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Makes you want to get up and dance even us older folk (parents) LOL. Good fun music and upbeat. Fun music.
Sure, just like everyone else on the planet I heard "Blue" (and to a lesser extent "Move Your Body") everywhere I went in 1999/2000. Always on the lookout for great new synthpop, electro, trance, and techno, I have had "Europop" on my "To Buy" list for a while now; I finally got a copy.
It's too bad their second release, Contact, isn't as widely available and only as an import, but it won't be long before I add that one to my collection as well. Honestly, Blue and Move Your Body are my LEAST favorite songs; Too Much of Heaven, Dub In Life, Living in a Bubble, Another Race, The Edge (my 2nd fave), Now Is Forever (my top fave), Silicon World, and Hyperlink all are fantastic.
I was blown away by the well-crafted, unique, synthetic pop tunes on this CD. If you like fun, danceable, electronic pop, don't hesitate another decade to get Europop.
.to get this CD. I liked these songs, just not enough to really investigate the group's first full length release.
If you really like the singles, you might want to check out one of the import version that has remixes of these songs, but for me, the standard issue is perfect.
At worst, they will recall everything vile about the nineties' fascination for provisional dance pop. 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. 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. Denoting both the given genre of the group and the title of their breakout record, Eiffel 65 enjoyed an extremely successful year in 1999.
"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. Europop. 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.
"Move Your Body", "My Console", "Hyperlink".those are probably three parts of the same song.
The song's power on the radio really can't be downplayed effectively and for a brief period crashed sleazy dance into the mainstream. 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. But at the same time, most everything here is cringeworthy and ridiculous. The vocals are especially bad, but really the whole production is, and the hooks make a mockery out of the genre. As much as I hate this now, the songs have good hooks.
And now looking back, I can't deny that this is severely under par music. 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 songs are unfortunately memorable, which is weird, but maybe it is really only because of the nostalgic value this album has for me. And I do not think I have the right to completely tear apart an album that sold as much as this did. I remember Europop well, and I remember liking it a lot.
But unfortunately, this album is noteworthy, even relevant. 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 first time I heard "Living in a Bubble" I was so amazed that I had to listen to it again right away. "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. "Move your body" is another good song that just makes me feel like jumping up and dancing.
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