tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010923635709588318.post4455509223057449258..comments2024-03-01T17:45:09.909+00:00Comments on Breaking More Waves: Little Boots / Perceptions Of Success Part 2Breaking More Waves Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01678542701655601547noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010923635709588318.post-84152531140515116542009-09-30T22:11:35.057+01:002009-09-30T22:11:35.057+01:00Hi Adam, thanks for your long and well written com...Hi Adam, thanks for your long and well written comment. I'm afraid I'm not going to answer with anything quite as erudite.<br /><br />If you haven't done so take a look at the other blogs I've posted about Little Boots over the last year. You will see at times I have been quite delirious about her songs, and at other times have felt a little let down. I'm glad you've found something that moves you in her music.<br /><br />I'm sure if Victoria was to read your post she would feel that her music had been a 'success' on a personal level, being deeply affecting for you.<br /><br />This is what the two blogs on success I uploaded have been trying to do. To define different types of 'success.' Little Boots may not have had no.1 hit singles (although Remedy did reasonably well) but one may still consider her music 'successful' if she moves people in the way you describe.Breaking More Waves Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01678542701655601547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010923635709588318.post-11906622890946230952009-09-30T21:40:59.945+01:002009-09-30T21:40:59.945+01:00If I may proffer an opinion:
I live & die for...If I may proffer an opinion:<br /><br />I live & die for music; it's that & humour that get me through life, so it was with a reasonable amount of interest on my part that I found myself running across Ms. Hesketh on the Holland programme last November - someone who, it seemed merely at first glance, to have a grasp on the limits & possibilities of pop unmatched by anyone else at the moment. <br /><br />Her performance left me hungry for more, and with the announcement of her topping the BBC's Sound of the Year, success will now surely come!, etc. But you've been through all that. Now onto my main point(s):<br /><br />I don't, on the whole, tend to go in for much music that is packaged & sold with the express intention of hitting the charts - or at least not today's charts, anyway. My tastes are what tend to be characterised by that curious word 'Catholic'; anything, really, from the classics to jazz, American folk musics (chiefly blues & country), the styles which fuelled the rock 'n' roll explosion (honky-tonk country, and rhythm & blues), rock 'n' roll itself, and its many divergent strands (doo wop, rockabilly, and the myriad others); soul, Jamaican ska & rocksteady, leading onto reggae, the British Beat era, and pretty much everything else which emerged and diversified throughout that extraordinarily fertile period, the 1960s; funk (up to a point), punk and its incumbent 'New Wave'... you name it, there'll be something I like that either everybody or nobody loves or hates. Pop with a distinctly 1980s 'electro/'New Romantic' penumbra has never much cut the mustard for me. So - why then did Little Boots have on me the effects detailed by Johnny Mercer in 'That Old Black Magic' [I'm not typing the whole bloody lyric out here, but it is but a click away: http://tinyurl.com/vwtpr]?<br /><br />Well... on one level, it's the songs - her angelic whisper wrapped around what are, to me at any rate, deeply affecting, personally wrought songs of relationships & love's effects on the mind, body & soul, matched perfectly by the musical backdrops throughout. <br /><br />Beyond this, the heretofore-cited 'geekiness' could also account for a personal connection to her music which often eludes me in relation to many others'; could it be that the creations of a self-confessed, 25-year-old bookworm whose existence in a seaside backwater [Blackpool] had till recently consisted of hammering out demo videos of potential hits in her bedroom, have chimed so completely with a self-confessed, 24-year-old bookworm whose existence in a seaside backwater [Swansea] still does consist of common-or-garden bachelor squalor, leavened occasionally by laughter and/or swooning, and more often than not both? Seems entirely likely to me.<br /><br />I have a feeling that such things might not be entirely irrelevant to the point of this discussion. The often shatteringly personal nature of the material, coupled with an intelligence belying its construction & execution that puts nearly all others whose boats are moored in the same/similar jetties to shame does not necessarily (well, barely ever, let's be honest) equate with commercial success (viz. Jackie DeShannon, for instance); when such elements do combine to break into dollar-infused flame (it's no surprise whatsoever that Kate Bush is possibly her greatest inspiration), those artists enjoy a furious fanbase without especial financial remuneration to show for it. <br /><br />A fairly common story, then, but, as you say: it needn't necessarily be so...Adam Maunderhttp://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=546360151&ref=namenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010923635709588318.post-56484974835475737502009-07-18T17:14:58.839+01:002009-07-18T17:14:58.839+01:00Yes this article only really makes any sense if yo...Yes this article only really makes any sense if you are of the view that Hands was an above average pure modern pop album. Otherwise if you think it was anything less, then that has to be the main reason why it has dropped so quickly down the charts.<br /><br />Having said that there are many poor albums that stay at the top end of the charts for a very long time providing they have a couple of killer singles to hook the public in. We're pretty sure if Little Boots had (like La Roux) had those killer singles the album would have done better. <br /><br />I'm liking the OCS vs Weller analogy Mike ! And as for Marina, there will be plenty more coverage of her over the next few days and months here.Breaking More Waves Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01678542701655601547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010923635709588318.post-28391604675331891832009-07-18T16:04:23.023+01:002009-07-18T16:04:23.023+01:00Fair article with many good points. Perhaps LB jus...Fair article with many good points. Perhaps LB just isn't that good. The album was average, a little like her looks. It got panned by many of the main music mags and ultimately that's where a lot of the general public go to see if an albums worth purchasing or not. We can go over and over the intricate reasons why it's not working for her, but if she's so average, perhaps it's a little unnecessary. It's like deliberating on why Ocean Colour Scene never made it like Paul Weller did! Lastly, V V Brown and Marina Diamondis will blow her well out of the park anyways, as their star quality burns much much brighter!!!<br />Mike<br />http://therecommender.netTHE RECOMMENDERhttp://therecommender.netnoreply@blogger.com