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AdvertDetailsReleased: 14th April 2003

Origin: United Kingdom

Label: Virgin / EMI / Universal

Format: Double CD, Double Cassette

Duration: 2:35:48 (155 minutes 48 seconds)

Tracks: 42

#1’s: 6

Chart Peak: #1 (7 weeks)

Sales: 520,000 (2x Platinum)

Tracklisting1. t.A.T.u. – All The Things She Said 3:28 {1}

2. Justin Timberlake – Like I Love You 4:43 {2}

3. Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland – Dilemma 3:55 {1}

4. Richard X vs. Liberty X – Being Nobody 3:37 {3}

5. Room 5 feat. Oliver Cheatham – Make Luv (As featured in the Lynx TV ad) 3:31 {1}

6. Junior Senior – Move Your Feet 3:02 {3}

7. Girls Aloud – Sound Of The Underground 3:41 {1}

8. Busted – Year 3000 3:16 {2}

9. Melanie C – Here It Comes Again 4:08 {7}

10. Sinead Quinn – I Can't Break Down 3:30 {2}

11. Darius – Rushes 3:45 {5}

12. Appleton – Don't Worry 4:18 {5}

13. Atomic Kitten – Love Doesn't Have To Hurt 3:30 {4}

14. Blue – U Make Me Wanna 3:41 {4}

15. Jay-Z feat. Beyoncé Knowles – '03 Bonnie & Clyde 3:24 {2}

16. Jaimeson feat. Angel Blu – True 3:32 {4}

17. Zoe Birkett – Treat Me Like A Lady 3:41 {12}

18. S Club – Alive 3:41 {5}

19. One True Voice – Sacred Trust 4:42 {2}

20. Kym Marsh – Cry 3:45 {2}

21. Ainslie Henderson – Keep Me A Secret 3:28 {5}

22. Daniel Bedingfield – If You're Not The One 3:40 {1}

23. David Sneddon – Stop Living The Lie 3:54 {1}

24. Robbie Williams – Feel 4:22 {4}

25. Oasis – Songbird 2:07 {3}

26. Turin Brakes – Pain Killer 3:43 {5}

27. Coldplay – Clocks 4:10 {9}

28. Lulu & Ronan Keating – We've Got Tonight 3:37 {4}

29. Sugababes – Stronger 4:01 {7}

30. Beenie Man – Street Life 3:30 {13}

31. Cam'Ron feat. Juelz Santana, Freekey Zeekey & Toya – Hey Ma 3:53 {8}

32. Nelly feat. Justin Timberlake – Work It 4:01 {7}

33. Panjabi MC – Mundian To Bach Ke 3:22 {5}

34. Scooter – Weekend! 3:35 {12}

35. DJ Sammy – The Boys Of Summer 4:02 {2}

36. Divine Inspiration – The Way (Put Your Hand In My Hand) 2:58 {5}

37. Queen + Vanguard – Flash 3:03 {15}

38. Erasure – Solsbury Hill 4:19 {10}

39. The Mock Turtles – Can You Dig It? (Fatboy Slim & Simon Thornton 2003 Remix) (As featured in the Vodafone TV ad) 3:52 {19}

40. Counting Crows feat. Vanessa Carlton – Big Yellow Taxi 3:45 {16}

41. Richard Ashcroft – Science Of Silence 3:49 {14}

42. Massive Attack – Special Cases 3:49 {15}

 

Key

Tracks highlighted red were official UK #1’s.

Tracks with an asterisk (*) next to their title have also been included in special releases from the series.

The track duration has been highlighted cyan.

Bracketed numbers refer to highest chart position reached.

Miscellaneous FactsTrack Most Weeks At #1: Girls Aloud – Sound Of The Underground / t.A.T.u. – All The Things She Said / Room 5 feat. Oliver Cheatham – Make Luv (As featured in the Lynx TV ad) (4 weeks)

Lowest Charting Track: The Mock Turtles – Can You Dig It? (Fatboy Slim & Simon Thornton 2003 Remix) (As featured in the Vodafone TV ad) {19}

Longest Song: Justin Timberlake – Like I Love You 4:43

Shortest Song: Oasis – Songbird 2:07

Edited Tracks: Unknown

Unedited Tracks: Unknown

Inlay Mistakes: None

Other Facts: This was the first volume to list ringtone codes for all of the tracks on the compilation, a trend that lasted for a total of 19 volumes.

On This Day In HistoryThe Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

A man was arrested accused of making up a Björk concert then selling tickets. Alex Conate allegedly sold tickets work $14,000 at $40 each after persuading a San Diego nightclub owner that Björk had agreed to play there. He was accused of taking the money and moving to Hawaii, where he was arrested.

Other ResourcesOfficial Now Music Website

Wikipedia

Everyhit

Brandt Animation Archive

Now 54 Rate

Andrew's ReviewNow That's What I Call Music! 54 or Now 54 had it's release in Spring 2003 and featured 42 tracks with 6 UK #1 singles. This was the volume that introduced us to t.A.T.u., Justin Timberlake (as a solo artist), Richard X, Girls Aloud, Sinead Quinn, Jaimeson, One True Voice, Kym Marsh (as a solo artist) and Fame Academy winner David Sneddon.

 

A further 5 UK #1 singles could have been added to the 6 already on this volume. These were Dirrty from Christina Aguilera feat. Redman, Eminem's #1 Lose Yourself from 8 Mile, Blue feat. Elton John – Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, another from Christina Aguilera titled Beautiful and Comic Relief single for 2003 from Gareth Gates feat. The Kumars – Spirit In The Sky. Some others which didn't make the cut included Dannii Minogue's #2 hit I Begin To Wonder, The Cheeky Girls debut single, Scandalous by Mis-Teeq, Kelly Rowland's debut solo single Stole amongst others.

 

Now 54 is the only volume in the series to feature the likes of Room 5, Junior Senior, Zoe Birkett, Ainslie Henderson, Turin Brakes, Cam'Ron, Punjabi MC, Divine Inspiration, Vanguard, The Mock Turtles and Counting Crows.

 

Artwork Rating: 6/10 Good

It's always been my perception that there are two alternative covers for this volume, one slightly zoomed in from the other one. But I find that the zoomed in version is most prominent, so that's the one I've rated. It's bright and is hard to describe. It seems to be set against some kind of symmetrical backdrop looking to the outside world, possibly with some trees of some kind in the background. It sort of works I guess.

 

Disc 1 Favourite: Junior Senior – Move Your Feet

There are so many good songs on this disc, but I've voted for Junior Senior whose hit was such an addiction when it was just released. Such a feel good anthem from 2003.

 

Disc 2 Favourite: DJ Sammy – The Boys Of Summer

A wonderful uplifting dance remake of a classic by Don Henley which incidentally appeared on Now 40. This song was another favourite from 2003 and still sounds great today.

 

Disc 3 Tracklist:

(A concept of what a third disc might look like if other hits from the era were used)

 

1. Eminem – Lose Yourself 5:20 {1}

2. Christina Aguilera feat. Redman – Dirrty 4:45 {1}

3. Gareth Gates feat. The Kumars – Spirit In The Sky 3:28 {1}

4. Cheeky Girls – Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) 3:06 {2}

5. Dannii Minogue – I Begin To Wonder 3:21 {2}

6. Jurgen Vries feat. CMC – The Opera Song (Brave New World) 3:33 {3}

7. Flip & Fill – I Wanna Dance With Somebody 3:03 {13}

8. Kira – I'll Be Your Angel 2:54 {9}

9. Love Inc. – You're A Superstar 3:23 {7}

10. Sean Paul – Gimme The Light 3:37 {5}

11. Mis-Teeq – Scandalous 3:34 {2}

12. Jennifer Lopez – Jenny From The Block 3:09 {3}

13. Blazin' Squad – Reminisce 3:08 {8}

14. Electric Six – Danger! High Voltage 3:34 {2}

15. Good Charlotte – Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous 3:10 {8}

16. Avril Lavigne – Sk8er Boi 3:24 {8}

17. Shania Twain – Ka-Ching! 3:20 {8}

18. Kelly Rowland – Stole 3:55 {2}

19. Enrique Iglesias – Maybe 3:13 {12}

20. Blue feat. Elton John – Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 3:29 {1}

21. Liberty X – Holding On For You 3:28 {5}

22. Atomic Kitten – The Last Goodbye 3:07 {2}

23. S Club Juniors – Puppy Love 3:02 {6}

----------

Total time: 1:19:58

 

Overall Rating: 8/10 Extremely Good

After a run of relatively poor volumes, Now 54 seemed to have upped the quality and the many big hits then are still big today. There's much I love about the content of this volume, even though it is heavy with talent show artists like Darius, Girls Aloud, Kym Marsh, Sinead Quinn, David Sneddon, Ainslie Henderson, Zoe Birkett and One True Voice. It works well though. Oh and one other thing, why did they suddenly decide that they had to credit the adverts some songs were taken from... as if we would somehow care to remember the adverts all these years later.

 

Andrew's Best 5 (as of August 2017)

1. Junior Senior – Move Your Feet

2. Room 5 feat. Oliver Cheatham – Make Luv

3. t.A.T.u. – All The Things She Said

4. DJ Sammy – The Boys Of Summer

5. Divine Inspiration – The Way (Put Your Hand In My Hand)

 

Andrew's Worst 5 (as of August 2017)

1. Erasure – Solsbury Hill

2. One True Voice – Sared Trust

3. Richard Ashcroft – Science Of Silence

4. Turin Brakes – Pain Killer

5. Kym Marsh – Cry

Edited August 13, 20177 yr by ⓐⓦⓐⓡⓓⓘⓝⓐⓡⓨ

Not too bad a volume, probably the best of 2002.

 

Went for Junior Senior (with Liberty X Richard X a close second) and Coldplay.

Not too bad a volume, probably the best of 2002.

Except it's not 2002, it's 2003 (with some end of year songs from 2002) ;)

Richard X/Liberty X from Disc 1 and Sugababes from Disc 2.

Disc 2 still letting the side down though and still so many omissions!

Ah. Now this is where things began to get exciting again! Whilst 2003 was, at the time, an odd year for me music wise - a couple of reasons of which I'll touch on with the next two volumes - it was actually full of loads of great music and the launch and/or stratospheric rise of several artists and bands who are now among my all time favourites.

 

And best of all, this was the start of the label politics that blighted the last three volumes finally lifting and allowing some of the bigger hits and artists of the time to appear. I think the compilers probably learnt from their mistakes with the previous year's volumes and it really shows here. Best volume since Now 47 for me personally.

 

Top 5 as always:

 

Now 54 Top 5

CD1

1. Girls Aloud (aka the start of the most successful run of Now appearances, and one of my all time favourite girl groups! Classic debut single that has lost none of its charm)

2. Busted (robbed of number one in my view over the now forgotten David Sneddon. A pop classic from the 00s that quite rightly became their anthem where their singles are concerned)

3. Junior Senior (such an infectious, feel good mix of pop and disco. Gutted they only had the one huge hit here in this country. I always saw them as a blueprint for fellow Danes and future Now stars Alphabeat)

4. Justin Timberlake (his solo career was to *NSYNC what Beyonce was to Destiny's Child. A world beater with some shit hot material to boot. The 'Justified' album remains one of my all time favourites - although my overall favourite from it isn't until next week)

5. Appleton (another fantastic single from Nat and Nic. I love the emotion and feeling in this song, and the lyrics especially.)

 

CD2

1. Coldplay (one of the high watermarks of their first few albums. That piano riff really is something special)

2. Sugababes (the best ballad the second line up did by far. The harmonies, the soulfulness of it all. Unbeatable)

3. Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton (I totally lied when I said about Vanessa Carlton being a one hit wonder last week. Great collaboration and faithful cover of the Joni Mitchell classic)

4. Panjabi MC (such a great single, I was really into the whole bhangra craze when it took off in 2003. Really catchy and funky!)

5. Turin Brakes (LOVE Turin Brakes. My sister had their first two albums and I loved this along with 'Underdog' and 'Mind Over Money'. Criminal that they weren't bigger)

 

Great disc 3 choices Andrew (love the Dannii Minogue and Kelly Rowland tracks). My personal shouts for disc 3 would've been:

 

- Will Young - You & I

- Holly Valance - Naughty Girl

- Layo & Buschwacka - Love Story vs Finally

- Delta Goodrem - Born to Try

- Craig David - Hidden Agenda

- Sarah Whatmore - Automatic

- Moloko - Familiar Feeling

Other omissions I didn't have room for on my Disc 3;

 

Christina Aguilera – Beautiful {1}

Atomic Kitten – Be With You {2}

Jennifer Lopez feat. LL Cool J – All I Have {2}

Will Young – Don't Let Me Down / You And I {2}

Delta Goodrem – Born To Try {3}

Westlife – Tonight / Miss You Nights {3}

Gareth Gates – What My Heart Wants To Say {5}

Blazin' Squad – Love On The Line {6}

Eminem – Sing For The Moment {6}

Big Brovaz – O.K. {7}

Simply Red – Sunrise {7}

Layo & Bushwacka! – Love Story (vs. Finally) {8}

Mariah Carey – Through The Rain {8}

Missy Elliott feat. Ludacris – Gossip Folks {9}

Coldplay – The Scientist {10}

Craig David – Hidden Agenda {10}

Moloko – Familiar Feeling {10}

Liam Lynch – United States Of Whatever {10}

Linkin Park – Somewhere I Belong {10}

The Coral – Don't Think You're The First {10}

B2K feat. P Diddy – Bump, Bump, Bump {11}

P!nk – Family Portrait {11}

Sarah Whatmore – Automatic {11}

Foo Fighters – Times Like These {12}

Kelly Osbourne – Shut Up {12}

Placebo – The Bitter End {12}

Riki & Daz feat. Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up) {12}

Ashanti – Happy {13}

Soda Club feat. Hannah Alethea – Heaven Is A Place On Earth {13}

Death In Vegas feat. Liam Gallagher – Scorpio Rising {14}

Erick Sermon feat. Redman – React {14}

Audio Bullys – We Don't Care {15}

Ja Rule feat. Bobby Brown – Thug Lovin' {15}

Holly Valance – Naughty Girl {16}

Edited August 13, 20177 yr by ⓐⓦⓐⓡⓓⓘⓝⓐⓡⓨ

Except it's not 2002, it's 2003 (with some end of year songs from 2002) ;)

Ha ha oops. No wonder I like it then, 2003 was a great year!

I went for Sound of the Underground on Disc 1 and Boys Of Summer on Disc 2.

 

This is a decent edition, still full of a little too much reality TV flops to be completely vintage, but it has a few late '02/early '03 classics on it too and does remind me quite a lot of my final year at high school. Generally 2003 I didn't think much of at all at the time - aside from Delta Goodrem of course - but looking back it deserves more credit than I gave it at the time. I think I was a bit bemused by it because dance music this year (which was my favourite genre by far for the previous five years) fell off a cliff in terms of quality and I had to find something to replace it in my affections - the R&B/hip-hop clogging up the charts in 2003 was not really to my taste - though a lot of it I now love retrospectively - and Delta basically restored my faith in music.

 

Anyway, being older and wiser this year now seems way stronger and more diverse than 2002, which was hampered by cheap and basic sounding production line pop and 80s trance-lite cover versions. I feel like 2000-2002 sort of belonged to the nineties sonically but around this time was where the sound landscape started to change and the noughties sounding music properly emerged - in fact I credit the rejuvenation and direction change of pop to three forward-thinking albums released at exactly this period - Justified by Justin Timberlake, Stripped by Christina Aguilera and Missundaztood by P!nk.

 

And back to this album - I still regularly listen to and really like or love All The Things She Said, Dilemma, Being Nobody, Move Your Feet, Year 3000, I Can't Break Down, Love Doesn't Have To Hurt, If You're Not The One, Clocks, Stronger, Weekend and The Way (Put Your Hand In My Hand) - it's fair to say Disc 2 isn't exactly vintage again though.

 

I think there were still licensing issues here to be honest, because the equivalent Hits 55 was absolutely fantastic and features so many missing huge hits. And I can't think of anything on here which surprised me by its inclusion, I'm sure the major established artists on here had all appeared on previous versions. Anyway, I think the following probably would have been available to the compilers if they'd wanted them - again going by songs that appeared on Smash Hits albums or other non BMG compilations around the same time:

 

Mis-Teeq – Scandalous (did Mis-Teeq change record label around this time? I'm not sure why Now stopped including them)

Enrique Iglesias – Maybe

Blue feat. Elton John – Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (not sure why this was missed out...Smash Hits had it!)

Liberty X – Holding On For You (they opted for a newer hit)

S Club Juniors – Puppy Love

Atomic Kitten – Be With You/The Last Goodbye (they opted for a newer hit)

Coldplay – The Scientist (they opted for a newer hit)

Moloko – Familiar Feeling

Liam Lynch – United States Of Whatever

Rikki & Daz feat. Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)

Ashanti – Happy

Soda Club feat. Hannah Alethea – Heaven Is A Place On Earth

Edited August 14, 20177 yr by gooddelta

Went for Sinead Quinn - I Can't Break Down for disc 1, one of my favourite pop songs ever!

 

Went for Divine Inspration - Divine Inspiration – The Way (Put Your Hand In My Hand) for disc 2.

 

The cover art colours are very nice.

 

Anyway, being older and wiser this year now seems way stronger and more diverse than 2002, which was hampered by cheap and basic sounding production line pop and 80s trance-lite cover versions.

 

Yeah I remember hearing two of those 80s trancepop cover versions in Debenhams at the time (can't remember which ones but probably one of them was one of the Soda Club ones). It just sounded to me like a remix of the original song just speeded up, I actually thought it had been, but it was of course a newly produced cover at the time. I thought they sounded a bit of the mess and ruined the original song at the time, but I like the trancepop covers of late 2002 and early 2003 now.

 

The best is a brilliant remix of Ultra Nate's You're Free by Yomanda which reached number 20 in early 2003.

 

 

 

 

Now 54 listenthrough currently in session. :cheer:

 

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https://plug.dj/now-thats-what-i-call-music

 

Come and join us all!

Disc 1 of this edition was incredible! Songs 1-8 in particular are such an all-killer no filler affair, what a run of bangers. My favourite song on this first disc is Junior Senior - 'Move Your Feet', that is an all-time favourite :wub: I shall always be swept up in the absolute joy of that song. The accompanying music video is so adorable as well! Disc 2 was a big step up from last time, a great cluster of songs near the start and a killer ending with Massive Attack :heart: my absolute favourite of this half though was Coldplay's 'Clocks' :wub: it is the one song I learnt to play on the keyboard haha, that riff is just so dreamy that I wanted to emulate it. Coldplay are one of my favourite bands and that is one of their finest moments.

Artwork 8/10

Disc 1: Junior Senior - Move Your Feed :music: so damn feel good!!

Disc 2: Daniel Bedingfield - If Your Not The One Such a emotional banger :heart:

Overall: 9/10

My favourites are:

 

Disc 1: Mel C - Here It Comes Again (very underrated)

 

Disc 2: Robbie Williams - Feel (his best song imo)

 

Winter-Spring 2002-03 was so much better than most of 2002 music-wise. Especially the spring-summer of that year which was full of forgettable songs.

Went for Sinead Quinn - I Can't Break Down for disc 1, one of my favourite pop songs ever!

 

10 weeks at # 1 in my chart :cheer:

Only two songs were more succesful.