Ok here we are the final part of my review series added to on an ad-hoc basis, and covering the latter end of the 00s.

 

 

Please share your own thoughts so I'm not writing this thing to myself in this lonely part of the forum! :D

 

I'm definitely NOT doing 2010-15 when it comes around :lol:

 

So we start off in 2005 a dark time chart wise with god awful sales and a fair amount of bile, but it soon bucks up I promise!....

22ND JANUARY 2005- EMPTY SOULS- Manic Street Preachers (1 wk)

 

http://i13.fastpic.ru/big/2010/1216/ae/1740e6db85805aaa893e02ac907272ae.jpg

 

Talking of god awful sales this sold just 12k to make this position during a cold January 2005 and a song that passed me by entirely (I figured I never needed to know how it sounded as it would bomb down the charts the following week, and I wasn't wrong moving 2-26) but more importantly it was beaten by Elvis Presley for the title of 1,000th No 1 hit (by the by I'm not reveiwing any of the Elvis' re-issues as they were all No 1 hits originally and I can't be arsed).

 

Written by the band as a response to the September 11 attacks the lyrics were changed for the single release from "collapsing like the twin towers" to "Collapsing like dying flowers" though quite why remains a mystery given its theme. Anyway not a bad song actually (and I surprised myself there) given that I'd stop listened to them around 2000. With a piano line not dissimilar to a Coldplay track (or should that be the other way around) it does actually grow on repetition and not something I'm going to say often in 2005- all in all not a bad start!

 

05TH FEBRUARY- ONLY U- Ashanti (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Onlyu.jpg

 

Let's be honest this is all about the sample, in this case Club Nouveau's "Why You Treat Me So Bad" from 1986, over which a pretty generic vocal is laid. Not AWFUL I grant you but neither is it inspired, Ashanti remains for me one of about 20 singers who are pretty interchangeable, quite why this failed to overhaul an Elvis re-issue but Ciara succeeded a week before is a slight mystery.

 

Anyway this won't be converting anyone to the cause of RNB, having said that if it's your bag I'm sure you'll love this!

 

 

2ND APRIL- LET ME LOVE YOU- Mario (1 wk)

 

http://img.cd-europa.com/images/product_images/popup_images/4834_0.jpg

 

Oh guilty pleasure alert. There is NOTHING special about this i know, but it's sung with something reaching sincerity and genuine emotion, and altogether it's quite touching really. I can overlook the fact that it's co-written by Ne-Yo (I see he's re-using his old song titles now) and it spent 9 wks at No 1 in the US, I'm not sure I like it THAT much but it's certainly nice to hear it again after all these years.

 

The fact that "Amarillo" was crushing all opposition at the top means it was never liekly to go one better than No 2 here but I like this- sorry! :D

 

 

23RD APRIL- SOMEWHERE ELSE- Razorlight (1 wk)

 

http://www.vinylsurrender.com/Graphics/AlbumCovers2/Razorlight%20-%20Somewhere%20Else%20(single).jpg

 

Ah Johnny Burrell- a man who clearly believed very much in himself to the point of winding up almost everyone with his huge ego but for my money the first album certainly didn't merit his own hype. Having said that "Somewhere Else" is the first song that they released that I LOVED! I'm a sucker for a lot of guitar driven pop (I don't even mind Ed Sheeran!) and this track was the first glipse, for my money, that he was capable of delivering songs that fitted the hype. Released as the first single from the deluxe version of their album it's much more Boomtown rats than Bob Dylan, posturing full of attitude and utterly self assured.

 

There was a lot better to come from Razorlight, but that big mouth of Borrell always put me off truly loving the band, and that's a shame on reflection, if only they'd let the music do the talking they could have been so much bigger, 2008's "Slipway Fires" proved a step too far and the band continue to work on a fourth album in an attempt to do a Maroon 5-esque resurrection. Hopefully he's learnt a lesson from all the noughties but some lessons are never learnt. Still, let's recall this for what it is, a little cracker!

 

Mario, Ashanti and Razorlight were all favourites of mine back in 2005. I do agree that Ashanti/Cassie/Ciara/Christina Millian/Keri Hilson/Amerie and a lot more could all class as the same artist but Only U is a tune

 

Glad you're doing the second half of the decade as 2005 & 2006 are my favourite years for music in the 00's though to be fair the better tracks were lower down the chart and the #1's and #2's of those years, with a few notable exceptions, do leave a lot to be desired

7TH MAY- SIGNS- Snoop Dogg Featuring Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Snoop_Signs.jpg

 

Imagine, if you will, a kind of "The Girl Is Mine" for 2005 and you're about there. Justn's chorus's concerning a guy who thinks a girl likes him whilst Snoop's verses try to woo (if that's the word) towards him with the promise of recreational drugs etc, I wonder if that ploy ever works? Then in comes The Gap Band's Charlie Wilson to calm every thing down and tell the pair to be thankful for what they have (ladies at home presumably), he's also here, one suspects, so that Snoop could get permission to sample Wilson's bands track "Early In The Morning".

 

I know I shouldn't like anything Snoop Dogg puts his name to, and up until the track I had successful avoided buying anything that he had ever made but this one got me. A healthy slice of pop thanks to Mr Timberlake makes it much more accessible than his previous efforts, and a judicious use of samples makes this a rather radio friendly funk/rap combo that actually works, far better (dare I say it than "The Girl Is Mine" which is cringe worthy even at the time I'd wager). Surprisingly good!

 

Signs- Video- NOT ON YOUTUBE apparently

Mario, Ashanti and Razorlight were all favourites of mine back in 2005. I do agree that Ashanti/Cassie/Ciara/Christina Millian/Keri Hilson/Amerie and a lot more could all class as the same artist but Only U is a tune

 

Glad you're doing the second half of the decade as 2005 & 2006 are my favourite years for music in the 00's though to be fair the better tracks were lower down the chart and the #1's and #2's of those years, with a few notable exceptions, do leave a lot to be desired

Thanks for Joining! Yes not sure I'll progress with these but so far some pleasant surprises and tunes I haven't listened to in years!

21ST MAY- FEEL GOOD INC- Gorillaz (1 wk)

 

http://earbuddj.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/gorillaz-feelgoodinc.jpg

 

As if to illustrate the ridiculous steps taken by the OCC in the mid 00s the chart run of "Feel Good Inc" was 22-21-22-20-2 thanks to the band's decision to release 400 7" singles to HMV enabling the song to chart for 4 weeks on the strength of a physical format being linked to the download single. Once a full release was granted the track rocketed from 20-2 and the OCC changed the rules to mean that formats must be available to all retailers, it is therefore a song which genuinely changed chart rules.

 

That aside, a little help from De La Soul see them score their biggest hit, and I know this is probably an unpopular opinion but the Gorillaz were a "group" which always left me cold oddly. I think it might be due to their first single "Clint Eastwood" which stuck around for forever and which I grew to loathe, "Dare" was a definite step up, and although I don't hate FGI it isn't a song I would choose to listen to again. There is something very clever about the band, not in a good way, but in a kinda superior clever way, like the cool kids at school who are only firends with other cool kids, perhaps it's a joke that I just never got, I gotta give it to them for "On Melancholy Hill" though- TUNE.

 

Oh Gezza, hating on the Gorillaz :( FGI was my 2nd fave track of the 00s - I was OBSESSED with it back in the day. Cracking tune!

I did not like the Gorrillaz one bit but it did used to amuse me that all the cool kids at school thought that liking them made them seem a lot more edgy. Dare was a good song mind you. This threads already brought back a lot of high school memories; I was 13 at this point in 2005 though it seems like yesterday I still remember listening to songs in the playground on a portable CD Player. Those were the days

Edited September 19, 201212 yr by justinthomas92

I tried to like them honestly, but I just couldn't, I think because they were too hip ha ha

4TH JUNE- SPEED OF SOUND- Coldplay (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Coldplay_speedofsound.png

 

Modern convention would have you believe that the "X & Y" period is not one of the greatest in the history of Coldplay, the point at which they became overblown and all U2-esque, and certainly Martin's own pronouncements on third world debt only lent credence to such an opinion. It's also true that much of the beauty and the subtlety of the first two albums had ben pushed to one side in favour of out and out stadium fillers but I content that "X & Y" is actually far more personal than it at first appears. Take "Speed Of Sound" for example, a drum beat heavily influenced by "Running Up That Hill" (can that ever be a bad thing?) and Martin's voice sounding almost like an instrument itself in the bridges, a wall of sound in the chorus remininsent of a Phil Spector production and absolute twaddle for lyrics.

 

There aren't many bands who can count such a fine line as singles as this "Fix You", "Talk", and "Hardest Part" in their cannon, for me this is their greatest period before it all went south. Some singles are pure gold post this but the albums as a whole become patchier affairs with less attention to the whole, perhaps an acknowledgement that whatever you produce will sell by the million or the laziness of wealth kicking in. Either way "Speed Of Sound" is great, though lacking the sublimer qualities of "In My Place" it more than makes up for it in convinction and sheer dogged determination that you WILL be impressed by it! Showmanship can be irksome (note Robbie Williams) but here it isn't out of place (yet) and Coldplay were still a band who were still clearly enjoying themselves before the hungover kicked in.

 

Glad you like SoS Barry. I have always adored it and seem to be in a minority - also with the opinion that Fix You is not the second coming that many Coldplay fans say it is!

 

Codplay though? Heehee.

18TH JUNE- THE CITY OF BLINDING LIGHTS- U2 (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Cobl.jpg

 

How appropriate that U2 should be next, who were, on the evidence of this, retreading former glories, this time with an outtake from "Pop" not an album known for its high standing with critics or fans. This is pretty much all that you would expect from a U2 song who had, and indeed still are, dining off their stunning work in 83-92 period with varying success. "City Of Blinding Lights" is therefore a one trick pony of checklist componants- rousing stadium anthem (tick) punching Bono lyrics (tick), radio friendly rock for US airwaves (tick), if it ain't broke then don't fix it, the problem was that it was, by now, starting to break.

 

In truth the cracks had shown since 1997's "Pop" and were getting wider throughout the 00s, the peril of working in a musical cul-de-sac that has become inescapable. Tired and bored with repetition, this is the sound of a band that don't know anything else but similarly have nothing else to say and after 25 years plus of being around I suppose what else is there to say? They'll be back in 06 but it's another retread, I know how that hamster feels now...

 

Glad you like SoS Barry. I have always adored it and seem to be in a minority - also with the opinion that Fix You is not the second coming that many Coldplay fans say it is!

 

Codplay though? Heehee.

Gimme a break it's almost midnight :lol:

 

Much as I like "Paradise" it has none of the complexity or indeed fragility of some of their pre 08 stuff, they seem to have been blunted slightly since. Someone once said that you can say everything you've got to say in three albums- perhaps that's a wise maxim?! :D

Gimme a break it's almost midnight :lol:

 

Much as I like "Paradise" it has none of the complexity or indeed fragility of some of their pre 08 stuff, they seem to have been blunted slightly since. Someone once said that you can say everything you've got to say in three albums- perhaps that's a wise maxim?! :D

I agree they peaked albums wise with X&Y - although Paradise and VLV are probably my fave Coldplay tracks, the albums they come from are sub par to the 3 that came before them.

9TH JULY- CRAZY CHICK- Charlotte Church (1 wk)

 

http://c3.cduniverse.ws/resized/250x500/music/874/6885874.jpg

 

This isn't, of course, the beginning of Church's singing career (that came in 1998 after performing over the phone on "This Morning") but this is perhaps her launch as a "popstar" proper. Having been only 12 at the time Church spent the early 00s in a kind of limbo, producing classical/ carol albums and still being in the public eye, mainly thanks to dating bad boy Kyle Johnson and being caught smoking pre 16, the press rubbing their hands gleefully at the fallen angel.

 

So at the grand old age of 19 a full on attempt at the charts was made, not getting off to a bad start in all fairness. "Crazy Chick" is an odd song, the hooks are there, the blaring trumpets direct you to the chorus, and Church puts in a more than adequate vocal performance and yet for all that something is just "missing". Perhaps it tries to tread the line between pop and indie "chic" too self consciously and as a consequence falls between two stools (so to speak) or perhaps at this point Church is still experimenting with music and hasn't found the real vehicle for her vocal range yet, or even that in attempting to distance herself from those operatic roots it has prompted too much of an overkill in the other direction. Whatever the reason it fails to ultimately convince me that this is where her heart is and subsequent moves into TV and the chat show arena has proven to be better for her in terms of image and getting her personality across.

 

She also suffered of course from being very "heat" friendly, that relationship with Henson resulting in Church being as much a media personality as a singer, or maybe firstly BEFORE a singer, and this may also be holding this back, so whilst it's a passable enough single there's a real emptiness behind the bright and breezy track that can't really be ignored.

 

16TH JULY- WE BELONG TOGETHER- Mariah Carey (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Webelongtogether.jpg

 

It's a well acknowledged fact that Mariah's star has never shone as brightly on this side of the Atlantic as she has stateside, in a way that's the way it had to be. As the US moved in a more urban direction in the mid 90s Mariah had to adapt to ensure success in her homeland whilst sacrificing it in the much more dance/ pop dominated UK charts. By the mid 00s though RNB was very much in flavour but oddly enough Mariah struck gold again with an old fashioned ballad, I'm not a Mariah fan (beyond the bounds of about 1998) but I have to give it to her here this is a cracker of a tune.

 

I put this down to the fact that she actually sings this song rather than either squeeling or doing that odd whispery vocal thing which spent most of the 00s perfecting for no-one's benefit. Vocal gymnastics are employed only once really in the whole track and at the appropriate time as the song reaches its climax, Carey seeming to finally understand that it can be employed FOR A PURPOSE and used effectively to produce something of the old magic. Her problem of course that too often the tune is sacrificed for the opportunity to showcase her register.

 

Speaking of the voice, it clearly isn't what it used to be, (hey we all get older) Carey having the benefitted from started out with a much better set of pipes than most so it's still admirable but classy and understated isn't often something that can be said from a Carey performance but sometimes, just sometimes, she does surprise!

 

Coldplay-wise I'd concur that X & Y was their best for singles, love all three and wouldn't like to choose between them. I don't own any of their first three albums but the last two I've found to be strong - particularly Viva la Vida which was just the shot in the arm they needed.

 

With regards to U2, I've always thought that while they may be retreading former glories their singles record this century has been pretty much flawless (that awful Mary J Blige duet notwithstanding). "City of Blinding Lights" may be entirely predictable but it still wins me over, although I would say that the raw emotion behind "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" makes it superior.

 

Given the collaborator, excuse me if I'm a bit blinkered with their other entry.