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Stevie Wonder - Do I Do

Video- ***
Song- ***

Do What?

I love the parts when the music changes and you see the feet stomping- it cracks me up every time. This is one of Stevie's better songs in my opinion. I still don't understand why people consider him a genius. To me, he has a few really good songs, like this one, here and there, but I have a few of his most acclaimed albums, Innervisions, Talking Book, and Music Of My Mind, and most of the songs, like "Superwoman", for example, has some very strange chords and the progression of the songs can be quite tedious, not to mention that sometimes they are 7 or 8 minutes long. It's nice that he has his own unique sound, but it is a bit overplayed and it's not that pleasing to my ears for some reason. "Superstition" and "Higher Ground" are examples of good songs from these albums, so he proves with them that he can do it funky, upbeat, classy and just plain right. I just don't understand why he doesn't write these kind of songs while a lot of them are so difficult to listen to and he seems to be over-ambitious with them, using way too many chords.
"Part-Time Lover" is my favorite of his, but even his own unofficial website claims that the album "In Square Circle" isn't very good: "A disappointment after a long wait."
This song is kinda fun- at least it's not as tedious as most of his other songs. Dizzy Gillespie is truly scary in this video- doesn't make you want to go out and play the trumpet.

Rick James - Superfreak

Video- ****** (6 out of 5)
Song- ****.5

Superfreak-o-rama!

This has got to be one of the funniest videos ever. Just look at the whore hanging off the street lamp. Then there's the slut on the bench. Another trollop on the bench- and a total skank on the left. Not to mention the slut with the mustache. I've got three screengrabs and I honestly can't choose only two. This is one of the hardest decisions I will ever ever make in my entire life. Ah, what the freak- I'll just post all three.
Of course this song was sampled by MC Hammer in "Can't Touch This"- but ugh, not like it matters. James's is a good song, I feel it's missing something, but I can't put my finger on it, so maybe I'm wrong. I guess I just feel it could be a bit more exciting. It's very good, it just needs a little more to be 5 stars, for me. It's not as good as his song, "Mary Jane".
If you haven't seen this video, you should write to MTV or VH1 and complain. I would give it 6 stars out of 5- it's a classic piece of absolute filth, and for that it deserves to be in the Trashfan Award Category. Even though the song doesn't have 5 stars, I'm willing to bend the rules for this "special" video.

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush - Don't Give Up

Video- **.5
Song- ****.25

Enough Of The PDA! (Not A Handheld Computer, You Geek)

So- at the beginning of this video, they're hugging. It's nice. The song progresses, and they're still hugging. It's charming. Kate Bush starts to sing, they're still hugging. It's kinda, um... Well, the bridge of the song comes in, there's an eclipse behind them, Peter G starts to belt out some notes. They're STILL hugging. It's bordering on nastiness. The final parts of the song wind down and the song comes to a close, and guess what? The sun has made more changes in this video than they have. The phrase "no PDA's, please" (PDA = Public Display of Affection) comes to mind.
I love these two a lot. Peter Gabriel was in Genesis with Phil Collins and they have taken completely different approaches since splitting up. Gabriel has so much more to offer musically (if you take the time to get to know his better albums like this one "So"), while Philly decided to take the commercial route and make some pretty embarrassing stuff. Kate Bush, while basically a weirdo to some, is also an undeniable musical genius and is a great entertainer.
The song is great, very understated and letting the vocals take charge, and beautiful vocals they are. I don't know if you'd find this song as it is here on a CD, since Kate isn't actually on the album. Still, the song in the video is a great marriage of two great artists and it's good to know they're friends. I also can appreciate the video with its simple concept and warm atmosphere, I just think the concept compromises its ability to entertain.

George Benson - Lady Love Me

Video- **
Song- ***.5

Hoof It, Hepcat!

Here we go on another smug romp with the king of, well, smug. It's a pretty good song, it's a lot like his other song, "Turn Your Love Around", in the sense that they're both plain good songs, and probably deserve more credit than they get. The chorus is so catchy that at first I didn't realize I had heard this song until I heard the chorus just now and it all came back. Yeah, here it comes... I'm in a fitness club waiting for my parents to finish racquetball, there's a lot of pastels, big hair, tight spandex asses, piña coladas and leg warmers everywhere, oh wait, that was yesterday at work.
Check out the little moves he busts in the middle of the video- he thinks he's so hot. And you just know the director told him not to do that. "Look, you'll really regret it if you look back on it in 20 years and see yourself boogying on stage- it just doesn't work" but of course George couldn't control himself. He's too complacent for that.
I understand it's 1983 and all but the video is still just too boring, I mean it's only a guy on stage, and "Turn Your Love Around" is the same. Surely they could have come up with more. I guess they thought it was enough, having a smug dude on stage who tried not to get down but ended up shimmying a little too much.

Yarbrough & Peoples - Don't Stop The Music

Video- ****
Song- *****

They Have Sock Puppets For Groupies

I absolutely love this song, it's so hot and I could play it several times without getting tired of it. Got that driving bass and the girl's voice fits the song and really hits the groove, as she says. Just as the title says, you don't wanna stop the music. It's just a plain good song, and it's also got an exciting quality. The girl's fashion is a bit sketchy- I've never seen somebody wear a bandana and a beret topped with a stuffed tarantula before. Still, she makes it work- somehow.
Halfway through the video you get these sock puppets doing a line or two which is kinda quirky. What's nice is that although it's strange it doesn't really need explanation, it's kinda self-explanatory. Ewww- did you catch the white bread guy with the mullet? Ok this is definitely going in the Bad Hair Day category. I think more could have been done with the video to entertain our visual appetites, but it's ok, the song makes up for it.

China Crisis - Black Man Ray

Video- **
Song- ***.75

Actually I Think God Is Clueless On This One

This is a pretty cool song- very oriental sounding, I guess that's what they were going for since their name is China Crisis- and not so much Chinese but more of a crisis. Is this guy related to Jay Leno? The synths are light and provide a nice melody, it becomes pretty catchy after a few listens. This is one of those many songs that I don't have a clue what it's supposed to be talking about. Like many so-called pop songs, the lyrics don't shout anything that draws your attention to them so they're hard for me to figure out without actually studying them, which usually isn't worth the effort. "God only knows in the end" - well, yeah, probably- I'm lost, either way. The singing sounds professional enough, but it's as though thee guy doesn't open his mouth fully, making him sound kinda nasal. Still a relaxing song though, unusual for 80s trash.
The video is even more confusing, with the cat girl and the two dweebs crooning. There's also a gigantic chin involved, and a piano is being played while we don't actually hear any piano. There seems to be a story attempted- I think. What's the point of this video? Even God doesn't know by the end of the song.