Day 60 brings us to Now! #60, which was released on 21st March 2005.
Let’s see what music sounded like now that I was in my twenties.
Track 1: Gwen Stefani – What You Waiting For?
Great tune, great atmosphere, interesting vocals – I’ve always really liked this one.
Track 2: Sunset Strippers – Falling Stars
Remix of Waiting For A Star To Fall by Boy Meets Girl. Love the song, obviously prefer the original version, but this is still nice to hear.
Track 3: Kylie Minogue – I Believe In You
Great synth instrumentals at the start, and I quite like the vocals. Good track.
Track 4: McFly – All About You
The tune’s irritating, and the song’s far too cheesy for me.
Track 5: Nelly and Tim McGraw – Over And Over
This one’s not interesting enough for me – it’s pretty forgettable.
Track 6: Lemar – If There’s Any Justice
Good atmosphere, good tune – quite like this one.
Track 7: Girls Aloud – I’ll Stand By You
Utterly pointless cover of the Pretenders classic. As ever, I feel obliged to point out that this was the official Children In Need single for 2004, and therefore the ‘point’ was to raise money for charity, but it would still have been better if they’d actually done something new and interesting with the song.
Track 8: Uniting Nations – Out Of Touch
Dance cover of the Hall & Oates classic. It doesn’t quite have the wonderful atmosphere of the original, but I do quite like it.
Track 9: Scissor Sisters – Filthy/Gorgeous
Great song – awesome tune, highly danceable.
Track 10: The Chemical Brothers – Galvanise
I’ve always really liked the tune on this one, and it’s good to nod along to.
Track 11: LL Cool J and 7 Aurelius – Hush
Quite like the backing vocals, but the track’s pretty generic otherwise.
Track 12: Ashanti – Only U
Don’t like the muddiness of the backing track, and the tune is very bland. The atmosphere’s okay though.
Track 13: Ciara and Petey Pablo – Goodies
Painful whistling on the backing track, terrible rap, awful theme, no melody. Actively dislike this one.
Track 14: Akon – Locked Up
Boring tune, very repetitive. Nothing special here.
Track 15: Joss Stone – Spoiled
The tune’s okay, but it’s too slow for my liking.
Track 16: Verbalicious – Don’t Play Nice
Good beat, great head-nodder. It’s a bit repetitive and tuneless though.
Track 17: The Shapeshifters – Back To Basics
Another great beat, but the lines are a bit messy and there’s not much to the tune.
Track 18: Geri Halliwell – Ride It
Great atmosphere, really interesting intro, good tune. Really like this one.
Track 19: Lovefreekz – Shine
Like the retro disco tinge on this dance track.
Track 20: Reflekt and Delline Bass – Need To Feel Loved
Some nice, atmospheric lines going on here – good piece of chillout.
Track 21: Soul Central and Kathy Brown – Strings Of Life (Stronger On My Own)
The instrumentals give this track a decidedly early ’90s dance vibe, which is no bad thing.
Track 22: Styles & Breeze – Heartbeatz
Generic, repetitive dance track with saccharine vocals. Not my thing at all.
Track 23: U2 – Vertigo
Great guitar riff, great singalong chorus. Really like this track.
Track 24: The Killers – Somebody Told Me
A classic! Great track – I remember seeing this live at T in the Park 2005. Brilliant lyrics, brilliant tune.
Track 25: Stereophonics – Dakota
Nice interesting spiky instrumentals, and the vocals are a lot more upbeat than most Stereophonics tracks. Quite like this.
Track 26: Keane – This Is The Last Time
Dull and saccharine, not keen on this one.
Track 27: Bloc Party – So Here We Are
Very repetitive instrumentals, boring vocals. Not for me.
Track 28: Athlete – Wires
I like the piano, and the atmosphere’s nice, but it’s too slow for me.
Track 29: Robbie Williams – Misunderstood
Dull tune, and again it’s too slow.
Track 30: Ronan Keating and Yusuf Islam – Father And Son
We’ve sort of already had this on Now! #33, in that we’ve already had the Boyzone version (with Ronan Keating on lead vocals) and this is the Ronan Keating solo version. The instrumentals are a bit different on this version. It’s also got guest vocals from Yusuf Islam, who used to be known as Cat Stevens and did the original song, thus making this a semi-cover.
Track 31: Darius – Live Twice
Boring and saccharine. Not my thing.
Track 32: Daniel Bedingfield – Wrap My Words Around You
Good beat, like the guitar, but the tune’s not interesting enough for me.
Track 33: Lucie Silvas – Breathe In
Good instrumentals, but the vocals are dull and uninspired.
Track 34: Doves – Black And White Town
Repetitive, droning tune. Not a fan of this one.
Track 35: The Bravery – An Honest Mistake
I remember seeing this lot at T in the Park 2005 – they had a lot of bottles thrown at them and were really pissed off about it! This was their only real hit from what I remember. I quite like the song, to be honest.
Track 36: Freefaller – Do This! Do That!
Quite like this pop-punk track – it’s got a good tune.
Track 37: Thirteen Senses – Thru The Glass
Great eerie atmosphere on the intro, then it launches into a solid rock track. Good stuff.
Track 38: Feeder – Tumble And Fall
I normally like Feeder, but this one’s too slow and drone-y for me.
Track 39: Raghav, Frankey Maxx and Jucxi D – Angel Eyes
I’m not keen on the rap, but otherwise it’s an okay song.
Track 40: JoJo – Baby It’s You
Highly irritating vocals, bad rap, generic tune. Not my cup of tea.
Track 41: Atomic Kitten – Cradle
Super saccharine and too slow, and the tune is bland. Utterly forgettable.
Track 42: Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem – Almost Here
Great atmosphere on this one. It’s slow and cheesy so I shouldn’t like it, but I do.
Track 43: Tony Christie and Peter Kay – (Is This The Way To) Amarillo
The Comic Relief song for 2005, which was just a re-release of the original (Tony Christie didn’t re-record it or anything). Peter Kay is credited despite not contributing to the song – his contribution was of course the legendary video. (I have linked to the original complete video, so I should probably include a warning that it contains Jimmy Savile. The fascinating media practice of performing damnatio memoriae on anything involving Savile since his crimes became public knowledge is briefly covered here.)
For only the second time in sixty Now! compilations, we have avoided any ‘Not on Spotify’ incidents! This makes me very happy.