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Saw T-ara's live vid of "Like An Indian Doll" embedded by Seoulbeat; the context was an article of concern regarding T-ara overworking themselves to the detriment of their health and psyches, the dead look of Jiyeon (at 0:56 and singing 1:05–1:13) a supposed prime example. But I had the wrong reaction, which was "WHAT A GREAT, GREAT SONG!" And this performance by T-ara (the only one of it they ever gave, at least that I can find) easily beats all others,* by anyone else, in studio or out, whether the hard-edged disco-funk of the original by Nami, the upbeat remake by Fin.K.L, the jazz-funk cover by Daybreak, or any of the countless versions by idol star singers, bar bands, rock bands, workers bands (seemingly a marathon concert featuring a single set of musicians accompanying scores of different singers all attempting the song), lonely hearts club bands, wedding bands, and so forth.



Seriously, this is one of the great songs of my life. Where the other performances go wrong is in trying to power through it, rather than letting its beauty move through the singers. The smooth arrangement and tepid delivery by T-ara turn out to be just right, reminding me of my favorite song-set by Boney M., side one of Ten Thousand Lightyears. Same desiccated reggae-funk**:



Jiyeon's smile-free effervescence )
koganbot: (Default)
Sometimes the 'Net is a great place. I received this email the other day from someone who'd found her way to my old Las Vegas Weekly column about the Boney Joan Rule:

Email from Diana from NYC:

Dear Frank,

I came across your amusing article about the Boney Joan rule by chance on the 'net.

Maybe you dislike Joan Baez's singing not because of your parents but - because she's the WORST SINGER EVER?

My two cents.

Truly, I have never heard such bad singing, ever. And I've heard a lot of singing. She doesn't sing the song - she sings her voice. Every goddam song it's the same thing: "listen to my gorgeous voice! Listen to my amazing vibrato!!"

Well her voice isn't gorgeous and her vibrato sounds like Tiny Tim on acid. I have no idea what anyone "heard" in this voice.

My suspicion is that she came along at the right time and the right place and had the right look. She was very beautiful when young women were sick of teasing and spraying their hair. In that her impact was exactly the same as Mary Travers, another bad singer. But the flowing blond natural hair was gorgeous.

Regards,
Diana from NYC

Boney Joan: The Conversation Continues )
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Latest column, in which I explain why everything is everything else.

The Boney Joan Rule

Your own examples or refutations are welcome.

(I'm not back from vacation, but I did find my way to a computer, and maybe I'll succeed in doing so again soon; sorry to Dave, Nia, Kat, and Jessica for not getting a chance to respond to your most recent comments.)

EDIT: Links to my other Rules Of The Game columns

Extreme Pop

Jun. 4th, 2006 05:21 pm
koganbot: (Default)
I posted this over on the rolling teenpop thread.

xhuxk was talking to me about Decibel magazine, which devotes itself to extreme metal, and after I got off the phone I got the idea that if you could designate some things "extreme metal" you should also be able to designate things "extreme pop."

So, my nominations for EXTREME POP would include:

Mariah Carey (esp. her 1991 peak) because she's just fuckin' extreme, and 'cause she squeaks.
Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away" because it's extremely silly and irritating and because the flipside is the same song played backwards which causes people to shoot themselves in the head.
The Veronicas' "4ever" for its deliriously gorgeous harmonies.
Boney M for being guilelessly eclectic.
Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park," because someone left the cake out in the rain.
Lindsay Lohan's video for "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)"
Johnny Ray
The Shangri-Las
Little Richard

You can figure out what's extreme about the last three. This list is just to get the concept going.

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