kutox

I love it! First heard it last week and loved it straight away. The first half of the album is simply awesome, and Need You Now is probably the single best song they've ever done. With the exception of Sun God, the second half is less instant and takes more plays to get into, but it only took me a few plays. Have to admit I was preparing myself for a bit of disappointment with this album, just because it was always going to be incredibly tough to follow In Ghost Colours, but this is a more than worthy follow-up. It's every bit as good as I hoped, and more.

It's sure to polarize listeners big time. Most fans of so-called 'proper' d&b/dubstep (including those who loved C&S's first album) are gonna hate it - though I suspect that's mainly because of the chart success. But C&S are sure to find a new, wider audience with it. As for me, well, I like my fair share of drum & bass and dubstep, but I'm open to anything, so although No More Idols isn't a very innovative album, I've found plenty of tunes in there to love. It does have a slight bit of filler here and there, but there's more than enough quality tunes imo. Some of these songs will sound incredible live - particularly Let You Go and Hypest Hype - the crowds will go wild for them. I think it's lacking a real standout track, but anyway my favourites (other than the singles) after 3 listens are Fire In Your Eyes, Fool Yourself, Hitz, Flashing Lights, and Time. Not too keen on the Cee-Lo Green collab, and Embrace is disappointing. They could and probably should of whittled it down to less than 15 tracks, and it's a bit too dubstep-dominated - although I do love dubstep, I would of liked more d&b. But overall it's a pretty good crossover dance music album, and should do well commercially.

Suddenly not so sure Take That will be no.1...

Do Take That usually get a lot of physicals with their singles?

The Script are doing amazingly well, especially considering all the competition!

I'm very surprised at how well Billionaire is still holding up

And you're always right? But it's not even that. Leona might of tried to breakthrough before entering X Factor, but so what? She entered X Factor, won the show because of her voice alone, then - as with all the winners - she got manufactured into whatever Cowell and his team thought would sell records for her. It's not as if she would of been allowed to have any say on what style she would adopt. She had everything given to her on a plate once she won the show - she already had the instant fame, has conveniently only had her albums released around Christmas so she can perform on X Factor every year since she won it, and Cowell is constantly telling everyone how 'amazing' she is, and with all his contacts she managed to 'break' America for a short while. It's no coincidence. I honestly don't care how much of her 2nd album she co-wrote - it wasn't exactly a huge success, and the initial sales I believe were down to, again - the X Factor performance, and the hype because of how successful her 2nd album was. It didn't get great reviews either. If she was just some new artist no-one had heard of, I doubt it would ever of took off for her like it did. Laura White was unfortunate I thought. I actually liked her and she was unlucky to get voted off early because of tactical voting by the puppetmaster (again proving the show is absolutely nothing to do with actual talent). Perhaps if she had reached the final like Olly Murs, she would of had more of a chance of success, but as it was, most people had forgotten about her and she had hardly any publicity - absolutely nothing like the amount Olly has had in the run up to this week. And doesn't the fact that the likes of Chico and Jedward can get a record deal from the show prove yet again that real talent is the last thing X Factor is about? It's marketability, nothing else. The only difference is that the gullible people who think X Factor IS about talent can see for themselves that such alumni have no reason to be in the industry. The likes of Leona and Alexandra are manufactured just as much as they were, and have acquired their success in the same method - only difference is they can sing. That's all. I don't care how many other acts not from X Factor are manufactured. I know it's always gone on and that's just how it is. I just don't like that we have a tv show that is teaching a whole generation of kids that X Factor is the right way to get into music, and that being on tv, having a half-decent voice, and being no.1 in the charts is what music is all about. And when we have people like Olly Murs doing well this week, it only encourages that. They don't have a clue about what really happens with the winners of the show, but they don't care - they just want to be famous and singing a load of songs given to them. No wonder so many young people enter the show each year and say the same things - 'it's my dream', 'it's all I want to do', 'I want to be really famous and for everyone to hear my songs'. I do get fed up of spending my afternoons writing the same things time and time again. No offence to you but I say these things so many times and I know people will see me as argumentative, but I have to answer these things don't I?

Yes you're right - he's worked so hard for this. Yep, he's fought hard to get noticed, worked hard for a record deal, and is selling purely because of the song, absolutely nothing to do with the fact he was an X Factor finalist and just happens to be releasing a song as a result of it. Oh and all the publicity has nothing at all to do with who he is

And we thought it couldn't get any worse this year. Yeah, Olly Murs has worked so hard for this hasn't he? He hasn't just gone on a massively-watched tv show, acquired instant fame, and released a song off the back of that, has he? :rolleyes:

MUCH better than California Gurls. Hopefully no.1, although I do like Taio's new one as well

I've listened to it twice and already I love it, it's so much better than the rubbishy California Gurls.

Yep, it's too good for that

I'm chuffed at Mark Ronson doing this well so early on! Brill song

Hmm let me think... wouldn't happen to have anything to do with her being jealous of her ex's recent success in music, would it? :rolleyes:

With an X Factor performance, as we all knew would happen even before anything is announced. Then she'll probably have a new album out at the end of next year, re-released the year after, etc. etc. It's what Leona is doing. She will probably have a re-release of Echo at the end of this year too. We know what Cowell is like and how desperate he is to sell records.

Scissor Sisters continuing their agonisingly slow climb!

He sounds exactly like Chipmunk doesn't he?

Not sure if this has been mentioned here yet, but Kylie is doing a 'tell-all' interview on Jonathan Ross next Friday, and she will also perform All The Lovers. So maybe there is a slight glimmer of hope of another #1 after all.

It's ridiculous. I put a lot of it down to the media. Hardly any musicians get on big tv shows and generally get a lot of coverage unless they're mega-commercial or tv friendly, or if they're from X Factor, or the latest pretty popstar (e.g. Pixie Lott, who has had massive promo and airplay, giving her huge success, despite not having any above-average songs imo). The media aren't interested in anyone who's slightly different to the norm. Anyway, back on topic, Scissor Sisters are performing on Jonathan Ross this Friday so hopefully that'll give them a boost.

I would love that to happen, Fire With Fire is absolutely brilliant. I do like Katy but California Gurls is disappointing, but considering how popular she is right now I can't see it happening

Scissor Sisters should also make the top 10 next week, they are on Jonathan Ross this Friday so that should help them

Go Robyn, get that much-deserved top 10 !! Kylie will regret releasing her new single 2 weeks early, it has almost zero chance of hitting #1

According to The Sun, Tinie Tempah was 5,000 ahead of Shout by the end of Thursday. Nowhere near enough :(

People actually watch Loose Women? :wacko:

I don't see why they didn't just wait until Friday to release it. Ok it probably wouldn't of got to no.1 this week if they did, but it would have even more chance of doing so next week.