Artist Top Ten Enya

Friend!Food! Oleson

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Lots of nice music but I struggle to make a top 10 out of it.

1. I Will Take You There

2. Spaceman
3. One
4. Without Her (not "you")

5. Everybody's Talkin'-esque



Next up! The return of the previously cancelled SPARKS top 10.
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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1. When Do I Get To Sing "My Way"
2. All That
3. Amateur Hour
4. That's Not Nastassia
5. Goofing Off
6. Pacific Standard Time
7. Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)
8. Good Morning
9. Where Did I Leave My Halo
10. The Calm Before The Storm

And now they can make a song about it and name-drop ME.

Up next up!!

Ladytron
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Friend!Food! Oleson

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1. Destroy Everything You Touch
I wondered if I'd find something better but once again it proves that the best cannot be destroyed.

2. White Elephant
As in "the room"? I don't know, but I like the Greek folksy sound of it. My imaginary cover version by Demis Roussos sounds great too (unfortunately it's not on youtube).

3. Blue Jeans
So retro that it almost reverses to a really old classic with a futuristic sound (e.g. the Ronettes produced by the Rolling Stones)

4. Light & Magic
Gorgeous space-pop and it also has a bit of an intro sound, like the intro to an afternoon TV magic show for kids. They could use the "light-and-magic!" lyrics to announce the various intervals.

5. International Dateline
6. The Reason Why

7. Paco!

From the album that also has the song "The Way That I Found You" but I think it sounds nicer when somebody is being found at Grace Brothers.

8. Ace Of Hz
I had expected to rank this in my top 5 but somehow it doesn't sound fresh anymore. Still very good, but not for now.

9. Versus
Was it inspired by a certain soapchat thread? Who knows?

10. Playgirl

Lovely wonderful fabulous, and now it's time for something else (♪ light-and-magic! ♫)



Next Up! PAUL MAURIAT
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Is it all instrumental cover versions except for the smurfs ballad? Let's find out.
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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Is it all instrumental cover versions except for the smurfs ballad?
Apparently, and that includes the eurovision smurf ballad. What was I thinking.

1. Love Is Blue

2. There's A Kind Of Hush

3. We love the puppet and this instrumental sounds great too


Up next!
Finally, after 9 years, it's time for THE EVERLY BROTHERS
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Hopefully there's enough to love for a top 10
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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1. Love Hurts
3. Crying In The Rain
3. Walk Right Back
4. All I Have To Do Is Dream
5. On The Wings Of A Nightingale
6. Cathy's Clown
7. Up In Mabel's Room
8. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?
9. That's Old Fashioned (That's The Way Love Should Be)
10. How Can I Meet Her?

Nazareth's version of Love Hurts is very beautiful and powerful but it's also one of the few epic seventies songs that I've never enjoyed. I'm not sure why...maybe it's their falling-to-pieces interpretation of this grim song that feels kind of..kind of...penetrating. That's probably not the word I was looking for but anyway, the Everly Brothers song is a different affair because they keep their cool.
It's a song for Caroline Stoddard and Devlin Burke to dance to in the Blue Whale.

There's something mischievous about Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet? so I'll make that Leland Palmer's anthem.

Next up!
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What are the 10 greatest gems in this genre?
It goes from moody, slow synth-pop to sexy summer hits so it's not just one thing. And even though disco music never really died - it simply evolved - it seems odd that they would use that label in the anti-70s decade.
The nineties did club and house music but also Italo-dance, the house'd up version of Italo-disco, often in a techno-NRG style.
But this top 10 is about the Boys Boys Boys in the Happy Station.
 

James from London

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A few years ago I semi-jokingly suggested Amanda Lear for the artist top tens. At that time we were still doing the Big Names for the first time, therefore an "novelty" artist like Amanda was out of the question (although it wasn't put in such harsh words).
I decided to take it like a man, and besides, several of her songs were suitable for the themed top tens (and "Fashion Pack" even won the Songs-That-Mentioned-Famous-People top ten).
But now it's happening anyway, and because I know it's done to please me personally, I like to elaborate on the subject.

Back in 1978 she had a hit with "Follow Me", but it wasn't just a charthit. Eventhough I was very young, I had already noticed some sort of buzz/commotion but I didn't know exactly what it was until a cousin of mine presented the 7" single to me and her sister.
Look what I've just bought, she's that woman who sounds like a man!
Naturally I was intrigued by the prospect of experiencing such an obscurity.
"Booiiiing" - the dramatic gong intro almost sounded like a foreboding, and - long story short - it was love at first sound.
Now I'm not sure if she actually sounded like a man, or that it was because they told me so.

A lot has been said and printed about Amanda Lear, mostly the gender issue.
Personally I've never had a reason to believe she was born as a man, but if the stories about the operations are true then it won't change anything, and certainly not the music.
Amanda Lear hadn't planned to become a disco star, I believe the producer (Anthony Monn) and the record label (Ariola) had decided that for her.
She enjoyed her success, but apparently disco wasn't even her "thing" (she doesn't consider herself a disco-queen, but it doesn't help if you keep recording disco songs year after year, even after she had ended her contract with Ariola - who had forced her, by contract, to record the fourth and fifth album. At least that's how I understand it).
Anyway, looking at her performances, I think there's something flawed about it, as if she has to play the role of sultry disco diva but doesn't really know how.
There's often too much awkward mannerism, and I believe that a man who wants to be woman would be able to perfect that.
Wouldn't it be ironic if she feels she's a man trapped in a woman's body?

Although it must be said that music performances in the 70s were very different from what we see today.
It was not unusual to "act" the lyrics e.g. he smoked a cigarette and then the singer pretends to smoke. And there were models and dancers acting as the song's characters.
View attachment 5143
Sort of a videoclip-on-stage.

I had to have those first LPs, and I played them and played them until the needle coudn't find the grooves anymore.
Yes, there are quite a few disco songs on those records, but they're definitely not by numbers "get up and boogie" disco albums.
It's an interesting mix of glamour, gothic, cabaret and sexual provocation (like the man-hungry vixen songs).
But there's also a hint of protest against that fabulosity and shallowness ("Pretty Boys" is actually more than a hint) and some of those songs sound surprisingly melancholic. Not the standard concept for a disco album, I think.
A lot of dedication went into those albums: the producers, musicians and of course the background singers who sang most of the songs.

And this was the prologue to my Amanda Lear top ten.
Here's a new article about her. She turned down an interview request, citing her unwillingness to talk about past music. “What she hates most is cliche, and repetition,” says Gero von Boehm:

 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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And a "wow" to find Amanda in theguardian.com. Moreover, since it is the guardian, I'm a little surprised that the article is written in a relatively complimentary way.
Unless I missed it the article doesn't mention Anthony Monn who was to Lear what Moroder was to Donna Summer.
Despite the lack of juicy scandals - and the ongoing gender debate has squeezed all the juice out of it - she's led a fascinating life, surrounding herself with the crème de la crème of European artistry.
I've watched many of her interviews and she usually comes across as laid-back and with a sense of humour.
She caused an outrage when she refused to pose with (genuine) transsexuals for this or that event/promotion. Yes, she hates being forced into do things that people expect her to do, unless it's her own decision. And hasn't "outrage" become our default emotion anyway?
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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Not every song with a four to the floor beat is a disco record by design and I find the disco-purpose of Raf's Self Control questionable enough to omit it from my Italo-disco top ten. But an honourable mention for relevance.

10. Lover To Lover - Joe Yellow
Fun fact, the first time I heard this song it was the instrumental version used in a movie about dancers who got so overheated by their cringey dance routines that they had to remove their curiously-themed outfits.
 

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9. Love Is Like A Game - Hot Cold
Since there are no FUN FUN or SPAGNA songs in my top ten, HOT COLD seems like the perfect solution.
My imaginary coverversion by CHIC sounds great too, but different, of course.

8. Dolce Vita - Ryan Paris
Possibly the most polished and most mainstream choice, but the overdubbing drums starting midway oomps it up enough to warrant inclusion.

7. Visitors - Koto
I'm not a big fan of this kind of "Atari" tunes, however, the incredibly catchy and summer-ish hook in Visitors makes it simply unforgettable.
 

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6. Hey Hey Guy - Ken Laszlo
Actually, this is my most played 80s Italo song but from a more objective point of view I couldn't justify ranking it as #1. And then I learned they stole (yes, uncredited) a part of a Genesis song which has tarnished the artistic aspect somewhat (thanks-not-thanks, @Minx)
The angle in this song is confusing, to say the least. Is he singing to or about someone, from a male or female point of view? I think it's a telephone song and that's great - and dangerose.

5. Happy Children - P. Lion
And yet another skinny Italian with less emotion than a weather forecaster. But then again, how could a keyboard perfomance not look awkward?
He's kinda cute, actually, and it's a proper disco stomper with sufficient variation in it.

4. Boys - Sabrina
Was this Italy's answer to the popular PWL sound? If it was then PWL headquarters didn't get the memo since they thought it was necessary to do a totally unnecessary remix (hard to find on CD and I'm happy to have it).
The video is iconically infamous for stirring the hormones of undoubtedly millions of unsuspecting boys (straight or gay).
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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3. Hypnotic Tango - My Mine
Disco with a New Wave attitude. I don't think I had watched this video before because I was surprised there were no female singers in it. I've always assumed that it was a man and a woman with a high-pitched voice, similar to Canadian's LIME of "Your Love/Babe We're Gonna Love Tonight" fame, but apparently it's an all-male band.
It's certainly one of the most unique offerings from the mainstream Italo disco camp.

2. I Love My Radio - Taffy
It takes the original 12" mix to fully experience the all-inclusive beauty of it - the catchy song, the piano and the exciting synths. If disco had died then this was the perfect eighties recast.

1. Ma Quale Idea - Pino D'Angio
1980, therefore it counts!
The leather jacket, a trademark outfit for the younger sidekick in any European krimi series, the Telly Savalas cigarette, the unusual bass vocals.
It's hard to say if he's simply following the trend of funk-rap, catapulted into mainstream disco by the Sugarhill Gang, or that he's taking the piss out of it.
But maybe that's partially the appeal of European disco music.
 
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Friend!Food! Oleson

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1. Daydream Believer
2. Daily Nightly
3. Take A Giant Step
4. I'm A Believer
5. Star Collector
6. Early Morning Blues And Green
7. Do You Feel It Too?
8. You're So Good To Me
9. Last Train To Clarksville
10. Shades Of Grey

And that's enough monkee business for today.
Up Next!

Manic Street Preachers
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I don't even know what they look like but I think it's them.
 

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Here's an interesting list from a few months ago:

 

Angela’s Cauldron

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Starting with one of my all time favourite songs:
  1. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
  2. The Everlasting
  3. A Design For Life
  4. Faster
  5. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
  6. Stay Beautiful
  7. Motorcycle Emptiness
  8. No Surface All Feeling
  9. The Masses Against the Classes
  10. This Is Yesterday
 

Angela’s Cauldron

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To be honest I don't know much about them and for many years I thought this was a 90s one-hit wonder.
I didn't really know a lot about their music until If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next was released and because I loved the song I went to explore their back catalogue which was when I realised how good they were.
 

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1. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (but where's the "Then"?)
2. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough (Bryan Adams/When You're Gone vibes)
3. Afterending (Abba/Eagle/Blondie/Heart Of Glass/Robbie Williams/Advertising Space vibes)
4. Autumnsong
5. Motorcycle Emptiness (I recognized this song too)
6. The Secret He Had Missed (ELO vibes)
7. So Why So Sad (Beach Boys/Manic Street Preachers vibes....oh...wait)
8. Anthem For A Lost Cause
9. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
10. Miss Europa Disco Dancer

Let's see how it compares to theguardian's list.
 
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