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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Girls Aloud _ Girls Aloud • Chemistry

Posted by: JosephCarey 5th December 2014, 07:43 PM



Standard
1. Intro
2. Models
3. Biology
4. Wild Horses
5. See the Day
6. Watch Me Go
7. Waiting
8. Whole Lotta History
9. Long Hot Summer
10. Swinging London Town
11. It's Magic
12. No Regrets
13. Racy Lacey

Deluxe Christmas Disc
1. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
2. I Wanna Kiss You So (Christmas In a Nutshell)
3. Jingle Bell Rock
4. Not Tonight Santa
5. White Christmas
6. Count the Days
7. Christmas Round at Ours
8. Merry Xmas Everybody

UK Stats
Peak Position: #11
Certification: Platinum
First Week Sales: 81,962 (Entry at #11)
Total Sales: 390,000 (Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 74th (Albums in 2005)
Chart Weeks: 3wks (Top 20) | 5wks (Top 40) | 10wks (Top 75) | 33wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #11]
[1st Entry: 11/12/05] 11-20-17-29-39-56-55-77-98-127-145-123-133-66-61-71-97-137-128-101-139-162-186-Out
[2nd Entry: 16/07/06] 194-159-152-108-102-127-Out
[3rd Entry: 24/09/06] 81-97-90-121-Out

UK Top 50 Budget Chart Run [Peak Position: #36]
[Entry: 30/09/07] 36-43-39-Out

Ireland Top 75 Chart Run [Peak Position: #31]
[Entry: 09/12/05] 34-36-33-31-51-67-Out

Australia Hitseekers Top 20 Chart Run [Peak Position: #12]
[Entry: 05/03/06] 14-12-19-Out

European Top 100 Chart Run [Peak Position: #43]
[Entry: 11/12/05] 43-71-63-96-Out


Chemistry is the third studio album by Girls Aloud, containing the top 10 hits Long Hot Summer, Biology, See The Day and Whole Lotta History. The album CRIMINALLY peaked at #11, for which we can blame Sugababes and Pussycat Dolls for reducing their albums midweek smile.gif Plus rubbish single choices for what many on here seem to consider as GA's second best album. It is 9 years old today, what is everyone's thoughts on it now?

Feel free to submit rates and reviews for the album in here, we'd all love to hear your thoughts on Chemistry on its 9th birthday!

Posted by: THEO. 5th December 2014, 07:52 PM

Was the Christmas edition released simultaneously with the standard? If so, seems even more bizarre that "Not Tonight Santa" wasn't pushed as a single (especially as "See the Day - their worst ever single - was). Minus the latter, almost every song on the standard edition is amazing. I often overlook Chemistry in terms of my favourite albums of theirs but it's definitely up there!

Posted by: JosephCarey 5th December 2014, 08:02 PM

Yup it was released the same day! Not Tonight Santa would've made a fantastic single sad.gif See The Day still sounds very...odd....in the flow of the album, I think, doesn't quite fit in amongst the rest.

Posted by: AdventAloud 5th December 2014, 08:49 PM

Can't believe it's been 9 years already! I remember going to HMV after school to get it heart.gif

Will never forget the heartache when I found out it only charted at #11 sad.gif It seemed such a disaster, even though the sales were fantastic. I think the albums chart performance and the fact none of its singles went top 3 (and only one went top 5!) that triggered them to do the first Greatest Hits, which was a good move in hindsight, but at the time I wanted a new studio album!

My Chemistry rate:
(Not rating Intro as to me it's just an extra bit to Models)
10 Models
10 Biology
11 Wild Horses
07 See The Day
10 Watch Me Go
09 Waiting
08 Whole Lotta History
08 Long Hot Summer
10 Swinging London Town
07 It's Magic
07 No Regrets
08 Racy Lacey

Yeah, they really picked the wrong singles! The b-sides were really strong this era too. heart.gif

Posted by: Jayeux Noël 5th December 2014, 10:44 PM

A wonderful album. wub.gif I was also so disappointed when I saw that it had entered at #11, especially given that it started out being midweek #6. sob.gif Sugababes & The Pussycat Dolls playing dirty and reducing their albums in price that week too. dry.gif

I remember that the Christmas version of the album was expensive, £16.99. I do wonder if it'd been a bit cheaper whether their sales might have been higher.

Posted by: Andrew* 8th December 2014, 06:04 PM

Gosh it's so hard to choose between this and Tangled Up! Chemistry has the non-single "W" winners - Wild Horses, Watch Me Go and Waiting while Tangled Up is just a crazy quality ride.

Chemistry wins though as their tour DVD is so entertaining while TU tour was already tad polished and professional and therefore not as fun.

*AMAZING*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TQIHKBxwJA

Posted by: mr_aly 10th December 2014, 08:48 PM

I bought the Christmas edition the week it was released, so many happy memories. In terms of the album tracks I utterly adore Models, Watch Me Go, Swinging London Town and It's Magic. 'No Regrets' is the only real skipper for me.

'Not Tonight Santa' is an utter gem, I do hear this around quite a lot to be fair. I also love the cheesy covers of the classics.

So yeah, a lot of good memories attached to this album. I too was really annoyed at it being #11, especially as it was just a whisker away from being #10! sad.gif

Posted by: Jayeux Noël 10th December 2014, 09:17 PM

Sales that week for the Top 10 & Girls Aloud at #11:

241382 Eminem (1)
132632 Robbie Williams (2)
124647 Westlife (3)
111666 Take That (4)
102947 Madonna (5)
101157 Il Divo (6)
94946 James Blunt (7)
91035 Sugababes (8)
83980 Kelly Clarkson (9)
82193 Pussycat Dolls (10)
81962 Girls Aloud (11)

sad.gif Just 231 copies in it.

Absolutely incredible sales all round! ohmy.gif

Posted by: mr_aly 11th December 2014, 12:20 AM

Interesting how Madonna almost sold MDNA's total in a week there as well. laugh.gif

Posted by: Camdy Cane 11th December 2014, 10:08 AM

I LOVE Chemistry, I think it was the last gift my gran gave me for Christmas before she passed away. cry.gif I knew she had great taste! biggrin.gif

Wild Horses remains my favourite Girls Aloud song wub.gif heart.gif

Posted by: AdventAloud 11th December 2014, 12:35 PM

QUOTE(Camdy Cane @ Dec 11 2014, 10:08 AM) *
Wild Horses remains my favourite Girls Aloud song wub.gif heart.gif


I always knew you had impeccable taste Cameron!

Posted by: Acoustic 11th December 2014, 06:34 PM

Watch Me Go is still my favourite from Chemisty. Cheryl's little rap wub.gif

Posted by: Tafty 2nd April 2021, 04:30 PM

Onto 'Chemistry' we go (minus the Christmas disc x)... The singles are solid. I always forget 'Long Hot Summer' is the first single though laugh.gif It really feels like it was the last single from the era! But I find LHS quite underrated tbh. It's so fun. It's a bop! 'Biology' is still fantastic, even to this day. So brash and bold/like it's making a statement. The structure of the song is very unique! 'See The Day' is dull af. Not as monotonous as LGC but just as rubbish. Finally, 'Whole Lotta History'. Another one I find really underrated and I can't help but feel that if that was the Christmas/Winter ballad instead of 'See The Day' and then they pushed another song (that's not STD) in WLH place, it would've been more fondly thought of I think. Would have worked quite well.

My Ranking:
1. Biology
2. Models
3. Wild Horses
4. Whole Lotta History
5. Long Hot Summer
6. Swinging London Town
7. Racy Lacey
8. It's Magic
9. Waiting
10. Watch Me Go
11. No Regrets
12. See The Day

I removed 'Intro' from the ranking coz it's always weird to me if I rank them... laugh.gif

'Models' and 'Wild Horses' fit the sound that 'Biology' lends to the era very well I think. Just not as brash or daring as that, but still great songs in their own right. Idk why but I always remembered 'Watch Me Go' being better... oops. Although I don't dislike it, I always remembered 'Swinging London Town' being more of a highlight for me.. It's a v interesting track though.

It's a solid album and their best of the 3 so far. I know the fans absolutely love this album, but Idk what it is, but there's something that is missing that gives me that "I have to revisit this more than I do" feeling, if that makes sense. So I think that's why I never refer to it much when talking about Girl Group albums that I like. The top half of the album are great/very good though. The only song I really don't like is their cover of 'See The Day'. The other tracks are fine and work well within the album (I just dunno if I'd go back to them away from the album - unlike the top 6)!

Album Rankings:
01. Chemistry
02. What Will the Neighbours Say?
03. Sound of the Underground

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 2nd April 2021, 05:18 PM

Chemistry is by far by least fave album from them, it never really clicked with me.

Posted by: Chemistry 3rd April 2021, 04:51 PM

Their best album and, obviously, the inspiration for me user name. This whole era just holds so many special memories for me, it was actually their first era as a fan that I could follow and stan for them (during the SOTU era they only released a few of the singles over here and during WWTNS? not much happened expect for a performance of Love Machine at a local awards show, but around summer 2005 I visited London for the first album and started to actively follow the UK pop scene).
I bought all of the CD2's editions of their singles, which were fab! LHM having the cocktail cards and obviously THAT Biology CD2 cover.

Looking back now, the singles campaign overall was a tad messy. Already starting with Long Hot Summer being their first single to miss the top 5, which was a real bummer as it was the lead single, and the total bizarre decision of releasing See The Day literally weeks after Biology. Who decided on that? Easily the most bland song on the album; there was no way this was going anywhere near Christmas #1 and if they really wanted a ballad to shift records during the Christmas rush, Whole Lotta History would have been more sense. Also not releasing Models, which screamed single release, while it was the theme tune for Off The Record was very interesting.
Biology was ofcourse a bloody fantastic choice and I still feel to this day that it's that song that give them the second part of their career. It was the song that made music critics and non-pop fans appreciate them and their music. Also one of the highlight of the album, and probably their career, for me. I still remember seeing the video for the first time and playing it on repeat and repeat. Or watching the Whole Lotta History, while being ill in bed, and just loving the mood and vibe. Album track wise I always loved the already mentioned Models, the three W's (Wild Horses, Watch Me Go, Waiting) and Swinging London Town.

The Christmas album was also a nice bonus, loved the artwork, and still listen to it every Christmas period and who can talk about this era without mentioning Off The Record? Nicola's impression of The Cheeky Song, Cheryl climbing the mountain, Nadine in the taxi in Greece- it's all so iconic and just showed them as the lovely, down to earth girls they are.

Posted by: pippa 3rd April 2021, 08:11 PM

Chemistry was their least consistent release and a rad messy which reflects why it was their lowest charting album.

Posted by: Jay❄ 4th April 2021, 12:41 AM

QUOTE(pippa @ Apr 3 2021, 09:11 PM) *
Chemistry was their least consistent release and a rad messy which reflects why it was their lowest charting album.

No, the only thing the chart position reflects is that they were pretty daring to release it so deep into Q4. Nothing to do with the perceived quality of the tracks.

Posted by: Last Dreamer 4th April 2021, 06:20 AM

Girls Aloud - Chemistry (2005)

My rate : A (Wonderful)

Top 5 songs :
1. See The Day
2. Whole Lotta History
3. Models
4. Biology
5. Waiting

Posted by: Chemistry 4th April 2021, 06:32 AM

QUOTE(Jay❄ @ Apr 4 2021, 12:41 AM) *
No, the only thing the chart position reflects is that they were pretty daring to release it so deep into Q4. Nothing to do with the perceived quality of the tracks.


Exactly! It sold 81K first week, while charting at #11 which was still a fantastic sales result. Just a shame it was so close to top 10 cry.gif

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 4th April 2021, 02:15 PM

Did it miss the top 10 by much?

Posted by: Liam.k. 5th April 2021, 12:35 PM

QUOTE(Chemistry @ Apr 3 2021, 05:51 PM) *
Looking back now, the singles campaign overall was a tad messy. Already starting with Long Hot Summer being their first single to miss the top 5, which was a real bummer as it was the lead single, and the total bizarre decision of releasing See The Day literally weeks after Biology. Who decided on that? Easily the most bland song on the album; there was no way this was going anywhere near Christmas #1 and if they really wanted a ballad to shift records during the Christmas rush, Whole Lotta History would have been more sense. Also not releasing Models, which screamed single release, while it was the theme tune for Off The Record was very interesting.

I'm not really sure what went wrong with 'Long Hot Summer', I personally love it but it wasn't well-received critically and even Xenomania themselves didn't like it; seems like it was only released as lead single as it had ties to a soundtrack which ended up falling through anyway. I think everyone would agree 'Biology' was an obvious lead, however I've just read it was recorded because of the reaction to 'Long Hot Summer', so even with hindsight you couldn't just release 'Biology' in its place.

That leaves us with the decision to release 'See the Day' four weeks after. It does seem strange but it was unavoidable really if they wanted a radio hit to sell the album. I hear your point about 'Whole Lotta History' but a ballad cover was still an easy way of getting radio play, it obviously worked previously with 'I'll Stand By You' and to be fair it worked with 'See the Day' given it peaked at #6 on the airplay chart! I think the album could have performed even worse without it and 'Whole Lotta History' ended up flopping on radio when it was released too, as well as barely resurrecting the album, which put a final nail in the coffin for the era.

It's a huge shame 'Chemistry' didn't do better and that 'Biology' was the only single to really represent the album. I understand the marketing strategy of releasing 'See the Day' and 'Whole Lotta History', but there were definitely some potentially daring single choices on this album. Even the album cover is very safe and would give you a totally different perception of the album content.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 6th April 2021, 01:55 AM

Long hot summer was a huge disappointment at the time I just found it forgettable, I like it more now but as lead it didnt work.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 6th April 2021, 09:06 AM

QUOTE(Feel_The_Fever @ Apr 4 2021, 03:15 PM) *
Did it miss the top 10 by much?


231 copies.

241,382 Eminem (1)
132,632 Robbie Williams (2)
124,647 Westlife (3)
111,666 Take That (4)
102,947 Madonna (5)
101,157 Il Divo (6)
94,946 James Blunt (7)
91,035 Sugababes (8)
83,980 Kelly Clarkson (9)
82,193 Pussycat Dolls (10)
81,962 Girls Aloud (11)

Posted by: Liam.k. 6th April 2021, 09:27 AM

Christmas 2005 sales were huge. 'Chemistry' sold ~70k in week 2 at #20 and ~99k in week 3 at #17 too.

Posted by: Chemistry 6th April 2021, 09:38 AM

QUOTE(Liam.k. @ Apr 5 2021, 12:35 PM) *
I'm not really sure what went wrong with 'Long Hot Summer', I personally love it but it wasn't well-received critically and even Xenomania themselves didn't like it; seems like it was only released as lead single as it had ties to a soundtrack which ended up falling through anyway. I think everyone would agree 'Biology' was an obvious lead, however I've just read it was recorded because of the reaction to 'Long Hot Summer', so even with hindsight you couldn't just release 'Biology' in its place.

That leaves us with the decision to release 'See the Day' four weeks after. It does seem strange but it was unavoidable really if they wanted a radio hit to sell the album. I hear your point about 'Whole Lotta History' but a ballad cover was still an easy way of getting radio play, it obviously worked previously with 'I'll Stand By You' and to be fair it worked with 'See the Day' given it peaked at #6 on the airplay chart! I think the album could have performed even worse without it and 'Whole Lotta History' ended up flopping on radio when it was released too, as well as barely resurrecting the album, which put a final nail in the coffin for the era.

It's a huge shame 'Chemistry' didn't do better and that 'Biology' was the only single to really represent the album. I understand the marketing strategy of releasing 'See the Day' and 'Whole Lotta History', but there were definitely some potentially daring single choices on this album. Even the album cover is very safe and would give you a totally different perception of the album content.


Long Hot Summer is indeed a strange one, I have always liked it as well and seemed like the perfect end-of-summer release, combined with a fun video and campaign. It also was not THAT different compared to the stuff on WWTNS? either. I wonder which soundtrack it was supposed to be on.

And fair points about STD and WLH, I just remember WLH outpeaking STD (and personally thinking WLH is miles ahead in quality) but looking at their chart runs, STD did quite a bit better- spending two weeks in the top 10 even while WLH fell down the charts pretty fast. I also hadn't realised STD did so well on radio! It must have helped Chemistry a lot during the Xmas rush, seeing how well the album was selling as well. So I think I need to take my words back laugh.gif

Posted by: Liam.k. 6th April 2021, 11:52 AM

QUOTE(Chemistry @ Apr 6 2021, 10:38 AM) *
Long Hot Summer is indeed a strange one, I have always liked it as well and seemed like the perfect end-of-summer release, combined with a fun video and campaign. It also was not THAT different compared to the stuff on WWTNS? either. I wonder which soundtrack it was supposed to be on.

And fair points about STD and WLH, I just remember WLH outpeaking STD (and personally thinking WLH is miles ahead in quality) but looking at their chart runs, STD did quite a bit better- spending two weeks in the top 10 even while WLH fell down the charts pretty fast. I also hadn't realised STD did so well on radio! It must have helped Chemistry a lot during the Xmas rush, seeing how well the album was selling as well. So I think I need to take my words back laugh.gif

It was meant to be on the soundtrack to 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' but was dropped from it for whatever reason. Not sure what it was about the song that didn't hit the mark for people as I agree with you that it should have had everything working in its favour.

I think in the ideal world, 'Whole Lotta History' would have been the Christmas single and either 'Models' or 'Wild Horses' for single #4 (I personally prefer 'Watch Me Go' and 'Waiting' but they're very Nadine-heavy), but from a 2005 marketing point of view I can understand the strategy they went with. Also, the video for 'See the Day' was recorded the day after 'Biology' and you can tell it was done on the cheap, so I don't think we would have had the Paris-shot video for 'Whole Lotta History' if it was single #3.

Posted by: Chemistry 6th April 2021, 12:31 PM

QUOTE(Liam.k. @ Apr 6 2021, 11:52 AM) *
It was meant to be on the soundtrack to 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' but was dropped from it for whatever reason. Not sure what it was about the song that didn't hit the mark for people as I agree with you that it should have had everything working in its favour.

I think in the ideal world, 'Whole Lotta History' would have been the Christmas single and either 'Models' or 'Wild Horses' for single #4 (I personally prefer 'Watch Me Go' and 'Waiting' but they're very Nadine-heavy), but from a 2005 marketing point of view I can understand the strategy they went with. Also, the video for 'See the Day' was recorded the day after 'Biology' and you can tell it was done on the cheap, so I don't think we would have had the Paris-shot video for 'Whole Lotta History' if it was single #3.


Interesting.. especially considering You Freak Me Out was used in the Freaky Friday movie but not included on the soundtrack either. You almost start to feel Lindsay has some against the girls laugh.gif It would be quite surprising to see them on the Herbie soundtrack, given the fact the soundtrack is very US artists heavy and Lindsay's own song eventually became the soundtrack song. Wonder if they wanted to use them for a UK/European release only.

Yeah, looking back, See The Day was probably the right thing, also with them being able to make a cheap video and turn it into a profit. Very glad we got the gorgeous Parisian video for Whole Lotta History as well <3 Definitely the visual highlight of this era.

Posted by: Liam.k. 6th April 2021, 01:01 PM

I love the 'Whole Lotta History' video too. It always makes me think of 'Off the Record' which shows them shooting - I particularly love Sarah saying something on the lines of "this deserves #1, Top 3 at least" and finding out it charted at #6! Very "B-list at Capital". laugh.gif

Posted by: Chemistry 6th April 2021, 01:09 PM

QUOTE(Liam.k. @ Apr 6 2021, 01:01 PM) *
I love the 'Whole Lotta History' video too. It always makes me think of 'Off the Record' which shows them shooting - I particularly love Sarah saying something on the lines of "this deserves #1, Top 3 at least" and finding out it charted at #6! Very "B-list at Capital". laugh.gif


laugh.gif

Or Cheryl "I have no idea what they are saying" about the French crew they're working with.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 6th April 2021, 01:43 PM

QUOTE(Tawdry Hepburn @ Apr 6 2021, 10:06 AM) *
231 copies.

241,382 Eminem (1)
132,632 Robbie Williams (2)
124,647 Westlife (3)
111,666 Take That (4)
102,947 Madonna (5)
101,157 Il Divo (6)
94,946 James Blunt (7)
91,035 Sugababes (8)
83,980 Kelly Clarkson (9)
82,193 Pussycat Dolls (10)
81,962 Girls Aloud (11)



That was annoyingly close, i miss the days of sales of this level at Christmas, nowadays the top 2 combined would barely sell what Girls Aloud managed,

Posted by: JosephStyles 6th April 2021, 03:26 PM

I underrated this album for a few years at first, partly due to the messy singles campaign I think. I didn't give the album a whole load of time for no particular reason, but around the time of Ten, I really started to appreciate how GREAT an album Chemistry is - their second best for me!

It's weird, the singles campaign doesn't feel remotely representative of the album. Long Hot Summer was more lukewarm to me for a loooong time, and I always considered it one of their lesser singles, but I know I enjoyed it at the time and I truly love it now - it's aged like fine wine and has had a very hard time over the years! Biology is of course a masterpiece, I find it a *tad* overrated but by that, I mean it'd probably be in my top 15 Girls Aloud singles rather than top 3 laugh.gif so still very high praise. I get why See the Day was a thing and it paid off somewhat for them I guess but it's a shame they didn't feel confident in trying an original ballad for Christmas instead! I agree it's probably not worth sacrificing the gorgeous WLH video we got in the end though kink.gif speaking of WLH, it's a true gem for me, in their top 10 best! It's such a beauty and it gets soooo overlooked.

As for the album tracks, I agree with the consensus of Models, Swinging London Town and the 3 Ws of Wild Horses, Watch Me Go and Waiting being the highlights! Models strikes me as the missed single opportunity there. The final three album tracks are where the wheels come off a little but they're by no means bad. It's Magic and No Regrets are cute and Racy Lacey's a fun, energetic closer, but I wouldn't place any of those three above any song that came before.

Also: the Christmastry artwork is BEAUTIFUL! I wish the main cover was as inspired as that sad.gif

1 Whole Lotta History
2 Biology
3 Long Hot Summer
4 Swinging London Town
5 Watch Me Go
6 Models
7 Wild Horses
8 Waiting
9 See the Day
10 Racy Lacey
11 It's Magic
12 No Regrets

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 6th April 2021, 06:50 PM

Models was def the missed single opportunity in my opinion.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 6th April 2021, 08:00 PM

I was really pissed at the time when 'Whole Lotta History' was announced as the single instead of 'Models', but with hindsight I really would have preferred WLH being the Christmas single and 'Models' being the spring single with that same promo push.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 6th April 2021, 08:27 PM

Whole lotta history i think in general is probably one of their most forgotten or unknown singles.

Posted by: -Jay- 22nd August 2021, 08:55 PM

Long Hot Summer was released 16 years ago today! ohmy.gif It became their first single to miss the Top 5, an injustice x




Posted by: spiceboy 23rd August 2021, 08:20 PM

Such a shame it missed the top 5 I absolutely love it! However that is from listening to Chemistry again and again at the time it did pass me by a little so I can understand why it did miss the top 5 at the time.

Chemistry though is SUCH an album! wub.gif My favourite of the Girls Aloud albums but to this day I just do not understand why Models wasn't a single!!?!?!?

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 23rd August 2021, 08:29 PM

'Long Hot Summer' is a GA essential for me and so painfully underrated/underappreciated.

Posted by: GraffitiMySoul 4th December 2021, 10:43 AM

A bit random, but anyway. Does anyone have an album cover in VHQ?
I truly believe that it's their best album cover. Even though it looks rather simple, but girls are absolutely stunning on it. There's some magic in it's simplicity. I honestly think that it's iconic. wub.gif
I was thinking to print it and put it on the wall. rolleyes.gif

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 4th December 2021, 06:54 PM

QUOTE(Tawdry Hepburn @ Aug 23 2021, 08:29 PM) *
'Long Hot Summer' is a GA essential for me and so painfully underrated/underappreciated.

I like it more now than I did then but it's not an essential GA song for me.

Posted by: Run_For_Cover 5th December 2021, 02:07 AM

I’ve always liked Biology. It was the reintroduction to them for me. It was the first thing of there’s I’d heard since Sound Of The Underground.

Posted by: -Jay- 8th December 2021, 02:00 AM

Released 16 years ago, 5th December 2005 wub.gif This album deserved so much more than it got.

The original songs on the Christmas disc are so good too! Bish bash bong woo x

Posted by: Run_For_Cover 8th December 2021, 09:27 AM

So I finally got around to listening to this for the first time.

It was good without working me. Biology and Whole Lotta History are not just my favourite single from the album but my favourite tracks as well. I also liked Wild Horses, Swinging London Town and No Regrets.

Racey Lacey sounded like it would’ve fitted perfectly on a Spice Girls album.

Posted by: JosephCarey 24th December 2021, 01:25 PM

Has anyone been listening to the Christmas tracks recently? I've given them more attention than I usually do this year and I've underrated so many of them! Not Tonight Santa is a staple of my Christmas playlist but Christmas Round At Ours, Count the Days and I Wanna Kiss You So are fabulous too heart.gif

Posted by: Chemistry 24th December 2021, 05:35 PM

QUOTE(JosephCarey @ Dec 24 2021, 02:25 PM) *
Has anyone been listening to the Christmas tracks recently? I've given them more attention than I usually do this year and I've underrated so many of them! Not Tonight Santa is a staple of my Christmas playlist but Christmas Round At Ours, Count the Days and I Wanna Kiss You So are fabulous too heart.gif


I've been playing them quite frequently the last few weeks, it's such a nice collection of original and covers, Not Tonight Santa should be a Christmas to-go-to for pop fans, shame it has never really gotten it's break although I was very happy to see it appearing in the 'Single All The Way' movie.

Posted by: -Jay- 24th December 2021, 07:35 PM

Yes wub.gif I'm particularly into Not Tonight Santa this year!

Posted by: Nina West 24th December 2021, 09:58 PM

Chemistry, is simply fantastic, my 2nd favourite Girls Aloud album after 'Tangled Up'. This deserved so much more than it got back when it was released, it's #11 peak was absolute injustice & doesn't in any way reflect the quality of the album, nor does the questionable single choices (except for 'Biology'). In my opinion 'Long Hot Summer' should have been classed as a buzz single, then we could have had 4 more singles it - "Biology! > "Whole Lotta History" > "Models" & "Wild Horses", these would have been my choices.

Well anyway here's my ranking of the album -

01. Intro - (not counting this)
02. Models - 10/10
03. Biology - 10/10
04. Wild Horses - 10/10
05. See The Day - 06/10
06. Watch Me Go - 10/10
07. Waiting - 09/10
08. Whole Lotta History - 10/10
09. Long Hot Summer - 08/10
10. Swinging London Town - 10/10
11. It's Magic - 07/10
12. No Regrets - 07/10
13. Racy Lacey - 08/10

Avg.8.75



Posted by: -Jay- 5th December 2022, 04:58 PM

Today's date marks 17 years since the release of Chemistry wub.gif


Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 6th December 2022, 02:26 AM

Chemistry was always their album that never fully clicked with me and still hasn't, i enjoy it slightly more now than i used to but its not an album i revisit much. I was really disappointed though it missed the top 10 as i didn't see that coming plus the album overall sold way less than what will the neighbours say so there was a bit of a worry that things may stay in the decline, thankfully that wasn't how it went and their album sales really increased again after this which was a great turn around.

Posted by: Jessie Where 6th December 2022, 10:00 AM

I think it's probably my favourite album of theirs as a whole, tbh. So many gems on it. I think I'd rate everything except STD and 'No Regrets'.

I don't think I'll ever get over how it missed the top 10 so narrowly, but it still sold well. I did worry by the end of the era that they might be on shaky ground though, but with the GH and 'Something Kinda Ooooh' later in the year I was reassured they were back on top of their game. wub.gif

Time to dig out the Christmas edition methinks!

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 7th December 2022, 02:57 AM

The number 11 was a shock and also frustrating it was so close. The greatest hits success was a big surprise for me in a good way, i did think it might do well but not the level it achieved. Something kind Ooooh also came at the right time as i love the song and it was exactly what i wanted from them at that time and thankfully it did connect with people and did well for them and put them back at a level that was needed again.

Posted by: JosephCarey 7th December 2022, 01:19 PM

The #11 peak will always hurt, especially with it being such a strong album. The singles run doesn't entirely do it justice either but I'm glad Long Hot Summer's had a re-evaluation of sorts in the last few years, really doesn't deserve to be seen as a disaster single choice. See the Day, though it was an airplay hit, probably could have been swapped out for one of the Christmas originals.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 7th December 2022, 04:10 PM

I think one of the christmas songs might have done better than see the day but that's my own opinion as I'm not a huge fan of see the day but it did do well on radio.

Posted by: Jessie Where 7th December 2022, 05:00 PM

I wish they'd done 'Whole Lotta History' at Christmas, skipping 'See The Day' entirely and then 'Models' in March.

Posted by: Scary Spiceboy 7th December 2022, 10:10 PM

Chemistry is my favourite album by them I think! Not so sure on the singles run for it though I’d probably have gone

Models (over long hot summer even if I adore it I feel models would have clicked better)
Biology
I wanna kiss you so or Not tonight Santa
Whole lotta history
Long hot summer (if they decided to release one again towards the summer)

Posted by: pippa 8th December 2022, 12:28 AM

Models over Long Hot Summer could have worked better.

Posted by: -Jay- 6th April 2024, 09:41 AM

I know that bumping this thread could potentially give the impression that there's reissue news, but there isn't yet! kink.gif

I was bored so I thought I'd have a go at creating what could be possible for a Chemistry reissue track list. When it eventually materialises I'll be interested to see how close or not I was.

Jay's Fantasy Chemistry Reissue

CD1
(The original 13 tracks)

CD2
1 New/Unreleased Track 1
2 New/Unreleased Track 2
3 New/Unreleased Track 3
4 Biology (Demo)
5 Long Hot Summer (Alternate Version 1)
6 Watch Me Go (Demo)
7 Nobody But You
8 I Don't Really Hate You
9 Crazy Fool
10 See the Day (Demo) *
11 Whole Lotta History (Demo II)
12 Long Hot Summer (Alternate Version 2)
13 Biology (CD:UK Edit)
14 See the Day (Ministry of Mayhem Edit)
15 Whole Lotta History (GMTV Edit)
16 Long Hot Summer (Top of the Pops Edit)

* I'd guess that this was the Nadine-only vocals version that was accidentally played on a radio station when See the Day was new. Also interestingly the https://forum.popjustice.com/threads/girls-aloud-what-will-the-neighbours-say-album-re-issues.6172/page-4290#post-9272049 teased See the Day Demo as being a part of the track list, but that evidently didn't end up being the case (same goes for Biology Demo!).

CD3
1 Biology (Tony Lamezma Radio Edit) [New/Unreleased Edit]
2 Whole Lotta History (Whole Lotta Lamezma Radio Edit) [New/Unreleased Edit]
3 Long Hot Summer (Tony Lamezma Rides Again Radio Edit) [New/Unreleased Edit]
4 See the Day (SOUNDHOUSE Masterblaster Radio Edit) [New/Unreleased Edit]
5 Biology (Benitez Beats)
6 Whole Lotta History (Ash Howes Mix)
7 Long Hot Summer (Benitez Beats)
8 See the Day (SOUNDHOUSE Masterblaster Mix)
9 Long Hot Summer (Tony Lamezma Rides Again)
10 Biology (Tony Lamezma Remix)
11 Whole Lotta History (Whole Lotta Lamezma Mix)
12 Biology (Live at Wembley)
13 Long Hot Summer (Live at G-A-Y)
14 Whole Lotta History (Acoustic Version)


I went on the premise of the Christmas tracks being excluded, but being released as its own separate vinyl using the Christmas Hits artwork!

Posted by: spiceboy 6th April 2024, 11:50 AM

QUOTE(-Jay- @ Apr 6 2024, 09:41 AM) *
I know that bumping this thread could potentially give the impression that there's reissue news, but there isn't yet! kink.gif

I went on the premise of the Christmas tracks being excluded, but being released as its own separate vinyl using the Christmas Hits artwork!



Lol that was my first thought laugh.gif

The idea of a stand along Christmas vinyl though wub.gif wub.gif wub.gif Christmastry

Posted by: Padamic Tension 6th April 2024, 03:55 PM

QUOTE(spiceboy @ Apr 6 2024, 12:50 PM) *
Lol that was my first thought laugh.gif

The idea of a stand along Christmas vinyl though wub.gif wub.gif wub.gif Christmastry

I'd love that to happen.

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