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Europop. "Too Much of Heaven" is a damning statement on rampant consumerism, while still strangely encouraging dancing to lines like "No love, no friendship, nothing else."At best, Eiffel 65 will remind you of Violator-era Depeche Mode. I don't believe a single lyric was sung though anything but a voice synthesizer.
With lead single "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" hitting the number one spot on charts in nearly every civilized nation on Earth, there was a point in which the track became such a ubiquitous staple on radio it became as reviled as James Blunt's "Beautiful."To the everlasting joy of thousands, "Blue" hasn't been heard from since at least 2002. "Move Your Body", "My Console", "Hyperlink".those are probably three parts of the same song. Denoting both the given genre of the group and the title of their breakout record, Eiffel 65 enjoyed an extremely successful year in 1999.
Granted, it was a dance record, and as American Bandstand proved back in the seventies, people will pretty much dance to anything as long as there is a discernible rhythm.The bulk of the record is composed of nitwitted by-the-numbers dance melodies conceived purely for club hopping automatons. It's the sort of track that will invariably (if it has not already) appear on Time Life produced "Remember the Nineties" discs along with dance-oriented essentials like "Macarena" by Los Del Rio and "Wannabe" by Spice Girls.Europop was unabashedly accessible, almost to a fault. This accessibility was enhanced by trendy (well, at the time) gimmicks such as extensive use of vocoders.
Still, Europop did have its flashes of astuteness. At worst, they will recall everything vile about the nineties' fascination for provisional dance pop.
I remember Europop well, and I remember liking it a lot. The songs are unfortunately memorable, which is weird, but maybe it is really only because of the nostalgic value this album has for me. As much as I would love to, I cannot forget Too Much Heaven, Livin' In A Bubble, My Console (GOOD GOD) and Silicon World. The vocals are especially bad, but really the whole production is, and the hooks make a mockery out of the genre. And I do not think I have the right to completely tear apart an album that sold as much as this did. But unfortunately, this album is noteworthy, even relevant. And now looking back, I can't deny that this is severely under par music. But at the same time, most everything here is cringeworthy and ridiculous.
One has to have something going for them if they can construct a pop song as brilliant (although annoying as all hell) as Blue. The song's power on the radio really can't be downplayed effectively and for a brief period crashed sleazy dance into the mainstream. As much as I hate this now, the songs have good hooks. In short, this is a chunk of the dance genre breaking off and making noise on mainstream radio, which was actually a big deal because mainstream dance became more and more relevant because of it, even if it was justified by just one juggernaut of a song.
"I'm Blue" was the only reason I put this in my cd player, but after listening to the other tracks, I realized while "I'm Blue" is an ok song, the other songs on the cd really are much better. The first time I heard "Living in a Bubble" I was so amazed that I had to listen to it again right away. "Move your body" is another good song that just makes me feel like jumping up and dancing.
EuropopGreat cd, husband loves it, good songs to dance to. Reminds me of the nights we would go out to the clubs.
If you like the genre, the CD is great. Because they are so repetitive, you learn the songs without realizing it. I dabble in techno and house music every so often, and I love this disc. Songs are catchy and enjoyable. Play the disc a few times, and you will be singing the songs word for word and wonder how the heck it happened. If you like the song "Blue", you'll like the whole album
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