The Tom Tom Club was a Talking Heads splinter group that featured drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth. I actually heard of the Club before I heard of the Heads, thanks to “Genius of Love”, the quirky funk jam that made it all the way up to the penultimate spot on Billboard‘s soul charts… Read More “Genius Of Love” by The Tom Tom Club (1981)
There was Mariah Carey before the “Fantasy” remix and Mariah Carey after the “Fantasy” remix. Prior to this remix, Mariah seemed to be headed down a direction that could charitably be described as “middle of the road”. Inspirational ballads, soft-rock covers, and the occasional dance-informed tune to remind her fans that she was a) still… Read More “Fantasy (Bad Boy Remix)” by Mariah Carey feat. ODB (1995)
1981 wasn’t exactly a great music for pop music, but it’s worth mentioning that three songs from that year spent an inordinately long time at Number One on the pop chart, and they’re all really good songs. “Bette Davis Eyes” had a nine week run at the top in the spring, and Olivia Newton John’s… Read More “Endless Love” by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie (1981)
I have a weird appreciation for pop balladry from the early ‘90s, particularly the trebly, semi-new age production of Walter Afanasieff. He did a ton of work with primarily (exclusively?) Columbia Records artists (Celine Dion, NKOTB, Michael Bolton). His productions were the sound of adult contemporary radio for quite a long time. While his productions… Read More “Can’t Let Go” by Mariah Carey (1991)
Time for a little re-assessment. Bumping two songs from the last batch of four star songs up a notch. Also dropping back for two final “B” songs. “Butterfly”, on its face, is a prototypical big ‘90s Mariah ballad. That’s where the comparisons to “Hero” (which is awful), “One Sweet Day” (which is pretty bad), or her cover of “I’ll Be… Read More “Butterfly” (Mariah Carey, 1997)/ “Bye Baby” (NaS, 2012)
OOOPS. For some reason, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, Mariah Carey’s huge 1994 holiday single, was not in my iTunes library. I occasionally tend to hide my Christmas songs because no one wants to hear about jingle bells in April. Or July. Or really anytime before, like, December 15th. Oh, is that just… Read More “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey (1994)
Five Star Jamz 