Two well-known suburban floor-fillers in a proper face off for the end-of-decade New Year.
I'm actually grateful that songs like this exist, if only because Simon Cowell was not allowed to get his expensively manicured hands on either of them. They both contain precious elements of the (subtle-but-defining) nostalgia, humour, mishape and glory of real people - things which the X Factor would like to believe it trades in, but actually ends up cr-ping all over.
Remember though, friends, the crap-o-meter is only for fun and I sincerely mean that, I really do
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11 comments:
I believe in a thing called love for me - probably only cos I know it better...
The Magic Numbers for me. Always found The Darkness a bit too 'novelty act'/pastiche-y. I can hear that it's quite a good song, sort of, but it's just all too Spinal Tap. The Magic Numbers just sound more joyous and heartfelt to me.
I'll go with The Magic Numbers. The Darkness was a lot of fun, but I would say that Get Your Hands Off My Woman was even more fun. These songs remind me of 2003-2004. All you need is to add Franz Ferdinand, Speakerboxx/The Love Below and the Strokes second album, and I'm there, at uni, meeting a future girlfriend, discovering Bob Dylan, dub...
No prizes for guessing which one I'll go for. It's got to be the Magic Numbers - The Darkness are just silly ...
The sweet/melancholy combo of Forever Lost is the one, I agree. Although this Darkness track also has its merits; especially the humour. Nothing that they did subsequently really got anywhere near it songwise, but the humour was always relatively present.
A fervent prayer that the new year brings a touch more laughter to mainstream music of this sort of order. Can I be the only one who misses it that much?
Neither would tempt me from bar to dancefloor, I'm afraid.
I was always suspicious of The Darkness being so self-knowingly mock-reverential; they disappeared up their own arseholes (or in JH's case - nostrils) in double-quick time. [Kudos to Frankie Poullain for exiting stage-left JIT]. Don't get me wrong: they were very good on the one occasion I saw them live, and they did have one tune I do still REALLY love (Bareback, an instrumental), and one I like (Christmas single Bells End, which bulls-eyed its target and deserves a long seasonal shelf-life), but I don't miss them at all.
The Magic Numbers are one of those bands I've never seen live [How did you miss THAT many festivals, DsD? - Incredulous Ed.], and whose music has never found a way past my defences, for some reason.
Sorry again, sourpus.
Appreciate your honesty DD, as ever. I wasnt a fan of either band as such, but these two tracks had something
I adore the forever lost vid and look at it if I need cheering up. Nice one. I like the mouse with the sticker on.... And what is the name of that child's bogus plastic woodwind instrument she's playing? Inspired orchestration there....
It's a tie for me. "I Believe... " I like more as a song, but I like the Magic Numbers' video better. While I was watching them I kept thinking that, if the Darkness had put a cutesy cartoon video for their song here, and the Numbers had gone all Spinal Tap for theirs, both would have scored better, though!
I'd never heard either one of these, I don't think. But I liked them both, specifically for the "humour, mishape and glory of real people." Thanks, Sourpus.
MAGIC numbers for me - was their 2nd LP really that bad?
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