SPAZ reviews HELEN LOVE's Day-Glo Dreams!

HELEN LOVE

DAY-GLO DREAMS

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OK, let's be honest here: I'm not going to pretend that I know everything that there is to know about Helen Love.  I've always been an admirer from a distance.  I've picked up their CDs over the years and I've listened to them quite a bit. I'm most certainly a fan, but I've managed to remain happily ignorant to WHO they are, what kinds of cars they drive, what their favorite TV shows are, etc.  Here is what I do know:

1. Helen Love is a band AND a person (but I will refer to them as a band)

2. They are Welsh

3. They adore Joey Ramone, Debbie Harry and quite a few other original Pop icons

2. They love all sorts of pop culture but especially music

1. They make great Pop records

Roughly 20 years ago, they released their debut single, "Formula One Racing Girls", a slab of lo-fi Twee pop that was blessed with more imagination than musical chops, but it was obvious they were destined for bigger things... especially with their blend of 8-bit video game samples, Punk guitar and Girl Pop melody.  Over the next two decades, they've perfected that formula while losing members, gaining members, turning up the guitars, adding Techno to the mix, turning down the guitars, etc.  As they've moved towards an Electronic-based sound, their songwriting style hasn't changed.  They are still very much influenced by The Ramones, Blondie, Glam Rock, Bubblegum Pop, Girl Pop and whatever else suits their fancy.  It's really kind of interesting just how many different things they've added and subtracted to the mix and yet they remain uniquely Helen Love.

When Elefant Records released the excellent It's My Party And I'll Play What I Want To album back in 2007, it was a groovy platter that referenced everything from the 1910 Fruitgum Company to the Macca & Wings single "Jet" to Rodney Bingenheimer's legendary nightclub Rodney's English Disco. Their lyrical focus was still firmly in the past, but their music kept moving forward. the songs had more depth, more shadows and more light. To some, it may have seemed as if they were playing the same old song over and over, but if that was the case, it was a pretty damn great song!

Now, six years later, Helen Love return with an album that continues their forward trajectory without sacrificing a bit of who they were.  In fact, if you couldn't tell by the album's title, Day-Glo Dreams, the band has finally embraced the '80s and added a lot of great references to that era in their lyrics. "Spin Those Records" namechecks Michael Jackson and Culture Club in the bridge and middle eight and chorus! However, they certainly haven't turned their backs on their roots. "Atomic" may or may not be titled after the Blondie song (it probably is). "We Are The Lo-Fi Kids" references their Indie beginnings, but they sound much bigger and bolder than their initial run of singles.  More electronic than guitar oriented, Helen Love are a Pop band right down to the core.  There are so many hooks on Day-Glo Dreams that it should be sold in a Bait & Tackle shop in every beach town up and down the coast! 

Helen Love may not change the world, but they probably don't want to.  Their simple yet catchy pop tunes might possibly change YOUR world.  This is an album that will enchant Indie Pop fans as well as Electropop and '80s fans.  Helen Love are definitely charming and their tunes are quite delicious. Beloved by those that have fallen under their spell, Day-Glo Dreams will hopefully rope in a new generation of fans and maybe encourage the band to come out with something a little quicker next time around!  Until then, this is pure audio bubblegum that will keep us Pop geeks quite happy for the next 100 spins or so!

Peace, love and Pop
Stephen SPAZ Schnee

MICHAEL JACKSON-In His Own Words 2

"Gone Too Soon"

(From the album Dangerous)

Like a comet

Blazing 'cross the evening sky

Gone too soon

Like a rainbow

Fading in the twinkling of an eye

Gone too soon

Shiny and sparkly

And splendidly bright

Here one day

Gone one night

Like the loss of sunlight

On a cloudy afternoon

Gone too soon

Like a castle

Built upon a sandy beach

Gone too soon

Like a perfect flower

That is just beyond your reach

Gone too soon

Born to amuse

To inspire to delight

Here one day

Gone one night

Like a sunset

Dying with the rising of the moon

Gone too soon

Gone too soon

MICHAEL JACKSON-In His Own Words

Excerpt from Dance of Life

“So what does a star do after it quits shining?” I ask myself. “Maybe it dies.”
“Oh no,” a voice in my head says. “A star can never die. It just turns into a smile and melts back into the cosmic music, the dance of life.” I like that thought, the last one I have before my eyes close. With a smile, I melt back into the music myself.

Michael Jackson - 1992

Memories of MICHAEL JACKSON: Spaz pays tribute (sort of)!

I grew up listening to music. It was always around and was most definitely my first love. Well, platonic love, I guess.

I was barely six months old when the Beatles infiltrated the U.S. market in 1964, but I don't remember that too well.

When The Monkees first started airing in 1966, I was three and my folks later said that they could put my brother and I in front of the TV and that was the only half-hour of the week when we'd behave ourselves. I don't believe them. I'm sure we caused some kind of ruckus during the commercials!

The first band that I totally latched onto as my very own was The Jackson 5. I think I was six at the time. Sure, I loved all the stuff my folks played and I loved the songs blasting from the AM radio, but out of all the music I heard on a day to day basis, it was The Jackson 5 that fascinated me the most. Perhaps it was because there was an honest to goodness real kid singing the songs? Or it could have been that I loved things like "ABC", "I Want You Back" and "The Love You Save".... In any case, I loved 'em.

One day, I was watching the J5 perform on TV and they did a song called "Going Back To Indiana" and I loved it! I was seven years old and asked my mom for their album (also called Going Back To Indiana) as a present for my forthcoming eighth birthday. That was their latest album at the time and I REALLY wanted it.

Well, I didn't get it for my birthday that year (1971). Was I bummed? I don't think so. I was eight and there were probably plenty of cool toys to play with, so I probably just forgot.

BUT a few days later, my mom says that my Aunt Wendie was going to come over and wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday. I suddenly remember that I didn't get the Going Back To Indiana album by the Jackson 5 so I asked for that, excitedly.

Wendie shows up the next day with an LP sized gift and I was overjoyed! I quickly opened it up and, there it was, the Jackson 5's Maybe Tomorrow album! YIPPEE! HOORAY!

Wait just a minute, there, bucko! Did I see that correctly?

Maybe Tomorrow?

Maybe Tomorrow?????

BUT I WANTED GOING BACK TO INDIANA!!!!!

But me being the good kid that I am, I didn't say it was the wrong record. In fact, I gladly accepted it and ran into my room to play it. And it was a great record! I must have worn the grooves out on that one. I know that I played it at least 100 times over the next few years. So, thank you, Aunt Wendie! (I discovered years later that Maybe Tomorrow was their newest album at the time, being released shortly before my birthday. I guess the Going Back To Indiana album was old news by then, being six months old!)

A few years later, I took great pride in the fact that my man, Michael Jackson, sang the theme song to the movie Ben. My brother and I were big fans of the movie Willard, so we were super excited about the sequel, Ben. And since we were kids, we loved the movie. And, oh my goodness, that theme song was perfect for the ending of that movie! Or so I though when I was 9 or 10. I guess I still do now, but I have to pretend that I don't in order to uphold my macho appearance.

I've followed Michael's career since then, but I never reconnected with him and his brothers like I did when I was a kid. I don't regret that at all because I know that gazillions of other people were there to pick up the slack!

So today, when I think of Michael Jackson, I don't think of anything sad (as you can probably tell by the tone of this blog post). I don't think about the scandals. I don't think about the controversy.

Today, I celebrate the music he leaves behind. I celebrate that music that helped me to appreciate diversity. I celebrate the memories. Thanks, Mikey!

You know, I never did get that Going Back To Indiana album!

Got to be there,

Stephen SPAZ Schnee

MICHAEL JACKSON-1958-2009

Michael Jackson,

the performer often referred to as "The King Of Pop" and one of the most successful musical artists in history, has died at the age of 50.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Michael Jackson, the onetime “King of Pop” who in later years was acquitted of child molestation and plagued by financial woes, died Thursday, according to the Los Angeles coroner’s office. Jackson was 50.
Jackson, under cardiac arrest, was taken by paramedics to UCLA Medical Center under cardiac arrest where he was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. (5:26 EST), said Lt. Fred Corral of the coroner’s office.
Corral said an autopsy will be performed Friday to determine a cause of death. Results are expected Friday afternoon.
Brian Oxman, spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN that three Jackson siblings — Randy, Jermaine and La Toya — were at the hospital. He said Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, was on his way from Las Vegas.
“Everyone is rather speechless,” Oxman said. “I cried with them and I am just stunned. The atmosphere here is so very sad.”
At the medical center, every entrance to the emergency room was blocked by security guards. Even hospital staffers were not permitted to enter. A few people stood inside the waiting area, some of them crying.
Some of Jackson’s music was being played, said Oxman. The sounds of “Thriller” and “Beat It” bounced off the walls.
“It is one of the most unbelievable, surreal scenes I have ever experienced,” Oxman said. A large crowd was gathering outside the hospital, according to video footage.
Producer Quincy Jones, who helped Michael Jackson craft such hit albums as “Off the Wall” and “Thriller,” said, “I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news.”
“For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words,” Jones added in a statement.
Jones said Jackson’s music continues to be heard throughout the world “because he had it all — talent, grace, professionalism and dedication.” He called Jackson the consummate entertainer whose legacy will be felt around the world.
“I’ve lost my little brother today and part of my soul has gone with him,” Jones said.
Jackson’s former wife, Lisa Marie Presley, said she was “shocked and saddened” by Jackson’s death. “My heart goes out to his children and his family,” she said.
Outside of Jackson’s Bel Air home, police arrived on motorcycles. The road in front of the home was closed in an attempt to hold traffic back, but several people were gathered outside the home.

MICHAEL JACKSON:

August 29,1958-June 25, 2009