Day 50 takes us to Now! #50, which came out on 19th November 2001.
50 Now! compilations down! We’re halfway through this marathon!
Track 1: Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
Loved it at the time, love it now. Stunning piece of pop that gives me warm nostalgic feels for autumn 2001.
Track 2: Westlife – Uptown Girl
Pointless cover of the Billy Joel classic that was the Comic Relief single for 2001 (so it raised a lot of money, but it’s otherwise pointless as it doesn’t change anything from the original).
Track 3: DJ Ötzi – Hey Baby
Dance cover of the ’60s classic. This was played at pretty much every pub and nightclub I went to in late 2001, and then sung drunkenly by people on the bus on the way home. Why, no, that never became infuriating at all.
Track 4: Bob The Builder – Mambo No. 5
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Daft cover of the Lou Bega song where all the lyrics have been changed to be construction-themed. I’m sure the kids loved it.
Track 5: Steps – Chain Reaction
Utterly pointless cover of the Diana Ross classic. Seriously, it’s pretty much identical to the original.
Track 6: Five – Let’s Dance
Fairly standard pop fare from Five. It’s a good head-nodder, but not very inspiring.
Track 7: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Take Me Home
Nice tune, good chillout vibe.
Track 8: Wyclef Jean – Perfect Gentleman
Good upbeat tune on the backing track, but the theme is a bit hamfisted.
Track 9: City High – What Would You Do?
Good head-nodder, but the track is fairly messy and switches gears a lot.
Track 10: Blue – If You Come Back
Boring, saccharine ballad. Not my thing.
Track 11: Nelly Furtado – Turn Off The Light
Pretty, tinkly instrumentals on the intro, but I’m not keen on the vocals.
Track 12: OPM – Heaven Is A Halfpipe
Daft skater song that was everywhere at the time. I’ve always quite liked it.
Track 13: The Dandy Warhols – Bohemian Like You
Great, anthemic singalong rock track. Love that energetic chorus.
Track 14: Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal
Pop-punk cover of the Michael Jackson song. I loved it at the time and bought the single, but I far prefer the original these days.
Track 15: Sum 41 – Fat Lip
Another pop-punk anthem – love this one.
Track 16: Wheatus – A Little Respect
Dodgy guitar cover of the Erasure classic. I suppose it’s at least different.
Track 17: Travis – Sing
I was a huge Travis fan back in the day, and I still really like their stuff. This is a great track that builds beautifully to an epic chorus.
Track 18: Jennifer Lopez – Ain’t It Funny
Nice Latin tinge – love that dramatic flamenco bit at the start. Good stuff.
Track 19: Emma Bunton – Take My Breath Away
Fairly generic slow song, nothing interesting here.
Track 20: Gabrielle – Don’t Need The Sun To Shine (To Make Me Smile)
Boring tune, very forgettable.
Track 21: Lighthouse Family – (I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be) Free/One
Pretty song, but it’s a bit slow for me.
Track 22: Kate Winslet – What If
Pretty ballad released to tie in with the animated film of A Christmas Carol. This is most definitely a Christmas song nowadays, though it also reminds me of friends singing it at me at the time, ’cause it was a thing that they all thought I looked like Kate Winslet. Not sure about that!
Track 23: iiO – Rapture
Oh, it’s this one! Love the hook – good classic dance track.
Track 24: Supermen Lovers – Starlight
Great epic intro, good beat, nice retro tinge. Big fan of this.
Track 25: Jamiroquai – Little L
Like the funk instrumentals, but the tune’s not as memorable as other Jamiroquai tracks.
Track 26: Destiny’s Child – Bootylicious
Great danceable pop track – I’ve always really liked this one.
Track 27: D12 – Purple Hills
Quite like the backing track, and the chorus is quite good to nod along to, but the multi-rapper stuff doesn’t really do anything for me.
Track 28: Eve and Gwen Stefani – Let Me Blow Ya Mind
Another good danceable singalong track – big fan of this!
Track 29: Britney Spears – I’m A Slave 4 U
Good beat, but the chorus has always annoyed me.
Track 30: Mis-Teeq – One Night Stand
Good epic atmosphere, good singalong chorus. Quite like this one.
Track 31: Mary J Blige – Family Affair
Another atmospheric track – good stuff.
Track 32: Samantha Mumba – Baby Come On Over
Dull tune, irritating vocals. Not keen on this one.
Track 33: Liberty X – Thinking It Over
I always like a bit of Spanish guitar, but the rest of the track’s pretty dull and messy.
Track 34: Victoria Beckham – Not Such An Innocent Girl
I’ve always found this song very so-so, but the video‘s great.
Track 35: Louise – Stuck In The Middle With You
Fairly uninspired cover of the Stealers Wheel classic. It needs more edge.
Track 36: Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
I’ve always found this track pretty irritating – the tune is dull and the lyrics are just random, jarring and awkward. Not a fan.
Track 37: Allstars – Things That Go Bump In The Night
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Good spooky atmosphere – I’ll be putting this on my Hallowe’en playlist.
Track 38: N-Trance – Set You Free
We’ve had this one already, on Now! #30! I thought the Now! compilers were getting better at not doing that.
See the link for my review.
Track 39: The Ones – Flawless
Oh, it’s this one. Good head-nodder, but the tune’s not exciting enough for me.
Track 40: Daft Punk – Digital Love
Nice feelgood tune, but it’s a bit repetitive.
Track 41: Groove Armada – Superstylin’
Irritating mishmash of sounds, very messy, and not enough melody for my liking.
Track 42: Jean-Jacques Smoothie – 2 People
Annoying noise on the intro, then it launches into a fairly generic dance tune. The vocals are quite nice though, and I appreciate the hint of saxophone later in the track.
Track 43: So Solid Crew – 21 Seconds
Interesting vocals, and it’s good to nod along to, but it does get pretty dull after a while.
Track 44: Afroman – Because I Got High
It’s quite a funny song, but because my stoner friend had it on constantly at the time, I got a bit sick of it.
