CHART COMMENTARY from JAMES MASTERTON

16/04/07

 

from uk.launch

 

With two big new singles jostling for popular attention it was almost a

given that we would see a changing of the guard at the top of the singles

chart this week. Surprisingly enough however the winner of the race is not

Mark Ronson but instead the newly physically released 'Give It To Me' by

Timbaland which climbs seven places to grab the chart pole position.

 

The single is of course a three way performance, with guest stars Nelly

Furtado and Justin Timberlake both getting mic time. For both stars it this

is their second Number One hit single, Justin's 'Sexyback' and Nelly's

'Maneater' both having hit the top last year - and wouldn't you just know it

a certain Timothy Z Mosley co-wrote and produced both of them. For all his

massive success this decade as the man credited as defining 21st century

R&B, Timbaland has only ever produced one other UK Number One single -

Aaliyah's 'More Than A Woman' which hit the top in 2002.

 

Picking your way through just how many chart hits he has actually performed

on is a tricky process as his vocal contributions don't always receive a

direct chart credit. Going on the singles for which he has been directly

credited as a performer however, this is actually only his second Top 40 hit

as lead artist, the first being 'Cop That Disc' (a sanitised version of 'Cop

That $h!t' from his 2003 solo album) which reached Number 24 in March 2004.

Searching databases for the hits he has performed with other artists is a

deceptive business. Everyhit.com lists just five Top 40 hits with a

"Timbaland" performer credit, but of course he can be heard on backing

vocals in many of his most famous productions, most recently Nelly Furtado's

own 'Say It Right'.

 

So after all of that it is only a Number 2 for Mark Ronson and Daniel

Merriweather and their Smiths cover 'Stop Me'. The DJ/Producer does at least

have the consolation of staging his own mini chart invasion this week.

Thanks to its presence as Track 2 on the EP, Coldplay cover 'God Put A Smile

On Your Face' lands at Number 63, Track 3 'No One Knows' is just a few paces

behind at Number 66 and even his 2003 single 'Ooh Wee' gets in on the act,

creeping into the chart at a non-canon Number 82.

 

The only other Top 10 climber this week is another superstar collaboration,

'Beautiful Liar' from Beyonce and Shakira moving 10-5. I was on the

receiving end of a wonderful two pronged barrage of hate mail from fans of

both ladies who were outraged that I'd denigrated the work of their idols. I

remain resolutely indifferent to the charms of the single as even a week

later it remains a groove in desperate search of a melody but there is no

disputing that the star power of both performers is turning it into a

massive international hit. The physical release arrives this week and you

never know this could well be enough to propel it to the top in seven days

time.

 

Also hitting the shops as of April 16 is 'Brianstorm' from the Arctic

Monkeys which on its second week on the chart remains resolutely locked at

Number 11. I genuinely don't know what to make of that, all logic dictating

that a brand new single from an act as widely feted as the Arctics should

slam instantly into the Top 3. Maybe their fans are confined to the ever

shrinking band of people who prefer their singles on CD - the chart next

week should contain some answers.

 

The second biggest new physical release this week soars to Number 12 as Fall

Out Boy follow up 'This Ain't A Scene It's An Arms Race' with the

idiosyncratically titled 'Thnks Fr Th Mmrs' which like its predecessor is

taken from the album 'Infinity On High'. By remaining vowel free they join a

short but distinguished list of acts who have taken it upon themselves to

mangle the English language in the titles of hit singles. Slade most

famously took the scissors to their mother tongue in the 70s with offerings

such as 'Coz I Luv You', 'Look Wot You Dun' and 'Sqweeze Me Pleeze Me'

whilst in the 80s Prince took to mnemonics with titles such as 'I Would Die

4 U', 'U Got The Look' and 'I Wish U Heaven'. Fall Out Boy I think are the

first act to chart with a hit single titled in vowel-dropping txt speak, a

move which could so easily have left them looking like twts.

 

The highest Top 40 climbers in a good old fashioned way are the returning

Linkin Park who rise 39-13 with new single 'What I've Done', the single not

due for physical release until April 30 suggesting it is more or less

assured a Top 5 place by the time that date arrives. Already it is their

biggest hit since 'Somewhere I Belong' hit Number 10 in March 2003, beating

even their most celebrated hit 'Numb' which could only reach Number 14 both

in its original 2003 version and the 2004 Jay-Z collaboration with saw it

teamed up with his own 'Encore'. It is Numb/Encore which remains to this day

one of the most consistent sellers in the online catalogue. Returning to the

chart when download-only singles were allowed on at the start of the year,

it has been in and out of the Top 75 ever since. This week it stands as the

79th best selling track of the week and if 'What I've Done' continues to

raise the profile of Linkin Park, would you bet against it edging even

closer to the Top 40 over the next few weeks?

 

There will be a mixed reaction to the arrival of the biggest new hit of the

week as none other than Gareth Gates makes his much trailed comeback with

'Changes' at Number 14. Famously runner up on the original UK series of Pop

Idol, Gates had his own brief flowering of initial fame on the back of the

competition. Indeed he has his own place in music history with his first

single, a remake of 'Unchained Melody' is the 38th biggest selling single of

all time in this country. Despite never missing the Top 5, and his last

single 'Say It Isn't So' making Number 4 in December 2003, SonyBMG elected

not to take up their option on his third album and he was discretely dropped

last year. To the rescue (as they always are with their dropped clients) are

19 Records who are set to unleash the brand new album from the new and

improved Gareth Gates. I say "new" as gone is the spiky haired Bradford

choirboy with a stammer and a neat line in cover versions. In his place is

the mature, confident, outspoken qualified speech therapist Gareth Gates

with a new album of songs co-written with some very big names indeed.

 

'Changes' is certainly a fascinating single. With a melody line that brings

to mind, of all things, Radiohead's 'No Surprises', it is a slow building

anthemic ballad which builds to two separate climaxes during the course of

the song. It is certainly as far removed from his sweet natured pop roots as

you could wish and if we're being honest is one of the best things he has

ever put his name to. For all of that it sold next to nothing as a download

and as a CD single has crept into the chart at Number 14. Spin it however

you want, unless his next single is a pop record of Take That level of

genius, this comeback just isn't going anywhere.

 

Let's instead turn to other Top 20 hits which are going places. Natasha

Bedingfield's bloke-scaring 'I Wanna Have Your Babies' moves 25-15 and hits

the shops this week, as does Ne-Yo's 'Because Of You' which moves 35-18.

Hitting the stores last week was Bloc Party's 'I Still Remember' which duly

flies 74-20 to give them a neat followup to Number 4 hit 'The Prayer' and

the 6th Top 20 hit of their career. One place below them are Muse who arrive

on the chart with 'Invincible', a bold fourth single from 'Black Holes And

Revelations' and needless to say the smallest hit single the album contains.

 

Finally for this week, as yet another example of the way one-off moments of

popular reference points can propel the most unlikely of songs into the

chart, the much anticipated finale of BBC series Life On Mars produces two

hits at the lower end of the chart. The David Bowie hit from which the

series took its name and which featured once again in the final episode

lands at Number 55, almost 34 years since it was first a Number 3 hit. Also

featuring prominently in the final episode was an acoustic rendition of

'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' as performed in a 1993 recording by the late

Hawaiian folk artist Israel Kamakawio'ole. Ten years after his death he

lands at Number 68 on the chart, echoing the posthumous discovery of Eva

Cassidy with her rendition of the song in 2001.

 

Thanks Mr.Masterson.

 

Re Gareth Gates I take this as a compliment:

 

I say "new" as gone is the spiky haired Bradford

choirboy with a stammer and a neat line in cover versions. In his place is

the mature, confident, outspoken qualified speech therapist Gareth Gates

with a new album of songs co-written with some very big names indeed.

 

'Changes' is certainly a fascinating single. With a melody line that brings

to mind, of all things, Radiohead's 'No Surprises', it is a slow building

anthemic ballad which builds to two separate climaxes during the course of

the song. It is certainly as far removed from his sweet natured pop roots as

you could wish and if we're being honest is one of the best things he has

ever put his name to.

 

For the rest I am keeping my fingers crossed.