Jessie Ware - 110% (and everything else she's done)

Tbh I just find titling a song 'Ooh La La' to be an indicator of trying just that little bit too hard. The Suzi Lane one might be an exception.

That one is a minor moroder masterpiece

Spotlight is a little more aggressively dancefloor but get some Rhye vibes from it

Slandering RTJ's Ooh La La is also slandering Nice & Smooth how rude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLE-2ZSa_Dg

Suzi Lane, Jessie Ware, Faces, Goldfrapp “Ooh La La”s are good songs and I wont hear otherwise.

Also Blossom Dearie and The Raincoats; they’re not amazing songs but they’re not bad.

Let this be the end of the thread derail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS1jI4LQbvQ

Oh that’s a great one too!

Yesss Willem. Arno <3

I got distracted by Haim for a bit but now I realise: this is the best album

The thing about most modern "X goes disco" albums is that they channel other modern "X goes disco" albums rather than anything that feels like the 70s. This album is still more 80s than 70s but I do hear flashes of Salsoul, Cerrone, Patrick Adams,...and I hadn't really thought much before about how novel that is.

ooh la la is my fav on this album probably? idk. I have trouble listening to the whole thing. Its very mannered at times in its disco obsession. ive been ruined for it by a guy who kept using it as a stick to beat the dua lipa album which ... theyre very different obv, but i kind of appreciate how dua lipa is less oriented around capturing the correct disco blueprints ... anyway i do love several songs on this though.

which songs do u like on the dua lipa deej? i didn’t love it the couple times i put it on

it seems odd to even compare this to dua lipa's album; the two occupy pretty different aesthetic territory, and it's pointless to say which is intrinsically more valuable. both are very well executed. the odd-but-apt 'too perfect' argument that was applied by some to future nostalgia and lipa herself could easily apply here as well. each sound, every aspect of the arrangement sounds like it was deeply considered. it builds beautifully on tracks like "save a kiss" and "the kill" without overblowing things. the referential signposts unsurprisingly tend to point to those works and artists that various cults of 'good' dance music remain devoted to. though many of these styles, particularly rendered so thoughtfully, remain genuinely thrilling, her music can sometimes seem like it's built more around excellent aesthetic judgment than depth of feeling. i know grading the apparent rawness of a performer's emotions is largely bullshit, but i prefer an artist who can at least temporarily sell me on the illusion. at times ware's voice simply lacks the idiosyncrasy to fully embody some of the styles and situations she dons.

with all of that said, it's a very impressive record and i do personally prefer it to future nostalgia

I love both for discrete reasons and otm

This album is still more 80s than 70s but I do hear flashes of Salsoul, Cerrone, Patrick Adams,...and I hadn't really thought much before about how novel that is.

I have thought abt this a lot, I can't remember if I already said this upthread but this album is so reverent of its source material, she has clearly taken the time to learn the history in a way that few of her peers have, it is why this record is so sumptuous and such a treat and avoids cheesy pastiche

Anyone catch how a string section at the 1:42 mark in "Save a Kiss" evokes "Jive Talkin'"?

I have thought abt this a lot, I can't remember if I already said this upthread but this album is so reverent of its source material, she has clearly taken the time to learn the history in a way that few of her peers have, it is why this record is so sumptuous and such a treat and avoids cheesy pastiche

― vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, July 6, 2020 12:48 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i feel like this is saying exactly my criticism but as a compliment!

I think there are obvious reasons to compare this & dua lipa even though yes they're doing different things w different ways ... disco is obviously a common touchpoint. but yes its pointless to say which is 'intrinsically more valuable' sure.

I think there's a lightness of touch which I find personally more exciting w/ the Dua album, which has these kind of strictures that force it to sound a bit more of-its-time, certain melodic choices it makes, the way it cuts quickly and makes some unconventional harmonic/melodic moves for disco while not really going full-blown generic pop, that make it feel less like periodicization and instead like a kind of weird hybrid. at least at its best

i like "Cool" which is more an 80s thing i suppose but thats another enjoyable aspect to me is its sense of nostalgia is more in a jukebox style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8tAKDVxK8

ironically i remember worrying to brad & tim that "Don't Start Now" was kind of disappointingly mannered nu disco when it was released as a single which felt kind of like a backward step after "one kiss" & just pure pop (coughs in regretful coinage) like "new rules"

ends up the album short circuits these kinds of limitations by lifting from a sort of nostalgic pastiche that isn't quite as laser focused as jessie ware's

@flopson "Cool" "Physical" "Levitating" "Hallucinate" ofc, "Love Again" flipping the same sample as White Town lol ... it has a kind of whimsy

this is all a matter of personal pref of course, and as I said there's songs on the jessie ware album i love ... but its historical precision is the least interesting aspect of it imo, i think i'm drawn maybe to its perfectionism not bc of how accurately it conveys abcdefg cliches (though it does) but that as a side effect of how much i guess...passion? is required to take it to the limit like that, i think that kind of bubbles over in the elaborateness of the songcraft

also maybe understating the persona appeal of both artists

i'm really falling for what's your pleasure, yeah i know i'm late to the party. it's just so romantic and in spite of the maxed out (gorgeous) production choices the melodies are often very urgent and straightforward. there might be a little placebo in this but i bought a hi-res digital download of the thing and my god the spatial dimensions are super lit, it really sounds amazing. also i feel like the classical disco influences aren't as present as like the last 15-20 years of super lush nu-disco.

man, "in your eyes" ...

there's no weak spots on here

I keep finding new favorite songs in here. “Step Into My Life” was one of the songs I didn’t care much about the first couple of spins but right now it’s my favorite one.

I'm feeling this with the title track! "Read My Lips" remains my personal fave of the moment

love how the last minute of “step into my life” calls “is it love you’re after?” by rose royce to mind

this reminds me of that kathy diamond record

Better.

i'm checking out some kathy diamond tracks based on the mention... is it just me or is she .. a pretty bad singer? lol

jessie ware is a GREAT singer.

it's sort of crazy how this album has finally bowled me over in the last week or so. i don't know how to account for it. i'm just totally awe-struck.

i still think the 'classic disco' angle doesn't really capture makes this thing so special. i guess it has some classic elements in the appearance of certain instruments and in how the vocals are produced (they aren't these bright monochromatic slabs, they sound like human mouths singing human words) but there are also bracing, modern elements, like the last bit (coda?) of 'ooh la la' with the high synth colors that sound like the feeling of driving really fast and taking a hit of nicotine. the strings are also more inventive than a lot of classic disco imo, even patrick adams.. they're very imagistic and have a swirl to them that reminds me of scott walker arrangements.

ya it bangs - have you subbed in the single edit of spotlight for the album version?

I mean has everyone already

kathy diamond rocks but feels p different to me

i’ve listened to the single edit and album version of spotlight back to back to figure out what people find radically different about them and am at a loss

map otm that the strings are where it’s at

Miss Diamond To You is near the top of my all-time favourites, but her voice isn't the point

i like the album take better for Spotlight; more room to lounge and soak

Tbh this feels less like the Kathy Diamond record specifically and more just, like, a Maurice Fulton production in general

steve do you love the new boof album?

lol this is pretty great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhfECsvzvQ

weird to see dominic cummings in a jessie ware video

I think there's a lightness of touch which I find personally more exciting w/ the Dua album, which has these kind of strictures that force it to sound a bit more of-its-time, certain melodic choices it makes, the way it cuts quickly and makes some unconventional harmonic/melodic moves for disco while not really going full-blown generic pop, that make it feel less like periodicization and instead like a kind of weird hybrid.

I think this is generally true about the differences between the two records, and while I like the Dua album a lot it has about as much lightness of touch as a force-ten gale and that's part of the appeal.

yah tho i specificially meant that about the sort of unpredictable almost whimsical way it plays w different era pastiche's i agree calling the album 'light of touch' outside that extremely narrow strata seems kind of off tm

for those who were as swept up by what's your pleasure as i was, may i recommend
Azana - Ingoma

my feelings exactly :-)

i would fuck with the afrobeats tunes so much more if there were high-res downloads available

Jessie Ware has afrobeats tunes?

Anyway, everyone should check out the Azana album (which is not afrobeats but gorgeous South African soul and house)

seems cruel to edit even a second from this song but i guess i can overlook it if we get latex gloves & huge hair moments instead

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

So good. I think clips like this kind of validate but also respond to deej’s point about these songs being mannered - like, yes they are and she fucking loves it