If I Had The Chance, I’d Ask The World To Dance

This week’s Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site, and it includes three freakishly great songs from Spank Rock, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, and the Hank Collective. Also, at long last, MTV/Microsoft’s Urge digital download service has finally launched. I’ve been writing the Pop Informer blog for them, but unfortunately, I don’t know how to link directly to it, so you’ll have to go through the Urge interface to read the column. (Some of my reviews are scattered around – there should be a few in the rock area somewhere.) I’m pretty happy with a lot of what I’ve written for them, especially this one entry about Simple Plan’s “Untitled” and Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself.” I’m generally writing about mainstream acts, but for me, that’s part of the appeal. It doesn’t make sense to write about huge hits on this site or the AP column, and so this has been nice outlet for me. There are quite a few talented writers doing blogs for Urge, so even if you have no desire to purchase wma files (I totally understand!), it’s at least going to be a good read.

Nouvelle Vague “Dancing With Myself” – Nouvelle Vague’s gimmick hasn’t worn too thin as of yet, but their song selection is generally strong enough that even their least inspired bossa nova arrangements serve their basic function as fodder for the soundtrack of an I Love The 80s dinner party. The best cuts from their second album go in more of a cabaret direction, which works wonders for the likes of The Cramps’ “Human Fly.” However, the only selection that trumps the original is their take on Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” Removing Idol is enough to win some points with me (nothing against the songs, I just dislike his voice and persona), but the added jaunt and skip in Nouvelle Vague’s arrangement serves the song well, resulting in a track that is light and sexy rather than hopped-up and off-puttingly self-conscious. (Click here to buy it from Justin Time.)

The Walkmen “Another One Goes By” – Wait, what? Walkmen, wha’ happened? I wasn’t totally into that last album, but at least you still sounded like yourselves and included a few undeniably great tracks. What’s with the over the top Bob Dylan impression on more than half of the new songs? Is it a pre-emptive strike against fellow Jonathan Fire Eater alumnus Stewart Lupton’s Dylan-ish new band, The Childballads? And if so, why did you choose to emulate everything horrible about Dylan (shapeless melodies, the marble mouthed yowling) whereas Lupton absorbed everything great about him (the mystique, the poetry, the ragged grace) into his own persona? The music still has that lovely sepia-toned patina of artificial antiquity, but the singing throws everything off and makes some of the songs quite difficult to sit through. “Another One Goes By” gets it right, and is genuinely pretty and romantic, but I wish that I could hear it without thinking that Hamilton Leithauser was trying to crack me up with his Dylan impersonation on the chorus.(Click here to buy it from Amazon.)