The Revenge of Retro

At the start of this year, I had two main predictions: (1) This would essentially be a boring year where nothing happens, (2) All things retro will make a comeback.

You could say that prediction #1 was more of wishful thinking on my part. I had enough excitement the past few years and for a change, wanted a quiet easy-going next twelve months.

But prediction #2 was more of a hunch based on some perceived trends where we seemed to be going back to simpler, older stuff, as much of our pop culture had gotten too complicated. Plus, it was also a bit of wishful thinking as by now, most of you know I am a huge retro fan (as are many of my closest friends).

Firstly, I was mildly pleased to see Martina Hingis make a tennis comeback this year. She even has a chance to win the French Open. I think I stopped watching tennis after both she and Michael Chang retired.

We also get to hear a lot more of the europop music that was very popular in the 80's. They still don't capture the mainstream (much "popular" music we hear on the radio is still crap), but at least it is a step in the right direction. European-based music is where it's at, I believe. It's like a cycle, where they peaked in the late 80's, then lying low for a decade or two before eventually returning. I want to see a new British invasion.

But the 'aha' moment for me was when the underdog Nintendo Wii turned out to be the biggest hit in the last E3. Gamers lined up for hours to get a chance to try out the simpler, more fun Wii, with its simple yet innovative controller. I also liked that the new Nintendo will allow us to download and play all the old school Nintendo games. So now you can play old school Excitebike and the newer ExciteTruck on the same system! Plus, it looks like Duck Hunt will be getting a makeover too. What's amazing is that gamers love it. I hope this encourages game developers to focus more on fun and less on graphics and shooting.

Another good thing is the upcoming release of Will Wright's Spore. You may remember Will Wright as the creator of SimCity and The Sims. His new game encompasses the evolution of a new species. You start as a small organism, evolve into a land creature, form tribes, develop new technology and skills, conquer the planet, and eventually colonize the stars. Spore has the potential to be the most amazing game ever made.

Couch Entertainment is going retro too. I have recently cut down my TV in favor of listening to podcasts over the internet. A podcast is essentially an online radio show. This reminds me when I was younger, I would listen to the radio every school night. My favorites were the call-in talk shows where hosts and people discuss the issues of the day. I also liked this radio station (RK 96 if I remember), where the DJs actually discussed the songs that are played. Plus, every Friday was 'retro night'. Now it seems strange to have a retro night back in the 80's when we were essentially in a retro era. Still that was a great time. And I was very disappointed when one of the local stations here that used to play 80's songs all weekend switched to a new programming format that had limited new wave play.

Even the Internet seems to be in a renaissance phase. You've got all these great websites (youtube.com, pandora.com and others) that allow you to discover great music and catch up on a lot of the oldies that were fun to listen to before and still great to listen to now. I will post some of my youtube favorites in a future article.

Retro is back, man. And it's only going to get better in the future. Especially when an entirely new era of 'retro' takes hold, and we find ourselves once again reliving the old retro while living in the new one.

Basia on Broadway

This is essentially Basia's greatest hits performed live complete with band and backup singers. It was recorded back in 1994 on Broadway.

This brings me back to the time when Basia was at the top of the recording industry. Everyone remembers the massive hits 'Time and Tide' and 'Promises'. For me that was a rich and bizarre era in music, when a few jazz-inspired songs made it to mainstream.

She pulls out all the stops in this performance, with an all-female chorus backup, blaring trumpets, concert piano, and drums. This is the CD you play when you want to show off your stereo system. This is live music of very high quality.

Here are a couple of my favorite performances in this album:

Copernicus - This is the opening number and sets the tone of the entire album. It is an extremely fast song which jumps all over the place. Sounds a lot like the opening of a show or musical play.

Cruising for Bruising - Great voice, Basia sings in a low key the majority of the song. One thing I like about her is that she can sing low and powerful at the same time.

Third Time Lucky - One of the great melodies and cute background vocals. This live version also sounds better than the original studio recording.

Baby You're Mine - The song has a soft bossa nova guitar background and smooth tempo. I enjoyed the low/high pitch blending. This is probably the catchiest song in the album which you will find yourself humming to long after you stop listening.

Promises/Time and Tide - You already know these songs. The studio recordings sound better than the live ones, particularly for Time and Tide. But they are still Basia staples and fun to listen to.

Take Him Back Rachel - I've never heard this song before. I love it! It has a great title and I like straightforward simple lyrics. Plus it drones on and on with the 'take him back Rachel' part. Makes me wish I knew a Rachel that broke up with a friend of mine, so I could sing this to her.

Until You Come Back to Me - As they played the intro to this song, one excited Basia fan shouted out the title. One of her more popular tunes and an instant classic. This probably sounds better live.


Two of my favorite Basia songs weren't included here, notably 'Go For You' and 'Waters of March' (you know this as the Ayala Center song). I admit they probably wouldn't showcase her live singing abilities, but still it would be nice to have them in this compilation.

All in all, great CD, high quality feel-good music. Future generations will no doubt rediscover Basia.

Rating: 4/5 * * * *
Fun listening and top quality.