Eva Cassidy and Katie Melua 'What A Wonderful World'

Chart Peak: 1 (1 week)

YouTube

The success of Now 69 feels a bit like an anomaly - shouldn't compilation albums be an anachronism in the download era? Well, in one way this track gives the lie to that; its appearance here was the first time it had ever been available outside Tesco, since the original physical digital and physical singles were exclusive to that supermarket, producing as close to a surprise Number One as you seem to get nowadays.

That mildly interesting history doesn't make it a good record though. Of course it's for charity, but there's something about the whole concept of a beyond-the grave duet, especially since Cassidy's contribution appears to come from a lo-fi live recording. And she obviously sang with no expectation that anyone else would be joining in. Melua, who I don't actually mind as much as some people seem to, doesn't have much of a chance. Even so, we end up with a rather strained version of the overdone standard, which doesn't seem to convey any real joy or sadness. Of course it's unfair to criticise either of them, especially Cassidy, for being unable to supply the age that made Louis Armstrong's version so compelling; but surely they could have done better than this. Big hit though it was, it's a poor ending to the album.


Eva Cassidy also appears on: Now 48, 53
Katie Melua also appears on: Now 57, 62
Available on: The Katie Melua Collection (CD + BONUS DVD)

Amy Winehouse 'Love Is A Losing Game'

Chart Peak: 46

YouTube

Ah, what can you say about Amy Winehouse? Well, rather a lot by the looks of things, but I'm not sure I can be bothered with any of it. In fact I even take a certain perverse pride in not being entirely sure whether that man glimpsed in the video is Blake Fielder-Civil.

Anyway, let's ignore the whole soap opera, except to note that one possible explanation for the underwhelming chart performance of the single was that she wasn't available to promote it much around the time of release (it was reported that a planned video shoot had to be cancelled in her absence, hence the cutting-room scrapings that ended up being used). Another reason is surely that it wasn't really necessary to pull a fifth single off the already very successful Back To Black album; although a deluxe version of the album was released at the same time, this wasn't new to it. It's a slightly odd choice of single at any time, because whilst well-received it's not an obviously dramatic attention-grabbing track. That's more a strength than a weakness, in this case, and in a way it seems like a better justification for all the fuss than some of her bigger hits; but it doesn't inspire strong reactions. It does give the album a sense of winding down and might even have been a good place to end it.

Also appearing on: Now 65, 66, 67, 68
Available on: Back To Black

Goldfrapp 'A&E'

Chart Peak: 10

YouTube

Despite their theoretically different backgrounds, this track seems to fit surprisingly well after the Sugababes, with its similar mood and arrangement, although the lyrics could not be much more different. It's hard to imagine the 'Babes ever singing impressionistically about being admitted to a hospital after a non-specific near-death experience. It's reckoned to be a metaphor for a bad relationship, although of course all too many people in bad relationships find themselves all too literally ending up in casualty.

The tinkly arrangement and pastoral atmosphere of the track seem to represent a return to the style of their first album Felt Mountain after the electro leanings of the intervening two: not necessarily the most commercial decision they could have made, but one I welcomed. I didn't welcome it enough to buy the thing though: well-done as this is (it sounds good on headphones) it just doesn't seem to grab me the way a single should, especially a Top 10 single.

Also appearing on: Now 62, 63
Available on: Seventh Tree

Sugababes 'Change'

Chart Peak: 13

YouTube

One of the most topical post titles you're ever likely to see on this blog, since I'm writing this shortly after the announcement that the last remaining original Sugababe has departed, with a fourth incarnation about to release a hastily re-recorded album.

But here we are at the end of 2007, with the title track of the third line-up's first album together. Though only the second single, it failed to make the Top 10 which seemed a bit of a flop at the time, but in a way it's not that surprising as there doesn't seem to be much song in there. It's obviously cut from the same cloth as other Sugababes slowies (which I admit I didn't like either) but all the little twinkly sounds in the world can't conceal the fact that it never seems to get anywhere, despite the title. Since the song seems to relate to some sort of bereavement, it's possible that there was some other motivation for releasing it as a single, but by normal standards it fails.

I think this is one of the few singles ever to be released as a USB stick, which somebody at Universal must have thought was a good idea. Also, what is going on with that video?

Also appearing on: Now 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 66, 68, 70, 71, 74
Available on: Change

Kate Nash 'Pumpkin Soup'

Chart Peak: 23

YouTube

Full disclosure: Kate Nash is my boss's sister's neighbour's daughter.

But that didn't mean I liked 'Caroline's A Victim' or anything. And even when 'Foundations' first showed up, I was a bit unconvinced. It grew on me though, even if you allow for my bias.

One subject we can't avoid though: the voice. Living in Harrow myself, I know there are a lot of people round here who do sound like that, although I've never met anyone who sounds like Roy Stride from Scouting For Girls. Of course, it's a persona she adopts on some tracks and I can see why people dislike it, but I don't really have an objection myself. It's put to good use on the convincingly teenage 'Pumpkin Soup', where the colloquial performance lends the whole thing a sense of intimacy that helps the simple boy-meets-girl-girl-gets-confused story to ring true. It's also one of her strongest tracks musically, with credit due to producer and co-writer Paul Epworth. In places, the Made Of Bricks album suffers from a sense of confusion about which direction it's trying to go in, but in this one case they get it right, with a bubbly and instantly catchy backing track that supports the lyric without overpowering it.

Another of the few tracks from here that made it to my own MP3 player.

Also appearing on: Now 67
Available on: Made of Bricks

Amy MacDonald 'This Is The Life'

Chart Peak: 28

YouTube

When this record first appeared, I have to admit I didn't really give it a very fair hearing. Instinctively cynical about any hyped new "singer-songwriter" I was deeply irritated by MacDonald's big hit 'Mr Rock And Roll', and hadn't much liked the preceding 'Poison Prince' either. Nor did I like the voice she affects on those two tracks, which seems rather forced as if she's trying to convince us she's more grown-up than the teenager that she was at the time of recording.

Eventually, though, I had to admit to myself that there was something insidiously catchy about this song, a major radio hit despite the underwhelming sales peak (and apparently an even bigger hit in other European countries). Whilst it's no masterpiece, the lyric offers some neat observational imagery, all the better for the fact that it doesn't seem to be trying to be the sort of social commentary that many of her other songs fail at. Even her voice appears a little more natural here. And so it is that, when I found Now 69 in that bin, this was one of the few tracks I moved to my own MP3 player, though I'd probably never have bought it with money.

Also appearing on: Now 68
Available on: This Is the Life

Mark Brown featuring Sarah Cracknell 'The Journey Continues'

Chart Peak: 11

YouTube

I don't know how many of the people reading this don't already know me well enough to be aware of this fact, but I haven't got a television at home. It's not a fact I'm always in a hurry to volunteer, because of come of the implications it seems to have for some people, but I mention it now to explain that when this record emerged, I seemed to be the only person in Britain who hadn't seen the advert that it's based on; I still haven't, in fact, although it's presumably online somewhere.

Anyway, the internet says that the track 'Eliza's Aria' (with the repeated soprano part) was used in a commercial which was itself entitled For The Journey, which makes the title of this record based on the sample seem a bit of a cash-in, especially since it's obviously not reflected in the lyric. Still, that's no reason to condemn it out of hand (especially since a song that actually did have that phrase in the lyric would probably be awful) and this isn't without merit. Even the parts that are original to this version are quite memorable, and there's something pleasingly melodic about it. And yet, for all that, I can't escape an odd sense that it sould be better than it actually is, somehow: perhaps part of the blame lies with Cracknell's vocal performance which I often find pretty but somehow unexpressive.

Available on: Original Hits - Dance

Utah Saints 'Something Good 08'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

In one way, this was among the most up-to-the-minute selections on the album, since the physical versions of the single were released on the same day as Now 69, although it had been charting on downloads for some time - indeed people even downloaded remix versions from compilation albums before the main version was available.

In another sense, of course, this was anything but moders, being a re-worked version of a hit from 1992, and of course even the original was built around a sample of 'Cloudbusting' by Kate Bush (although, oddly, that doesn't seem to have been cleared for this version and is replaced by a re-recording). There seemed to be a lot of these revivals of old dance tracks around at this time and I didn't really see the point of this, but the video's OK.

Also appearing on: Now 22 [original version of this track], 25
Available on: Now Dance Anthems

Bloc Party 'Flux'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

Continuing the electronic-indie crossover of the last track, but perhaps from a different direction, 'Flux' was considered a bit of a surprising shift for Bloc Party, who'd made their name as one of the many post-punk bands in the middle of this decade. They were never straight-ahead rock band as such, but the wholesale embrace of dance music surprised some listeners, particularly I suspect the ones who only knew the band by their singles. The public loved it though; whilst not their highest-charting single, it's by far their biggest seller. Mind you, this might be partly because it was a new track, added to their existing album A Weekend In The City and we didn't want to buy the album again (the fact that they've done similar things with their other two albums might reduce first-week sales of their fourth).

In fact, it's only in order to write this post that I've tried listening to the album with this track at the intended point in the sequence, and it's a standout in more ways than one. Much as it doesn't quite seem to fit into the rest of the album, it's an excellent track that takes on pop at its own game, capturing the confusion of the modern world (the modern world is always confusing of course, because it's the one you have to live your life in) and yet still remaining danceable. A stand-out track by an act at the top of their game, although there's no getting away from the fact that it's an awful name for a band.

Also appearing on: Now 60
Available on: A Weekend in the City (Special Edition)

Hot Chip 'Ready For The Floor'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube

...Speaking of breakthroughs that didn't entirely go to plan. Around the time Now 69 arrived, Hot Chip seemed ideally poised for stardom; they had critical acclaim in spades, their album The Warning had been rather a sleeper hit and the single from it, 'Over And Over', was one of those songs everybody knew and liked but nobody bought. This first single from their third album was a record that people actually did buy, bouncing into the Top 10 and pulling that album along behind it. For reasons not instantly apparent, the return seemed to falter after that, and they've yet to manage a proper follow-up hit.

'Ready For The Floor' is not an instantly obvious hit, with its slightly nerdy combination of alternative and electronica which doesn't quite seem to have the strengths of either. That said, it grew on me even during the first time I replayed it for this post, and probably not only because I'd got beyond the slightly irritating "Do it, do it, do it" intro. It's undeniably catchy, but you have to wonder whether people would have thought it was as cool if it said Mike & The Mechanics on the sleeve.

Available on: Made in the Dark

One Night Only 'Just For Tonight'

Chart Peak: 9

YouTube

As you can see from the YouTube comments, it wasn't only me who thought of the "One Hit Only" joke. After the Top 50 success of 'You And Me', this big anthemic track was issued in January 2008 with evident record company support to launch them as the stars of the year, and successful as it was they've yet to score another Top 30 hit; even a reissue of the first single ended up doing worse than the original.

In all honesty, this doesn't come as a total surprise on hearing the record itself. It pushes all the right buttons and has an easy familiarity about it, and it's pleasant enough to hear but almost entirely devoid of personality. It doesn't even have the Britishness of their previous 45, with the reference to "open plains" in that first verse, and really feels a bit too anonymous to build a career on. It was also tainted somewhat by the little-noticed chart hyping scandal. Still, it's likeable and feels like the sun coming out after the thorough awfulness of the previous track.
At the end of the song though, it seems to run out of steam even more than one of my blog posts and just stops.

Available on: Started A Fire

Scouting For Girls 'Elvis Ain't Dead'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

Apologies for the lateness of that last post. I couldn't tell why I kept not having the motivation to write it and then I realised: as soon as I did, I'd have to do this one.

In fact, the chart performance of this record was mildly interesting, as it underperformed over the festive period at the end of 2007 but crept into the Top 10 in the new year; the sort of thing that used to happen regularly but was almost unheard of in the ten or fifteen years before this. It even returned to the Top 40 (albeit only from 44) when Now 69 arrived.

A YouTube commenter calls it "good for helping me kill more on call of duty." So many obvious jokes, so little time... It really is difficult to catalogue everything that's annoying about this record, but we can make do with the oppressively bright production, the chirpy "look at me" vocal, the single-finger piano and the fact that this sounds so similar to the other five singles they dredged off their debut album, as well as the seemingly endless number of other acts ploughing the same furrow - we've already met The Feeling and the even more similar Hoosiers. And just when it seems like it can't get worse, they add that predictable "Elvis has left the building" joke at the end. You can only envy him.

Incidentally, I did contemplate labelling posts about local acts, but so far it would only apply to these guys and Peter Andre. I think I'll leave it a while.

Also appearing on: Now 68, 70
Available on: Scouting For Girls

Alphabeat 'Fascination'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube

I know it's not their first language, but I can't help being mildly annoyed by the way they pronounce the word "Fascination" during the verses.

There's a school of thought which praises ostensibly simple pop music as an antidote to the drive for authenticity in rock or urban music. And it's one I can understand, but the risk is that this can become as much of a pose as fandom of serious music, and still leaves the peer pressure problem. Inasmuch as I care at all, I'd be more afraid to be seen not liking this than on more conventionally acclaimed music.

Still, I've got to be honest. Although I admire the big stadium-sized drum sound, and I'm interested to notice the opening lyric "Easy living killed the young dudes" - which I suspect some buyers of the record might have missed - the total effect comes over as contrived, and that whispery bit in the middle is almost too annoying for words. Perhaps it's unfair of me to have so little patience with bands who look like they're enjoying themselves too much. But this reminds me too much of a song from a musical.

Also appearing on: Now 70, 71
Available on:This is Alphabeat

The Feeling 'I Thought It Was Over'

Chart Peak: 9

YouTube

As if to follow up last night's post, they might have come to regret the song title here. 'I Thought It Was Over' was their sixth consecutive Top 40 single and the fourth to hit the Top 10 - but their three subsequent singles have peaked at 53, 67 and 87 respectively. They were one of the biggest success stories of 2006 but people's patience seems to have worn out fast. People who weren't radio programmers, at any rate.

Perhaps the right single could have saved their career, but it sounds too much like they'd had the same thought themselves. There's something terribly forced about this track, as if they were so determined to include a memorable chorus that they neglected to include anything else interesting to us or even then. Supposedly the opening line "You were there when the wall came down" sets this in 1989, but it's hard to believe anyone's doing more than going through the motions. It became tiresome very fast.

Also, bad, bad moustache.

Also appearing on: Now 63, 64, 65, 66, 70
Available on: Join With Us (Special Edition)

The Hoosiers 'Goodbye Mr A'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

Well, the good news is that six tracks into this second disc, we finally get a track that could sensibly be described as "upbeat".

When I first heard this single, the follow-up to their big debut hit 'Worried About Ray', I wondered how much mileage there was in singing about people called Ray. In fact, it's supposed to be Mr. A, although on some choruses they're clearly singing "Goodbye Mr AIDS" which doesn't seem entirely tasteful. Not that tastefulness or restraint seem to be major motivations here; it's really all about grabbing attention, as all the overdone mugging in the video shows.

I think we're supposed to think this is a vehicle for some important message, but it sounds more like a child complaining about his maths teacher. All this is underlined by the sort of production ELO would consider overdone - but like a lot of ELO, it's not even dramatic or outlandish, they just didn't know where to stop. And including a false ending is just cruel. Like quite a few tracks here, it seemed even worse at the time because it was so inescapable, but it still isn't good now.

Oddly, these first two hits and a Number One album were followed by 'Worst Case Scenario' peaking at 76. The jury is still out on whether, like so many breakthrough acts in the last couple of years, they'll crash and burn next time around.

Also appearing on: Now 68, 70
Available on: Goodbye Mr. A

Kanye West featuring Chris Martin 'Homecoming'

Chart Peak: 9

YouTube

In what seemed unusual even as recently as 2007, this single had already peaked by the time the CD single was supposed to come out, so in the end it never did. The video was even later, and indeed I hadn't seen it until I looked it up to write this. I hadn't missed much.

'Homecoming' (no relation to the book of the same title) is effectively an extended metaphor, in which West tells us about a girl called Windy who told him how to "go downtown", etc. As he spells out towards the end, "If you don't know by now, I'm talking about Chi-Town"[Chicago]. It's a bit of a shaggy-dog story really, but Chris Martin's chorus and bouncy piano playing go some way to enlivening things. A step up from the previous couple of tracks at any rate.

Kanye West also appears on: Now 58, 62, 68, 70 (with Estelle), 72, 74 (with Mr Hudson/With Jay-Z and Rihanna)
Available on: Graduation (Enhanced)

Mika 'Happy Ending'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

I suppose it's a measure of how little I enjoyed writing that last post that I was actually quite looking forward to getting to Mika. In fairness, 'Happy Ending' finds him on relatively non-irritating form, sounding more like a song than the vehicle for posing that many of his other hits seem to be. Or perhaps that's just because this is a reworked single version.

There's actually a germ of maturity in the composition here, a dry-eyed reflection on a failed relationship, and there's even a melody, although he does his best to conceal it with the annoying falsetto vocal. Perhaps that's why it starts on backing vocals, to lull you into a false sense of security. Still, I can't think of a Mika song I'd rather be forced to listen to.

Also appearing on: Now 66, 67, 68
Available on: Essential Songs 2008

Alicia Keys 'No One'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube

A record that makes me feel desperately out of touch: criticially acclaimed and a huge hit throughout the industrialised world, but to me it just sounds like a fairly standard-issue power ballad with a ludicrously OTT vocal. In fact, the whiny tone seems to completely subvert the lyric "Things can only get better" by making it sound less of a compliment than seems to be intended.

I'm not surprised people keep singing this on X-Factor, it's the sort of thing that works there.

Available on: As I Am

OneRepublic 'Apologize'

Chart Peak: 3 (Timbaland version)

YouTube

Somebody made a bit of a boo-boo here: the hit version of 'Apologize' was credited to "Timbaland Presents OneRepublic" and indeed it's this version which is listed on the cover of Now 69. But the disc actually plays the original track, with Timbaland's remixing and mumbling. When first I discovered this, I got a bit of a sinking feeling, having concluded from past experience that Timbaland was less boring than OneRepublic; but in practice it wasn't entirely bad news because it did at least relieve some of the monotony of hearing the famous version yet again.

The hit mix of 'Apologize' was one of those records that seemed to tick every possible box for radio programmers, from teen-oriented pop stations to the MOR ones you hear in charity shops. Well you do if you spend as much time in them as I do. Anyway, I hated it and I hate this slightly less, probably because I've heard it less often, although there seems to have been a little more lightness of touch in the production. Otherwise , many of the same comments apply here as to 'Stop And Stare'.

Despite, or maybe because of, the huge success of these first two singles, further releases have fared poorly and at time of writing, OneRepublic share with Kajagoogoo the unusual distinction of having appeared twice on one Now album and never reappeared.

Available on: Dreaming Out Loud

Adele 'Chasing Pavements'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

One of the more visible beneficiaries of the release of this album, rebounding 22-18 in that week as peoplerushed to download the track. Perhaps that makes up a bit for its initial appearance, when it entered the chart at 2 and was widely expected to climb to the top, but couldn't overcome Basshunter. It was the the much-ballyhooed Top 40 debut for one of the many moody female singers expected to dominate 2008 (see also Duffy at the start of the other disc) and doesn't serve too badly as a showcase, I suppose.

She has the opportunity to deliver a solid, if rather deliberate-sounding, vocal performance, but co-writer (of this and seemingly every other record in the last five years) Eg White has supplied a rather dull melody that never quite takes off when it should. He's also the producer here, and doesn't flatter the song by heading straight for the middle of the road, although it certainly worked commercially. It makes for a slightly downbeat start to the disc here.

Incidentally, this is a relatively rare example of XL licensing a track to a Now album. I don't really know why.

Available on: 19