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you spin me right round baby right round

Started by madhair60, August 09, 2019, 01:13:30 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

madhair60

Amazing record. Do you agree that You Spin Me Right Round (Baby Right Round (Like a Record Baby)) is an amazing record?

Jerzy Bondov

It sounds sort of like a Mega Drive game. Like Dynamite Headdy or something. Amazing record

boki


object-lesson

Outstandingly good, possibly the best dance record of the time, and comfortably the best record SAW were associated with (that I know of anyway).

What is its equal from that period? 'Word Up!' would be one. Not sure what else.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy


sevendaughters

Yes, it is brilliant. Transgressive, fun, funny, ridiculous, hooky. Is it SAW's best? Let me have a look. Never considered this before.

GOD TIER
Divine - You Think You're A Man
Mel & Kim - Respectable
Kylie - I Should Be So Lucky

VERY GOOD
Divine - I Am Beautiful
Bananarama - Venus
Sinitta - Toy Boy
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Etc
Kylie & Jason - Especially For You
Reynolds Girls - I'd Rather Jack
Jason Donovan - Sealed With A Kiss
Kylie - Tears on my Pillow

It's definitely GOD tier SAW, but a historic love of Divine and Mel & Kim may put those songs ahead, whereas Dead or Alive? do remind me of cider and chunder.

Norton Canes

Not as good as half a dozen other DOA tracks

object-lesson

Quote from: Elderly Sumo Prophecy on August 09, 2019, 03:56:06 PM
Buffalo Stance or Push It.

Fine records, but 'You Spin Me Round' has an intoxicating quality in the rhythm that takes it beyond both of those. I reckon 'Kiss' counts as a dance record though and that's something else, then 'Sign O the Times' the next year. They have a distinctive wit about them, like 'Word Up'.

Things got a bit fallow until 'Groove is the Heart' IIRC, though I could be recalling wrong.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 09, 2019, 03:57:30 PM
Yes, it is brilliant. Transgressive, fun, funny, ridiculous, hooky. Is it SAW's best? Let me have a look. Never considered this before.

GOD TIER
Divine - You Think You're A Man
Mel & Kim - Respectable
Kylie - I Should Be So Lucky

VERY GOOD
Divine - I Am Beautiful
Bananarama - Venus
Sinitta - Toy Boy
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Etc
Kylie & Jason - Especially For You
Reynolds Girls - I'd Rather Jack
Jason Donovan - Sealed With A Kiss
Kylie - Tears on my Pillow

It's definitely GOD tier SAW, but a historic love of Divine and Mel & Kim may put those songs ahead, whereas Dead or Alive? do remind me of cider and chunder.

Best get Showing Out in God Tier as well lad.

Also Especially for you is toilet.

madhair60


madhair60

Love this thread thanks for all the recs. Divine is insane good


Funcrusher

Chart Music have recently flagged up the greatness of Say I'm Your Number One by Princess - definitely top tier SAW. Although overall their effect on pop was pretty negative IMO. Never really been a big fan of You Spin Me Round.

sevendaughters

used to run a short-lived club night where we'd always finish on 'I'm So Beautiful' by Divine. just amazing.

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 09, 2019, 03:57:30 PM
Yes, it is brilliant. Transgressive, fun, funny, ridiculous, hooky. Is it SAW's best? Let me have a look. Never considered this before.

GOD TIER
Divine - You Think You're A Man
Mel & Kim - Respectable
Kylie - I Should Be So Lucky

VERY GOOD
Divine - I Am Beautiful
Bananarama - Venus
Sinitta - Toy Boy
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Etc
Kylie & Jason - Especially For You
Reynolds Girls - I'd Rather Jack
Jason Donovan - Sealed With A Kiss
Kylie - Tears on my Pillow

It's definitely GOD tier SAW, but a historic love of Divine and Mel & Kim may put those songs ahead, whereas Dead or Alive? do remind me of cider and chunder.

I actually have thought about this before during one of those Facebook things where folk tag you and you have to think of your Top Ten songs by that artist. I chose:

Dead Or Alive 'You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)'
Divine 'You Think You're A Man'
Lonnie Gordon 'Happening All Over Again'
Hazell Dean 'Who's Leaving Who'
Mel & Kim 'That's The Way It Is'
Bananarama 'Venus'
Donna Summer 'This Time I Know It's For Real'
Bananarama 'Love In The First Degree'
Mel & Kim 'Respectable'
Stock Aitken Waterman 'SS Paparazzi'

First four are straight up doozies, next four very good, other two I just chose to round off the ten.



Funcrusher

All of these are fucking awful.

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 09, 2019, 03:57:30 PM

Kylie & Jason - Especially For You
Reynolds Girls - I'd Rather Jack
Jason Donovan - Sealed With A Kiss
Kylie - Tears on my Pillow


The rest are okay.

bgmnts


Johnny Yesno

Quote from: object-lesson on August 09, 2019, 03:42:57 PM
Outstandingly good, possibly the best dance record of the time, and comfortably the best record SAW were associated with (that I know of anyway).

What is its equal from that period? 'Word Up!' would be one. Not sure what else.

Also produced by SAW and released the same year:

The Danse Society - Say It Again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZg6WzSPRDA

jamiefairlie

Quote from: Johnny Yesno on August 09, 2019, 11:21:29 PM
Also produced by SAW and released the same year:

The Danse Society - Say It Again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZg6WzSPRDA

Ah now you're going too far. The descent of The Danse Society from grandiose prophets of impending doom to this...thing..., was one of the saddest and quickest falls from grace it's been my misfortune to witness in real time. Still upsets me.

Is this liking SAW stuff some form of "ironic review" style reevaluation by people who didn't fight in the culture wars of the period? They did produce shitey mainstream pap right, or am i misremembering?

This seems to happen all the time, I'm old enough to remember when ABBA were cheesy shit merchants rather than the pop geniuses they apparently always were. Same goes for Queen and Take That.

bgmnts

I think its just nostalgia and current music being so desire and empty that maybe its just clutching at straws?

object-lesson

Quote from: jamiefairlie on August 09, 2019, 11:42:17 PM
Is this liking SAW stuff some form of "ironic review" style reevaluation by people who didn't fight in the culture wars of the period? They did produce shitey mainstream pap right, or am i misremembering?

This seems to happen all the time, I'm old enough to remember when ABBA were cheesy shit merchants rather than the pop geniuses they apparently always were. Same goes for Queen and Take That.

No, I agree with you in general, though ABBA were okay. I think SAW's impact on popular music was overwhelmingly negative, but something happened with You Spin Me Round that made them transcend themselves. I really don't think there's a more exhilarating rhythm track in all dance music than that one. It's dense, tough and pretty complex to my ears and doesn't rely on a thumping metronomic drum sound, which is a strong point in its favour for me. Maybe a couple of other SAW records were okay, like 'Respectable', the rest are insipid trash.

Queen and Take That were indeed cheesy shit merchants.

bgmnts

Queen are ace, sorry.

Although they are unique in being the only band I can think of with a shitload of great tracks but not one great album.

object-lesson

Also, one of the great record covers of all time. I would have bought it for this alone.



JesusAndYourBush

I once heard an interview on the radio with Divine's Producer.  Divine had flown in from another country to record "Walk Like A Man" and some other Producer had been left in charge and they were unfamiliar with Divine and after many takes had got her so sing the song in a less rough voice.  Divine is in the taxi on the way back to the airport when the main Producer comes back and listens back to the tape that the lackey Producer has recorded and was horrified at the results.  A phone call is made and the taxi turns round and Divine rushes into the studio, records the song in one take and gets back into the cab that was outside with the engine running, and manages to get to the airport in time and not miss the plane.

sevendaughters

Quote from: jamiefairlie on August 09, 2019, 11:42:17 PMIs this liking SAW stuff some form of "ironic review" style reevaluation by people who didn't fight in the culture wars of the period? They did produce shitey mainstream pap right, or am i misremembering?

This seems to happen all the time, I'm old enough to remember when ABBA were cheesy shit merchants rather than the pop geniuses they apparently always were. Same goes for Queen and Take That.

There are no culture wars. They're all a product of a media with an investment in marking out territory. There is no pop vs. authenticity, there is no punk vs. prog. It is all phony. Social tribes have more in common with one another than they have differences, but there's no pay out in pointing that out. Even the contemporary culture wars is a product of the right-wing media, in a craven attempt to undermine the simple truth that the arts and humanities settles around the liberal and the left because it is social and concerned rather than of the atomised individual.

So I'm not some modern poptimist (certain things just are bad, but they're bad on universal terms rather than relative ones) nor am I a rockist (there is just no authenticity, and I say this as a fan of Alan Lomax). It's just that you can evaluate things for yourself without whatever publication you read guiding your thoughts. Maybe there's some nostalgia, but SAW had mostly finished by the time I became sentient.

I like, up to a point, the big blocky textures that SAW used, the house-indebted sounds that Waterman was nicking from Hitman & Her, the way the synths often sounded percussive giving the whole record a particularly dry thrust, and their predilection for singers who conveyed both innocence and something...other. They did a load of songs and quite a lot of them, from looking at a list, are toss. But in there they managed some gold. And they smashed opened the door of real proper Butlin's disco pop to the queer in a way no one had managed before, and I think they deserve credit for that.

ABBA and Queen wrote great singles but their albums all fall short (I suppose Q2 is fine). Take That had one or two singles and nothing like a decent album ever.

phantom_power

I know Jimmy Fallon blah blah memberberries blah blah but this always puts a smile on my face:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU9F6J1lafY

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: jamiefairlie on August 09, 2019, 11:42:17 PM
Ah now you're going too far. The descent of The Danse Society from grandiose prophets of impending doom to this...thing..., was one of the saddest and quickest falls from grace it's been my misfortune to witness in real time. Still upsets me.

Is this liking SAW stuff some form of "ironic review" style reevaluation by people who didn't fight in the culture wars of the period? They did produce shitey mainstream pap right, or am i misremembering?

This seems to happen all the time, I'm old enough to remember when ABBA were cheesy shit merchants rather than the pop geniuses they apparently always were. Same goes for Queen and Take That.

A lot of these are their early hits and a few good stand outs. People remember them for them for dominating the charts (and annoyingly, the indie charts) with samey dross, not to mention the stuff by their b/c teams, so it's not surprising given a retrospective, there are people pleasantly surprised by forgotten bangers.

If you follow the totp thread you'll notice some of the early saw stuff was some of the more interesting stuff in the shoes, but then it got really trite by the time Rick Astley appeared.