Day 57 brings us to Now! #57, which came out on 5th April 2004.
We’re really getting into the mid-’00s now. Bring on the pop-punk and anthemic festival rock!
Track 1: Britney Spears – Toxic
Great danceable song – really good piece of pop.
Track 2: Kelis – Milkshake
Good atmosphere, good beat. I’ve always really liked this one.
Track 3: Jamelia – Thank You
The tune’s a bit generic and forgettable for me.
Track 4: Kylie Minogue – Red Blooded Woman
Good atmosphere, love the instrumentals on this. Great tune too.
Track 5: Justin Timberlake – I’m Lovin’ It
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Irritating hooks, messy lines, jarring beat. Not keen on this one.
Track 6: Enrique Iglesias and Kelis – Not In Love
Repeated artist alert! We already had Kelis, only four tracks ago.
The track’s got a good beat, and I like the Spanish-tinged guitar and the way the vocals blend together. Nice tune, although the chorus does slightly rip off Night Games by Graham Bonnet.
Track 7: The Black Eyed Peas – Shut Up
I love this one – probably my all-time favourite Black Eyed Peas track (and there’s some stiff competition from their 2009-2010 era). In my second year at uni, there was someone in the flat next door who played this on a loop for several weeks, and I still never got sick of it. Just a gorgeous piece of music.
Track 8: 2 Play and Raghav – So Confused
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Quite like this tune, and the Latin-tinged instrumentals are nice.
Track 9: Beenie Man and Ms Thing – Dude
I shouldn’t like it, ’cause it’s really repetitive, but there’s something I find quite feelgood and endearing about it.
Track 10: Peter Andre and Bubbler Ranx – Mysterious Girl
We’ve already had this one, on Now! #34! This must have been around the time Peter Andre got famous again by going on I’m A Celebrity. It’s still no excuse!
As ever, see the link for my review.
Track 11: DJ Casper – Cha Cha Slide
Slow to get going, not enough melody. It’s basically spoken dance instructions with some repetitive instrumentals in the background.
Track 12: Girls Aloud – Jump
Utterly pointless cover of the Pointer Sisters classic. There’s nothing new here at all.
Track 13: Boogie Pimps – Somebody To Love
Electro cover of the Jefferson Airplane song. It’s quite nice and atmospheric.
Track 14: Atomic Kitten and Kool & The Gang – Ladies’ Night
Semi-cover of the 1979 classic. Apparently Kool & The Gang asked Atomic Kitten to ‘update’ the song, but this is a pretty pointless cover, as it doesn’t do anything different.
Track 15: Emma Bunton – I’ll Be There
Pretty ballad – quite like this tune.
Track 16: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – I Won’t Change You
Irritating theme, bland tune. Not a fan of this.
Track 17: Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb
Danceable cover of the Pink Floyd track. Quite like this one.
Track 18: Deepest Blue – Give It Away
Dull tune, dull beat. It’s so boring I can’t even concentrate on it.
Track 19: LMC and U2 – Take Me To The Clouds Above
Dance cover of Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know? that also samples With Or Without You, hence the U2 involvement. Proof that no matter how many classic songs you bastardise in your terrible ’00s dance track, it will still be terrible.
Track 20: Special D – Come With Me
Dance track with a pleasant bleepy tune and interesting vocals. Very danceable.
Track 21: Ultrabeat – Feelin’ Fine
It’s a bit saccharine, but there’s something slightly retro about the vocals that I quite like.
Track 22: Motorcycle – As The Rush Comes
Great beat, great atmosphere. The vocals are a bit lacking, but it’s otherwise a good track.
Track 23: Ferry Corsten – Rock Your Body Rock
Not sure about the vocoder on the vocals, but I quite like the backing track – it sounds a bit like video game music.
Track 24: Will Young – Leave Right Now
I’ve always found the tune on this one really irritating.
Track 25: Katie Melua – The Closest Thing To Crazy
Actively disliked it at the time, still actively dislike it now. Annoying and depressing.
Track 26: Norah Jones – Sunrise
Nice tune, but it’s a bit slow and acoustic-y for me.
Track 27: Blue – Breathe Easy
It’s got a nice epic feeling about it, though the tune’s a bit boring.
Track 28: Ozzy Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne – Changes
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Appallingly cheesy semi-cover of the ’70s Black Sabbath song, with the lyrics altered to reflect the Osbournes’ father-daughter relationship. I still laugh every time I remember this song coming on in big Bennets*, Edinburgh, and the consequent furious pub ranting of a mate of a mate who was a Black Sabbath fan.
*Not to be confused with wee Bennets, Edinburgh. Big Bennets is in Tollcross, wee Bennets is in Morningside.
Track 29: Blink-182 – I Miss You
It’s the lead track off the infamous album where Blink-182 grew up and went serious. This one’s okay, but my favourite track from that album is All Of This, a duet with the Cure’s Robert Smith. Worth checking out.
Track 30: Busted – Who’s David
Generic tune, offputting jealousy theme in the lyrics. Not keen.
Track 31: Fountains Of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom
I adore this hilarious track. It’s not even a guilty pleasure, I just love it. Brilliant stuff.
Track 32: Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
Great, classic piece of ’00s rock. Love the intro, love the way the main song kicks in.
Track 33: Alistair Griffin – Bring It On
Bland, uninspired tune, boring acoustic-y instrumentals. Not my thing at all.
Track 34: Sugababes – Too Lost In You
Gorgeous track. It’s one of those ones that’s been turned into a Christmas song in recent years – it was on the Love Actually soundtrack and the film features heavily in the video, hence the music channels always adding it to their Christmas playlists – but the song’s lovely to listen to any time of year.
Track 35: VS – Love You Like Mad
Twee instrumentals, annoying vocals. Not for me.
Track 36: Joss Stone – Fell In Love With A Boy
Quite like this soul track – it’s a bit different to what was generally going on in the charts at the time.
Track 37: FYA and Smujji – Must Be Love
Quite like the atmosphere on the intro, but I’m not keen on the rap, and the sung sections are very generic-sounding.
Track 38: NERD – She Wants To Move
Good head-nodder – I’ve always quite liked this one.
Track 39: Jamie Cullum – Frontin’ [Live]
I’m not hugely keen on most of Jamie Cullum’s laid-back lounge-y jazz stuff – it’s not exciting enough for me. I don’t like live versions either.
Track 40: Keane – Somewhere Only We Know
Overplayed, irritatingly twee tune. I actually prefer the Lily Allen cover that was done for the John Lewis Christmas advert a few years back.
Track 41: Snow Patrol – Run
Classic lighters-in-the-air anthem – gorgeous tune.
Track 42: Alex Parks – Maybe That’s What It Takes
Boring, slow ballad. Not my kind of thing.
Track 43: Ronan Keating – She Believes (In Me)
An even slower ballad, with ‘bonus’ saccharine lyrics. The tune’s awful too.
Track 44: Michelle McManus – All This Time
Nice tune, but it’s another one that’s too slow for my liking.
