It's Britney bitch! announces Britney Spears straight out the gate (Track 1,  0:00 - 0:02) on her brand new album, "Blackout"  on Jive/Zomba (available at each Amoeba Music store) which, in reaction to fear of internet leaking of songs, was released on October 30th - a couple of weeks early of its initial street date.  The big surprise is that the album is actually pretty darn good - a tight dance-pop collection on which the heavily processed voice of Brit often lashes out at the mean media - like in the vocoder-fed song "Piece of Me" - as heard in the above "non-official" video version that displays the Tabloid Britney that we are all too familiar with - like it or not.    But putting aside all the tabloid self-references and all the other superficial stuff,  what really strikes me most about this new Britney Spears album is its production, the music itself and just how expertly its producers (Danja and others such as Timbaland and Pharrell Williams) effortlessly channel pop's golden past.  Take for example "Heaven on Earth" (scroll  all the way down for still YouTube clip to hear audio) is a straight homage (rip-off?) to Donna Summers' 1977 Giorgio Moroder produced dance masterpiece "I Feel Love." 

Meanwhile the first 30 seconds of Blackout's track #10 "Ooh Ooh Baby"  (streamed below on YouTube still)  borrows its drum rhythm from Gary Giltter & the Glitter Band's "Rock and Roll (Part II)" - the 1972 hit and sports anthem while Britney's lyrical delivery in the track echoes the melody straight from the Turtlles'  1967 classic "Happy Together."   In fact I recommend for a bit of fun that you play around with hitting the start buttons on the two videos below - Britney's Ooh Ooh Baby with the Turtles (on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour) doing "Happy Together"  and try and make your own impromptu video mash-up. I suggest starting the Britney song about five seconds before the  hitting "Play" on the Turtles. And if you go off beat or get bored with one of the two songs, hit the pause button one video - especially since you cannot control volumes on YouTube when embedded like they are here.
And if you hear any other obvious past pop influences heard on this album - please add in COMMENTS - thanks!




HEAVEN ON EARTH