Cascada 'Truly Madly Deeply'

Chart Peak: 4

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Natalie Horler, AKA Cascada, had phenomenal success with her debut single 'Everytime We Touch'... Her second single 'Truly Madly Deeply is a pulsing dance version of Savage Garden's 1998 hit and reached No. 4 in the charts in December 2006.

As any pedant will immediately point out, Cascada are in fact a trio which also includes DJs Yanou and Manian, though it's true that Horler is the public face of the band. And yes, we're still in the dance reworking territory, although Cascada immediately outscore the preceding two tracks by actually performing the whole song and not just the chorus. On the other hand, "pulsing" is not the most obvious way to perform Savage Garden's sappy ballad and I daresay that anyone who actually liked the original version would find this depressing or insulting. Personally, though, I hated the original and pretty much everything else Savage Garden ever did, so if anything I rather welcome the concept of the song being wrecked, it's just a pity they didn't mess with it a bit more. As it is, it seems to fall between the stools of a euphoric dance track (which isn't my kind of thing but I can see they've pushed the right buttons here) and the drippy lyric. Perhaps it was recorded with non-English-speaking audiences foremost in mind (though Horler is a native English speaker) but as an outsider to the world of commercial dance I sort of wonder why they didn't write their own words and keep more of the money.

Also appearing on: Now 65, 69
Available on: Everytime We Touch

Cascada 'What Hurts The Most'

Chart Peak: 10

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It's tempting to say that what hurts the most is having to listen to this record, but perhaps that's a little glib. Still, this is another example of their (yes, Cascada are a group although some members seem to turn up in the photos more often than others) annoying habit of covering songs that had already been recorded more than enough before. 'What Hurts The Most' was the only solo hit to date for former S Clubber Jo O'Meara, albeit a minor one, whilst US country duo Rascal Flatts made me glad I didn't live there by taking the song into their Top 10.

Cascada's is probably the least bad version I've heard, because it at least sounds less self-pitying than most of the ballad versions. But I wouldn't say I ever enjoyed it.

Also appearing on: Now 65, 66, 73
Available on: Perfect Day