Who Did It Better? Dressed To Kill

Who Did It Better?

Dressed To Kill

If you're a singer who also writes songs, you never know which side is going to butter your bread. Sometimes it's you, and sometimes its another artist. But if the song is good? You can bet it's gonna eventually put some bread in your pantry, for sure.

That's the case with today's Who Did It Better entry. A singer/songwriter with a proven track record ends up, due to a bit of bad luck, not getting to market. But years later it does end up making bank for its writer, thanks to a certain industry connection and a mega superstar who still has a way of selling hundreds of thousands of copies of any CD she graces. 

Dressed to Kill is a song written by former The Ordinary Boys member, Preston - whose real name is Samuel Dylan Murray Preston - with producer, Mark Taylor.  

The Ordinary Boys is an English indie rock band founded in Worthing, West Sussex in 2002. Between 2004 and 2007, they enjoyed a string of top-ten hits on the UK Singles Chart, with their most famous song being Boys Will Be Boys.

By 2008, the band had broken up, leaving Preston to soldier on as a solo artist for the band's longtime label, B-Unique Records which was distributed by Warner Bros. With a solo album titled Whatever Forever completed and ready for release, the song, Dressed To Kill - which sampled the introduction from Siouxsie and the Banshees' 1980 single Happy House - was selected as the lead single. The song was co-written and produced by Mark Taylor, who had also produce Cher's worldwide comeback song, Believe, back in 1998. 

Released on September 7, 2009, the single didn't chart at all. Most believe this failure was due to Preston having to cancel all promotional activities and appearances because he'd had a bicycle accident and broken both his arms! When the single failed to catch fire, and without a star to promote it, the label got cold feet and shelved Whatever Forever... forever. To this day, it has not seen the light of day.

While recovering from his bicycle accident, Preston shifted focus and began to concentrate on his songwriting; a move that proved to pay off extremely well. In 2011, Preston co-wrote  the #1 hit Heart Skips A Beat for Olly Murs. Then, in December of that same year, The Ordinary Boys reunited.

In 2011, Cher was working on the blueprint for her 25th studio album, Closer To The Truth. Mark Taylor was brought on board to work with hot, new producers Paul Oakenfold, Billy Mann, Timbaland and MachoPsycho. During the recording process, Taylor decided to resurrect Dressed To Kill - and it made the final cut.

Closer To The Truth debuted at #3 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart, which was Cher's highest charting solo record at that time, (her 2018 Abba tribute album, Dancing Queen, would match that feat.) The album also went Top Ten in Canada, Germany, Russia, Scotland, and the UK. For every copy sold? Preston, as a songwriter, got a little ka-ching in his pocket.

And, to top things off, on March 22, 2014, when Cher embarked on her sixth concert tour, she decided to call it: The Dressed to Kill Tour! And every time she performed the song? More ka-ching for Preston!

And that's the whole story.

Now? On to the competition.

The Song: Dressed To Kill

The Competitors: Preston vs. Cher

Dressed To Kill - Preston

Dressed To Kill - Cher

Preston

Very high drama! From note one, things are pitched to excite. A bit cheesy? Perhaps. There's something very predictable about the song itself; the lyrics click in place like Legos and the melody goes exactly where expected. So? No surprises. 

Well, that's where the production work comes in. 

There is something very Depeche Mode about the whole affair; the dramatic flourish, the dark subject, the dispassionate vocals. 

Preston's voice is fine. Perfect pop fodder, but nothing to write home about. Of course, it's hard to tell - here, his vocals are super-processed, as in placed in a Cuisinart. Not sure how I feel about the shattered edits - where they make it sound like a television cutting in and out. That abrupt breaking up is always jarring to hear, and I've never quite known what it is the producer is attempting to convey. Is it suppose to emulate the throb of a strobe light? It does give it a bit of an industrial edge, which, I suppose, is to counteract the smarmy predictability of the melody.

That said, I do like the song. It has it's charms. And the production work, while a bit busy, propels this one along. I particularly like the end of the chorus with its modulated descent. I also like the bit where everything drops out just before the chorus launches and you can hear that muted piano. 

Listening to the vocals, I imagine they were recorded from a television set, for Preston sounds 'broadcast' as opposed to present in the room. That separation isn't warming, and I suspect that's the primary reason this didn't prick up more ears. He's been reduced to a grainy sounding image - and that, great pop, does not make.

Cher

Mike Taylor, solo, behind the board, again. 

That Durango-style guitar is warmth of a sort, as is that brief, highly treated bit of a sigh in the intro. They waste no time and dive right in.  Cher sounds as removed as Preston did. I wonder why that's Taylor's go-to sound for this song? The auto-tune is in addition to that hollow, fragmented sound, and that? Actually warms things up a bit. That and Cher's natural charm. 

She sounds super relaxed. I must say, her vibrato has gotten more and more interesting as she's aged. And not in the typical way. Usually, a singer loses control, but hers has ended up being more of an interesting trill, flitting and bending the sound - of course, that may have a lot to do with all the heavy treatment her vocals are receiving at the hands of Taylor. 

I like the subtle galloping beat under the rev up to the chorus, though I do miss the drop out experienced in Preston's version. So far, this all seems cut from the same cloth. The Durango-style guitar colors the chorus. And the beats are tight. With some big old disco strings in tow. Fun. 

Cher sounds... unimpressed? Bored? Well, let's see. 

If there are backing vocals, it's hard to tell. It's all very busy and melds together. 

Definitely fun. But, again, a bit predictable.

The vocal bridge works. It's odd. I'm looking for something organic in nature to stand out from all this homogenization. Wake up, fool. This is Cher, vintage 2008. The sound is as airbrushed and highly-stylized as her photos.

As a homo, it's hard to resist the dramatic assault of that diva-whipped chorus.

Yeah, this goes, as I thought it would.

The Verdict

Sorry, Preston... going with Cher!

I liked Preston's version. I appreciate his bad boy sneer. But for all that drama, not to mention the production work, there was very little heart.

Not that there's a whole lot more to be found in Cher's version. But, with Cher you have history, you have emotional attachment, and you have her dead-pan beauty and vocals. That adds up to a type of heart... one that keeps beat to the rhythm of the song. 

So, no surprise - it's Cher for this disco queen.

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And that's enough of me. Okay, your turn. You know what to do: leave your choice and thoughts in the comments section. I always welcome a second opinion.

That's all for now. Until next time...

Thanks for reading... and listening!

Dressed To Kill - Preston

Dressed To Kill - Cher

Happy House - Siouxsie And The Banshees

Boys Will Be Boys - The Ordinary Boys