Music Review: Now! That’s What I Call Music #50

Day 50 takes us to Now! #50, which came out on 19th November 2001.

November 2001
This is the way the world looked in November 2001 (actually October). Venice is timeless, but my neon shirt and flared jeans were most definitely not. I’ve been thinking a lot about 2001 lately as I’ve been seeing a lot of old friends who were my closest people at the time. I always used to think of it as the best year of my life, and it was indeed special in a way that can’t be matched (you’re only sixteen once), but I wonder if I should perhaps be a little more forward-looking. Maybe the best year is still to come.

50 Now! compilations down!  We’re halfway through this marathon!

Now! That's What I Call Music #50
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.