I started off with 188 singles that were released this year by popular music’s heavy hitters from all genres. Additionally, there were plenty of amazing non-singles this year, so I carefully selected the best of the best (hoping that they don’t become runaway hits in 2013 so I won’t regret including them this year) and added those to the pool as well.

From there began the surprisingly arduous task of trying to rank them all. I prayed day and night to the Pop Gods to guide me in my mission. Sometimes I found myself heartbroken to realize that a song I loved would be cut when it slowly slipped over the fine line between #100 and #101. Admittedly, there were many other terrific tracks this year that didn’t make the list.

As always, there were some oversights and there are a couple of flat-out mistakes that I wish I could go back and amend, but once it’s been published it’s Pop Gospel so it’s time to let go of regret and move on with our  top 25!

In case you’re just joining us, you should catch up!!:

- Read entries 100 through 76 in Part 1!
- Read entries 75 through 51 in Part 2!
- Read entries 50 through 26 in Part 3!

Now, if you’re all caught up.. check out the conclusion of our year-end charts. Watch/Listen to the YouTube playlist below, or read the Top 25 after the break…

#25

Rihanna Love Without Tragedy / Mother Mary This pair of songs, presented as a single track seem to address the beating Rihanna suffered at the hands of Chris Brown, their reconciliation and her inner feelings about her public persona and her celebrity. In “Love Without Tragedy” she sings: “You used to be this boy I loved / and I used to be this girl of your dreams / Who knew the course of this one drive / Injured us fatally / You took the best years of my life / I took the best years of your life / Felt like love struck me in the night / I pray that love don’t strike twice…” “On the other hand, “Mother Mary” represents a more internal dialogue; one of prayer and self-reflection. The production on both tracks is beautifully haunting and both are major standouts on 2012′s “Unapologetic.” (YouTube) (iTunes)

#19

P!nk Try The second single from P!nk’s 2012 album “The Truth About Love” ventured into emotional pop/rock territory. “Try” is certainly understated when placed next to most of P!nk’s other singles but under the surface it burns with passion. Also, I might add, “Try” boasts one of the best music videos of 2012! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#18

Adam Lambert Never Close Our Eyes I have a problem. It’s come to light that I’ve completely overlooked non-single “Shady” from “Trespassing” in my chart and sadly, I can’t re-write the whole thing and eliminate a track to include it. Second single “Never Close Our Eyes” won the tug of war because a.) it was my original choice and b.) according to iTunes it got significantly more plays from me over the past year. It’s another track that should have been a major 2012 smash hit, that didn’t quite perform. I’d also like to say, somewhat cryptically that I referred to this song on a previous chart spot, if you were paying attention. That being said, it hurts me that “Shady” wasn’t in my year-end charts. (See my full review of “Trespassing” to know how much I love this album!) I’m sorry Glamily, but hey! Six album tracks in the Top 100 ain’t bad! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#15

Maroon 5 One More Night Maroon 5 are one of many artists who decided to take a distinctly more pop direction with their work in 2012. After the success of stand-alone single “Moves Like Jagger” came 2012 album “Overexposed” which has brought them one of the biggest successes of their careers thus far. Boasting a 9 week reign of the Billboard hot 100, “One More Night” is a sexy reggae-infused track about an on-again/off-again (but seemingly poison) relationship. Let it be known that 2012 is also the year that I finally stopped resisting Adam Levine’s attractiveness. I, like everyone else it seems, now have a crush… *Swoon* (YouTube) (iTunes)

#14

Taylor Swift I Knew You Were Trouble With “I Knew You Were Trouble” Taylor Swift pulled off one the most inventive uses of dub step influence to come from the current pop music trend. Rather than trying to infuse an entire track with whirrs and blips, Swift instead gives us a song that still manages to feel like her brand of Country-Pop on the verses but builds and explodes in a delightfully unexpected post-chorus that challenges not only the conventions of her genre but potentially a good portion of her fan base in a slightly more aggressive way than the other two Max Martin collaborations on her new album “Red.” Before it was even a single it managed to debut at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 416K downloads in its first week of release. Not too shabby! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#11

Bruno Mars Locked out of Heaven Among today’s successful male pop stars, Mars is certainly one of the best. After releasing a debut album that blended retro vibes of the 50′s and 60′s with modern pop stylings, Mars released follow up “Unorthodox Jukebox” and took on the 70′s & 80′s with his pretty kickass vocals! Lead single “Locked Out of Heaven” has echoes of The Police; a beat that makes me want to stomp and a funky groove that sets it apart from any other singles to hit radio last year. Bruno may feel like he’s been “Locked Out of Heaven.. for to loo-ooo-oong” but the gates of Pop Heaven are Presently open to him and his band of hooligans! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#9

Marina & the Diamonds Lies Marina’s “Electra Heart” takes elements of Greek Tragedy and spins a narrative about dysfunctional love. (Click here to read my rather wordy review/take on the album’s concept). My favorite of the album’s tracks is the heartbroken ballad “Lies” which has our heroine Electra feeling defeated after her lover’s betrayal. (“You’re never gonna love me, so what’s the use? What’s the point of playing, a game you’re gonna lose?”) The track is gorgeous and laced with Marina’s signature falsetto as she laments the true love she so obsesses for; her character’s tragic flaw. Add to this, a completely amazing acoustic rendition on an acoustic EP she released in Europe and you have a recipe for perfection. (YouTube) (YouTube Acoustic)(iTunes)

#6

Frank Ocean Thinkin Bout You It would have been easy, considering how the general populous came to know of Frank Ocean, to write him off as a gimmick. When he revealed through his Tumblr account that his first love was a man, the story seriously blew up. While I don’t know that he has or would ever use the label “gay” to describe himself, the media certainly has. The correctness of this label, and even the undisputed significance of an artist from the hip-hop and R&B community coming out aside, Ocean is no gimmick. Check out his mixtape “Nostalgia, Ultra” – released prior to 2012 hit album “Channel Orange” and you’ll see this is not a one album wonder, the man is just supremely talented. “Thinkin’ Bout You” is a beautiful R&B jam with soaring falsetto on the chorus and honest, quirky and heartfelt lyrics that describe the uncertainty in his experience as he fell in love with the subject of his revelation. Brilliant! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#5

Daley ft. Jessie J Remember Me The bassline of “Remember Me” alone, sells me. Daley is truly one of the most exciting new artists of 2012 for me. This track is full of smooth sass, as he tells his triflin’ ex (played by Jessie J in a small guest spot) that she can apologize all she wants for her crimes, but that he’s not having it. Daley’s vocals melt like butter over an irresistible 90′s-style beat with piano licks and hand claps. I just can’t get this song out of my head. It’s glorious! Also, I’d like to point out that even with her limited role in the song, Jessie J looks goddamn gorgeous in the music video. Why on earth did she hide all that beauty under a million pounds of makeup for her own album campaign? (YouTube) (iTunes)

#2

Adam Lambert Outlaws of Love 2012 was an especially great year for the gay rights movement, particularly in the US, where President Obama finally began to explicitly voice his support for marriage equality as he campaigned for his second term. The 2012 election showed that Americans share his support, adding three more states to the ever-growing list that will allow gay and lesbian citizens the right to marry. Perhaps unintentionally, Lambert’s “Outlaws of Love” became an anthem for marriage equality. It’s beautifully poignant lyrics and emotional vocal delivery bring tears to this out-and-proud Canadian nearly every time I listen, despite marriage equality being old hat in my country at this point.  Gorgeous AND culturally relevant. Thank you, Mr. Lambert! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#1

Taylor Swift & The Civil Wars Safe & Sound Though I think my #1 pick probably comes as a bit of a surprise to many, and there are sure to be those who disagree, I think that “Safe & Sound” may be the most beautiful thing that Swift has ever released. It debuted on 12/23/2011, which makes it a little bit of a cheat to be on the 2012 chart but the soundtrack and the movie it hails from (“The Hunger Games” ) did not release until Spring. Written and performed with alt-country act The Civil Wars, “Safe and Sound” is quiet and sort of melancholy in tone, but hauntingly romantic and if you truly know me you’d know that I’m a complete sucker for a love song. It was the first hint of Swift’s evolving and maturing sound that came to fruition on 2012 album “Red” and while it was a VERY tough decision over Lambert, it was ultimately my favorite song of the year!  (YouTube) (iTunes)

And so ends our year-end chart! What did you think? Please share your thoughts and opinions! I love discussion and hearing from you all!

Thank you – as always, for reading, and for helping me to celebrate the wonderful music we enjoyed in 2012. All of these tracks and the people responsible for them, are…

In case you’re just joining us:

- Read entries #100 through #76 in Part 1!
- Read entries #75 through #51 in Part 2!

Without further ado, here are chart positions #50 through #26! Feel free to watch and listen with our YouTube playlist, or read the chart after the jump!

#50

“Let Me Be Your Star” from the NBC series SMASH Katharine McPhee & Megan Hilty SMASH’s show-within-a-show, a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe, is the show’s biggest selling point. All of the original music for “Bombshell” thus far has been AMAZING. From the show’s pilot, this duet between the series’ very talented leading ladies was probably the best of the tunes revealed for this fictional musical, which is actually getting a full cast recording release this February. It also set up the conflict between the two ladies that would dominate season 1, while paralleling Marilyn’s own dreams. (YouTube) (iTunes)

#47

“Catch My Breath” Kelly Clarkson Upon hearing the disappointing news that the campaign for Clarkson’s 2011 album “Stronger” would end after only 3 singles to make way for a Greatest Hits package, I was pretty disappointed. After all, “Stronger” had a good number of hits-in-waiting, but “Catch My Breath,” the lead single from “Greatest Hits: Chapter One” turned out to be a pretty great single. Kelly sounds great (as always) and the production on the track shares the same layered, subtly-electronic feel of many of the tracks from this era.  (YouTube) (iTunes)

#43

“She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)” David Guetta feat. Sia Say what you will about David Guetta, but he can still turn out a beautiful track and it seems like he and Sia are now 2 for 2. Luckily, it is neither a cover, nor does it contain a sample of the horrendous Shakira track that shares it’s name. Not only are the vocals and lyrics great, but the production variances between the quiet of the verse and chorus and the crescendo that follows the chorus are irresistibly danceable. (YouTube) (iTunes)

#41

“Sexy to Me” JoJo As a follow-up to 2011′s love-gone-wrong anthem “Disaster,” JoJo released sexy, club banger “Sexy to Me” as what was planned to be the second single from planned third studio album “Jumping Trains.” That was before a decision was made to scrap the whole album and write/record a new one. Sadly, “Sexy to Me” was another fantastic track that could have been a major hit had it been marketed properly. Produced by Danja, it’s a song of empowerment and confidence and JoJo’s swag is in full force.  (YouTube) (iTunes)

#38

“Scream” Usher After the release of R&B scorcher “Climax” it was a bit surprising to hear Usher going back to the dance-pop formula that spawned hits like “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” but once you get over it, “Scream” is a pretty well-crafted pop song. I was a little taken aback, however, when I was visiting my hometown last summer and I heard my 10 year-old nephew singing about “getting drunk on the thought of you naked” and later “relax and get on your back, if you wanna scream…” It’s funny how kids can put things in perspective! (YouTube) (iTunes)

#36

“Timebomb” Kylie Minogue 2012 was a year of retrospective projects for Kylie Minogue as she celebrated 25 years in the music business. “Timebomb” was a new track that appeared in a special “K25″ box set but was also released as a hot summer single. Perhaps we have the Mayans to thank, as “Timebomb” explores the popular recent theme of dancing like it’s the last night of our lives. It’s a fun dance track and it’s vintage Kylie. (YouTube) (iTunes)

#33

“Closer” Tegan & Sara In 2001, I briefly lived in a big house with seven (yes, seven) lesbians and that was when I was first exposed to twin folk-duo Tegan & Sara. At the time, I wasn’t terribly impressed and never thought that 12 years later they would be releasing electro-pop and I would suddenly LOVE them. This, the lead single from upcoming album “Heartthrob” is a refreshing, catchy and quirky dance track that maintains an indie feel but readies the duo for mainstream success.  (YouTube) (iTunes)

#30

“Part of Me” Katy Perry While it feels like more than a year since “Part of Me” was making the rounds, it was a pretty good single from an absolutely unnecessary re-issue of one of the best pop albums of the last decade. Perry’s first issue of “Teenage Dream” was a strong enough set to extend at least one more single (i.e. “Hummingbird Heartbeat”) but “The Complete Confection” did bring us a bit more pop heaven. I’d like to state for the record, however, that the music video for this single almost made me change my mind. Military recruitment campaigns disguised as music videos just aren’t my thing.  (YouTube) (iTunes)

#28

“Stupid Mistake” Darren Hayes Any fans of the blog know that Darren Hayes is my everything when it comes to male pop stars. In fact, the gorgeous single “Black Out the Sun” was the #1 song on last year’s Top 100! His 2011 treasure “Secret Codes and Battleships” contained many would-be singles, however the fourth and final single released was “Stupid Mistake,” a song about being haunted by your past to the point of bitterness. It never ceases to amaze me how Hayes’ melodies and lyrics make most others seem phoned-in and trite in comparison. He’s an inspiration. (YouTube) (iTunes)

#26

“Heaven” Emeli Sandé Emeli Sandé enjoyed the biggest selling UK album of the year in 2012, moving more than 1 million copies of “Our Version of Events.” Lead single “Heaven” is a beautifully-sung, soulful ballad over house beats with some jazzy horns and tear-jerking strings. There’s something about it that feels very retro, but it has elements of the 60′s, 70′s and the 90′s so it ends up just feeling timeless.

I know it’s hard to believe with all these incredible songs but there are still 25 AMAZING songs of 2012 to go.

How are you enjoying the chart so far? Please feel free to comment and discuss!! We’ll return with the final 25 of the 2012 Top 100 on Thursday, January 31st! (Read the Top 25 post, now!)

Thanks, as always, for reading!

In case you’re just joining us, click here to see entries 100 through 74 in Part 1!

If you have lots of time, you can watch the chart unfold with this YouTube playlist, but if not you can read it, after the jump!

#74

“Just a Fool” Christina Aguilera & Blake Shelton Hopefully we haven’t already heard the last of Aguilera’s “Lotus” because though I wasn’t immediately convinced, it is quite a strong album with a number of fantastic single choices. One of the album stand outs, if mainly because it deviates significantly from the overall vibe of the set is country-pop duet “Just a Fool” with fellow judge from The Voice: Blake Shelton. “Fool” is supposed to be the second single from “Lotus,” but thus far it hasn’t made any major waves or charted high on Billboard. There’s still time, though!   (YouTube) (iTunes)

So we’re at the halfway point! What do you think so far? Share your thoughts in the comments section! I love to discuss and read your thoughts.

Part 3, counting down numbers 50 through 26 should debut later this week! (Read entries 50 through 26 in Part 3)

As always, thank you for reading!

While many year-end, “best of” lists have long since been posted, in typical fashion I am a little late. That being said, it’s never really too late to look back at a year of popular music.

In retrospect, while 2012 may not have been a big year for stellar albums, it was a pretty great year for singles!

Some lessons learned from last year’s Top 100:

• My 2011 picks contained a lot of non-single tracks, which did not bode well when many of those songs became singles in 2012 (i.e. Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.”)
• Similarly, there were a few tracks that were released as singles in 2011 but didn’t really become hits until 2012 (“Domino” by Jessie J).

Sadly, since both of those tracks were on last year’s chart, you won’t find them in 2012′s year-end charts despite their being pretty massive hits this year.

So, this time around I tried to learn from my mistakes and started with all of my favorite singles released in 2012 that were not on last year’s chart. After listing all of those, I scoured through 2012′s album releases and picked only a few of my absolute favorite non-singles here and there to sprinkle in. A list of close to 200 songs had to be whittled down, and after hours of deliberations I was left with Pop Heaven’s Top 100 tracks of 2012!

We count down spots 100 through 76, after the jump! (or you can click “Play” on the YouTube playlist below to just listen!)

That’s it for now, but check back soon for Part 2 of our Top 100 songs of 2012, where we’ll be counting down from #75 to 51! (Click here to head to Part 2!)

We love discussion, so feel free to give your opinions on the charts so far. What are some of your favorites? Anything you expect to appear later on in the chart?

St Nicholas of Myra

Ah, it’s that time of year again; the time to take the kids to the overly crowded, local shopping mall to sit them on the lap of a certain jolly, red-suited, old man. Upon doing so, they’ll either burst into terrified screams or happily confess their heart’s desire in hopes of finding it under the Christmas tree on the morning of December 25th. Despite this being a long time tradition worldwide, the question remains for many: who is this mysterious man, and how did he come to be the magical childhood legend he is today?

The man we have come to know as Santa Claus, and the many characters and stories surrounding him, are some of the most beloved and most universal symbols of the holiday season, but not everyone knows that these stories and images can be traced back to a Christian monk named St. Nicholas, who was a superstar in his own right. Celebrated for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas was the patron saint of Greece and Russia. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. It is said he gave away all of his inherited wealth and travelled the countryside helping the poor, sick and downtrodden until his death in 343 A.D.

In one of the best known tales about St. Nicholas, he saves three poor sisters from being sold into slavery and prostitution by their own father. He did this by providing them with a dowry (a monetary offering to effectively market the sisters to prospective husbands.) Some accounts of this story claim he left this money for the family in secret, and brought a bag of money for each of the three daughters as they came of age to marry. By the time the youngest daughter was about to come of age, the father decided that he wanted to know who the do-gooder was, so he stayed awake on watch. To evade the father’s surveillance, St. Nicholas then opted to drop the money down the chimney, where it happened to fall into some stockings that were drying over the embers. Sounds kind of familiar, no?

St. Nicholas, Patron Saint of Children

Over the many years following his death, St. Nicholas became known as the protector of children and sailors. In many parts of the world, a feast day was (and in some places, still is) celebrated on the anniversary of his death: December 6. Traditionally, this was seen as a good day to make large purchases or to get married. By the seventeenth century, (I wasn’t kidding when I said “many years”) St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even when the honor and worship of saints began to be discouraged, he maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland. This reverence of St. Nicholas by the Dutch resulted in his making a first appearance in North American popular culture towards the end of the eighteenth century, when a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch New York families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.

In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society’s annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace.

The name Santa Claus evolved from Saint Nick’s Dutch nickname, Sinterklaas, which despite seeming like it might mean something else, is simply a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas. Even today, the Dutch depiction of Sinterkllass still maintains some of the religious iconography connected to his origin. According to legend, Sinterklass travels from his home in Spain every year to Holland on November 5th, and goes back to spain on December 6th. While in town, he rides across the rooftops on his white horse with (racially insensitive?) sidekicks named “Black Petes”, to drop presents down the chimneys of all well-behaved children. Children who have been bad will be spanked and put into a burlap sack to be taken back to Spain.

“The Good Saint” (an illustration by Rie Cramer) shows the common image of Dutch Sinterklass

In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinterklaas stories in America when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. However, it was a poem believed to have been written in 1822 by Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, that would be the biggest influence on the modern image of Santa Claus. The long Christmas poem, said to have been written for his three daughters was originally titled, “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas.” The poem would later be renamed “Twas The Night Before Christmas” and it described Santa Claus as a “right jolly old elf” with a heavyset physique, and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although Moore likely borrowed some of his ideas from other sources, his poem helped to popularize Christmas Eve as we now know it. This was the first time we were to see a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve – in “a miniature sleigh” led by eight flying reindeer, whom he also named – leaving presents for deserving children and in this depiction Moore created an immediately popular American icon. It was also around this time that retail stores began to promote the phenomenon of Christmas shopping.

Santa Claus, his miniature sleigh and his eight reindeer.

in 1820, and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly popular Santa Claus. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a “live” Santa Claus. This would lead, eventually to the introduction of the still popular “Mall Santa.”

In 1863, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s poem to create the first image of Santa Claus resembling that which is popular today. His drawing was published in Harper’s Weekly and it depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard. He carried a sack full of toys and a long pipe which he was often depicted smoking. Nast continued to draw Santa annually for Harper’s until 1886. His work had considerable influence in forming the look of the American Santa Claus.

Drawing by Thomas Nast, 1863

Though Santa Claus was portrayed by dozens of artists in a wide variety of styles, sizes, and colors, by the end of the 1920′s a standard American Santa – life-sized in a red, fur-trimmed suit, emerged from the work of N. C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell and other popular illustrators. In 1931 Haddon Sundblom began thirty-five years of Coca-Cola Santa Claus advertisements that popularized and firmly established this Santa as an icon of contemporary commercial culture, but contrary to popular belief they did not create the modern image of Santa Claus. The images are simply the most well known as they were produced and distributed in mass popular culture.

Santa’s modern day image.

18th-century America’s Santa Claus, though iconic, is not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar figures are popular all over the world.

• Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children.
• In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats.
• English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children’s stockings with holiday treats.
• Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children.
• In Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka visits Russian children on January 5th leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven for giving the three wise men false directions to Bethlehem.
• In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

Whoever your holiday legend may be, we here at PopMessiah.com wish you the happiest of holidays, and we hope that even if you’ve been naughty this year that you get more than a lump of coal or a one-way ticket back to Spain with ol’ Sinterklass and his creepy, little friends!

Me: 1984

“Once Upon a Christmas”, the classic holiday album by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton was released in December of 1984. I was four years old and though I don’t recall if it became a family tradition this early on in my childhood, somehow it is one of my most exclusive Christmas memories as far back as I can remember.

The album accompanied a one-hour television special (Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember) that aired on CBS. To date, I don’t believe I have seen the show in it’s entirety but many of the performances can be found on YouTube and will be prominently featured in this post!

“Once Upon A Christmas” offers a wide range of Holiday fare from original upbeat, country hoedown moments like “With Bells On” and “I Believe In Santa Claus” to the epic orchestral melancholy of the title track: “Once Upon A Christmas” which revisits Christmas from a biblical perspective. Possibly the album’s best: “Greatest Gift of All” was the first single to be released from the album and is still a popular radio staple every year during the holidays. In addition to the previously mentioned tracks which are originals, there are plenty of Christmas classics including White Christmas, Silent Night, Sleigh Ride, and The Christmas Song for traditionalists.

As a messenger and holy vessel for The Pop Gods to spread the good word of popular culture to the masses, I’m elated to present the original “Once Upon A Christmas” tracklisting, accompanied by videos from the companion TV special (when available). I hope you all enjoy it as much as I (and many other children of the 80′s) do and that you add it to your list of Holiday traditions. It wouldn’t be a regular Christmas in my home without it!

1. I Believe in Santa Claus [3:29]
   
2. Winter Wonderland/Sleigh Ride [3:42]
   
3. Christmas Without You [3:52]
   
4. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) [3:25]
   
5. A Christmas to Remember [3:40]
   
6. With Bells On [2:41]
   
7. Silent Night [3:18]
   (Video unavailable, unfortunately.)
8. The Greatest Gift of All [3:44]
   
9. White Christmas [3:04]
   
10. Once Upon a Christmas [4:20]
    

When I found this album again on CD a couple of years ago, I never bothered to look into it but I always felt like something was different and a couple of songs were missing. As it turns out, when it was re-released in 1997 on CD they rearranged the tracklist and omitted “Winter Wonderland” and “The Christmas Song”, replacing them instead with Dolly’s “Hard Candy Christmas” from 1982 film: The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. While it was never really a holiday song, like many songs from movie musicals (see “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music) it has become over time.

• Hard Candy Christmas
  

For some reason, the entirety of “Once Upon A Christmas” is not currently available on iTunes. There are only three songs currently available. As much as I would love for you all to buy and support this classic album I have no links to give you! You can find it on CD pretty much anywhere for about $5.00 or if you look hard enough online I know first hand that there are torrents available but I would like to continue to keep this blog legal so I won’t be linking you up to any. I do hope, however, that perhaps I have turned some of you on to a wonderful classic of a holiday album and maybe inspired you to start a holiday music tradition of your own.

On my second night at the festival, I set out to take in a total of five screenings starting at 2:00pm and finishing up by 2:00am! In a moment of Deja Vu, I totally wussed out of the late night screening yet again due to sheer exhaustion, but I did take in four very different and very cool films. One dark and moody piece from Atlantic Canada, a documentary on the Disco era, a charming coming-of-age piece about acting your age and a somewhat oddball comedy about a gay man and his female best friend trying to make a baby the “old fashioned” way.

More on each of these films, after the jump…

“The Disappeared“

Directed by: Shandi Mitchell | Official Website | IMDB |

Filmed entirely in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean over 15 days in two tethered doreys, “The Disappeared” is an examination of hope in a nearly hopeless situation.

After a mentioned but unseen shipwreck, six men have found themselves hundreds of miles from shore in all directions, trapped in salt-water limbo somewhere between life and death. They have very limited supplies and are several days away from land even in the most ideal of conditions. Still, most of the men are experienced seafarers and rather than risk waiting for rescue they know that they must make the effort to row back to shore, otherwise the winds of the North Atlantic will see to it that they drift much further from safety.

The group’s initial disposition is confident in their ability to get back to shore should a rescue not come.  As each day passes, we see the men pushed to their physical and emotional limits as they fight against nature – that of the ecosystem that surrounds and threatens to swallow them and that of their own fragile humanity. Thick fog frequently envelops the boats, blocking all view of land or passing ships and in ways, symbolizing the doubt they all carry within but try not to speak. Even common symbols of hope, like the sun, become oppressive as the men suffer from exposure and dehydration while their anger and panic burn beneath the surface.

Some words to describe this film: “stark,” “grim,” “haunting” and “isolated,” but despite the generally negative connotations of these words, my feelings about the  film are near exclusively positive! The feel of the project is distinctly Nova Scotia and the ensemble cast are all amazing in their roles, often having to switch between protagonist and antagonist. All brought an authenticity to every last line of the often tense script. While I don’t want to spoil any of the film, I suspect that it’s conclusion won’t sit well with all movie-goers but I felt it was appropriate.

In closing, I’d love to see “The Disappeared” do big things internationally and get some major awards buzz. (It won the honorable mention for best Atlantic Feature in the festival’s awards ceremony.) While that may be an ambitious concept, I do think that it was strong enough to be deserving. Was it deserving of entry into Pop Heaven? Check the scorecard:

While no official theatrical trailer has been released yet for “The Disappeared,” here is a behind the scenes featurette:

“The Secret Disco Revolution“

Directed by: Jamie Kastner | Official Website | IMDB |

The central premise of slickly produced, Canadian documentary: “The Secret Disco Revolution” is that the era of mirror balls, platform shoes and four-on-the-floor beats was a carefully concealed political movement that served to liberate three maligned groups in society: women, the black community and the GLBT community. It takes on a decidedly tongue-in-cheek tone in presenting it’s argument however, illustrating the story of Disco with a series of montages featuring the major players in this movement as a shades-wearing trio who skulk around in alleyways or behind closed doors. They draw up a Disco manifesto and pull all sorts of strings to put and keep Disco on the map to serve their political agenda –  unknown to even the artists who were unknowingly spreading their message to the masses.

In addition to these mostly-comedic scenes, “… Revolution” traces the roots of Disco back to the post-Great Depression “Swing Kids” of the 1940′s (Disco came after great economic downturn, much like the club music craze of the early 1990′s and still-happening dance music trend of the first decade of the 2000′s.) It features interviews with music journalists, DJ’s, producers and songwriters of the era, many of whom back up what many would dismiss as a silly premise: that Disco had substance! In contrast, the film also interviews many of Disco’s biggest stars, most of whom deny any political motivations behind the genre while they re-count their experience of the late 1970′s and early 1980′s when Disco exploded as the biggest craze in popular music and just as quickly fell to backlash. One of the most memorable scenes features ultimate camp-act: The Village People, denying any actual homosexual subtext in their collective image or musical body of work. This interview is cut with scenes of one of the songwriters who worked with them recounting what the songs were actually written about (“Y.M.C.A. about cruising culture, for example).

Overall, “The Secret Disco Revolution” has a good amount of humor and insight, but manages to inch just a little too far to the humorous end of the spectrum to be taken seriously, and maybe that was realistically the point. Does Disco Heaven translate into Pop Heaven? Yes; just barely.

Check out the trailer below:

“Liberal Arts“

Directed by: Josh Radnor | Official Website | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes |

Both starring and directed by “How I Met Your Mother” actor Josh Radnor, “Liberal Arts” is a charming film about realizing the importance of acting your age, at any age.

Jesse (played by Radnor) is an admissions officer in a New York City college. One day, he receives a call from Peter, a former professor asking him to come back to Ohio to speak at his retirement party. Jesse, even at 35, still misses his college experience and quickly accepts the opportunity. While reminiscing about his student days, Jesse meets Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a 19 year old theatre major and the daughter of Peter’s close friends.

A chance encounter with an crazy but charming stoner-like dude named Nat (Zac Efron) leads him to attend an on-campus party where he runs into an intoxicated and flirty Zibby and the two begin an intellectual flirtationship that results in some good old-fashioned letter writing after Jesse returns to New York. Through their exchange, Jesse re-lives his college days while Zibby tries to be the grown-up she’s not quite become just yet. All is well and good as they seem to head towards love, until the illusion is shattered when Jesse visits Zibby and finds young adult vampire fiction in her dorm room. This sounds a bit shallow out of context, but it’s simply a moment of realization (among other cues he receives from other characters around campus) that starts him questioning his own progression as an adult.

We soon find that what most of our characters have in common is this resistance towards the natural process of aging. Zibby feels ahead of the curve while Jesse feels like that moment when you wake up and feel like an adult has never arrived. Peter realizes after retirement that he has nowhere else to go and wants his job back at the college. In one of the films best lines, he later says to Jesse that “Nobody feels like an adult. It’s the world’s dirty little secret”. We also see these same issues mirrored in a couple of supporting characters who help Jesse come to terms with things. (Allison Janney makes an appearance as another of Jesse’s former professors and Jesse also bonds with another student he sees himself in.)

I went in to “Liberal Arts” expecting it to be a typical romantic comedy based on its description in the festival program, but ultimately I wouldn’t classify it as one. The story is much more focused on the journey of it’s individual characters and the central theme of growing up. It was a big surprise for me and both myself and the friend who accompanied me to the film really loved it!

Needless to say, “Liberal Arts” coasted through the glittery gates into Pop Heaven. Check the scorecard!

Here’s the theatrical trailer:

“Gayby“

Directed by: Jonathan Lisecki| Official Website | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes |

The premise of Jonathan Lisecki’s “Gayby” is certainly not unheard of, two best friends – consisting of one gay man and one straight woman (a la Will & Grace) have said for years that someday if they should find themselves older & single with a biological clock ticking that they would have a baby together. While most people who make such backup plans with their best friends in passing never really mean it, let alone ever have to cash them in, show biz would suggest that these backup plans often become reality and in many cases with hilarious results.

Our thirty-something, babymaking duo are the odd and hilarious Jenn (played by Jenn Harris) and her best Gay friend Matt (Matthew Wilkas.) Matt is a comic-book artist who owns a comic book store and spends most of his time avoiding his ex-boyfriend. Jenn works as a hot yoga instructor and single-life is weighing on her as she realizes that time is running out for her to fulfill her desire to have a child. She goes to Matt and tells him that she wants to have a baby with him like they agreed upon back in college and they agree that in addition to the baby they are both going to amp up their efforts to get out there on the dating scene. The revelation that Jenn wants to conceive the “old-fashioned way” presents only a momentary obstacle when we learn that they had previously knocked boots on a drunken night in their youth.

The rest of the film plays out in a series of hilarious scenes where the two juggle painfully awkward dates, their zany friends, their work life and their obligation to Jenn’s ovulation cycle. Despite it seeming like the baby would be the focus of the film, it’s moreso about relationships and the definition of “family.” The question of whether or not Jenn and Matt will get pregnant takes a back-seat to whether or not Matt will be able to move on from his past relationship failures and whether Jenn can pull her professional and personal life together.

Overall, I enjoyed “Gayby” but based on some previous hype I’d read I found it to be a tiny bit of a letdown despite lots of entertainment value and likeable characters. Jenn Harris’s performance has a certain Kristen Wiig quality about it in it’s over-the-top gawkiness and as a result she really steals the film. With some time and thought, the Pop Gods have decided that the film sits on the line between Pop Limbo and Pop Heaven.

Here’s the theatrical trailer:

In my first night at the festival, I set out to take in three screenings, but since I’m an old man now it seems I’m not cut out for the late nights like I used to be, so I ended up skipping the midnight screening of Jennifer Lynch’s “Chained.” Along with a written review of each screening I did take in, the Pop Gods will also decide if each film should be allowed passage into Pop Heaven, banished to Pop Hell or forgotten about in the uncertainty of Pop Limbo (arguably the worst fate of all…)

“Keep the Lights On“

A Film By Ira Sachs | Official Website | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes |

“Keep the Lights On” tells the tumultuous story of Eric and Paul, two men who meet initially for a sexual encounter after hooking up on a cruising hotline. While at first, the potential for anything beyond their booty call seems non-existant (Paul is closeted and has a girlfriend), the two end up in a long term relationship that spans nearly a decade. Their love is fueled by passion, sex and mutual-need (bordering on co-dependance) as the two navigate through a series of personal and professional ups and downs, both being continually tested by their respective compulsions/addictions: Paul to his drug-use, Eric to his love for Paul and seemingly both to sexual gratification.

Well-written and more than effectively acted, “Keep the Lights On” is gritty and realistic, at times evoking a smile and tugging on the heartstrings in others. It blurs the line often drawn in addiction movies between the addict and the supporter. Paul (played by Zachary Booth) is clearly a drug addict, but Eric (Thure Lindhardt) seems to be equally dependent on sex and/or relationships. We hear bits about a past relationship that went bad that seem to suggest that Eric gravitates towards men who need him to take care of them. When the two are together, they see to be either fighting or fucking, and it’s evident in many scenes that Paul feels somewhat smothered. When Paul is not around, Eric’s worry is certainly seen as equivalent to withdrawal and he seeks out alternate ways of release. By the end of the film, it’s unclear whether only one or both of these men is headed towards a happily ever after, but I won’t say any more on that to avoid spoiling the film in case this review has piqued your interest.

One aspect of the film that may divide viewers is pacing. While many films span several years, “.. Lights On” will often skip several months between scenes without indication and it relies on it’s audience to fill in the blanks and not feel resentful about it (i.e. after their first encounter, where Paul says ‘don’t get your hopes up. I have a girlfriend,’ there’s a scene where Eric has another trick and then suddenly he and Paul have been dating for a while and they run into his ex-girlfriend.) Personally, this only jarred me for the first 20-or-so minutes before I was used to it. Otherwise, my only criticism is that little effort seemed to go into visually representing the passage of time in wardrobe, makeup and set design. It didn’t really take away from the storyline for me, but it was something I consistently noticed. (Only one character’s hair changed, and they weren’t terribly important to the plot.)

In the end, on the Judgement Day spectrum, I would say that “Keep the Lights On” was great enough to make it just through the gates of Pop Heaven.

Check out the trailer for “Keep the Lights On” below:

“A Liar’s Aubiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman“

Directed By: Bill Jones / Jeff Simpson / Ben Timlett | IMDB |

While its initial heyday was, as they say: “before my time,” I enjoyed a brief flirtation with the British comedy troupe known as Monty Python during my senior year of high school. It was 1998. Before then, I’d been a mostly shy and reclusive closet case but I suddenly found myself realizing that my isolation was of my own making. Appropriately, I became a bit of a social butterfly and got myself a group of crazy, like-minded miscreant friends and we spent our weekends cruising around our small town acting liberatingly foolish. It was during this rather formative time in my life that I was introduced to “The Meaning of Life,” one of Monty Python’s feature films that was released in 1983. From the opening lines of “Every Sperm is Sacred” my dirty teenage mind was hooked! While it never blossomed into a full obsession, I spent several weeks watching all of the Monty Python material I could, which was much more challenging in a pre-YouTube society than it would be today.

“A Liar’s Autobiography…” focuses on a single member of the iconic troupe: Graham Chapman. In this film, loosely classified as a documentary, audio recordings of Graham reading from his published autobiography (of the same name) prior to his 1989 death are brought to life by fourteen talented and visionary animation studios. Much like the randomly irreverent nature of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, these scenes are surrealist and run the gamut between comedy and drama. We see stories from his childhood and his beginnings in comedy through a theatre troupe in boarding school, his realization that he preferred the company of men, his ascent into fame and his descent into alcoholism.

My favorite aspect of the film, was the use of many different visual styles. My biggest disappointment in this year’s Atlantic Film Festival program was the disappearance of the Frame x Frame animated shorts program and this film was a collection of animated shorts in a way. By design, each story from Chapman’s life is animated by separate teams in a great variety of styles, perhaps to mimic the very nature of the sketch comedy he and his cohorts were known for.

Where “.. Liar’s ..” faltered just a bit for me is in large part due to its insistence that the story it tells is “un-true.” Perhaps this claim is meant to be tongue-in cheek as many of Chapman’s tales seem entirely believeable aside from the ocassional (and obvious) ridiculous embellishments. So is the fictionalization purely in these moments of whimsy and in the over-the-top visual representations? We know that Chapman was an alcoholic and that he did come out as a gay man in a time when a celebrity coming out wasn’t terribly common, but were the stories used to illustrate this time in his life fact or fiction? Are we not to believe any of what we saw from start to finish?

Completely on passing fad (err.. trend), the film is presented in 3D. While I’m not a fan of 3D movies at all, I did appreciate how 3D can enhance the aesthetic of animation styles that are more experiemental like many of those used in the film. It was never as cheesy and in-your-face as the effects tacked on to most Hollywood films and I appreciated that, though I’d almost always prefer to see any film in 2D.

Admittedly, at the immediate conclusion of the film I wasn’t sure of my overall enjoyment level. It has now been two days since I screened it and with more thought I have to say that I would actually like to have a second viewing of the film and the likelihood is that my opinion would change. “A Liar’s Autobiography” may not appeal to all Python fans but it’s definitely worth checking out for popular culture and animation enthusiasts. It’s visually interesting, rather funny and a fascinating look inside the mind of a man who wanted to make people laugh, even as he battles so many of his own demons.

Check out the trailer for “A Liar’s Autobiography” below:

While I would honestly hesitate to call any release that boasts only 8 tracks an “album,” as an EP, “Shut Up and Dance” displays a lot of potential from the 17 year old pop starlet and Duffield displays the dancing prowess and delightfully listenable vocals of Britney Spears circa 1999 (as in “Baby One More Time.“) Much like Spears’ debut, “Shut Up…” has hits and misses, but one can’t reasonably expect someone to have their sound perfected at the tender age of 17, even if presently her sound can be defined as distinctly POP – as in bubblegum. Before you make a flash judgement about my intentions in using this description, I would like to add that as far as the Pop Gods are concerned, there is absolutely nothing wrong with bubblegum!

The set opens with the first single and title track: “Shut Up and Dance,” which is sugary, dance-pop perfection. In the first of three seemingly-deliberate track placements, Duffield’s first lines on the album are “Here we are, right back at the start” as she sings to her ex that she doesn’t want to hear apologies for the past (at least not tonight.) She just wants him to take a cue from the song’s title. In the song’s bridge, she assures that she knows he never really meant to break her heart. This segues nicely into current (and third) single “Break My Heart,” which sounds very similar in overall production elements to the previous, but not enough to be monotonous.

While not the best of the (yet) non-single tracks, the most obvious future single release is track #3: “They Don’t Know About Us,” a mid-tempo pop duet which features an appearance by Australian tween heartthrob: Cody Simpson. Unfortunately, this one falls to the lower-middle of the pack for me despite the guest spot. Its melody and chord progression is far too reminiscent of “Kiss it Bye Bye“ by Alessia. (On a third listen, it does seem to be getting more infectious, however!)

Things pick back up with “Save Me,” which continues the euro-infused, dance-pop formula used in the album’s opening two but sounds like it could definitely work as a single (and in my opinion, is one of the better options as one.) “Sweet Fantasy” changes things up a bit and gets a little flirty with a certain 1990′s flare. It’s a refreshing change of pace, but overall feels like a nice bit of album filler – not likely to be a single but it shows a different side of Victoria and it’s not-at-all bad.

The albums strongest track, is second single: “Feel” which emerges as such because it’s the most mature track on the album and has the most lyrical and melodic allure. A club song through and through, despite it’s only reaching a peak of 37 on the Canadian singles chart, THIS is the song that shows the most promise as Victoria develops her sound for her eventual sophomore release, which – if history repeats itself – will be more mature and womanly and hopefully have her blowing-the-f**k-up all over Canada and internationally.

Rounding out the album is the obligatory down(ish)-tempo stuff. We start with “Baby Come Home” which is a mid-tempo pop radio jam about counting the days until you and your love are reunited. It’s very sweet and definitely could be a hit single if pop balladry soon makes a comeback. (On a side note: we pray to the Pop Gods that it does! We DO love slow jams!) Last on the set is the appropriately-titled “Final Warning,” which adds a bit of a pulsating beat but stays in a sweetly melancholy space as Duffield sings to the object of her affection that she’s probably just going to hurt him in the end. Another really pretty, could-be single that probably wouldn’t be on the label’s radar and for the record, the final words Duffield sings on the album are in fact, “Final Warning.” (This really can’t be mere coincidence.)

Now it’s time for the verdict! Let’s see how “Shut Up and Dance” fared at the glittery gates of Pop Heaven….

The Verdict: Propelled mainly by the strength of it’s three singles but still showing lots of promise otherwise, “Shut Up and Dance” isn’t revolutionary, game-changing pop music but it’s a solid effort from a VERY bright, Canadian prospect. Personally, I would have enjoyed at least one ACTUAL slow song, as even the most down tempo tracks were beat-driven, but when the scorecard was tallied and the Pop Gods deliberated, Victoria Duffield’s latest offering is…

Check out an album sampler AND the first three singles/music videos via the YouTube playlst below:

You can also preview the album in it’s entirety on MuchMusic First Spin!

Get “Shut Up and Dance” on iTunes!! (Canada Only. Sorry folks! I will be happy to update this with American links once they become available!)

In early January, 2012, Pop Heaven’s own Sarah Slean posed a question to her fans on Twitter:

I, being a vessel placed on this earth solely to spread the good word of the Pop Gods, immediately received a divine communication that despite each and every track on the brilliant two-disc opus “Land & Sea” truly being worthy of a video treatment, their divine will was that her next visual masterpiece should be the sassy stomper “Society Song.” (Whoa, tongue twister!)

As is my duty, I immediately passed this information on to Slean via Twitter. To my delight, she responded – rather appropriately with:

“SWEET HEAVEN” indeed! Pop Heaven! Based on her enthusiasm it was nearly a certainty that I was about to become the hot new commodity in Canadian music video art direction. As such, I patiently awaited a phone call from Sarah, or from her people.

A couple of months later, Slean announced that she had been awarded a grant by MuchFACT to produce a music video for “Society Song” and upon reading the joyous news I heard the angels sing. Still, no phone call… and when I saw her glorious performance with Symphony Nova Scotia at the Rebecca Cohn this past April, she and I met after the show (evidenced in the image to your right, where I appear ridiculously starstruck with my third-grader-at-the-dentist smile). While there was a line-up of people awaiting her autograph, and I had to ask a stranger behind me to take this photo, she didn’t mention anything about our upcoming video collaboration. Still, I knew this was my big break and I continued to wait by the phone for word on when we would begin production.

With the release of another music video, the absolutely breathtaking “The Devil & the Dove” (which we also posted about back in June), it was clear that Sarah just had a lot of stuff going on and that our sure-to-be wonderful clip for “Society Song” would probably be next on her to-do list. No big deal! True art knows no boundaries like time!

So imagine my surprise when I was checking Twitter today on one of my breaks in the office and I discovered that the video to “Society Song” had been released! While it seems that Sarah decided to go in a different direction that we originally “discussed,” I have to say that I’m not mad!

All jokes aside, “Society Song” is a stunningly filmed period piece where a rather disdainful looking Sarah seems to have been detained by authorities and is being thrown in the clink for an unknown crime. She is photographed and fingerprinted as she sits and sings the deliciously defiant song back to them, all the while side-eyeing a rather large bag of what we can only assume are her belongings. Without ruining the fun for you, Slean isn’t kidding when she sings “Fix your sad eye on someone worthier, I’ve got something better up my sleeve…”

Society Song is the third music video from Sarah Slean’s latest double album, Land and Sea. Society Song is taken from the more upbeat ‘Land’ album and produced by Joel Plaskett.

Check out Sarah’s Website: http://www.sarahslean.com
Buy the song (or the album!!!!!) on iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/land-sea-deluxe-version/id465165641

Video Credits
Director: Jeffrey Zablotny
Producer: Elli Weisbaum
Co-Producer: Lauren Corber
D.P: Robert Walsh

Produced in Co-Operation with MuchFACT, a Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent, Supported by MuchMusic/MuchMore Networks