i'm not in love with this packaging

This is the packaging for the CD format of the new Pet Shop Boys produced Sam Taylor-Wood sung cover of 'I'm In Love With A German Film Star'.

In case you can't tell, it comes in one of those...half slimline cases, for lack of a better term, that were introduced a few years back to save space on shelves. I myself never cared for them, but they were nice to keep burned discs of files, or if you were making a mix - say- that way you only had to design one piece of artwork instead of two. Or whatever. They have their uses.

HOWEVER

As the final product from a record label that someone is going to spend their hard-earned on, that is going to become a piece in a collection - NOT OK. At the very least, there's no spine information so now it looks silly on the shelf.

Overall, it is a very cheap packaging schematic and had I known this was what was going to show up in my mail box, I would've either ordered the 12" or skipped the release altogether on principle.

However, now I'm stuck with it, so maybe I'll rip it and re-sell it. Actually, not a bad idea. Hrm.

Record labels, are you listening? You need to retain the physical format purchasing segment of the music consumer population - a segment that is quickly diminishing. We want something that looks nice - this does not.

chasing out of control spotlights

So.

The past three weeks have brought us new albums from two of the biggest names in UK pop this decade and the debut from [yet another] girl group fighting for your pop dollar. How'd we, as the pop consumers, fare? Let's take a look, shall we. In ascending order of quality:

[03] Girls Aloud - Out of Control

First off, horrible artwork. Yikes.

Second, a song written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, produced by Xenomania, and sung by Girls Aloud should be WAY more impressive than "The Loving Kind" turns out to be. Shame. [Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come for the tenth PSB album next year.]

Third, coming off of their strongest album yet - last year's fantastic 'Tangled Up' - I was hoping for a bit more. The whole thing comes off a bit underwhelming. Bland, actually, which they shouldn't be. They've been mind blowingly amazing ["Sound of the Underground", "The Show", "Love Machine", "Close To Love", etc.], they've been painfully shit ["I'll Stand By You", "See The Day", about half of the album tracks from the first two albums], but they've rarely been dull. Shame.

Fourth...well, there's some shocking stuff here. Girls Aloud go reggae! ["Revolution in the Head".] Girls Aloud go jungle! ["Live in the Country" - though, actually, this is one of the few OMG AMAZING moments here, but it is also quite laughable.] Most of it, though, is just generic Girls Aloud. Sad. :(

[02] Sugababes - Catfights and Spotlights

We are in serious need of quality control for Sugababes mk III. If you don't want to be the electro princesses you once were, fine, but stop putting out shit. I hoped 'Change' was a misstep and they'd get it back on track this time, but I guess not.

That said, there are a pair of AMAZING ballads hiding in the middle of the album "Unbreakable Heart" and especially "Sunday Rain" are possibly the two greatest slowies they've ever recorded - but it is saying something when the ballads are the highlight of a Sugababes album. Again, sad. :(

[01] The Saturdays - Chasing Lights

A-MAZING. Nothing less than passable here - well, "Issues" would be MUCH better if the lyric was actually "can't decide if I should stab you or kiss you" instead of "slap", but what can you do? - and much of this is knock you over the head brilliant pop. Including the most "if they don't make this a single they're certifiably insane" moment of 2008, "Keep Her". Seriously, listen to this shit:



That's what the Sugababes should be putting out at this point in time, not terrible Jackson 5 knock offs. For those three minutes alone, "Chasing Lights" wins the Pop Throwdown of October 2008. Well done, ladies.

shock horror

OH. MY. GOD.



Fast forward to about the 2:30 mark to see what I mean. I don't even care much for the song they're butchering, but Jesus Christ - why?

:(