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AdvertDetailsReleased: 17th November 2003

Origin: United Kingdom

Label: Virgin / EMI / Universal

Format: Double CD, Double Cassette

Duration: 2:36:53 (156 minutes 53 seconds)

Tracks: 43

#1’s: 8

Chart Peak: #1 (6 weeks)

Sales: 1,280,000 (5x Platinum)

Tracklisting1. Black Eyed Peas – Where Is The Love? 3:51 {1}

2. Rachel Stevens – Sweet Dreams My LA Ex 3:29 {2}

3. Kylie Minogue – Slow 3:14 {1}

4. Blue – Guilty 3:46 {2}

5. Fatman Scoop feat. The Crooklyn Clan – Be Faithful 2:43 {1}

6. Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z – Crazy In Love 4:09 {1}

7. Sugababes – Hole In The Head 3:38 {1}

8. Liberty X – Jumpin' 3:37 {6}

9. Jamelia – Superstar 3:35 {3}

10. Lumidee – Never Leave You - uh ooh, uh oooh! 3:34 {2}

11. Stacie Orrico – Stuck 3:44 {9}

12. Lemar – Dance (With You) 3:09 {2}

13. Javine – Surrender (Your Love) 3:09 {15}

14. Emma – Maybe 3:44 {6}

15. S Club 8 – Sundown 4:06 {4}

16. Ultrabeat – Pretty Green Eyes 3:22 {2}

17. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Mixed Up World 3:44 {7}

18. Phixx – Hold On Me 3:45 {10}

19. D-Side – Invisible 3:38 {7}

20. Louise – Pandora's Kiss 3:12 {5}

21. Girls Aloud – Life Got Cold 3:57 {3}

22. Atomic Kitten – If You Come To Me 3:44 {3}

23. Elton John – Are You Ready For Love 3:32 {1}

24. Justin Timberlake – Rock Your Body 4:26 {2}

25. Robbie Williams – Something Beautiful 4:02 {3}

26. Nickelback – Someday 3:27 {6}

27. Busted – Sleeping With The Light On 3:17 {3}

28. Mark Owen – Four Minute Warning 3:27 {4}

29. Amy Studt – Under The Thumb 3:43 {10}

30. Texas feat. Kardinal Offishall – Carnival Girl 4:03 {9}

31. 50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg – 21 Questions 3:45 {6}

32. Ashanti – Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) 4:19 {7}

33. Joe Budden – Pump It Up 3:38 {13}

34. Jaimeson – Complete 3:43 {4}

35. Lisa Scott-Lee – Too Far Gone 3:36 {11}

36. Angel City feat. Lara McAllen – Love Me Right (Oh Sheila) 3:13 {11}

37. Richard X feat. Kelis – Finest Dreams 4:13 {8}

38. Rishi Rich Project feat. Jay Sean & Juggy D – Dance With You 2:58 {12}

39. UB40 feat. The United Colours Of Sound – Swing Low 3:28 {15}

40. Starsailor – Silence Is Easy 3:39 {9}

41. Stereophonics – Maybe Tomorrow 4:33 {3}

42. Daniel Bedingfield – Never Gonna Leave Your Side 3:54 {1}

43. Michael Andrews feat. Gary Jules – Mad World 3:02 {1}

 

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: Black Eyed Peas – Where Is The Love? (6 weeks)

Lowest Charting Track: Javine – Surrender (Your Love) / UB40 feat. The United Colours Of Sound – Swing Low {15}

Longest Song: Stereophonics – Maybe Tomorrow 4:33

Shortest Song: Fatman Scoop feat. The Crooklyn Clan – Be Faithful 2:43

Edited Tracks: Unknown

Unedited Tracks: Unknown

Inlay Mistakes: None

Other Facts: This volume coincides with the 20th anniversary of the series (10th December 1983) when the first volume was released. A special release titled Now That's What I Call Music! Decades was released to commemorate this achievement.

On This Day In HistoryAmerican soul singer Arthur Conley died of intestinal cancer in Ruurlo, The Netherlands at the age of 57. Had the 1967 US No.2 & UK No.7 single Sweet Soul Music. He first recorded in 1959 as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets.

 

21 year-old Britney Spears became the youngest singer to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The only other performer to get a Hollywood star at her age was Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert.

 

George Michael signed a new contract with the record company he took to court in 1993. The singer re-signed to Sony in a deal that included his extensive back catalogue. Michael had failed in his court wrangle with Sony after accusing it of "professional slavery"; his contract was bought out by Virgin Records.

 

American country music legend Don Gibson died of natural causes aged 75. Scored the 1958 US No.7 single Oh Lonesome Me, (covered by Neil Young on his After The Gold Rush album), 1961 UK No.14 single Sea Of Heartbreak. His song I Can't Stop Loving You, has been recorded by over 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962.

 

American singer Blake Shelton weds Kaynette Williams in Gatlinsburg, Tennessee.

Other ResourcesOfficial Now Music Website

Wikipedia

Everyhit

Brandt Animation Archive

Now 56 Rate

Edited August 27, 20177 yr by ⓐⓦⓐⓡⓓⓘⓝⓐⓡⓨ

Andrew's ReviewNow That's Wha I Call Music! 56 also known as Now 56 was released at the end of Autumn 2003 and featured 43 tracks with 8 UK #1 singles. It was just a couple of weeks after the release of this volume that we reached the 20th anniversary of the series since the very first volume back in 1983. On this volume, we were introduced for the first time to artists like Black Eyed Peas, Rachel Stevens (as a solo artist), Fatman Scoop, Beyoncé (as a solo artist and not just a featured artist), Lemar, Ultrabeat and also Angel City.

 

A vast improvement in the quantity of UK #1 singles on this volume, with a total of 8 used. But there was an especially disappointing omission from Blu Cantrell feat. Sen Paul whose single Breathe was a UK #1 for 4 weeks during August and September that year. Along with this omission, we also were missing hits by American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson with her debut single Miss Independent. Other noteworthy omissions from the likes of Christina Aguilera, Mark Ronson, Linkin Park, Blazin' Squad, Hilary Duff, Muse, Elvis Presley, Westlife, Dido and Kevin Lyttle's #2 banger Turn Me On were all overlooked for this volume.

 

There are a few artist who made their only series appearance on this volume, and these were Lumidee, Stacie Orrico, Phixx, D-Side, Mark Owen (as a solo artist), Joe Budden, Rishi Rich Project, Starsailor and Michael Andrews.

 

Artwork Rating: 7/10 Very Good

Very seasonal with the winter approaching. A much colder theme than the previous summer volume, this one characterises the snowflakes and ice that would hit the country hard that year. The logo is bold and well positioned.

 

Disc 1 Favourite: Ultrabeat – Pretty Green Eyes

This one stands out to me as one of the best on the volume, in terms of dance music. It was an instant hit with me and I enjoyed many of the hits to follow this one. Still give it a listen quite often to this day.

 

Disc 2 Favourite: Ashanti – Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)

My love of Ashanti at that time of my life was unreal, she was just such a babe and her music was so nice to listen to with those majestic vocals. This is one of her best singles she ever released. Nice to have a single from her with no vocals from Ja Rule too.

 

Disc 3 Tracklist:

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

 

1. Blu Cantrell feat. Sean Paul – Breathe 3:48 {1}

2. Kelly Clarkson – Miss Independent 3:33 {6}

3. Evanescence – Going Under 3:34 {8}

4. Linkin Park – Numb 3:07 {14}

5. Muse – Time Is Running Out 3:57 {8}

6. The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love 3:37 {2}

7. The Strokes – 12:51 2:26 {7}

8. Good Charlotte – The Anthem 2:54 {10}

9. Hilary Duff – So Yesterday 3:35 {9}

10. Christina Aguilera feat. Lil Kim – Can't Hold Us Down 4:15 {6}

11. Pharrell feat. Jay-Z – Frontin' 3:56 {6}

12. Abs feat. Nosesha – Miss Perfect 3:39 {5}

13. Elvis Presley – Rubberneckin' [Paul Oakenfold Remix] 3:29 {5}

14. Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp 3:16 {17}

15. Mark Ronson feat. Ghostface Killah & Nate Dogg – Ooh Wee 3:29 {15}

16. Blazin' Squad – Flip Reverse 2:54 {2}

17. The Underdog Project – Summer Jam 3:20 {14}

18. Jason Nevins pts. U.K.N.Y. feat. Holly James – I'm In Heaven 3:16 {9}

19. Kevin Lyttle – Turn Me On 3:10 {2}

20. Justin Timberlake – Señorita 4:17 {13}

21. Jennifer Lopez – I'm Glad 3:34 {11}

22. Big Brovaz – Baby Boy 3:18 {4}

23. Dido – White Flag 3:36 {2}

----------

Total time: 1:20:00

 

Overall Rating: 7/10 Very Good

I'm fairly impressed by the overall result of this volume, despite some major absentees. There was plenty of major hits across both discs, and the music flows well. I may have opted for some more dance music, although that was lacking in the charts at the time. There are a few filler tracks which was to be expected, but even these aren't really that bad to listen to. The rival Hits series, which by this time was up to Hits 57, was nearing it's end when less label politics would come into effect. Also, my version of what Disc 3 might have looked like, is my favourite personal Disc 3 yet!

 

Andrew's Best 5 (as of August 2017)

1. Ultrabeat – Pretty Green Eyes

2. Ashanti – Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)

3. S Club 8 – Sundown

4. Fatman Scoop feat. The Crooklyn Clan – Be Faithful

5. Angel City feat. Lara McAllen – Love Me Right (Oh Sheila)

 

Andrew's Worst 5 (as of August 2017)

1. UB40 feat. The United Colours Of Sound – Swing Low

2. Daniel Bedingfield – Never Gonna Leave Your Side

3. Louise – Pandora's Kiss

4. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Mixed Up World

5. Phixx – Hold On Me

Edited August 27, 20177 yr by ⓐⓦⓐⓡⓓⓘⓝⓐⓡⓨ

Other Omissions

Beyoncé feat. Sean Paul – Baby Boy {2}

Cheeky Girls – Hooray Hooray (It's A Cheeky Holiday) {3}

Gareth Gates – Sunshine {3}

Sean Paul – Like Glue {3}

Westlife – Hey Whatever {4}

50 Cent – P.I.M.P. {5}

The Coral – Pass It On {5}

Iron Maiden – Wildest Dreams {6}

Kosheen – All In My Head {7}

P!nk – Trouble {7}

Travis – Re-Offender {7}

Craig David – Spanish {8}

Holly Valance – State Of Mind {8}

Obie Trice – Got Some Teeth {8}

R.E.M. – Bad Day {8}

Delta Goodrem – Innocent Eyes {9}

So Solid Crew – Broken Silence {9}

Triple 8 – Give Me A Reason {9}

Fast Food Rockers – Say Cheese (Smile Please) {10}

Limp Bizkit – Eat You Alive {10}

Nelly feat. P. Diddy & Murphy Lee – Shake Ya Tailfeather {10}

R. Kelly feat. Big Trigger – Snake {10}

Robbie Williams – Sexed Up {10}

Speedway – Genie In A Bottle / Save Yourself {10}

Shania Twain – Thank You Baby! {11}

The Libertines – Don't Look Back Into The Sun {11}

Blondie – Good Boys {12}

Radiohead – Go To Sleep {12}

Stacie Orrico – (There's Gotta Be) More To Life {12}

Lisa Maffia – In Love {13}

Super Furry Animals – Golden Retriever {13}

The All-American Rejects – Swing, Swing {13}

The White Stripes – I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself {13}

D. Kay & Epsilon feat. Stamina MC – Barcelona {14}

Erasure – Oh L'amour {13}

Fabolous feat. Mike Shorey & Lil' Mo – Can't Let You Go {14}

Jane's Addiction – Just Because {14}

R. Kelly – Step In The Name Of Love / Thoia Thoing {14}

Suede – Attitude / Golden Gun {14}

The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil {14}

Craig David – World Filled With Love {15}

Korn – Did My Time {15}

Lee-Cabrera feat. Alex Cartañá – Shake It (Move A Little Closer) {16}

Scooter vs. Acardipane And Rules – Maria (I Like It Loud) {16}

 

I just recently picked Now 56 up again second hand. It's not unfair to say both this and the next volume really bought the series back up to the level of quality and consistency we saw on Now 44. Really strong volume with very little filler - and a lot of my favourite pop singles of the decade on it to boot. Top 5 as always:

 

Now 56 Top 5

CD1

1. Rachel Stevens (I am obsessed with Rachel's solo career more than is probably healthy, but singles like this were why. Cathy Dennis written. Video with girls in ribbons. Spiky electropop goodness. What is not to love?)

2. Emma Bunton (how I feel about Rachel Stevens also applies to Emma Bunton. She hit such a good groove with the whole 60s sound she went for on her last two albums. Best solo Spice Girl single ever with the Sweet Charity aping video)

3. Girls Aloud (the fact that this is one of their least remembered singles ever still saddens me. The melancholia and wistfulness of its lyrics and production is the best)

4. Lemar (loved Lemar and still do. Best Fame Academy graduate bar none, he's got some soul and he can SAYNG)

5. Kylie Minogue (I'm one of those weird Kylie fans that actually loved and bought the 'Body Language' album. Great singles and videos from all of them for me)

 

CD2

1. Busted (hands down the high watermark of the singles from their first album. Epic lighters in the air pop rock with even more epic guitar riffs. So why it was the 4th single I've no idea)

2. Justin Timberlake (another brilliant single from the 'Justified' album. Good 70s soul feel to it and amazing production from the Neptunes)

3. Jaimeson (I swear down this samples the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Because of that, the mix with drum 'n bass and vocals, and the fact I had it on repeat during our family holiday that August in Scotland it's my favourite)

4. Mark Owen (sorely underrated comeback single from Lil' Markie. He has always had some great solo material to be fair)

5. Richard X and Kelis (awesome collaboration this, the mix of electro and R&B is spot on)

 

Holly Valance, Speedway, Kosheen and Delta Goodrem would've been my disc 3 choices from that little lot Andrew. Just to say as well...I'll be back for the Plug.dj this week!

Holly Valance, Speedway, Kosheen and Delta Goodrem would've been my disc 3 choices from that little lot Andrew. Just to say as well...I'll be back for the Plug.dj this week!

Ah I had a feeling you'd pick Holly and Delta from that list! ;)

 

Great to hear you're back this week! :cheer:

What a dreadful time for dance music representation, only 3 dance songs on the CD because no dance songs had made top 10 for the last few months of 2003 and because these were excluded,

 

The Underdog Project – Summer Jam

Jason Nevins pts. U.K.N.Y. feat. Holly James – I'm In Heaven

Lee-Cabrera feat. Alex Cartañá – Shake It (Move A Little Closer)

Scooter vs. Acardipane And Rules – Maria (I Like It Loud)

 

plus David Guetta feat. Chris Willis - Just A Little More Love (#19)

 

 

In two years time though we would see another poor representation for dance on Now 62 (late 2005).

 

Went for Ultrabeat - Pretty Green Eyes on the first one, a classic!

 

Went for Angel City ft Lara McAllen - Love Me Right (Oh Sheila) for the second one, remember hearing it on the radio at the time and I quite like it back then. Love it now!

 

Album selection 5/10 for me. Artwork is lovely!

This was the first NOW! CD that I bought. I don't recall a lot of these tracks though as on repeated listens I ended up listening to mostly the first few tracks on Disc 1 (Blue aside, that song's boring).

 

Disc 1 fave: "Where Is The Love", brilliant opener and one of the big selling points of the album, it's such a well written song. Other faves include 'Be Faithful', 'Pretty Green Eyes' (this one years later, I don't recall it from the time, I probably wasn't really into dance music then anyway), 'Sweet Dreams My LA Ex', 'Hole In The Head', 'Superstar' and 'Never Leave You'.

Disc 2 fave: "Rock Your Body", one of Justin's best songs ever, very groovy. I remember this being a very poor Disc 2 and I don't recall quite a few of the songs here too. Other faves include 'Mad World' and 'Love Me Right (Oh Sheila)' (this again grew on me quite recently when I re-discovered it).

Now 56 listenthrough currently in session. :cheer:

 

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

 

Come and join us all!

A decent edition, I voted for Life Got Cold (<333) on Disc 1 and Carnival Girl on Disc 2. In fact the latter was my favourite song of 2003 not by Delta Goodrem, such a sorely underrated track that I wish had stayed in the charts a little longer.

 

My other favourites include Where Is The Love, Sweet Dreams My LA Ex, Slow, Crazy In Love, Hole In The Head, Superstar, Pretty Green Eyes, Mixed Up World, Something Beautiful (I know people don't have a lot of time for this but it's got a quirky singalong charm...maybe it's the video), Sleeping With The Light On, Four Minute Warning (genius song, the highlight of Mark Owen's solo career and would have made a great No.1), Under The Thumb, Complete and Love Me Right. Though I didn't think it at the time, mid-late 2003 was actually a fairly vintage time for pop despite the very low sales climate.

 

The equivalent Hits 57 wasn't as great, though I bought and loved the companion music videos DVD (the only time a numbered Hits album had a DVD I think!). But the following were probably actually available to Now compilers if they'd wanted them, looking at the licensing issues of the time:

 

Abs feat. Nosesha – Miss Perfect

Mark Ronson feat. Ghostface Killah & Nate Dogg – Ooh Wee (this would have been great on Disc 2, next to Joe Budden)

Justin Timberlake – Señorita

Westlife – Hey Whatever (Westlife seemed to appear from time to time, but I think they probably got a special deal to have Uptown Girl on Now 50 and then the licensing issues were resolved by the next time they appeared. Shame as I actually like Hey Whatever way more than most of their No.1 singles)

50 Cent – P.I.M.P. (maybe not actually, he only ever appeared with the material on his first album didn't he?)

Triple 8 – Give Me A Reason

Fast Food Rockers – Say Cheese (Smile Please)

R. Kelly feat. Big Trigger – Snake

Robbie Williams – Sexed Up

Stacie Orrico – (There's Gotta Be) More To Life

Lisa Maffia – In Love

Erasure – Oh L'amour

R. Kelly – Step In The Name Of Love / Thoia Thoing

 

Most have those would have been missed for not being big enough hits or because the artist had other songs on this volume I guess. Shout out to Delta Goodrem's Innocent Eyes - my favourite song of the year and obviously she was on the Hits albums instead but I would have LOVED to see this on Now.

My disc 1 favourite this time is Kylie Minogue - 'Slow'! It is my favourite ever Kylie song. :wub: I just adore the pulsating synths coupled with her sultry vocals. Then once again it's mostly all about the production for my disc 2 favourite as I have chosen Richard X feat. Kelis - 'Finest Dreams'! Richard X is such an excellent producer, him and William Orbit are my favourites of the early 00s for creating sounds that really stood out in the chart in the best kind of way. <3

Artwork 8/10

Disc 1: Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love (the song that got me into Beyonce as a solo artist full I would say I mean Work It Out was good and all but this was the OMG moment for sure.

 

Disc 2: Michael Andrews ft Gary Jules - Mad World - Haunting in every sense of the word :wub:

 

Overal 9/10

Edited September 2, 20177 yr by HarryEzra

Voted. Toss uo between Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. Voted for Beyonce.

 

Voted for Mad World - practically the only one on disc 2 I wouldn' t need to check out on youtube.