighbours say? for the 60s as she ruefully considers what people will think of her for being such a slut.

Despite its abysmal chart placing, the album sold moderately well in the US. Another souvenir of the showbiz Cher tale, but sidestepping some of the covers its another more than decent LP under her Bob Mackie sleeve. The simplicity of many of the arrangements have meant time has been relatively kind.

Cher - The Sonny Side of Chér (1966)

US #26, UK #11

Taking forever to release more music, Cher finally released another album 4 months after her debut. Leaving so long between operations has something she's tried hard not to repeat ever since of course. On her second solo shot, the clear stand out is Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) (US #2, UK #3). The song is brittle and fully-loaded with atmospheric strings, chilly flourishes and a casual off the cuff quality, all the while the lyrics drag with adulthood disappointments of a graphic nature. It boils my blood whenever Cher's original version (which was a major hit to boot) is overlooked in favour of the more "fashionable" Nancy Sinatra version. You could say we have the template for the broken woman anthems, of which I am sure she has referred to as "the whore ballads" (ie, her big US pop number 1s Gypsies, Half Breed and in particular Dark Lady).

Bono's wistful Where Do You Go (US #25) does a good enough job trying to be Bob Dylan. Tackling the subject of a broken family, the close to home forecast is evident in hindsight with Cher's gentle but lingering coos and the juxtaposition with the jaunty arrangement seemingly magnifying the real life outcome.

A European influence breezes through Our Day Will Come: the vocal still lacks the subtlety she will master in the 70s, but the sharper edges remain pleasing and a unique pleasure.

Ellusive Butterfly flutters with much the same arrangements. For those unfamiliar with the original, like myself, this is serviceable if not terribly exciting.

Excavating Dylan's songbook yet again, Like A Rolling Stone is tremendous. The arrangements ache and echo with the kind of melancholia waltzing through some of Sonny & Cher's hits.

Come To Your Window (US #23) is more smashed in and clattering arrangements. I'm fond of it whenever it comes on, but I can't deny it's 'framed' (okay I'll stop) with much of what you can hear on any other song from the period.

Slightly disappointing, The Girl From Ipanema really needed a gear change in Cher's vocals. Instead her drawl just sounds bored, which is a shame as singing more quietly and expressively could have made this rather special.

I get no satisfaction from It's Not Unusual. Similarly naff, Milord must have sounded dated even then, but has a quaint charm to the speed increase during the chorus and the velvety story telling of the verses, which make it good fun for what it is.

Bang Bang is magnificent, Cher has a stronger and more confident presence and the arrangements are seeking influences from further afield. Another important stepping-stone in her 30 album + career. Taking Cher at face value has always been her problem, but her early albums cannot be denied their merit.

Cher - All I Really Want To Do (1965)

US #16, UK #7

Like any shy young docile man with a deep throat hiding behind an older man's shadow, going solo (with a future of fake tan, Oscar winning performances and a penchant for a wig every now and then) was only a matter of time. But onto Cher, let's rewind back to when it all began. The clink-clank Spector-influenced pop of Cher's Dylan cover All I Really Want To Do (US #15, UK #9) was her first major hit as a solo act after a few experiments under different pseudonyms. Sonny Bono was not quite a protege of Phil Spector, but the connection is evident in his own approach of using intricate production layers and doubling up specific parts. The starry-eyed moment is understandably adorable and precocious: catching a glimpse of the singer at a particular moment in time, right at the start, and with the benefit of hindsight the song is soaked in a nostalgia that makes every flaw going seem as though it couldn't be more perfect. I'm really partial to this era of Cher music, but the repetition of this sound will wear thin on subsequent albums. Cher's dense vocal quality is basically the cement that holds everything together - a solid substance that pretty much renders all of her recordings as structures to be admired whether what's going on is pleasing or not. Cher's voice of steel is strong, but she sounds as if she doesn't quite no how to fully utilize it on this opening song. Here, her brazen approach benefits the lyric, which is in turns shy and defeated, then bold and determined the next. Dipping into the songbook of Bob Dylan was something of a habit for Cher in the 60s (much to the suppressed irritation of the man himself), but the overrated curmudgeon should be grateful as they are wonderful readings.

The same dreamy density of production is applied to I Go To Sleep, but with slightly more whimsical flourishes. Again, Cher's drowsy drawl is captivating in its most raw form, and sounds both naive and appalled by unthinkable nightmares at the same time.

Folk-pop classic Needles & Pins is a by now familiar Cher sensation: Cher's burning voice is especially haunting and wayward. A missed opportunity as the Sonny Bono co-write became a hit in the UK, but not for Cher.

My very favourite early Cher song of all, Don't Think Twice, It's Alright is a plodding, pavement-gazing number. The vocal is in turns pure, plaintive and pouring with her distinctive passion. The gentle Blowin' In The Wind is restraint and beautifully makes use of the harsh sandpaper texture of her voice.

Switching the gender of the original faster than Chaz armed with a staple gun, He Thinks I Still Care is predictable, but endearing and fully committed to the style of the record. You know what to expect.

Oh here we go. Dream Baby was one of her solo false starts, but this is fueled with all the familiar 60s Cher splashings of Spector, a hold-steady girl-group tempo to the sensual rhythm of the verses ("and I ... feel so good") and a sing-song sensibility in the trail of The Beatles.

The Bells of St Rhymney is yet more startled, sparkly, strummy folk-pop. With a voice so androgynous, it sounds as if that throat of her's is like a caldron that could cough up coal, or maybe one is just stuck there.

I'll group together Girl Don't Come, See See Rider and Cry Myself To Sleep. They're pretty perfunctory filler. Curiosity value only.

Back on track, Come And Stay With Me never fails to put a delirious smile on my face. The stop-start thumps give the song an amateur feel, with Cher's unflinching conviction seemingly oblivious to the slightly rushed and clumsy clatter of sound clouding around her.

Many of these songs offer the same chimes and overall style, but it's a record that stands up as a bold and casual introduction for Cher as a solo threat. She's anything but subtle, but her approach is exactly what renders the whole affair so engaging.

Lena Philipsson - Världen Snurrar (2012)

Making a comeback earlier this year, Lena's new album is drunk on dance, but not without a contemplative trio of closing tracks to cure any hangover from the sublime club crusades. The first 7 tracks are so joyous, the final three take a down-tempo turn when the album has something of a power cut, which is worth it to finally arrive at the very special track 8. Lena and her emotive voice thrives in any setting: milking the Swedish pink pound or the whimsical acoustic benders to coax back everyone else. 

The dramatically charged du följer väl med really gets this thing going. She's on fine vocal form, even if when spouting off "du följer fäl, du följer fäl, du följer fäl" like she's just bit her tongue. The lower tone is noticeable compared to her vintage prime, but the sheer euphoric ejaculation of the chorus is divine.

Arrving on a bed of piano keys and atmospheric synths, Live Tomorrow has a plaintive disco pulse as Lena comforts herself with lyrics that appeal to the environment around her to alleviate doubts of her own mortality. It's very Gloria Swanson meets Gina G meets someone who can sing and stuff. The way she emotes is sensational: "I don't like to wait" sounds like a command and regret simultaneously. The swirling disco pathos of the airy pause of the middle eight before she wails into the moonlight is a proper goosebumps moment. 

bli galen is so fabulous it barely remembers to have a melody. Only a diva can keep you waiting for a full minute before deciding to do some singing. Devoting myself to words I don't understand, this is such an absorbing creation for something so throwaway in its essence.

Idiot is a dreamy blend of gentle keyboard treats and Lena's effortless diva treacle dripping all over it.

The shiny synthesized momentum of vart tog du vägen is gentle and the Moroder-esque rhythms is impossible to resist.

When the piano sounds trip over the campy disco elements and Lena yelps for the sheer glorious abandon of it all, igen och igen really ebbs, flows, throbs and spurts with all the dance-pop juices I could ever ask for. Undeniable.

The summit of the 7 track operation, världen snurrar is another masterstroke execution of her glamorous vocal flair and the fluid pulsating decadence of it all.


The abrupt shift into folk music is justified by the beauty of ett hjärta. Parts of it remind me of the pre-chorus to the Bluetones' Slight Return, parts of it remind me of My Guy (let's just say Whoopi Goldberg sang that one). If I had the time or self-pity I'd have a cry to it, it's so lovely.

Piano ballad botten is nådd is nice enought, with some wonderfully expressive deliveries (especially of the title lyric along with the addition of strings).nästasSäsong is more poised and more taken with the idea of having a chorus - one of longing and a drum beat to keep things moving in her 5 glasses later swept up fashion.

So the erogenous zones are most definitely the first gin-soaked disco vibes of the first 7 cuts, but overall the resulting pop is a huge score and the ballads sound like three gorgeous numbers she was keeping for a rainy day.

Lena Philipsson - Fantasy (1993)

So much of what on offer here owes itself to soft dance-pop grooves melted into Rn’B inclinations, with the whole shebang given a mid-tempo house gloss. Think Cathy Dennis delivering quality album tracks as if her life depended on it. What Lena has going for is her strong, sultry voice, powerfully restrained and prone to getting hot under the collar with ad libs most divas would sell their souls for.

The clear stand out for me is the hypnotic Give Me Your Love, piano keys rippling on top of some intoxicating keyboard riffs and typically flashy dance drum-machines clattering to make the most of the seething rhythm. Or something euro-dancey along those lines. It's a deluxe disco showcase, and one where Philipsson finds her best form. Immersed in its Moroder-esque synthesized votlage, the title track is no less alluring.

Elsewhere, For The Love Of You is a phoney sentiment (as if she'd give up ANYTHING for her man), but the sheer performance elevates the competent song-craft with her innate diva allure. There's a cover some song called Take My Breath Away: Lena naturally doesn't even break a sweat, and although the contemporary dance make-over gets going in a subtle manner, it's nothing more than a mildly titillating curiosity. On Make It Last, an after-hours torch song, the party has finished, but Lena is set adrift, getting her sax-appeal on with some lovelorn emotions.

Overall, solid and sporadically impressive.

Lena Philipsson - Dansa i neon (1987)

This is an album at times incredibly exciting, exalting, emotional or else just explosive. Singer Lena pushes herself into emotional extremes that I’ll never understand without enrolling in a Swedish night class. Drenched in romantic intensity and soaring vocal flourishes, I was not expecting something this advanced from a second album by someone so young (the only person younger at the time would have been Kelly Llorenna).

The well-executed Saknar dej innan du går is romantic, expressive and sharply melodic. Lena’s radiant (and at times slightly haughty) delivery of the chorus is restrained and just gorgeous. The track itself is atmospheric and uplifting. The folky texture juxtaposed with an ornate dance setting is a winning formula. 

Dansa i neon is immediately stark and hypnotic. With a trembling chorus that ignites into something ABBA would have been proud of, the production values are fully immersed in Lena's heart-felt tumult. I don't understand a word, but I'm thrilled to hear it.

Performing her seriously experienced feelings on Du är mitt liv goes over my head, but the performance is ravishing. The salsa textures are a climax and a half.

In such a torrid climate of humid pop romance fever, it's only expected some sort of slow number would wash ashore. Regn faller is poignant in ways I'll never realize, the production is minor and yet decorated with synths, ripples and a slightly Disney-esque odor (think more Aerial in a curtain-rope ensemble than Ursala all the while in a black ensemble). This could easily have been serviced to Tina Arena, but Lena lends her untouchable charisma and makes it her own.

Within two seconds of Den ende’s unmistakable intro, I had gasped "OH MY GOD". This really is something. Lena is alert and bellowing like a pro, the bass is throbbing and trumpets blow their load in expert fashion. Resign yourself to how amazing she is.

Cheerio wouldn’t have been my choice for a single, and singing "cherry o" sounds more like a new brand of yoghurts, but the delivery is pure theatre. Maudlin for some, by the time the guitar spikes itself in the middle it's somewhat dramatic. Pushing her pipes in heroic fashion.

Sommartid has a bracing, dramatic energy. 

Wistful midtempo Ah vad jag längtar is also fairly good.

Kom du av dej has a mostly delicate vocal propelled by gorgeous 80s electronic noises. It really is impressive. Lena bides her time before wailing whenever it sounds best to. During the chorus I keep singing Sandi Toksvig though.

Om jag fick is incredibly pretty. The shimmery keyboards soon build like a blocked toilet and the schlock gets overflowing with foreign matter (of the heart).

Säg det nu is a thick mix of footloose dance rhythms. A familiar-sounding arrangement, one of the only times there is a mere hint to aping other people’s sounds.

The harder discotheque edges of Det går väl an inhabit yet more dazzling dance dimensions

Jubilant lamentations of the disco-driven ballad Kärleken är evig lay all her love on the discothèque. Stylishly emphasizing melancholia on a triumphant sounding throb, to throw such a highlight this far into an album illustrates the epic scale we are dealing with here. 

Jag känner is more straight-up and anthem, sounding hysterical without forgetting to be catchy. Her wonderfully theatrical flair is utilized to full effect: a wounded wail, a soothing coo, a gasp. On this chorus I sing the name Kris Jenner.

Yet more invention thrown into her dance-pop cocktail formula, Jag sänder på min radio is hauntingly jaunty and uplifting. Shaken, stirred and drugged up to the 9s.

My mind was truly boggling as to how she was going finish herself off. Surprisingly, not on her own. Roping in someone male, who can sing and I couldn't google the name of, on Löpa linan ut, I was hoping for a dance-pop synth-driven monster: instead the mood is more pensive and mid-tempo, but she still manages to end the album on a high note. Its percussion sections sound like the fizzy hook to the Pointer Sisters' Automatic.

Truly brilliant album: sometimes dance-pop, sometimes drunk on ballads with a kick to them, but always rich and exquisitely executed. Invigorating.

Cher: The Casablanca Years (Part 1)

Album #15 from Cher drove her to the disco and jived her back into the charts. Take Me Home was released in early 1979 at the height of disco and peaked at #25 in the USA and was far too decadent to do anything else in any other venue. Newly signed to Cassablanca, the label home of Donna Summer (who refused to let Cher have her song Bad Girls when she wasn't keen on releasing it straight away), the album finds the singer in strong form in doing her best to ignite some pretty poor material in among the odd gem.

Cher and disco were a more natural fit than Chaz in size 22 dungarees. After all, what is more inviting than a husky deadpan tranny in sequins asking you to go home with them on? Take Me Home has been an enduring hit for Cher over the years in America, and the song was finally brought to the attention of the UK when Sophie Ellis-Bextor had the audacity to cover it and rile up nana Cher with a few disgusting additional lyrics ("it's gonna happen anyway" was Cher's biggest upset since Chastity revealed how much she loved gammon slices, and that she was a lesbian as well).
10/10

Wasn't It good sips from the same cup, but doesn't quite have the same heat. Elevated by a truly compelling spoken word section: "Whoo! Was it, was it really good? Oooh you loved it didn't you love it? Ho-ho god I'm so, grrrrrr, shoot I got it good! Ooh did you love it, did you dig it?"
07/10

Say The Word doesn't have much to say, and is a bunch of cliches given the generic disco treatment. 
06/10

Happy Was The Day We Met melts into the same arrangements as any other faceless and forgettable disco track, but at least she bellows a little on the chorus with a few cheery stop-starts to the rhythm.
05/10

Blow-job queen anthem Git Down (Guitar Groupie) spits Cher's trademark rock venom and swallows a whole bunch of pseudo rock-raunch sounds. Cher cackling "shady lady from the ghetto" and "what a fuckin' reputation is gonna follow me around all over town?" is her best oral in years. Such a hardcore performance might have had something to do with then-lover Gene Simmons' involvement.
09/10

Love & Pain gets one of those qualities down to a tee. Cher gets into it with real gusto and thunderous steel. She's positively quaking and foaming at the heavily lip-glossed lips (with bits of her real hair stuck to them) as she hollers the chorus with no clear indication where the passion is coming from.
06/10

Let This Be A Lesson To You is more mid-tempo disco jollies. It sounds more like a line-dancing class than Studio 54.
07/10

It's Too Late To Love Me Now is a gentle country-tinged ballad. Cher's the club singer at the ranch called Bar Nothing. The disco has faded, and Donna Summer wouldn't have lost any sleep over this one.
08/10

My Song (Too Far Gone) clears the disco floor completely. Maudlin and a real skid-mark on the album.
05/10

Christina Aguilera - Lotus (2012)

It has been a decade since Christina Aguilera was universally recognized as a truly viable singles act, and on Lotus her juices flow faster and thicker than I ever thought she'd go - the melodies don't just ooze out, they hurl themselves like being pushed out a moving car on the freeway. Although her red nectar has been known to drip down her legs under immense pressure to make sure people know she's better than them, Lotus is a confident display of her true colours, a blend of the best and worst Xtina at her very finest. Fertilizing her flower with the recent shit she's been through is no easy task, and when told she was barking up the wrong tree with the music lovers album Bionic, Xtina took it literally and went for the next best thing. Plants.

Lotus
From a deep dark faraway place to emotional infinity: "I sing for freedom, and for love. I look at my reflection, embrace the woman I've become. The unbreakable lotus in me I now set free." Feeding her flower with a wash of yelp echos, new world atmospherics and empowered spoken-word exotica. Not quite taking a leaf out of Enya's book, the dense growth of harmonious and sensual chants are ravishing. The breathtaking climax achieving the smuggest sense of bliss possible.
10/10

Army of Me
Marching over a thoughtless dance thump, AOM gathers a steady invasion of Max Martin's 'songs for Katy Perry' documents folder. The sleek verses are deliciously bitter, and Xtina's teeth-licking taunts camouflage the otherwise blatant intent to attack both the charts and her ex's last shred of dignity (it's hard to tell which one she's aiming for most). Although it sounds more about her voice being on the firing line than anything else, the chorus luxuriates in the force of her vocal ammunition, least we forget she can sing. "There's a thousand faces on me" articulates the suspicion that she probably never takes her make-up off, and her loaded gun is full of ha's beyond the point of parody, but perhaps she's simply all too aware how much of a retread this is. This would be my third single after Blank Page if I had my way.
10/10

Red Hot Kinda Love
Laid-back and frisky retro disco fusion with a Luscious Jackson's Nervous Breakthrough basement party vibe. A subtle pleasure for such a big singer, her diet of sizzling Latin rhythms gives the track a lightweight feel, but Xtina serves it as a palette cleanser for bigger full-throatal earthquakes coming up. Funneling house music and disco influences into a funky cocktail riddled with customized Christina ingredients.
09/10

Make The World Go Round
Exactly what I wanted from them both. Just because it doesn't go anywhere beyond 2 or 3 amazing hooks doesn't mean it's not fun and fashionable. Fashion's a lifestyle, and it's definitely a size 18 squeezed into a size 12, but it's a size 8 from me.
08/10

Fuck Your Body
Spunking her career up the walls, the orifice-ripping chorus is the most memorable of the year so far. "Ha! Alright! Say!" ejaculates something more full-bodied, bitter and delighted with herself than I ever thought possible. Fucked to a pulp, this should have been her biggest hit since the 90s. I've wrote enough about this song already. The sheer onslaught of everything about this track is phenomenal.
10/10

Let There Be Love 
Sounding like not only both Madonna's Girl Gone Wild and Get Together but also something or other by Kelly Rowland, it's the "like that/yeah/let's go" interjections that elevate the album's definitive 'faster than slow' experience into something more memorable than another louder than loud Loud knock-off. Despite being easy to dismiss as heavily bloated and generic, it erupts into a lava flow of euphoria that could only be commanded by Chrissy. However, releasing this would be worse than weed-killer. It gives me a massive smirk to listen to this when walking outside - it's such an experience being a Christina fan.
10/10

Sing For Me
Mining her vast reserves of volume, the lioness of I Am has a lot of pride, with limitless feelings about herself. The powerful shouting gives way to a litter of airy, subtle phrasingy bits at the end, which are divine calm after the shit storm of emotions. Deliberately roughing up her own song to at least try and expand the meaning to the same hugeness as her technical range, it's equal parts glorious and horrendous (the "give me your worst" currency that keeps on paying). The dashing of waltzing piano keys at the 3rd chorus (after THAT key-change) are just lovely.
10/10

Blank Page
Will she ever record a better song than this? The biggest bookmark of her career so far. I've already explained why this song is so important. This song deserves the works from her record label to ensure it becomes a hit. A new page of the American Songbook has been drafted. Is the infected world TOO UNPREPARED for this though? The soft regret of "let our hearts..." the ribbons of spiraling melody and the anguish squeezed out of it all - every second gushes with melancholy, soaring with pain or tenderly overcome, no other song has conveyed emotion on this intimate and powerful level. She completely inhabits this song.
10/10

Cease Fire
Self-governing as ever, Christina's 4 minutes of conflict resolves what took Ireland decades is nothing short of a miracle. I do hear a lot of noise, windows probably will be broken, but I don't think anything is truly set a light and there's not even an f-bomb.
08/10

Around The World
More sexual combat malarkey from Miss Easyjet herself. Getting a lot of mileage from similar production elsewhere (on this album AND in general), this could be anyone. It's rendered noteworthy only because of the Lady Marmalade d-tour as her worldwide Ag slag-a-thon is a bit of a slog. If Bionic was marred by uneveness, then Lotus is flawed only by consistency - the bombastic production is stamped all over the latter half of the album, and the marching drum motif is done better elsewhere. Flying economy, I can certainly get on board with it though. A bit too deliberately hectic and pompous, but wthout the usual fun of being horrible or inappropriate.
07/10

Circles 
The unrelatable put-downs about having more money than she can fold up (so you can shut the fuck up, etc), and near-unrepeatable lyrics (cringe-worthy not shock-worthy) will make this a hard sell, but despite so many sensitive confessions such as "why you always try to be all up in my mixture?" and "you got the smell of my success on your breath, desperate, you're a mess" they actually play second fiddle to a chorus that takes a similar shape to The Breeders' Cannonball. I'm not into the unconvincing screams and forced cackles at the end (they just don't sound spontaneous), and the final "motherfucker" isn't even Max's first 2.0.
10/10

Best of Me
The middle-8, the acoustic guitar bits, and the rare sense of quiet in the weary and sly verses are marvelous. There aren't many other songs showcasing different textures to her voice as opposed to the unrelenting guttural splatter ballads, which makes me fear that if she does go on tour she'll end up sound like Courtney Love at the end of it. "Tough as the nails" many will think are being scratched down the blackboard.
10/10

Just A Fool
The alcoholic within, the opening lyric is very Gaga, and for once she isn't drunk on her own volume. It could work for a country audience, but I don't get the F.U.S.S as a supposed standout above the full-throttle Blank Page, Light Up The Sky, Best of Me and Sing For Me. This is her Cyndi Lauper duets with The Hooters on Boys Will Be Boys moment - a really fine song, but far too middle of the road to be going forward.
09/10

Light Up The Sky
This is major, the verses rekindle the spirit of the best Stripped testifying numbers. The pathos drenched "we can be kings you and I...we light up the sky" is epic in a Rule The World kind of way. Such a special song, it's blazing.
10/10

Empty Words
Because she's not short of them. I can't resist this one either. A really strong build up, the bridges are essential, the chorus and beats DO sound cheapskate, but "the funny thing" melody flushes right through me. A good example of Christina setting a scene of hurt then usurping up into rage-fueled glee about being unbeatable and immune to people who don't agree with her. Stunning, all the while really showing off the shades of her voice well.
10/10

Shut Up
Christina pleased with her own mood as usual, she really does get a kick out herself kicking someone else's ass. If only Back To Basics sounded like this. The way she sings "ego" is so patronizing and brilliant to me, plus the way she doesn't sing the chorus is both those things too. The bleep actually works rhythmically, a rare benefit of Xtina censoring herself.
10/10

 All the ha's, grunting and other typical Xtina distinctions are fully engaged with the vague concept of going mainstream, but it's a pity she so far isn't managing to get past the commercial stumbles that occurred when it occurred to her how meaningful and artistic she really could be. Personally I love the ravaged, constant straining to soar in every single song. The sap-free first half opens up into a much more emotional landscape, but the sexual combat jollies and defiant protection of self value all belong to the same stem with production motifs and her trademark nuances holding everything together. The scandal of her vocals are well over the edge of glory: with her vocals she'll never compromise and Lotus really is unbreakable. It's her best ever album, and if you don't like it fuck you and just shut the fuck up, etc.

Cher - I Paralyze (1982)

So I have been having an intense day (musically speaking) enjoying the rush of excitement caused by Cher firing out her dance-meteorite Woman's World to an unsuspecting internet community. There have been many incarnations enjoyed by the singer, with no era being artistically fruitless. Back in the early 80s before kick-starting her first main solo comeback as an actress, rock star, mom and cougar, her musical identity for the rest of the decade was already emerging.  An that of straddles the line between Cher's glamourous 60s and 70s past and the biker rock chick mom persona is the I Paralyze album, which is gem after gem and does it without sounding contrived like a lot of the subsequent 80s stuff did. The 60s girl-group pastiche Rudy is nostalgic and glorious, Games is a broody Pointer Sisters style ballad (Slowhand meets Fire), the sleazy country club singer vibe of the title track ("honey you're as real as a dollar bill") is a song she wants to revisit, the after-hours torch ballad When The Love Is Gone is one of her best ever (there wouldn't be a dry eye in the drag club), she makes The Baby's Back On The Street Again something of an ABBA sounding prozzy anthem, the swooning Walk With Me is stunning, The Book of Love is the token comedy bender ("hey ho - the book of love" gets me every time, as does her yelling of "oh stuuuupid cuuupid set me free", they are almost worthy of Prisoner's reckless excess), and Do I Ever Cross Your Mind is so atypically soft and lovely it needs to be heard. You just can't write off any period or any decade.

For a more detailed look at this album, here is my original review from three years ago (I apologize in advance if it is unreadable - sometimes I am just lost in music and obviously in a gay frenzy to capture the enjoyment into words, or something of that nature).

Cher - A Woman's World (new song)

Turning back time to 2001 with beats as up to date as her face, Cher is back with a humongous dance track even bigger than her hair (there is barely a melody but who cares?) called A Woman's World. More of a theme tune to Cher being Cher than an actual song, the impact is nothing short of immense. Possibly leaked solely to gauge the gays online, it's not quite the genre I was expecting (there were MOR and country rumours all those years ago), but it's great to have her back. "Have a truth" is a more than fabulous line to wail on top of a thumping dance beat if ever there was one, and that husky holler has been missed.

Gala - You & Me (Tareq Rework)

A few months ago, Gala had asked me to upload a remix of her song You & Me to youtube after kindly sending it to me. I have chosen to include a montage of 4 different music videos from the same era in which it came from (Faraway, I Am The World The World Is Me, You & Me itself and Tough Love) to accommodate the extended intro and outros, with the original video itself staying the same. The song was originally recorded for her 2009 record Tough Love and always stood out to me as something of a disco ballad tinged with punk undertones, and a quiet but stirring remix had lay unreleased ever since. Until now. Gala's strident romance collides with an eloquent disco ballad groove (as reworked by Tareq). Her unforgettably striking and androgynous posturing brings the poignancy, desire and euphoric anguish to life. A song highlighted by an urge to express itself; a hybrid of sexual rejoice and political rebellion.

In other Gala news, the song Lose Yourself In Me is gearing up for a French release (the singer enjoyed two number ones in this territory in the 90s, so this is a huge step).

Christina Aguilera - Lotus (2012)

It has been a decade since Christina Aguilera was universally recognized as a truly viable singles act, and on Lotus her juices flow faster and thicker than I ever thought she'd go - the melodies don't just ooze out, they hurl themselves like being pushed out a moving car on the freeway. Although her red nectar has been known to drip down her legs under immense pressure to make sure people know she's better than them, Lotus is a confident display of her true colours, a blend of the best and worst Xtina at her very finest. Fertilizing her flower with the recent shit she's been through is no easy task, and when told she was barking up the wrong tree with the music lovers album Bionic, Xtina took it literally and went for the next best thing. Plants.

Lotus
From a deep dark faraway place to emotional infinity: "I sing for freedom, and for love. I look at my reflection, embrace the woman I've become. The unbreakable lotus in me I now set free." Feeding her flower with a wash of yelp echos, new world atmospherics and empowered spoken-word exotica. Not quite taking a leaf out of Enya's book, the dense growth of harmonious and sensual chants are ravishing. The breathtaking climax achieving the smuggest sense of bliss possible.
10/10

Army of Me
Marching over a thoughtless dance thump, AOM gathers a steady invasion of Max Martin's 'songs for Katy Perry' documents folder. The sleek verses are deliciously bitter, and Xtina's teeth-licking taunts camouflage the otherwise blatant intent to attack both the charts and her ex's last shred of dignity (it's hard to tell which one she's aiming for most). Although it sounds more about her voice being on the firing line than anything else, the chorus luxuriates in the force of her vocal ammunition, least we forget she can sing. "There's a thousand faces on me" articulates the suspicion that she probably never takes her make-up off, and her loaded gun is full of ha's beyond the point of parody, but perhaps she's simply all too aware how much of a retread this is. This would be my third single after Blank Page if I had my way.
10/10

Red Hot Kinda Love
Laid-back and frisky retro disco fusion with a Luscious Jackson's Nervous Breakthrough basement party vibe. A subtle pleasure for such a big singer, her diet of sizzling Latin rhythms gives the track a lightweight feel, but Xtina serves it as a palette cleanser for bigger full-throatal earthquakes coming up. Funneling house music and disco influences into a funky cocktail riddled with customized Christina ingredients.
09/10

Make The World Go Round
Exactly what I wanted from them both. Just because it doesn't go anywhere beyond 2 or 3 amazing hooks doesn't mean it's not fun and fashionable. Fashion's a lifestyle, and it's definitely a size 18 squeezed into a size 12, but it's a size 8 from me.
08/10

Fuck Your Body
Spunking her career up the walls, the orifice-ripping chorus is the most memorable of the year so far. "Ha! Alright! Say!" ejaculates something more full-bodied, bitter and delighted with herself than I ever thought possible. Fucked to a pulp, this should have been her biggest hit since the 90s. I've wrote enough about this song already. The sheer onslaught of everything about this track is phenomenal.
10/10

Let There Be Love 
Sounding like not only both Madonna's Girl Gone Wild and Get Together but also something or other by Kelly Rowland, it's the "like that/yeah/let's go" interjections that elevate the album's definitive 'faster than slow' experience into something more memorable than another louder than loud Loud knock-off. Despite being easy to dismiss as heavily bloated and generic, it erupts into a lava flow of euphoria that could only be commanded by Chrissy. However, releasing this would be worse than weed-killer. It gives me a massive smirk to listen to this when walking outside - it's such an experience being a Christina fan.
10/10

Sing For Me
Mining her vast reserves of volume, the lioness of I Am has a lot of pride, with limitless feelings about herself. The powerful shouting gives way to a litter of airy, subtle phrasingy bits at the end, which are divine calm after the shit storm of emotions. Deliberately roughing up her own song to at least try and expand the meaning to the same hugeness as her technical range, it's equal parts glorious and horrendous (the "give me your worst" currency that keeps on paying). The dashing of waltzing piano keys at the 3rd chorus (after THAT key-change) are just lovely.
10/10

Blank Page
Will she ever record a better song than this? The biggest bookmark of her career so far. I've already explained why this song is so important. This song deserves the works from her record label to ensure it becomes a hit. A new page of the American Songbook has been drafted. Is the infected world TOO UNPREPARED for this though? The soft regret of "let our hearts..." the ribbons of spiraling melody and the anguish squeezed out of it all - every second gushes with melancholy, soaring with pain or tenderly overcome, no other song has conveyed emotion on this intimate and powerful level. She completely inhabits this song.
10/10

Cease Fire
Self-governing as ever, Christina's 4 minutes of conflict resolves what took Ireland decades is nothing short of a miracle. I do hear a lot of noise, windows probably will be broken, but I don't think anything is truly set a light and there's not even an f-bomb.
08/10

Around The World
More sexual combat malarkey from Miss Easyjet herself. Getting a lot of mileage from similar production elsewhere (on this album AND in general), this could be anyone. It's rendered noteworthy only because of the Lady Marmalade d-tour as her worldwide Ag slag-a-thon is a bit of a slog. If Bionic was marred by uneveness, then Lotus is flawed only by consistency - the bombastic production is stamped all over the latter half of the album, and the marching drum motif is done better elsewhere. Flying economy, I can certainly get on board with it though. A bit too deliberately hectic and pompous, but wthout the usual fun of being horrible or inappropriate.
07/10

Circles 
The unrelatable put-downs about having more money than she can fold up (so you can shut the fuck up, etc), and near-unrepeatable lyrics (cringe-worthy not shock-worthy) will make this a hard sell, but despite so many sensitive confessions such as "why you always try to be all up in my mixture?" and "you got the smell of my success on your breath, desperate, you're a mess" they actually play second fiddle to a chorus that takes a similar shape to The Breeders' Cannonball. I'm not into the unconvincing screams and forced cackles at the end (they just don't sound spontaneous), and the final "motherfucker" isn't even Max's first 2.0.
10/10

Best of Me
The middle-8, the acoustic guitar bits, and the rare sense of quiet in the weary and sly verses are marvelous. There aren't many other songs showcasing different textures to her voice as opposed to the unrelenting guttural splatter ballads, which makes me fear that if she does go on tour she'll end up sound like Courtney Love at the end of it. "Tough as the nails" many will think are being scratched down the blackboard.
10/10

Just A Fool
The alcoholic within, the opening lyric is very Gaga, and for once she isn't drunk on her own volume. It could work for a country audience, but I don't get the F.U.S.S as a supposed standout above the full-throttle Blank Page, Light Up The Sky, Best of Me and Sing For Me. This is her Cyndi Lauper duets with The Hooters on Boys Will Be Boys moment - a really fine song, but far too middle of the road to be going forward.
09/10

Light Up The Sky
This is major, the verses rekindle the spirit of the best Stripped testifying numbers. The pathos drenched "we can be kings you and I...we light up the sky" is epic in a Rule The World kind of way. Such a special song, it's blazing.
10/10

Empty Words
Because she's not short of them. I can't resist this one either. A really strong build up, the bridges are essential, the chorus and beats DO sound cheapskate, but "the funny thing" melody flushes right through me. A good example of Christina setting a scene of hurt then usurping up into rage-fueled glee about being unbeatable and immune to people who don't agree with her. Stunning, all the while really showing off the shades of her voice well.
10/10

Shut Up
Christina pleased with her own mood as usual, she really does get a kick out herself kicking someone else's ass. If only Back To Basics sounded like this. The way she sings "ego" is so patronizing and brilliant to me, plus the way she doesn't sing the chorus is both those things too. The bleep actually works rhythmically, a rare benefit of Xtina censoring herself.
10/10

 All the ha's, grunting and other typical Xtina distinctions are fully engaged with the vague concept of going mainstream, but it's a pity she so far isn't managing to get past the commercial stumbles that occurred when it occurred to her how meaningful and artistic she really could be. Personally I love the ravaged, constant straining to soar in every single song. The sap-free first half opens up into a much more emotional landscape, but the sexual combat jollies and defiant protection of self value all belong to the same stem with production motifs and her trademark nuances holding everything together. The scandal of her vocals are well over the edge of glory: with her vocals she'll never compromise and Lotus really is unbreakable. It's her best ever album, and if you don't like it fuck you and just shut the fuck up, etc.

Lulu - Independence (1993)

Yes, if you cut this woman haggis and runny flora would spill out. Yes, she's more disingenuous than Mariah sharing a camera frame with another female. Yes, she is Lulu. As immortalized by Eddie in Ab Fab, Independence was the best thing she had done in years. The soulful rasp pledges various concerns about the risks of love in a patriarchal society. Lulu wants to have her cake and eat it, and throws up a mixture of piano-splattered house music. Quickly retreating into mid-tempo grooves that play it safe with a mild Rn'B flavour, There Has Got To Be A Way is riddled with cliches ("ain't no doubt about it, I can't live without it" asserts the HRT cock-hungry agenda from the start). Restless Moods and I'm Back For More are more of the same (the latter with added Bobby Womack). Her lovely version of the 1981 hit How About Us by Champaign is a crystal clear stand out. Seeking a younger and more contemporary companion to her new dance stride, Until I Get Over You cuts loose in the style of a fun and thrifty 53 year old cutting loose on a meddling mid-tempo riff. Reviving her 60s energy, Let Me Wake Up In Your Arms is a highly pleasant Chain Reaction style number with a nimble vocal delivery building up to a light and airy chorus that actually lowers cholesterol (not surprisingly it was written by the Bee Gees).  Spreading my attention wider and thinner than her favourite employer, You Left Me Lonely leaves me bored and Lulu's clearly skimming the personals in the Herald & Post again (looking for: nondescript, plodding, safe and something that ill go nowhere fast).  Rhythm of Romance is a slow dance to emotions less convincing than a birthday card without a twenty sellotaped inside.  I'm Walking Away kick-starts my attention again with something Lisa Stansfield might toss off near the end of one of her own albums, but is more of a limp to the finish line. A Place To Fall is sadly not an admission that she's a human mattress  and the closer is simply Let Me Wake Up In Your Arms (Romantic Reprise).

Rating:

7/10

Gala - Lose Yourself In Me (new video)

Enigmatic European native Gala returns with yet another bold slice of her superbly idiosyncratic and adroit dance rhythms. Lose Yourself In Me is seeping in euphoric romance, and its suitably striking new video retains the singer's androgynous posturing and unequivocal stage presence. There is no indication as to when the single shall be available to buy, but fingers crossed this gives her the comeback in the charts she deserves. If she embarks on another European tour I shall simply have no choice but to book flight tickets.

Gala - Lose Yourself In Me (Video Clip) by galamusic

Diana Ross - Diana Ross (1976)

With a seemless persona often depriving her of a concentration on the music, Diana Ross was born to sing and with only 44 albums released if only she had worked a bit harder in her career. Unfalteringly glamourous, never less than mildly enjoyable, Diana Ross (1976) is one of her great ones. The lush, accentuated settings are what her warm timbre was made for. The exhaustion of love songs means some numbers seem blurred into the next, but her bright, direct intonation injects her uniquely gifted guile that intensifies their meaning. Her voice is a rich instrument that is precise and really does know where it's going to.

Recognizable for its syrupy opening refrain, Theme From Mahogany explores a tempo or marching drums, strings as lush as life itself and a spirited vocal that sounds like a bridge of sighs. Somber, sweet and sensual, I Thought It Took A Little Time is air-kiss soul at its sugary finest. Ross's languid crooning possesses a joyous restraint. Breathlessly inviting, the pouting excursion Love Hangover is an exacting and intoxicating showcase for the sultry abilities of Diana's exquisite characterization. A relay of disco speeds take the song from the bedroom to the dance-floor: and if already on the dance-floor, the acceleration into disco is most certainly bedroom-bound.  Suddenly taking a different swerve (saying nothing of her drunk driving), into her local piano bar no doubt, she finds a speedier groove to her repertoire on the arch Kiss Me Now.  On You're Good My Child, Ms. Ross eats up the rhythms with a vocal flight and agility that's her unique effortless style.  Airbrushing her ex husbands from memory, One Love In My Lifetime is an eloquent masterstroke.  Pledging slow-motion devotion, After You handles the conflicts thrown at her with romantic steel.  Never one to say no to a romantic ballad, Smile might be a touch too show biz for its own good, but I just can't say no. Country-tinged Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right is another love vow.

With a voice that refuses to suffer, for the vivacious Diana Ross there ain't no high note high enough. Embellishing every sylable and making the words sparkle into sequins, she was hardly scaring Aretha into retirement with her range, but as a singer her timing is perfect. The proof is in her projection: she soaks up her accentuated settings; her lush vox framed to perfection.

Rating:

8/10