|
|
|
MUSICBOX: Cry freedom
Under the thin veneer of synth-pop simplicity, the Pet Shop Boys have always flirted with grandiosity. With a beguiling mix of stark irony, camp and killer melodic hooks, the duo has held steady sway over the global pop scene (except for, perhaps, the US) since the early 1980s, with Neil Tennant’s nasal monotone and Chris Lowe’s clinical hooks becoming instantly recognizable. Now, they return with perhaps the most ambitious work of their career: a soundtrack to 1925’s silent classic film Battleship Potemkin by Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein.
To be honest, though the picture is considered legendary by film buffs, I have never seen it. But with the Boys’ execution of the soundtrack, it feels as if one has already seen half the film as theatricality has always been a big part of PSB’s music. Here, they perform under the moniker of Tennant/Lowe, alongside the Dresdner Sinfoniker Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer and orchestrated by Rammstein collaborator Torsten Rasch. Covering 15 tracks, it is a largely instrumental work with a sparse garnishing of vocals, yet it is full of intense drama and shifting moods, thanks to the novel melding of avant-garde electronics with classical strings and orchestral manoeuvres, though definitely not in the dark.
It was a little difficult to review this work in the sense that the ‘songs’ are not really your standard pop tracks; rather, the soundtrack has to be considered a single whole broken down into different sections. Still, the different tracks can be enjoyed on their own as well, as they have separate yet inter-connected identities.
The song Nyet sounds like a pumping Soviet disco tune — something the comrades could get down to — with a pulsating house beat and repetitive synth-loop complemented by a string section. The tempo shift in No Time For Tears is particularly well done, as the slower vocal part gives way to a much more upbeat ending, while To The Battleship is a brilliant slice of ambient techno. After All (The Odessa Staircase) kills two birds with one stone, delivering a subtle anti-Iraq war message enfolded in a slight litany of hope. For Freedom is a fitting epilogue to the epic, ending things with all the fanfare expected at such a point.
No doubt the Pet Shop Boys took on a hefty challenge when they decided to do this soundtrack. Thankfully, they have handled it deftly by reinterpreting a classic in futurist tones. A must-listen for all fans of modern electronic music. Lenin must be turning in his grave.
Livingitup
By Tahir Yahya
Ricky Martin hasn’t kept his English-speaking fans waiting for long. Following 2000’s Sound Loaded, which took quite a battering, he returns with the new English record Life. Although Martin has managed to deliver various hit singles in the past, his albums as a whole don’t quite have the same zing. Most people prefer buying mixed collections with his songs rather than purchasing a whole Ricky Martin album.Undoubtedly, he does have the voice, the looks and the posture to make Enrique Iglesias and other big name Latin stars splutter with inadequacy, but questions do linger as to where his music career is heading, since he’s been gone way too long from the music scene.
Till I Get You is the beginning nudge from the bloke, which confirms Ricky’s return to the drawing board. Based on a good beat, it details everything he wants to do when he gets to ‘her.’ Next up is I Won’t Desert You. The song has an eastern touch to it, which confirms the hype that Ricky actually travelled to India to record the string arrangements for the album. Nevertheless it is a track which can be ignored without much disappointment.
The most prominent tune of Life is up next. I Don’t Care, which raises the temperature with steamy contributions by guest artistes like Fat Joe and Amerie, has a pretty groovy beat. The song is also edging up on the Billboard charts. Stop Time Tonight is a low profile rhythmic experience, a song where Ricky goes for the mainline of one’s heart, dims the lights and takes it down-tempo.
Title track Life comes next, which draws on a vast palate of styles. ‘Life is short,’ is what the singer has to say in the song. The two tracks (I Am, Drop it On Me), which feature Voltio and Daddy Yankee respectively, also offer hope.
This is Good follows, influenced by Jamaican dance music and a modern Latino accent. Save the Dance comes by, whose main feature is the sound of the violin, used with proficient accuracy. Ricky, who does not want to neglect the Spaniards in any way, wraps up his album with two Spanish versions of the songs I Don’t Care and It’s Alright, which sound better than the other versions.
Ricky Martin has surely covered Life thoroughly on this album, and the wait has been totally worth it.
|
|
|
|
01 |
The Road and the Radio — Kenny Chesney |
| 02 | Get Rich or Die Tryin’ — Soundtrack |
| 03 | Now 20 — Various Artists |
| 04 | 12 Songs — Neil Diamond |
| 05 | All the Right Reasons — Nickelback |
| 06 | Monkey Business — The Black Eyed Peas |
| 07 | Flo’ Ology — Floetry |
| 08 | All That I Am — Santana |
| 09 | #1’s — Destiny’s Child |
| 10 | Breakaway — Kelly Clarkson |
|
|
|
|
