October 2015 – The Message

Well, Do It Again is relentlessly unremarkable and no mistake. Can’t say as I’m a fan of On My Mind either, but at least Ellie Goulding’s trying something a bit different. Locked Away somehow hauls itself to the end of its running time, but by heck it makes hard work of it.

The first 30 seconds of Runnin’ are better than anything the last three songs had to offer, and what’s more, the three minutes that follow are pretty bloody good and all. Next, it’s the first Bond theme ever to reach the top, performed by Mr. Happy himself. If only Sam Smith had managed to cheer himself up a bit while he was putting this song together, it might have been interesting. Instead, I find myself listening to a Bond theme that does everything that’s expected of a Bond theme and nothing at all that would make it stand out. A 007 film is long enough as it is without having to sit through five minutes of whining and whinging at the start. Nah, sod this.

It’s a good thing Hotline Bling mentions mobile phones in its lyrics, because the tune sounds like it’s been based on some hold music Drake might’ve heard while he was trying to sort out an electricity bill. I do like Alone No More, mind you – it sounds awfully familiar, but that’s probably because it’s a cover of Another Level’s 1998 single Be Alone No More. I think I actually prefer the remake if I’m honest, and that’s not the first time I’ve said that this year.

Gentle guitar pop from Ed Sheeran’s new record label? Wasn’t expecting that. The Hills sounds great, but the problem here is that I found I was so impressed by the work that had gone into making the backing track sound as eerie as possible that I wasn’t paying attention to what the Weeknd was actually singing about. I can tell you he sounds like he recorded his vocals from the bottom of a very deep well, but the content of those lyrics? Nope. No idea.

Oh, for… here’s another song that improves on the original. Be Right There shreds Jade’s Don’t Walk Away into lots of tiny pieces and then sticks them back together into something a bit rougher, faster and… well… better. One Direction’s Perfect is not a reworking of Fairground Attraction’s Perfect, but wouldn’t things be much more fun if it had’ve been? This version of Perfect doesn’t live up to its title, it’s far too anthemic and “arms-aloft-at-Wembley-Stadium” for me. It is, however, a hell of a lot better than it probably would’ve been in the hands of lesser boy bands and their production teams. Even so, it’d have to be quite a song to stop One Direction from reaching the top and Turn The Music Louder is just that. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I like this one.