Champagne Makes It Taste So Much Better

Rachel Stevens “Some Girls” – Without a doubt, this is one of the finest pop singles of 2004 thus far. This is a Richard X production, and it shows – his sleek, future-pop fingerprints are all over this. The song is built on a percussive stomp straight out of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part 2,” and glides along with maximum robo-pop grace while Stevens sings about some glamorous pop star soap opera scenerio which may as well be continuing the storyline from “Sweet Dreams My LA Ex.” I imagine that this is already quite ubiquitous in the UK, but it will likely go almost completely unheard in the United States.

Scissor Sisters “Take Me Out” – Like the musical equivalent of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, the Scissor Sisters have made over Franz Ferdinand’s hit single; stripping it of its rigid, harsh angularity and giving the tune a jaunty, somewhat Billy Joel-ish spin. I find myself liking the song much more in this style, but if your favorite thing about the original recording was its twitchy tension, you will probably not like this at all. This cover was just recently recorded for Jo Whiley’s show on Radio One.