16TH DECEMBER- BOOGIE 2NITE- Booty Luv (1 wk)

 

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I have a little confession to make, I don't actually mind the Hed Kandi stuff of the mid 00s. Bootyluv consisted of two ex members of Big Brovaz who had long since bit the dust (certainly in any kind of commercial sense), and chose as their first venture a cover of this 2002 song by Tweet. The original failed to get a full release thanks to lack of airplay but had established itself as a club hit so was familar to many pre release.

 

With Seamus Haji on production duties the track became a surprise pre Christmas hit, there is nothing amazing or noteworthy here, suffice it to say that it's a highly competant piece of dance music circa 2006 which I've had many a dance to with a V & DC in my hand, and overall nice to hear it again after all these years.

 

23RD DECEMBER- 21ST CENTURY CHRISTMAS/ MOVE IT- Cliff Richard (1 wk)

 

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Cliff's search for a noughties No 1 single came as close as it possibly could here in the dying weeks of 2006. With an updated take on Xmas including texts, faxes, satellites, DVD's etc it's all rather harmless, and I can't be mean to it given it is almost the big day. To be fair, people complain that no-one does Christmas records anymore due to charity/ reality releases at this time of year so perhaps we should give Cliff a break here for coming up with something at least new.

 

It's coupled here with a new version of his first hit "Move It" which hit No 2 back in 1958, so perhaps he jinxed this. Anyway he was within 7k of the top spot but he never could get that 00s chart topper which would have put him in the unique position of getting a No 1 in 6 decades.

 

'Boogie 2nite' was such a surprise hit - mainly because I never expected to see any of the Big Brovaz crew again once they'd split. I think their following tunes 'Shine' and 'Don't Mess With My Man' were criminally underrated in a time period where music - bar Rihanna and Leona :kink: - wasn't at it's best.

13TH JANUARY 2007- PROPER EDUCATION- Eric Prydz Vs Floyd (2 wks)

 

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This is probably sacrilage but I quite like what Prydz has done here. The video is interesting in so much as what it says about education, the whole thing could be read as a full circle when bearing in mind the Pink Floyd orginal of 1979. Where that was about the failings of the education system (which produced the adults in the video) this seems to suggest that the children of today are more clued up, they can teach the adults instead of vice versa, an interesting proposition even if you don't buy it in its entirity.

 

Prydz's only keeps the chorus of the Floyd original but that's enough to maintain the menacing tone of the track intack, the start of the video obviously plays on fear of youth crime until you know what those little skamps are really up to!

 

I do like the original but I don't think Prydz disgraced it here by any definition!

 

27TH JANUARY- STARZ IN THEIR EYES- Just Jack (2 wks)

 

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I loved this at the time, mainly because its release in the immediate aftermath of the most recent X Factor series seemed so appropriate, not necessarily for the (then) winner Leona Lewis, but for the ones who say "it's not the last you've heard of me" only to slip into either obscurity or an endless parade on "celebrity programmes" in a bit to cling on to any bit of fame that they can. Rather than being savage to those individuals (who are after all trying to follow their dreams etc) JJ turns his attention to those who promise the fame and fortune but who are uninterested once the star starts to dim.

 

It's also rather a downbeat track melodically, for all the uptempo-ness(?) going on here there's an essential sadness underneath the surface, not a surprise given the theme, but there is genuine empathy with the contestants on these shows. Whilst acknowledging that those individuals are willing participants, so it isn't exactly exploitation more unfulfilled promises and the inevitable consequence that the comedown isn't going to be pretty. All in all a far subtler song than it first appears.

 

 

Looking forward to seeing what comes up in 2007 and what you say about them Gezza. All I remember is 'Real Girl' and 'Girlfriend'. :lol:

 

27TH JANUARY- STARZ IN THEIR EYES- Just Jack (2 wks)

 

http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/000/542/0000054267_350.jpg

 

I loved this at the time, mainly because its release in the immediate aftermath of the most recent X Factor series seemed so appropriate, not necessarily for the (then) winner Leona Lewis, but for the ones who say "it's not the last you've heard of me" only to slip into either obscurity or an endless parade on "celebrity programmes" in a bit to cling on to any bit of fame that they can. Rather than being savage to those individuals (who are after all trying to follow their dreams etc) JJ turns his attention to those who promise the fame and fortune but who are uninterested once the star starts to dim.

 

It's also rather a downbeat track melodically, for all the uptempo-ness(?) going on here there's an essential sadness underneath the surface, not a surprise given the theme, but there is genuine empathy with the contestants on these shows. Whilst acknowledging that those individuals are willing participants, so it isn't exactly exploitation more unfulfilled promises and the inevitable consequence that the comedown isn't going to be pretty. All in all a far subtler song than it first appears.

 

I couldn't stand this at the time of its release. No wonder he faded into oblivion afterwards.

I couldn't stand this at the time of its release. No wonder he faded into oblivion afterwards.

 

He didn't fade into oblivion at all? :lol: He had another well-received Top 20 hit...

He didn't fade into oblivion at all? :lol: He had another well-received Top 20 hit...

 

Actually he had two apparently. :o Well he's been lost on the map ever since the floppage of his follow-up.

 

Starz In Their Eyes was pretty good, as was Proper Education. Never got the fuss over Boogie 2Nite, always found it a completely empty song, although the remix that was played quite a bit beefed it up somehwat. 21st Century Xmas was one of the cringiest songs of the 00s, certainly lyrically.

10TH FEBRUARY- THIS AIN'T A SCENE, IT'S AN ARMS RACE- Fall Out Boy (1 wk)

 

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It's always interesting when a band within a genre analyses itself and here Fall Out Boy take on the growing "Emo" subculture that was starting to emerge by that point. The song mocks elements of the more overly earnest groups within the genre "I'm a leading man; and the lies I weave are oh-so intricate" Stump sings, but it isn't war on anything apporaching it he wishes to inspire, more a reflective tone asking the scene, and the wider music industry to have a word with itself and to stop hyping the genre.

 

As a piece of pop music this passed me by entirely at the time, and listening now it doesn't sound bad as such, just underwhelming and kind of empty, 2007 has a lot better to offer than this fortunately.

 

17TH MARCH- SWEET ESCAPE- Gwen Stefani Featuring Akon (2 wks)

 

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I know this is almost like sacrilege now to say but I wasn't a fan of the LAMB period with the sole exception of "Cool" which was a little gem. I suppose my former dislike of No Doubt may come into play here as well, yet "Sweet Escape" doesn't displease me, and it takes a lot for me to say it given that fact! Catchy, sweet and endearing DESPITE the appearance of Akon, this has a charm that gives you earworm.

 

It great achievement is therefore in getting me to like it despite a lot of things that mean I should hate it given my normal prreferences in music, in general I find her music too reliant on gimmicks and annoying hooks, let's not forget the evil "Hollaback Girl" or the single that preceded this song "Wind It Up" with its reliance on the yodelling!, in short after "Cool" this is my favourite Stefani track, but even then it isn't rocking my world.

 

Eugh, The Sweet Escape is a decent song but way so overplayed in British school playground culture at the time. Then again it was the first time people were able to have music on their phones

7TH APRIL- GIRLFRIEND- Avril Lavigne (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Avril_Lavigne_Girlfriend_album_cover.jpg

 

Ok so it was sued successfully by the Rubinoos who claimed that the writers of "Girlfriend" had certainly borrowed the idea from their 1979 hit "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" but failing that there is something curiously very 80s about the track. Similarities were also drawn to Toni Basil's "Mickey" particularly for the catchy punchy chorus which is, at its heart, very simplistic.

 

For me "Girlfriend" is a little too simplistic to really catch the imagination, she had shown in such songs as "I'm With You" that she was really capable of doing much better work and whilst this track did the job of launching the album and getting her airplay it is ultimately a little too vacuous to hold the attention beyond the four minutues it lasts. Pop can be, and often is, disposible, totally of its time and fades quickly and I doubt "Girlfriend" will stand the test of time, and it won't be alone in that club, so I can't be too harsh on it, treat it as a bit of fun and you'll enjoy it....probably.

 

21ST APRIL- STOP ME- Mark Ronson Featuring Daniel Merriweather (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Mark_Ronson_-_stop_me_(uk_single).jpg

 

I should start the review by stating that I am a Smiths fan so by rights I should clearly hate this. I don't, Ronson genuinely treats the song with love (it is his favourite Smiths record apparently) and the orchestration keeps the essence of the melancholy that the original had in spades, but what is lacking in the bile and vitriol that Morrissey brought to the 1987 track but not to worry.

 

The idea to segue the song into "You Keep Me Hanging On" is inspired, and moreover demonstrates quite Ronson had become such a big name with the album, he tries to bring something new to the table when covering old hits, and not in a cheap way either. There is no guarantee that any of these covers would have worked, nor indeed is there anything very 2007 about them, why they work, in my opinion, is the care taken over them. To be honest anything that brings more attention to the Smiths in my opinion is not a wasted effort, not the best 07 has to offer but it's certainly not disgraced it!

 

I f***ing hate Girlfriend for so many reasons the main reason being that it's Avril's most sucessfull release by quite a margain when it is by far the worst single, maybe even the worsr song, that she has ever put her name too - actually scratch that "What the Hell" deserves that title but Girlfriend is so much worse than the likes of I'm With You, My Happy Ending, Don't Tell Me and When You're Gone it's not funny

 

Stop me, on the other hand, is a lot better than I remember. I don't think I payed much attention to Mark Ronson at the time he seemed a bit too cool for me. I'm fifteen years old here and in Year 10 and there was still the part of me that adored artists such as 50 Cent, Akon and Chris Brown but it was soon to change

28TH APRIL- BRIANSTORM- Arctic Monkeys (1 wk)

 

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So that tricky second album complex rears its head for the Arctic Monkeys by the time 2007 comes around. "Brianstorm" isn't altogether a successful answer,certainly there is an attempt, sonically, to do something a little different whilst keeping the strong narratives that AM had become famous for, the problem lies in the fact that the song lacks any real heart or essentially, a great story. The frenetic guitar work attempts in part to make up for this or compensate, but it's only papering over the cracks, and as if to add insult to injury the truly magnificent "Fluorescent Adolescent" would highlight everyhting that this song is not.

 

Of course being the flavour of the month is always a hard tag to live up to with the press moving on quickly to the next thing leaving you to wonder what you did wrong, normally the answer is nothing at all, but "Brianstorm" doesn't help matters. Perhaps the best stories in Alex Turner's repertoire had been saved for other songs but this is more an announcement of their return rather than an essential AM track or a song that will be recalled as a classic in years to come.

 

12TH MAY- YOUR LOVE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH- Manic Street Preachers Featuring Nina Persson (1 wk)

 

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The fact that the Manics are still getting these sizeable hits some 16 years into their chart career is a fact overlooked too often when discussing the group. To top that they can even still produce some little corkers such as this one with a little help from the lead singer from the Cardigans, it's a duet which makes sense within the confines of the record (well much more sense than the normal rent a rappers that constitute a featured artist these days).

 

In some ways it feels like a bit of a re-awakening, rediscovering the mojo, but certainly it's much more upbeat and poppy than what we've been used to from them for some time and it's very welcome, follow up "Autumn Song" is another gem which in general marks a small golden period for them in my opinion. Persson purs on the record with suitable playfulness and there seems to be a real sincerity in the track that makes it hard to dislike even if you were so minded, all in all a cracker.

 

Your Love Alone is brilliant, probably in the top 3 #2's of 2007

2007 was pretty great for #2 singles! I've not heard "Your Love Alone is Not Enough", but the rest vary from decent ("Starz in Their Eyes"/"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race") to amazing ("The Sweet Escape"/"Girlfriend"), with some other obvious great ones still to come! On Fall Out Boy, I remember much preferring the follow-up single, I'm not sure where that peaked though. I quite liked "Brianstorm" at the time, but I've not heard it in a while.

Your Love Alone Is Not Enough :wub: I've always had a soft spot for the Manics when it comes to Britpop/rock and I've always LOVED The Cardigans. The promise of this duet definitely lived up to its huge potential, it's just a shame that it wasn't a #1.