3 August 1967 As with 'Yellow Submarine', once again we meet a Beatles song which has long outgrown being a mere pop record and instead become a communal pop-cultural touchstone. In other words, I'm pretty sure you know 'All You Need Is Love', your family member who's not into music knows 'All You Need Is … Continue reading The Beatles – ‘All You Need Is Love’
Author: Aidan Curran
Jessie J – ‘Domino’
19 January 2012 What if Katy Perry records were good? That's the intriguing, albeit low-stakes, premise of 'Domino'. Sure, its parts don't hold much promise. By early 2012 I was well weary of big-budget in-your-face EDM. The Jessie J school of brash naffness has limited appeal. Neither EDM nor Jessie J are a good fit … Continue reading Jessie J – ‘Domino’
Flo Rida – ‘Good Feeling’
12 January 2012 In fairness, there are parts of this Flo Rida hit I like. You've got its propulsive EDM-synth-pop energy with a twist of techno and Euro-house, plus that chorus vocal is bright and soulful. The thing is, those parts happen to be borrowed—or as the Irish Number Ones legal team prefer me to … Continue reading Flo Rida – ‘Good Feeling’
Procol Harum – ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’
22 June 1967 Ghostly organ riffing on Bach; impenetrable lyrics referencing Chaucer: would you call 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' pretentious? Well, John Lennon was drawing on Edward Lear and the Tibetan Book Of The Dead; The Byrds had a smash hit with Pete Seeger's folk setting of a chapter from the Bible; Mick Jagger … Continue reading Procol Harum – ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’
Johnny Kelly & The Capitol Showband – ‘Black Velvet Band’
15 June 1967 When we saw and heard The Capitol Showband at number one three years earlier, with 'Down Came The Rain' and 'Born To Be With You', Butch Moore was their crooning singer and—as with all Irish showbands of the time—outdated '50s pop was their game. Now here they are in 1967 with a … Continue reading Johnny Kelly & The Capitol Showband – ‘Black Velvet Band’
The Tremeloes – ‘Silence Is Golden’
8 June 1967 I didn't know that 'Silence Is Golden' was originally by The Four Seasons. Their 1964 ur-text doesn't have the same pep or swagger as their classic Jersey Boys sound, though - it's closer to a pre-Beatles country-pop ballad. Think of Frankie Valli on a horse. This Tremeloes cover sticks to the original … Continue reading The Tremeloes – ‘Silence Is Golden’
Little Mix – ‘Cannonball’
15 December 2011 First thing I checked: was there an anti-X Factor counter-movement behind the original 'Cannonball' at Christmas 2011? If there was, it didn't get far. Damien Rice's version re-entered the Irish charts at a mere no. 19 before gravity and nominative determinism took hold. (It had already entered the Irish and UK charts … Continue reading Little Mix – ‘Cannonball’
The X Factor Finalists ft. JLS and One Direction – ‘Wishing On A Star’
1 December 2011 This 2011 iteration of The X Factor's annual side-hustle forwent its usual militaristic poppy-kissing to raise money instead for a UK children's palliative care charity. The Irish record-buying public, who had magnanimously put previous X Factor collective singles like 'Ooh, Aah, Up The British Army' and 'Come Out Ye Talibans' to number … Continue reading The X Factor Finalists ft. JLS and One Direction – ‘Wishing On A Star’
Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’
13 October 2011 The unlikely roll call of women who've achieved notoriety by running carefree in a field of crops includes Theresa May and, while shooting the video for 'We Found Love', Rihanna. The latter incident was in a field in Co. Down, as you'll recall, and involved a no-nonsense Ulster farmer (who was also, … Continue reading Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’
Johnny McEvoy – ‘The Boston Burglar’
18 May 1967 Are we sure this isn't actually the Boston Strangler? I ask because we leave the light-fingered narrator "serving up full twenty years in the penitentiary" - a bit draconian for your common-or-garden spot of breaking and entering, unless he had been burglarising Trevelyan's corn. On the upside, that dolorous train trip from … Continue reading Johnny McEvoy – ‘The Boston Burglar’
