ThePensmith

Exactly this. Which is why it's probably a big contribution to certain members not really wanting or having the heart to do it. And actually it makes me sad knowing a group that gave me such joy - and many others - was being basically underpaid relative to their peers in the industry. And it's not just because there was two more members than any other regular pop group. I know it happens all the time in the industry and I'm not saying Simon didn't do a lot of things right by them - he launched and marketed them incredibly well. But how he treated them in terms of financial recompense etc wasn't right and when they're now in their 40s, you can't just expect them to fall back into line like it's 2001 again. They need properly rewarding.

I do agree actually, that was my favourite of all the post-series hour long specials. Boyfriends and Birthdays a close second! For series, L.A. 7 was the best for me. I bought the complete boxset of those fanmade DVDs on Twitter a couple of years ago and it's actually surprisingly still really funny to watch! I think the beauty of certainly that and Miami 7 was that it didn't take itself so seriously and I think that really shone through. But again. Not fans doing the actual work of the gods (and probably risking a lawsuit to do so) then Simon Fuller doing the bare minimum.

I should point out I'm not saying all of this to be a Debbie; far from it. I love S Club 7, always have done, always will. They were something so special to me and actually their music and their TV shows were a real comfort to me growing up. I still get my life to "Bring It All Back", "S Club Party" and "Don't Stop Movin'". I can still reel off my deep cuts at the drop of a hat ("Our Time Has Come", "Discotek", "Show Me Your Colours", just FYI). But seeing what Steps have done has illustrated the power of having a decent invested team behind you that genuinely care about you and your legacy, and also genuinely understands their fanbase and what they care about. Which is why, in my heart, as much as I want the same for them I am having to temper those expectations.

This is my take on it as a long standing S Club fan since the first episode of Miami 7: if it's true, then great. But after last time, in 2014/15, which was like watching cats being herded, I am not expecting great things. The difficulty I find with this is that having seen how brilliantly Steps did their comeback and also their 25th anniversary celebrations last year, I am fully anticipating this, with Simon Fuller at the helm, to be, as is often the case with legacy projects of his, the absolute bare minimum - if that. If Fascination Management were involved with this - which I suspect they won't be, all the more a bitter pill to swallow when Peter Loraine was actually at Polydor and did S Club's marketing campaigns - then we'd be getting 4K videos, the albums on vinyl, their Spotify tidied up (it still makes me itch that a six piece image - and not even a good one at that - is their profile image on there) and missing B-sides / album tracks available on streaming and download, the TV shows on Britbox or Netflix. Maybe a documentary a la Giving You Everything for old time's sake. But of course, given how tight Simon is, wanting all of the legacy coin with none of the effort - hence why you've been able to see any combination of Jo, Tina, Bradley and Paul down your local bingo hall in any year since 2008 - I am preparing myself for a repeat of eight years ago. (I'd also prefer, if Mighty Hoopla goes well for her, a small academy tour from Rachel instead but hey ho. Drunken Ellas and Karens singing "Reach" in the O2 probably wins on an easy sell).

Having just watched last night's episode again, the penny has just dropped and I am convinced that Fawn is Natalie Appleton. If you go on YouTube and listen to any of the Appleton album or All Saints songs where she had partial lead vocals it's definitely her! Rhino is definitely Charlie Simpson.

I think it would work in some cases - maybe for your Taylor Swift and Harry Styles acts - but not as a universal thing. Like Girls Aloud just bought out "Sound of the Underground" again on 7" vinyl to raise money for Sarah Harding's Breast Cancer Foundation, and it did work in that context cause it was commemorative. Jay's right though if it's £15.99 a time that's a bit ridiculous. My local record store has vinyl albums on sale at that price at the moment!

+30 Aaliyah - Try Again +29 Olly Murs - Dear Darlin' +28 McFly - Room On The 3rd Floor +27 Will Young - Jealousy +26 Appleton - Don't Worry +25 The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You +24 Girls Aloud - Sexy! No No No... +23 Moby - Porcelain +22 Nelly Furtado - I'm Like A Bird +21 Texas - Summer Son +20 Honeyz - End of the Line +19 Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever +18 Blur - Charmless Man +17 En Vogue - Don't Let Go (Love) +16 Eternal - Power Of A Woman +15 Ace of Base - Life Is A Flower +14 Blur - Girls & Boys +13 Annie Lennox - Why +12 N*E*R*D - She Wants To Move +11 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies +10 The Saturdays - Up +9 Kate Bush - Babooshka +8 Eurythmics - Thorn In My Side +7 Texas - Black Eyed Boy +6 Natalie Imbruglia - Smoke +5 Alanis Morissette - Thank U +4 Lene Marlin - Sitting Down Here +3 Ms. Dynamite - Dy-Na-Mi-Tee +2 Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone +1 Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

Whilst browsing Britbox this evening, I discovered that - a very heavily edited - version of the Christmas Day show from 2008 is currently on there. No presenting links from Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates, and also half the performances from the New Year's Eve show from that same year amalgamated on to it too (meaning two performances from Coldplay but others such as McFly shafted off). Regardless, it felt like Christmas watching it.

Well that's lovely to hear! Hopefully they do find the right song soon. I'm seeing Aston on his next solo tour at Islington Academy in May.

I think looking back, the second album was a perfect storm of not having the same strength as the debut but also the gap between releases. If you compare it to Steps' "Steptacular" album, even though they were also in America at the same time touring with Britney, they consistently had a new single out once every three months. They remained present even when they couldn't always be readily available due to international commitments, and so by the time "Steptacular" did come out three singles "Tragedy", "Love's Got A Hold On My Heart" and "After The Love Has Gone" had already been. B*Witched left it six months between "... Weatherman" hitting number one and "Jesse Hold On" being released. Objectively I can see why "Jesse Hold On" went first, it was musically along the same line as "Rollercoaster" but took things a step forward. But realistically I'm not sure what else was obvious first single. "If It Don't Fit" would've been too big a step forward. I think whatever they did, because they had such a huge platform when they started of all those number ones, whatever they did wouldn't have been right. And don't forget as well they were on a development deal until "C'est La Vie" happened, so didn't get a chance to really fully cement their identity away from the spotlight.

So I saw them supporting Blue at The O2 last night. They were brilliant! As well as the old classics, they performed two new songs exclusively: "It's My Birthday" (which Lindsay informed the crowd is going to be their next single in March and that more news will be coming in the new year) and a song called "All The King's Horses". The former sounded a bit Katy Perry-esque whilst the latter is very much what B*Witched would sound like but in 2022 - obviously a bit of a nursery rhyme reference in there as well like with "C'est La Vie". Next year is incidentally the 25th anniversary since that came out so I'm secretly hoping we'll get a tour of their own to mark the occasion. Would be the perfect hook a la Steps for them to hang a new release off of!

Very exciting news. She's also touring again next year in November and December with the "Christmas K!tchen Disco" tour! @1598622880706666496

Nicola's dancing on the Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing!

I'm in - got a pretty decent seat as well! I'm gonna stay overnight as well I think so I can really properly enjoy it this time. In your face Hammersmith!

I'm of the opinion that writing and producing this album with just one team (Jessica Agombar - who was in Parade! - and David Stewart) has done that. Most of his biggest and best singles in the past have come from working with Claude Kelly, Steve Robson, Ed Drewett etc. The lack of their input shows in the fact both singles so far are, in my opinion, way below the usual standard he has delivered. And when you're trying to sell albums off the back of two singles that haven't been well received, and you've not had a top 40 hit, let alone top 10 in about five years, then it's a problem. I dare say it probably will still be top 5, top 10 at least, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is the only album he does on EMI.

Does anyone have an idea of what ticket prices are?

I dare say their team probably noted the comments (myself included) about the fact certain venues on this tour just gone *cough*Hammersmith*cough* were overcapacity. So actually this is not a surprise in that sense. I am debating whether to try for this or not as I would like to see them again but properly this time!

I was gonna say it's hardly Balenciaga-gate :lol: And re: Amazon, I'd hardly take those positions as rote as to where it'll definitely end up. It's not the full story.

On the one hand I can't say I am surprised if they've done away with it altogether. I've struggled to sit through a Christmas Day episode in the last 5 years and despair on the facelessness of who they have on, not to mention it seems to be on earlier and earlier in the day than it used to be. On the other, this has always, for better or worse, been a corner stone of my Christmas TV viewing as someone who loves music and has followed the charts from the age of 7. It's almost as if the Beeb are intent on killing it off if they shunt it away on BBC Two.

Aah snap on "Back For Good"! I also chose "Never Forget" and "Greatest Day" :)

As 2023 will mark 30 years since Take That had their first number one with "Pray", BBC Radio 2 are marking the occasion and making New Year's Day as Take That Day. Cat Deeley will be hosting a special countdown of listener's favourite Take That songs called The Ultimate Take That Song, which you can vote for at https://www.bbc.co.uk/takethat until midnight on 14th December. More details here of that and other programmes that will air on that day: https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2022/radio-...t-listener-vote What's everyone voting for?

Just listened to this in full now. Once again I'm disappointed. He did a similar sort of theme lyrically to this on the second album with a song called "I Don't Love You Too". That at least was decent and sounded like an Olly song. This just sounds - and I'll be totally honest here - like it could be anybody random. Quite how it's been chosen as the second single is beyond me. I still say even based on the small snippets we've heard that "Go Ghost" and "Dancing On Cars" were far better options.

Yes, the guide I checked said new single so I'm assuming it will be! He's also just announced an intimate acoustic show with Banquet Records to launch the album which is happening next Thursday at 7pm at St John's Church in Kingston: https://www.banquetrecords.com/olly-murs/st...%2B%29/OM011222

He'll be on Graham Norton performing Friday after next (9th December) when the album charts. Kate Winslet, Lenny Henry, Jack Whitehall and Nadiya Hussain all on as well.

Second single - out this Friday - has just been confirmed as "I Hate You When You're Drunk". There's a small preview of it here along with several of the other album tracks: I'll be honest when I say "Go Ghost" and "Dancing On Cars" sound like the far better options even on just those snippets.