The
Hotlist 
THE HOT AND NOT
LIST as of July 15th 2002
Le Mec:
Hotlist
- Simple Minds live. These guys may be over the
hill when it comes to great reviews and album sales but they can still turn an outdoor
stadium with 40,000 people into a giant rock disco. The concert was one long tour de force
with all the hits and a brilliant sound quality. It was a very fine summmer day indeed
with a long trip down memory lane.
- Morcheeba:
"Charango". After a short and unsuccessful flirt with poppier mainstream tunes
on their last album, Morcheeba are back with what they do best: laid back quality pop
driven by multi-layered atmospheres. This fourth album may well be their best so far.
Highly recommended if you like music where patient listening and calmness is a virtue.
- Propaganda:
"Outside World". This German pop group made some great quality machine pop back
in the '80's. This is their best-of collection and it should be for everyone with a
weakness for that certain sound of a decade which has gotten far too little recognition
when it comes to how it has actually influenced much of the music we hear today.
Propaganda represented a fraction of the pop scene where a good song should always contain
a certain twist of bittersweet emotion.
- George Michael. The video for his new single
"Shoot The Dog" shows the star from a new angle. Instead of a usually somewhat
exaggerated focus on sex this video has a strong political opinion against George Bush and
Tony Blair. It's great to see how he manages to deliver a serious message in a pretty
hilarious setting. The video cartoon also shows George Michael taking the piss on himself
which is a good and healthy sign after all from a star who seemed increasingly bizarre.
However, the fact that George Michael felt the need to address a public letter to Tony
Blair explaning the meaning of the video (to avoid too much outrage)implies that George
still does not have the guts to go angry rock star all the way...A funny twist to the
story is that Noel Gallagher from Oasis launched an attack on George Michael for speaking
out about politics. Noel Gallagher found it pathetic that someone keeping his sexuality
hidden for twenty years suddenly has the nerve to tell the public what to think. George
Michael later replied back in an online chat about the remark: "I thought it was
funny really. Firstly, he's (Noel) just not very smart is he? And secondly, he's not very
smart."
- Frou Frou:
"Details". The next big thing from the UK with a heavy debt to dear old Dido.
Watch out for them - I'm sure they'll be visible in the charts within long.
- Phil
Collins' song "You Know What I Mean" from his "Face
Value" (1981) album must be one of the saddest pop songs ever written. With a very
basic piano and a few strings he really brings real emotion right in your face. It really
shows that truly great songs are great songs no matter how you present them and that
sometimes very simple arrangements beat overproduction (which Phil Collins has had
tendencies towards ever since).
- Moby.
A very nice pop star who seems to have brains too. A cocktail which normally equals
boring. Yet, somehow he manages to avoid this and instead comes across as genuine,
uncomplicated and bright. Quite and accomplishment in music today.
Notlist
- Red Hot
Chili Peppers. Reading promotion interviews in connection with their new
album and hearing about how uninvolved their last couple of shows in Denmark have been, I
can't help thinking that here's a band that's either too arrogant to care, too hung up on
drugs or just too rich to care. I just have this impression of a band making big bucks and
pissing on people at the same time. By the way, their latest "By The Way" is a
pretty decent rock song.
- Reality
star TV - the new thing in music. First it was Ozzy's family life and soon
we'll get to follow R&B star Brandy's pregnancy and birth and also Tommy Lee's wild
rock star life. I generally think that exposing star life this way is a symptom of
entertainment getting out of hand (entertaining as it may be though...) and a sad
consequence of the Big Brother phenomenon. I mean, who really cares about Brandy and her
pregnancy....although I must say that the escapades of Tommy Lee could be fairly tasty to
follow...
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