Day 66 brings us to Now! #66, which came out on 2nd April 2007.
I seem to remember that 2007 was not a bad year for chart music. Let’s see if my memory is correct.
Track 1: Mika – Grace Kelly
Great tune, very danceable, interesting vocals. I’ve always really liked this one, especially the classic-sounding epic atmosphere.
Track 2: Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
Great rock track – another one that I loved playing on Lego Rock Band. The Wurzels’ live cover, which I saw at Beautiful Days 2010, is also something to behold.
Track 3: Sugababes and Girls Aloud – Walk This Way
Weak cover of the classic Aerosmith vs. Run DMC version. It doesn’t really work when you have two artists from the same genre, i.e. girl groups who sing pop. It was released as the official Comic Relief single for 2007, so hopefully it kept the charity money rolling in.
Track 4: Take That – Patience
This one marks the arrival of what I always considered ‘Fake That’ (the Robbie Williams-less lineup). Gorgeous song though.
Track 5: Justin Timberlake – What Goes Around…Comes Around
Great instrumentals, good atmosphere, but the vocals are a bit dull in my book.
Track 6: Nelly Furtado – Say It Right
Another great atmosphere and a nice tune. Quite like this one.
Track 7: Beyoncé – Irreplaceable
Nice, powerful song – you can really hear the disdain coming through the vocals. Good tune too.
Track 8: Kelis and Cee Lo Green – Lil’ Star
Repetitive intro, takes ages to get going. Once it does, the tune is okay but the vocals are a bit twee for my liking.
Track 9: Akon and Eminem – Smack That
Great brooding atmosphere – quite like this one.
Track 10: Just Jack – Starz In Their Eyes
Nice retro-tinged guitar and bassline, interesting vocals. Good stuff.
Track 11: Calvin Harris – Acceptable In The ’80s
One of my favourites, obviously, and something I will always dance to no matter my mood. The whole ‘I got love for you if you were born in the ’80s, the ’80s‘ section is just a classic dance hook and a great lyric. Love it to bits.
Track 12: Mason and Princess Superstar – Perfect (Exceeder)
Great beat, great rhythmic vocals, very danceable track.
Track 13: Booty Luv – Boogie 2Nite
Another good beat, and the ’70s disco tinge is also much appreciated. It’s actually a cover of a song by Tweet, but I’m not familiar with the original.
Track 14: Eric Prydz and Pink Floyd – Proper Education
Dance remix of Another Brick In The Wall. The samples from the original provide a great atmosphere, but it’s one of those examples where I just want to go and listen to the original song afterwards.
Track 15: Sharam – Party All The Time
Dance cover of Eddie Murphy’s 1985 hit. Other than the dance beat, not much is added here. They’ve just sampled the chorus over and over and made it really repetitive.
Track 16: Cascada – Truly Madly Deeply
Eurodance cover of the Savage Garden song. The original is gorgeous and didn’t deserve to be ruined like this. Awful.
Track 17: Girls Aloud – I Think We’re Alone Now
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Girls Aloud on track 3.
Interesting cover of the Tiffany classic – there’s some edgy instrumentals added and a really good beat. It’s quite refreshing to have a cover that’s not entirely pointless, but the vocals are still pretty much identical to the original version.
Track 18: Seamus Haji and KayJay – Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
Dance cover of the Indeep song from 1982. Is it karaoke night or something? That’s six covers in a row. Let’s have some original songs, please.
Track 19: Camille Jones and Fedde Le Grand – The Creeps
Great beat, nice eerie instrumentals. Really like this one.
Track 20: Jamelia – Beware Of The Dog
I love the Personal Jesus sample, and there’s a nice rhythm to the vocals. Good track.
Track 21: Gwen Stefani – Wind It Up
That yodeling at the start is just awful! Once the song gets going, though, it’s quite interesting.
Track 22: JoJo – Too Little, Too Late
Slow, bland ballad, with a depressing tune. Not my thing.
Track 23: Leona Lewis – A Moment Like This
Pointless cover of the Kelly Clarkson song. This was the X Factor winner’s single for 2006 and also the Christmas number one, so it still shows up on all the music channels every Christmas time.
Track 24: The Fray – How To Save A Life
The tune’s very depressing-sounding, but at least it builds nicely.
Track 25: The View – Same Jeans
Twee theme, but the tune’s okay, and I quite like the chorus.
Track 26: Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control
Great bassline, great beat, great vocals. Really like this track.
Track 27: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Catch You
Nice edgy instrumentals, more great bass, interesting vocals. Another great song.
Track 28: Klaxons – Golden Skans
Interesting track, nice vocals. Quite like this one.
Track 29: Fall Out Boy – This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race
Great beat, good epic atmosphere, interesting vocals, brilliant rock chorus. Another awesome song.
Track 30: The Killers – Read My Mind
Like the atmosphere, and the tune is nice. Disc two of this Now! compilation is really delivering so far!
Track 31: U2 – Window In The Skies
I like the way this one builds, and the chorus is really interesting.
Track 32: Robbie Williams and Pet Shop Boys – She’s Madonna
Great synth line, great tune – really like this collaboration.
Track 33: The Fratellis – Whistle For The Choir
Too acoustic-y for me, and I find the tune pretty generic.
Track 34: The Ordinary Boys – I Luv U
This one’s a little too cheesy and slow for my liking.
Track 35: Snow Patrol – Open Your Eyes
Slow, bland vocals, and those repetitive one-note guitar chords really irritate me.
Track 36: Razorlight – Before I Fall To Pieces
Nice upbeat tempo and feelgood guitar lines. Quite like this one.
Track 37: Scissor Sisters – She’s My Man
Great guitar riff, great bassline. Highly danceable track.
Track 38: The Feeling – Love It When You Call
I like the beepy instrumental at the start, and the guitar riff’s quite nice, but the vocals are not edgy enough for my liking.
Track 39: McFly – Sorry’s Not Good Enough
The theme is a bit cheesy, but the instrumentals are interesting.
Track 40: Lily Allen – Alfie
Love the old-timey carnival/big band sound of this one. Great song, really different to everything else that was going on at the time.
Track 41: Jamie T – Calm Down Dearest
Irritating theme and faux ‘drunk’ vocals. Not a big fan of this.
Track 42: Sugababes – Easy
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Sugababes on track 3. This and the Girls Aloud repetition would have been best avoided by leaving off Walk This Way so that we could all have happily forgotten about that one.
This track’s got some very repetitive vocals, but the retro-tinged atmosphere and bassline are great.
Track 43: Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good
Lovely, melancholy track. Really nice tune.
Track 44: The Proclaimers, Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Daft semi-cover featuring the comedy characters Brian Potter (Peter Kay) from Phoenix Nights and Andy Pipkin (Matt Lucas) from Little Britain. We’ve already had the original on Now! #13, so see the link for my review of that utter classic.
This recording, which was another song released for Comic Relief 2007, got to number one and outsold the original. Go figure.
We’ve avoided any ‘Not on Spotify’ moments for a fourth time!