REDNECK WOMAN

Gretchen Wilson

This single is a prime example of how different America and England are. If a British country music singer (go on, name one) released a song with these lyrics, you'd know damn well that this was a cleverly crafted mickey-take. You wouldn't need any obvious hints, you'd just be able to work it out from the words. An example - "Victoria's Secret, well their stuff's real nice / But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price". Can't be serious, surely. However, Americans are not famous for their sense of irony (there are some that understand it, but let's stick with the stereotype for now, it's easier) and this song is done by an American. That suggested to me that this may not be the parody I thought it was, so I checked her website. Guess what, she's serious. Hell's bells. I thought the song was a joke, but now I know different and the song's taken on a whole new light. She'd rather drink beer than champagne, she has Lynyrd Skynyrd posters on her wall, she's not from a high class background and she says "hey y'all" and "yee-haw" (I hope she realises that in some parts of the world "hey y'all" means "I am a tourist, please mug me and steal my Traveller's Cheques" and "yee-haw" means "seafront donkey rides - £1 per child"). Most importantly of all, she happily admits to being the redneck woman of the title and she dedicates this little number to all her sisters who are "keeping it country". I have no idea what "it" is and why it would need to be kept country, but that's the story. Now, you've probably already made up your mind about whether you're going to like this or not, but I'd recommend you listen to it before you make a final decision. This is not a Heal The World type scenario where the song preaches at you that This Is The Way We Should Be Living Our Lives (and thank heavens because I am not growing a mullet. Ever.), it's just a song sung by somebody who wants to tell you a little bit about her background and in that respect it works. Another thing in its favour is that it's proper country music, not the godawful pop-country crossover tat that the likes of Shania Twain have dumped on us. That's not to say I'm a fan of country music, I'm not, but it makes a change to hear something like this once in a while so I'm going to let it off.

WE ARE

Ana Johnsson

Oh good. Another routine slab of deadly serious radio-friendly rock, served up with a side-order of unnecessary orchestral bits. Another mini-orchestra. Great. I can only assume that somewhere, there's a massive surplus of violinists, cello players and the like and the only way for them to get regular work is to wait outside recording studios for serious-looking rock bands to turn up (Evanescence, Chad Kroeger, Seether, you know the sort) and then blag their way in, saying they're part of the band honest guv. The theme this week, as if it really matters, is "The world's rubbish and it's everybody's fault". To be fair to Ana Johnsson, this song is much better than Seether's was last week, but even so, from start to finish the song screams "Been there, done that, sold the T-shirt on eBay". There used to be a time, not so long ago, when this sort of song didn't exist. (sigh) Happy days.

YOU ARE THE GENERATION WHO BOUGHT MORE SHOES AND YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE

Johnny Boy

Wow. This song is as good as its title is long. It's haunting, full of echoes, trumpets tootling away in the background, the beat gets harder and more pronounced during the song (but never to the point where you think they should be easing up) and if Phil Spector wasn't otherwise engaged, this is exactly the sort of single he'd be putting out. Songs like the one above make me wonder why I bother writing these reviews, luckily songs like this provide the answer.