All the attention lavished on this new-model Dusty Springfield/Lulu concerns the sound of her voice (say it again: more Lulu than Dusty). But what makes “Mercy” so enticing is everything swirling around it before it sings a note: the opening bassline, which retools “Stand By Me” (by way of De La Soul’s “A Little Bit [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: If only Chris Martin were holding an iPhone 3G: then his band would be atop the charts. As it stands, Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” fueled by Apple’s latest saturation-play TV commercial for [...] Read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic5vxw3eijY Breezy, worldly, with a touch of East End slang, “American Boy” isn’t just a fine summer single, it’s a great example of R&B’s new post-disco vibe for the late aughts. Estelle’s voice brings to mind a wispier Lauryn Hill, but it works like gangbusters here, as she dreamily pictures Brooklyn as a hip mecca [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: As I look at this week’s charts, I recall a 1994 interview in which Paul McCartney assured the world that the highly anticipated, ultimately anticlimactic 1995 Beatles single “Free as a Bird” [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: Last week I poured cold water on the chart comeback of New Kids on the Block, who appeared on Billboard‘s less-heralded Pop 100 chart but remained M.I.A. on the all-genre Hot 100. [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts. This week he takes a look at the long, fan-aggravating history of belated “bonus track” re-releases, and how the music industry turned these anomalies into a premeditated punishment for making an album [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: The upper reaches of this week’s Billboard Hot 100 are a little sleepy–two songs sneak into the bottom rungs of the Top 10, and every song above them either holds position or [...] Read more

Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: You can’t kill Leona Lewis, you can only make her stronger. For the first time in 30 years, a song returns to the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 after being evicted twice. [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: As predicted last week, Lil Wayne, supported by the late Static Major, has hit the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100 with “Lollipop.” For longtime Weezy fans, it’s a bit of a Pyrrhic [...] Read more

Ed. note: Chris “dennisobell” Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week’s Billboard charts: Forget that sleepy winter we just endured. We’ve got a horse race. The top slot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 has turned into a revolving door, as Mariah Carey succumbs to the gal [...] Read more