Nosey

Agreed. While there is no doubt that Natasha had more to offer us in terms of acting talent, the idea that it makes her life more valuable than a "stupid, ugly" woman from a poor background is repulsive to me. Of course the amount of attention for Jade's illness and death is completely disproportionate, but in all honesty, Natasha's death wouldn't have made the front pages of any British newspapers if she wasn't married to Liam Neeson or the daughter of acting legends or the sister of Joeley. She was a very well respected Broadway actress, but well respected Broadway actresses with a few film roles don't normally get the attention Natasha got. It's horribly sad for both families and everyone who knew either of them.

The tv show X Factor will continue to be on tv so long as it gets good ratings. The success of its graduates is a side-story. It helps to promote the show and to get people to audition if there are successes, and people feel they are finding a big star, but I also think the general public and media are becoming more realistic and accepting that a string of number one singles will be the exception to the rule. I was never fussed about Leon, but it was obvious from the start that he was getting the budget deal from SBMG. I understand that they were never going to give him the same budget they gave to Leona, but they could have been more respectful in the little ways. Isn't he on tour now? Couldn't they have waited until after the tour before making the announcement? I doubt Leon would have been a major success with other management or record company people involved, but as well as having little faith in him, they didn't seem to put any real thought or effort into his marketing. They seemed to be doing the basics until they could get rid of him with least embarrassment to themselves.

I hope they find a way of doing a live performance of this song together. I've no idea about the US market, but Broken Strings is the kind of song that creeps up on people. If they find a way to promote it, I'm sure it could do well. Nelly has appeal across several genres, so I'm sure they could find something somewhere.

Yeah, I bet it's all down to Sony wanting to keep Run exclusive in physical format to Leona's own album, or possibly to put onto the Now series. :blink:

Thank you Val. I've been waiting for something to appear from Joseph. Gareth doesn't disappoint, he's fantastic. :heart:

I hope she is interviewed. I imagine a conversation between Paul and Lady GaGa will be hilarious and surprisingly insightful!

This is so frustrating. YouTube is great promotion for the artist and great for the fans.

I agree. When I first saw the quote, I thought it was obvious that DigitalSpy and other tabloid outlets were doing their usual thing of leading their readers to interpret a quote in a way that was different to what was intended. If you take the quote in isolation, it is more logical that she is talking about being filmed during the time as her health fails. Even if people thought it was possible that Jade was talking about being filmed on her death bed, people should have had the gumption to consider the possibility that the other interpretation was correct before jumping on the bandwagon. When you add into the equation that Jade is well known for not being particularly articulate, considering other intepretations should be the norm before going off on one. As it is, Max Clifford has said categorically that Jade's actual death would not be filmed and that it was never considered. So can we draw a line under this particular aspect of the "debate". I've never much liked Jade and I do think the media storm is being encouraged by people who don't have her best interests at heart. However, I completely understand that she will want to be doing things to provide for her children. Her children go to school, so she has time during the day to do things without denying them time, unless people think they should be taken out of school, but I'm sure she'd be called selfish if she did that. I doubt her children need all this money that is being earned, but I also doubt she's as rich as people think she is. The media coverage is completely over the top, but many of the people complaining about it are the ones who have been encouraging them to talk about her by claiming that she probably didn't even have cancer and it was a publicity stunt. On the DigitalSpy boards, a hardcore of members have been posting links to every article about her so they could rip them apart to find inconsistencies in order to expose the "scam". They are the truly sick ones in all of this and they have given the papers the excuse they need to keep on writing.

There's a Facebook page for the CD now with clips of three songs. http://www.prestwichandwhitefieldguide.co....rince_Charming/ Glass Slippers is Gareth's solo song, and he is featured (briefly) in You Shall Go to the Ball, so it's interesting they picked a bit including him. :wub: The Joy of Motherhood was one of my favourite non-Gareth songs on the CD, so I'm glad they've featured that too, although the clip they chose isn't the best bit IMO, lol.

Beyonce sang it on Strictly Come Dancing. Does that count? Except it isn't really. That's the urban legend version based on a misquote of what Jeff Buckley said when explaining how he chose to interpret the song. And Jeff knew full well that his interpretation was just that, and might not be the same as the original writer.

I don't know what's more shocking. * the news that tricks have been used in the studio to aid weak vocalists * the fact that people will latch onto something widespread like this and blame it all on Simon Cowell, or * Elton John said something stupid and contradictory to get a headline All of the above are extremely predictable and happen with great regularity and have done for a long time.

I think Peter is definitely on the single, but I think it's mixed with other vocals too. Perhaps a woman as well as Gary, but there are a few parts where it sounds very Barlow-esque. Of course, it is possible that if Peter is copying Gary's demo, he might copy his singing style. Whatever the case, I think it's fairly safe to say that it's not just Peter Kay singing. When Robson and Jerome were singing, it was possible for "singers" to go for ages without ever giving any live performances. Even reasonably good vocalists seemed to mime all of the time, so it would have been easier to get away with it. Perhaps because of the success of Pop Idol and X Factor, most pop stars sing live at least some of the time. There are still tricks that can be done with backing tracks and backing singers, but it's not as easy as it used to be.

I agree. There have been so many rumours about Britney, in particular Cathy Dennis singing half of toxic. There were rumours that Cathy Dennis sang some bits of Rachel Stevens' solo work too. There's no end of stories about Posh Spice either. Some of these stories will be made up, but it's clearly a long established industry trick. I don't think it's a coincidence that Peter Kay's singing in the guise of Geraldine McQueen sounds a bit like Gary Barlow either. Come to think of it, it's no secret that the chorus of Take That's "Could it be Magic" was all a session singer, but that was more of a mix-up than an attempt to mask weak vocals. In fact, I'd say that programmes like Pop Idol and X Factor make it less likely that this sort of studio trickery is used. Like them or not, we know what those singers sound like. Sometimes it's more of a time thing than a vocal ability thing. Producers will spend a lot of time mixing a song after the "big star" has finished their vocals, so if they decide to change a bit, they either have to call them back in, or someone gets to pretend to be them. Sometimes the latter is easier.

That's a much better reason. Just don't think it'll annoy Simon Cowell, because it won't. He'll just take the credit. :blink:

It's not a very good protest. It's giving extra publicity to his winner's version, which means Alexandra will sell even more than she would have done without the campaign. And the rights to the song are owned by Sony, so it's a win-win situation. Except for those idiots who bought a song they don't particularly like. :unsure:

He was on the Girls Aloud show that was sandwiched between the two X Factor shows. Kaiser Chiefs were on too.

Rufus Wainright's version is better than Jeff's! I bet his people are now regretting not allowing it to be downloaded as a stand-alone track. If you like Jeff's version and want to own it, buy it. But if you are doing it as some kind of stupid protest then you are a bigger sheep than anyone who loves Alexandra or her version downloading her rendition. The sad thing is most of those who are making these protest downloads will think they are much better than those who buying something they like. :rolleyes:

I've voted for number 2. I think it will sell really well, but not well enough to beat X Factor. The sales will probably depend on who wins X Factor. If it's someone the general public thinks is a worthy winner (ie Alexandra) then the people buying Geraldine will be people who like the song, and like Peter Kay/Geraldine. There will also be a few people who just hate the whole idea of X Factor or them hogging the Christmas number one slot who buy it, but there will be a lot more tactical buys of the song if it's someone who is generally less popular, such as Eoghan. In fact, if Eoghan wins, and it's obvious he doesn't deserve it, I can see there being a big battle. Not that Simon will care too much, because the publicity from the chart battle will increase the sales for his winning act too.

My copy arrived today! It's a really good CD and it's great to hear Gareth's voice in a good quality, live recording like this. The quality isn't masked by too much production. I like a lot of the other songs too. My least favourite is the first one, because it's too warbly and old-fashioned musically, but there are a lot of good tunes in there as well as plenty of humour. I wouldn't be surprised if Soho Cinders is announced to open in the West End soon, and I can't help but think they are nurturing him for it, as they say some very nice things about him in the sleeve. It would be a natural progression from Joseph.

He seems to be throwing himself into it. In for a penny and all that. :yahoo: That's one of the things I love about Gareth. He embraces everything he does and seems to have a ball. Did you see him on Loose Women last week chatting to Emma Bunton? I see she too is very excited about him taking over from Lee next year in Joseph. :dance UfpXBAHmSik Any excuse to touch him too! :wub: :lol:

They could begin to make more of a difference. A lot of people already have an account with amazon and so if they get a new MP3 player for Christmas they might prefer to stick to the company they are used to. I'd guess that their demographic will be a bit older and more casual music fans than iTunes regulars.

The Girls is one of my least favourite Sugababes singles too. I tried so hard to like it at first, but it's just too gimmicky and the verses they added sound like the demo version that should have been sent back. It's a shame because there are some good songs on the album, but all in all they've suffered from rushing it out. I don't blame the girls for blaming promotion for the poor reception of the album. Something went wrong with their promotion, but I don't think it's lack of exposure. They just aren't as cool as they used to be, and they haven't been able to adapt to the lack of tv shows such as CD:UK and TOTP. If a band were to admit after just one single that the album wasn't that good after all, the record company would be furious with them. It's better all round to use the 'promotion' excuse, even though a lot of people can see through it. I hope this single picks up, and the album with it, but it might be too late now. Is Every Heart Broken definitely scheduled to be the next single? I love it and it's got plenty of Sugababes character stamped all over it.

Thanks. That's ages away! They're doing so well. My only fear is that the downloads might peak too soon, but I dare say it's much more about pushing the album pre-Christmas and the record company must be happy.

You did a great job. I'm really happy with this choice of single. The original shows another side to the girls and the album, while the remix keeps fans of that style happy. It's win-win. What's the release date for this?

Back on topic, thanks for posting those video clips Val. They make me even more keen to get the CD.