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Discography
Aqua
Rene' Lene'
Søren Claus
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ALBUM REVIEWS
LAZYBOY - TV:
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 Artist:
Lazyboy
Title: TV
Label: Universal
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 
Reviewer:
Solo Fonz
“Do you consider yourself ready for life...?” AS CHILDREN, we’re taught that
honesty is the best policy.
Don’t tell lies, don’t make up stories, cross your heart & hope to die…
As adults, we strike a more selective stance - whatever it takes to get ahead,
to turn a buck, to scale the ladder. Gradually, as if by osmosis, our values
adjust, and the rules we live & breathe by are ever more prone to change…
So what happens? What becomes of The Truth? Who steals it from us, and can we
get it back, please…?
“41 per cent of all people take people with curly hair less seriously…”
‘lazyboytv’, the debut album from LAZYBOY, is a marriage of words & music unlike
any other – blurring the line between fiction & fact, and touching on everything
from the rolling of joints to the swallowing of spiders, from Elvis to eskimos,
from boy scouts to Cliff Richard, from the length of the penis to the length of
Danny Devito, and a great deal more besides… much of it available in five
different languages…
Produced by Johnny Douglas (George Michael, Kylie Minogue, etc.) and Soren
Rasted (Aqua, Little Devil). Mixed by the celebrated Ren Swan (Enrique Iglesias,
Tom Jones, etc.), with the involvement of singer Andrea Grant (who has
previously worked with The Who’s Roger Daltrey amongst others), New York comic
Greg Geraldo (a regular on the David Letterman & Conan O’Brien shows) this
11-track body of work - part help-line, part life coach, part agony aunt, part
pool of knowledge (complete with deep & shallow end, both unmarked) and 100 per
cent LAZYBOY - is difficult to tag in a single phrase, although ‘Rhythm‘n’Speak’,
after much late-night debate, seems to fit the mark best.
Certainly, it neatly sums up first single/video ‘Facts Of Life’(“Only one book
has been printed in more copies than The Bible – the Ikea catalogue… more people
die from a champagne cork popping than poison spiders”, etc.), the promo for
which has recently been put together by fast-rising Icelandic company Ingen
Frygt (No Fear)...
Packed full of tips & tunes, hooks & headlines, sound-bites & sayings, insight &
instruction, all craftily mixed together and topped off with a healthy frosting
of humour (including a host of memorable observations from Geraldo), there is
much on display here that will strike a resounding chord with truth-seekers
everywhere… especially those happier to break with convention than follow the
beaten path…
Sure, you can trot around the globe in search of The Answer, setting up camp
atop the mountains of Tibet or consulting with bearded mystics in the temples of
the Orient; you can bend a knee before any number of deities in any number of
continents, be it Buddah, Mohammed, Jesus or Jehovah, and still be no closer to
understanding the recipe, or even sourcing the right ingredients…
Or alternatively, you can put the passport back in the draw, plant yourself
firmly in your favourite armchair, open your mind (and p’rhaps a cold drink on
the side), and allow the wisdom of the world to wend its way to you - to stack
up at your slippered feet along with the papers, the pizzas and the Indian
takeaways…
And why not?
After all, The Truth - that’s the plain & simple variety - is as likely to be on
your doorstep as anywhere else; as likely to be covered in brown paper as decked
out with ribbons & fancy bows; as likely to be spoken by a passer by with a
soapbox (as on ‘I Love New York’) as a politician with an agenda.
The throwaway phrase, the (seemingly) trivial act, who’s to say there isn’t more
inherent sense in these than a folder full of stats or the traditional flash
from the heavens?
What’s insignificant to one person may be rich in meaning for another, the key
to health, wealth & lifelong libido, so best to take this on board, keep a close
eye on the context, and give an extra-wide berth to those wannabe gurus who
claim to have the answers - even some of the answers; it’s knowing which
questions to ask that really matters, and ‘lazyboytv’ (as well as entertaining
on a purely musical level - and a cyber level too at www.lazyboytv.com)
certainly throws up many of those…
“You’ll be you, and I’ll be me, thank God for individuality…”
IF LIFE can be defined as a journey, and certainly it’s one way of looking at
things, then it’s a journey we’re all on, all six billion of us – riding the
same train to the same set of buffers, although how we choose to pass the
minutes & hours, what we see from the windows, and what baggage we take with us,
varies wildly from person to person.
‘lazyboytv’- released through Universal in September - acknowledges, indeed
celebrates, these essential differences, whilst never losing sight of the
positive, or forgetting the fact that a journey made with your feet up is still
a journey… and don’t let anyone (including the 96 per cent of women who’ve faked
an orgasm or the one in four Americans who’ve appeared on TV) tell you
otherwise… .
LENE - IT'S
YOUR DUTY:
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 Artist:
Lene
Title: It´s Your Duty
Label: Polydor
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 2003
Rating:
Reviewer: Keld Sommer Djs.dk
It's your duty duty, to shake that booty booty…
Wahey, cheekier than ever, the little Norwegian pixie aims to please both god
and the ordinary guy with her newest video to It's Your Duty.
Lene Nystrøm Rasted or "just” Lene, as she is quite lightly clad…
Leather corset and a whip, a nurse's uniform or playing up the naughty
secretary, the former Aqua chick oozes sex, in fact so much so that that she
fires her way into the next issue of men's magazine Playboy.
You might say this is quite a change from the Bimbo/airhead look of the aqua
times to her current style, and quite a lot has happened to the music too. It
opens with a big pop melody spiced with a bit of scratching, a solid rock base
and plenty of attitude.
It's Your Duty is the first single from a coming album with more delicious offerings
of the same calibre as this first slice. The album will be called Play With Me
and contains 12 new tracks, there are 4 tasters to be found on this CD. Play
With Me should get its release on the 29th September.
On first listen (to the single) I was a bit disappointed, but the tracks quickly
grew on me. The album version of It's Your Duty is clearly here, as well as a
remix from Mark Picchiotti, who is a fair bet for a good progressive house mix.
The Maxi CD also contains a track called Queen For A Day, as well as a bunch of
multimedia goodies including galleries, cheeky tasters from the album,
wallpapers and the video to It's Your Duty. So you get good value for money.
There is also a great remix from Bimbo Jones.
New delicious sound and visuals from Mrs Rasted, who I believe will go to the
top - not least on the video barometer... So shake your booty down to the record
shop and take Lene home with you!
Handcuff up your boss, yeah, and be rough - He might like it, like it... He'll
get a rise, you'll get a raise - Don't tell his wife about it… It's your duty
duty, to shake that booty booty -Small, fat, all round or juicy... It's your
duty duty, to shake that booty booty - So what you're waiting for?
LENE - PLAY
WITH ME:
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 Artist:
Lene
Title: Play With Me
Label: Polydor
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 2003
Rating: N/A
Reviewer: N/A
Lene Nystrøm Rasted and
here crew of songwriters and producers including husband Søren Rasted and Brian
Higgins (songwriter for Sugarbabes) have really produced a disc with some funky
energetic beats. Take for example Virgin Superstar or the single It’s Your
Duty, which tries to kick ass with the best intentions, but despite this falls
somewhat flat.
Play With Me is a full album. Most of the tracks are so packed with sound
effects that the listener, instead of being drawn in to the music, comes up against
a sound-wall as hard as concrete. Therefore one of the best tracks is the
lighter Bite You, where the music subdues to a solid rock guitar base. Lene
really does everything to try and create a raw sound, but Rock-chick Lene sounds
quite [tame?]. On the other hand, there is a lot of humour in many of the
album's tracks, and this may be Lene's salvation, just as it was when she and
the Aqua guys I 1997 took the world by storm when they sang about Barbie Girl
and Doctor Jones.
AQUA - AQUARIUS:
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 Artist:
Aqua
Title: Aquarius
Label: Universal Music
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 
Reviewer: SAIN Unlimited Volume 3
Sure, they may be annoying and shallow and that bald guy in the band is totally ridiculous
but Aqua do have a knack of coming up with the goods. Two years ago they had
everyone singing about Barbie dolls, lollipops and some strange dude called Dr
Jones before silencing critics momentarily with the stunning Sliding Doors inclusion
"Turn Back Time". It was only then that Aqua hinted that they
could possess the substance required to repeat their ludicrous success. And here
they are: second album in tow and all looks fine.
Wisely they haven't veered too far from their Looney tuney world of music but to
their credit they haven't dished up "Barbie Girl II" either.
The first single "Cartoon Heroes" basically sends up their own
image with lines such as, "we are what we're suppose to be, illusions of
your fantasy... what we do is what you wish to do".
The Surprisingly anthemic "Around the World" is a hit waiting
for a quirky clip to be produced as it "Freaky Friday", which
pays homage ti the forgotten Jodie Foster film from the 70's. Admittedly it's a
challenge to sit through Aquarius from beginning to end but as a
collection of individual pieces of froth and fluff, it works extremely
well.
With Aquarius Aqua could very well beat the dreaded second album curse
and survive to amuse us for another record or three. What next? Aqualung?
AQUA - AQUARIUM:
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 Artist:
Aqua
Title: Aquarium
Label: Universal
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 1997
Rating:
Reviewer:
N/A
AQUA - TURN BACK TIME:
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 Artist:
Aqua
Title: Turn Back Time
Label: Universal
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 1998
Rating: 
Reviewer: Dot
music
Aqua have turned back time
to Eighties Madonna for this third single from their platinum Aquarium album.
Barbie Girl Lene's tones here bear an uncanny resemblance to the Material Girl,
showing the Dane can sing as well as squeal bubblegum pop.
A ballad relying less on Euro-pop clichéthan their previous two singles, it
shows that Aqua can write songs which move beyond the cartoon world of their
stylists.
Whether radio will come on board is another matter, although given their two
successive number ones, the Danes must have a considerable fan base.
AQUA - MY
OH MY:
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 Artist:
Aqua
Title: My Oh My
Label: Universal
Genre: Pop
Year Released: 1998
Rating: 
Reviewer: Dot
music
Who'd have thought that a Danish band singing about Barbie dolls and now pirates
searching for treasure would be striving to match a feat achieved by only one
act so far (Spice Girls) in the 45-year history of the UK singles chart?
With this, another cartoon twist on Europop with an addictive chorus, Aqua are
seeking their fourth number one out of their opening four releases.
With another memorable video and the band's amazing sales so far, the chart
statisticians will be standing by.
E-MAIL ME:
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If you know of any other releases or know of a mistake please contact me at: aqua_express@hotmail.com. Also if you have MSN
Messenger Service, please add me: aqua_express@hotmail.com
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