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Thursday, January 31st, 2008
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2:18 pm - CBC Fuse
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| Monday, December 10th, 2007
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10:59 pm - Top 10 Canadian Indie or Mainstream albums of 2007
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| Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
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8:36 am
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| Monday, May 24th, 2004
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2:39 pm
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| Friday, May 21st, 2004
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2:21 pm
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| Wednesday, May 5th, 2004
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11:08 pm - FRIENDS
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FRIENDS is ending tomorrow Who is going to watch the final episode??
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, April 30th, 2004
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7:29 pm
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| Friday, April 9th, 2004
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10:26 pm
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| Friday, March 26th, 2004
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1:42 pm - Questionaire about my LJers
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just so i can get to know the people who actually read my journal, even if i don't know you, reply with:
:: photo: :: name: :: age: :: e-mail: :: url (other than your LJ): :: location: :: what do you study/do for living: :: what music do you listen to: :: what is your favorite movie:
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, March 22nd, 2004
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4:28 pm - Update this
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I really need to update this LJ SOMEONE COMMENT ON THIS!!!
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, December 28th, 2003
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1:56 pm
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1 MAD WORLD (Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules)
Oh yes. Oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes. After years and years of depressing predictability, endless hits from Westlife and Spice Girls and naff childrens records hitting the top for Christmas, 2003 ends with a bang and a genuine in yer face shock result in the Christmas Number One race. A shock that even those expecting a shock weren't er, expecting.
Here is the story then. One week ago the Pop Idols were the clear market leaders in the betting, odd-on favourites as far as the bookmakers were concerned with only The Darkness and Gary Jules anywhere near to being considered contenders. Things looked to be cut and dried and - hands up here - I boldly predicted a rather dull end to the race with few shocks in sight.
On Tuesday the first sales figures (based on Sunday and Monday sales) began to be circulated. They showed that far from being the runaway leaders, The Idols were a distant fifth and effectively out of the race before the field had even cleared the stalls. Out in front were The Darkness with Gary Jules lagging a few thousand copies behind. Odds on Justin and the boys crashed and indeed most bookmakers had closed the book by Thursday when a further set of midweek figures showed The Darkness with a lead of 4,000 copies. That still wasn't an enormous amount, especially with the weekend coming up and in the handful of media interviews I did at the end of last week I sounded a note of caution and suggested that there was still room for Gary Jules to come up on the rails. Which he did.
As for the record itself, well Mad World originally featured on the soundtrack to cult movie Donnie Darko which was actually in cinemas this time last year. Composer Michael Andrews scored the film but chose as its closing theme a brooding song originally written by Tears For Fears, their version becoming their first ever hit single and a Number 3 hit in late 1982. Andrews reduced the arrangement to a solo piano and enlisted Gary Jules to provide the haunting vocal on top. That is literally the sum total of the production, a solo piano and solo voice but it means Mad World has now become the eeriest record you will hear all year, a song that stops you dead in your tracks when you hear it. In short, nothing less than a masterpiece.
It is now of course a part of chart history, the Christmas Number One of 2003 and one which in the process has seen off not one but two "dead cert" challengers. For the first time in years some people will have made a killing on betting on Christmas Number One, for the first time in ages the charts have generated genuine mass media interest and in the light of my own predictions last week I have never, ever been so happy to be proved utterly and totally wrong. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 CHRISTMAS TIME (DON'T LET THE BELLS END) (Darkness) .So what of the runners up? This was actually an obvious move for the band to make. At the end of a year in which they have become the most famous rock group in the country by taking everything that Spinal Tap satirised and playing it straight, it made perfect sense for The Darkness to do something else that you are just not supposed to do any more and make a Christmas single. Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) has everything, sleigh bells, choirs of children, a video with lots of fake snow and the band unwrapping their instruments with the excitment of eight year olds and of course singer Justin proving that yes, his voice can indeed get higher. Heck, they even have a knob-gag in the title. The icing on this cake would have course have been Christmas Number One, making this the first single about Christmas to top the charts for thirteen years. In the event fate appears to have conspired against them and the single (for now at least) can only match the Number 2 peak of their last single I Believe In A Thing Called Love. Make no mistake they will have topped the charts before 2004 is out, but for the moment I guess they are stuck with channelling the spirit of the Sex Pistols and blaming an establishment conspiracy. I'm claiming copyright on that idea by the way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 PROPER CHRIM-BO (Bo Selecta)
In the ultimate humiliation for the Pop Idols, they are not even the third biggest hit of the week, beaten to the punch by the most entertainingly naff single of the week. Bo Selecta is the brainchild of comedian Leigh Francis, the show taking the rise out of all aspects of celebrity culture with the likes of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and of course Craiiiiig David being sent up Francis in latex masks and with stars themselves suffering a combination of interviews and stalking by Avid Merrion, the Scandinavian in a neckbrace whose broken English cannot hide the fact that he keeps Craig from Big Brother locked in his wardrobe. Here then is the Bo Selecta Christmas single which in truth exists more for its video than anything else, featuring a host of celebrity cameos including Holly Valance, Mel B, Liberty X, Davina McCall, Christine Hamilton and of course vocal performances from "Badass Michael Jackson", "Craiiiiig David" and "Britney Spears". On record alone the single is actually less than the sum of its parts but it has gained a level of exposure sufficient to propel it neatly into the Top 5. Never a contender for Christmas Number One which is perhaps something of a relief. It would have been enough to make Merrion do a sex wee. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) (The Idols)
The Pop Idol grand final was of course last weekend, Michelle emerging the runaway winner in a contest that saw many early favourites eliminated along the way. This climax came too late for the contest to cash in on the Christmas period so the producers instead borrowed an idea from the American version of the program. Back in April the American Idol contestants released back home a double sided ensemble single featuring I'm Proud To Be An American and God Bless The USA, this is now followed by their British counterparts (the final 12 contestants) taking it in turns to sing on a similarly vomit-inducing cover of John Lennon's Christmas classic (which itself re-entered the Top 40 last week). Make no mistake, this single was made with one aim alone - to give Pop Idol the Christmas Number One. Hence its runaway lead in the betting as far back as November and hence the widespread surprise that greeted its relative failure. Yes, the British record buying public just for once has displayed a highly developed sense of taste and far from being propelled to the top of the charts, the single is little more than an also ran. This performance has at least had one interesting side effect however, casting a few doubts on whether series winner Michelle McManus will make quite the impact with her debut single next month that both Will and Gareth did with theirs almost two years ago. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 LADIES NIGHT (Atomic Kitten)
With the novelty Christmas hits out of the way, there is a chance for the regular pop stars to try to grab their own moments of glory. Winners of a barely noticed Kittens/Sugababes chart battle are Atomic Kitten, here with their third single release of the year and their first ever attempt at a Christmas Number One. Never really in the running, their rather disappointing cover of Kool and The Gang's debut single (it originally made Number 9 in November 1979) does at least give them their 11th Top 10 single in 12 releases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 TOO LOST IN YOU (Sugababes)
Just sneaking into the Top 10 are the Sugababes, this too being their third chart hit of the year and the followup to the chart-topping Hole In The Head. Too Lost In Your has at least had the honour of performing far better at Christmastime than their early single New Year which (as the title suggests) was a seasonal release but which could only make Number 12 in December 2000. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED I'M YOURS (Blue featuring Stevie Wonder & Angie Stone)
Everyone has their favourite Motown tracks and this writer is no different. One that never fails to move me is Stevie Wonder's Signed Sealed Delivered, originally a Number 15 hit for the legend in the summer of 1970. Blue appear to be making it an annual tradition to team up with a musical legend on a remake of one of their most famous hits. One year ago it was Elton John with Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word and now it appears they have landed an even bigger prize. All I can say is that their management must have some very good contacts indeed. Angie Stone also comes along for the ride and although the single has attracted some criticism for the way it strips away all semblance of soul from the original in favour of a slinky club beat, I have to confess that the new production works a treat and manages the very difficult task of putting a brand new spin on an intensely familiar track. If nothing else take heart from the fact that the track gives Stevie Wonder his first Top 10 hit for over six years - his last appearance coming in July 1997 when he duetted with Babyface on the underappreciated How Come How Long. Perhaps shockingly he has only had one solo Top 40 hit in the last 15 years, For Your Love making Number 23 in February 1995. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 FEELIN' FINE (Ultrabeat)
Lost in the shuffle somewhat are Ultrabeat, here with the followup to Pretty Green Eyes, one of the most enduring Top 10 hits of the summer with a six week run inside the Top 10 starting in August. Years ago part of the fun of the Christmas chart was picking which nascent hits would go on to take advantage of the new year lull and become one of the biggest hits of the new year. Sadly that tradition has all but died out - something of a shame as it is the kind of atmosphere in which the likes of Feelin' Fine would thrive. Still, there are two full chart weeks of the holiday season to go and it would be wrong to count this single out just yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 SANTA'S LIST (Cliff Richard)
Here's a fun trivia fact for you, mailed in by attentive reader Mark Butler. Santa's List has given Cliff Richard a career first by becoming his only Number 5 hit single ever. For most other acts this would not be particularly significant but of course when you consider Cliff's tally of hit records is well into three figures and that has has had singles peak at every other position between 1 and 18 over the past 48 years, it is a strange statistical quirk that none have ever peaked at Number 5. Until now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
16 HEY YA (Outkast)
In every Christmas chart there is always room for one intriguing movement, so plaudits this week to Outkast who reverse their decline and make a surprise six place leap to return to the Top 20 with Hey Ya. Originally released back in November, the single peaked at Number 6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 I LOVER CHRISTMAS (Fast Food Rockers)
Show's over kids, please go back to Butlins. The third single from the Fast Food Rockers, following the Fast Food Song and Say Cheese (Smile Please). Not even considered by anyone as a Christmas contender, so why did they bother? ------------------------------------------------------------------------
26 CHRISTMAS IS ALL AROUND (Billy Mack)
This on the other hand is a novelty single which you can live with. Billy Mack doesn't actually exist in the real world. He is of course the fictitious rock star who features in one of the storylines in hit film Love Actually. Christmas Is All Around (essentially the Troggs' Love Is All Around with slightly modified lyrics) features in the movie with even the singer himself describing it as a "huge festering turd", so any suggestions that it is to be taken at all seriously are right out the window before we start. Mack is played by actor Bill Nighy whose past roles have topically enough included playing Sam Gamgee in the famous BBC Radio version of The Lord Of The Rings. To think there was a time when it seemed the Christmas single had died out forever. We may not have had one actually topping the charts this year but there are no less than seven Christmas themed singles inside the Top 40 this week with three more further down the Top 75. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
29 STUNT 101 (G Unit)
Making a refreshing break from novelty, pop and Christmas singles are G Unit. They are to 50 Cent what D12 were to Eminem, his posse from home given their own chance to shine with a little help from the man himself. Stunt 101 is their debut single that is your typical hip-hop introduce the crew track - but check out the Brandy cameo in the video. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
36 CAN'T DO RIGHT FOR DOING WRONG (Erin Rocha)
Bringing up the rear this week, and perhaps surprisingly so given the publicity that was given to its release, is the debut single from 16 year old Erin Rocha. The schoolgirl was on work experience at a recording studio in Hampshire when she was given the chance to record Can't Do Right For Doing Wrong as a demo track, the kind that is used to pitch the song to more established artists. Instead the recording found itself in circulation and a few plays on Radio Two later was set for a full release, with a host of record companies now bidding for the signature of the budding young star. Some startlingly short odds were given on the track being in contention for Number One at one stage but that now looks to have been a little premature. Nonetheless there are worse places to be than as the footnote to the Christmas Top 40 and you never know this could be the start of something so much bigger.
With that I am out of here, the crackers and turkey etc. await. Christmas wishes to everyone who has written to me over the past year, all the dotmusic staff, the OCC staff at 100 Oxford Street and most of all you for buying the singles that we get to write about. See you in 2004. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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| Saturday, December 20th, 2003
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12:10 am
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1 CHANGES (Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne)
So here we are then, yuletide -1 as the tension mounts in the race to become Christmas Number One. As far as the bookmakers are concerned the race is between three records - The Idols, The Darkness and Michael Andrews/Gary Jules, all of which are released this week and so as a result are not featured on the chart at the present time. Although highly unlikely, the possibility does exist that one of the songs already in the shops could pull off a shock - a possibility rammed home in dramatic style by one record this week.
The last single released by Ozzy Osbourne was the ballad Dreamer which came out in June 2002 to coincide with his appearance at the Jubilee concert held at Buckingham Palace that month. At the time the Osbournes TV series had been aired on MTV and had yet to be seen on network television - thus the number of people who knew exactly what all the fuss was about was slightly limited. Since then of course the TV show has become mainstream entertainment and the elevation of Ozzy Osbourne to national treasure has been rapid. Daughter Kelly has also had a chart career of her own, going Top 3 with a cover of Papa Don't Preach and following it up earlier this year with the lesser starred single Shut Up.
So it was that the duo decided to record a single together in time for Christmas. Changes was originally a Black Sabbath song, recorded for their 1972 album Vol.4. Originally the tale of a failed relationship, the lyrics have now been reworked to turn the track into a tale of father and daughter drifting apart as she grows older - and the perfect material for a duet between the two generations of Osbourne.
Chances are that the single was set to become a sizeable hit in its own right but then of course fate intervened this week in the shape of Ozzy's rather nasty quad bike crash which has left him on a ventilator and with serious doubts over his ability to perform or even sing again. The resultant publicity has almost certainly given the single a dramatic boost, causing it to charge straight to the top of the charts and turn the entire Christmas Number One race on its head. The single is of course far and away the biggest of Ozzy's long career, his first ever Top 10 hit as a solo artist, only his second Top 10 hit ever (Black Sabbath's legendary Paranoid was the first, hitting Number 4 in August 1970) and of course his first ever Number One single, arriving almost 34 years after he first appeared on a chart record. Changes is also only the second father and daughter duet to top the singles chart, arriving 36 years after Frank and Nancy Sinatra's original version of Somethin' Stupid. The history of pan-generational hits has been covered in the past in this column but it is worth recapping that although we have had father/daughter and mother/son duets top the charts and have also had fathers and sons hit the top independently of each other (Chesney and Chip Hawkes, Julio and Enrique Iglesias) no mother and daughter combination have ever topped the charts whether separately or together.
Will the track hang on to top the charts next week? I have to say it is extremely doubtful and even when Changes became a certainty to top the charts this week it remained a 16/1 outsider at the bookies. Fun though it is to talk up the possibility of an upset, the likelihood is that the bookies dead cert will be the one that makes it after all. Brace yourselves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 SANTA'S LIST (Cliff Richard) .In the meantime the rest of the chart is filled up with singles from artists who may have harboured faint hopes of being contenders in the race who who in reality are very much among the also rans. Leading the pack however is yet another national treasure. The Cliff Richard Christmas single is less of an instituion that his marketing may have you believe but as the years go by this time of year appears to be his best opportunity of having hit singles as the rest of the time he is caught between the two stools of trying to make his music as relevant as possible in the face of the popular view that he is just too old these days to still be playing at being a pop star. Santa's List is Cliff's first chart single since Let Me Be The One made Number 29 in April 2002 and his first attempt at a seasonal release since December 2001 when Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World made Number 11. Significantly though it returns him to the Top 10 for the first time since the chart-topping Milennium Prayer in December 1999. In all it his his 65th Top 10 single (more than any other artist of course) and extends his span of hit singles to 45 years and three months, still agonisingly behind Elvis who extended his span to 47 years when Rubberneckin' charted a few months ago. As to how much of a tradition the Cliff Richard Christmas single really is, consider that since 1980 he has had a Top 40 hit at Christmas on just 14 occasions, leaving nine Christmases that were shockingly Cliff free. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 MY IMMORTAL (Evanescence)
Appropriately enough the third pre-Christmas Top 10 hit this week is from a God-rock band gone secular. My Immortal is of course Evanescence's third hit single of the year and one which actually manages to beat the Number 8 peak of Going Under from back in October. Although there is very little sensation surrounding this track and the attention paid to it has been minimal, it is good to see that they are far from the one hit wonders that speculation had they would be after the hard to top impact of the chart-topping Bring Me To Life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 THE VOICE WITHIN (Christina Aguilera)
50/1 Christmas Number One shot Christina Aguilera similarly makes a strong but still rather understated Top 10 debut this week. The fifth single from the Stripped album sees the star go back to ballad basics with this knee-trembling track that is more than an equal to Beautiful which kicked her 2003 hitmaking run off at the start of the year. 5 Top 10 hits out of 5 isn't a bad tally for an album which had a mixed reception when first released - heres looking to what she produces next. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 HAVE A CHEEKY CHRISTMAS (Cheeky Girls)
Was it really just a year ago that the Cheeky Girls first wiggled their way into the charts? We all thought The Cheeky Song was a one-off novelty hit on the back of their show-stealing performances on the original Pop Stars - The Rivals auditions. In complete defiance of musica taste the twins have somehow managed a string of hit singles, of which this new seasonal offering is the fourth. Although it brings to an end their run of Top 3 hits, Have A Cheeky Christmas still lands itself a place inside the Top 10 and brings with it the very real possibility that there could be as many as four Christmas themed singles in the Top 10 next week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 NOTHING FAILS/LOVE PROFUSION (Madonna)
Did you know that one of the few chart feats Madonna has never managed is a Christmas Number One? 14 times in the last 20 years she has had a single out in time for the seasonal rush (a favourite at the bookies on many occasions during the 1980s) but never once has she managed to come close. It is almost a decade since she has been as far away as this as well, Nothing Fails/Love Profusion unusually (for her) missing out on a place in the Top 10. Although this isn't quite the shock it once would have been it is certainly a first for the superstar since her late 90s comeback, her last single to miss the Top 10 being way back in 1996 when the seven year old track Oh Father could only reach Number 16. Although the songs on the single feature on the American Life album the single has actually been released to promote her current Remixed and Revisited mini-album which is priced too low to feature in the main albums chart and which has arrived in the shops more or less unnoticed - a bit like this single really. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 POWERLESS (SAY WHAT YOU WANT) (Nelly Furtado)
A bold move from Nelly Furtado as she launches her second album at the most difficult time of year. Two years on from the Top 10 hits I'm Like A Bird and Turn Off The Light (during which time she gave birth to a daughter) the Canadian singer returns with a typically challenging single that defies all attempts to pigeonhole her - bluegrass banjo lines in a pop record? You have them here... ------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 AIN'T WHAT YOU DO (Big Brovaz)
Never afraid to grab hold of the more novelty flavoured end of the pop-urban stick, Big Brovaz hit the chart with their fifth single release. Sadly it winds up the smallest of the lot so far, their first to miss the Top 10 but actually that should not put you off as you will struggle to find a single release this week with the same innate sense of fun (and yes that does include the Cheeky Girls). As the title suggests, Ain't What You Do is based on the old jazz song T'Aint What You Do It's The Way That You Do It, recorded and popularised by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Jimmy Lunceford but which is probably best known to modern generations thanks to the version performed by Fun Boy Three and Bananarama back in 1982. The Big Brovaz version swings like a mother but also plants its feet firmly in the 21st century thanks to the new rapped lyrics added by the group. Not their biggest hit ever then and you would not even get odds on them being Christmas Number One but in actual fact this one of the most entertaining releases of the week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 SWING LOW (UB40/United Colours Of Sound)
As was to be expected, Swing Low experiences another surge up the charts, a lift doubtless given by the victory parade for the players from the big girls rugby team which ground central London to a halt on Monday. The single is now just short of the Number 16 peak of the original world cup rendition of Swing Low as performed by Union prior to the 1991 World Cup finals and that version too experienced a chart turnaround as the England side reached (but subsequently lost) the final. Swing Low is easily UB40s biggest hit single for many a long year, their first Top 20 hit in fact since Come Back Darling hit Number 10 in October 1998. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 YOU DON'T KNOW MY NAME (Alicia Keys)
A year and two weeks since her last chart single Girlfriend, Alicia Keys makes a very welcome return to the singles chart, even if this single is pretty much relegated to the also-rans in the middle of the Christmas rush. It is her first solo Top 20 hit since A Woman's Worth made Number 18 in March 2002 although she has had a Top 10 hit since in the shape of Eve's Gangsta Lovin' which made Number 6 in October that same year. Her biggest hit remains her debut Fallin' which was a Top 3 smash in November 2001 and a single which she has frustratingly failed to live up to since. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 CRY LITTLE SISTER (I NEED YOU NOW) (Lost Brothers featuring G Tom Mac)
A small history lesson now for the younger generation. Back in 1987 there was a cult horror film called The Lost Boys which starred many Brat Pack members including Jason Patric, Corey Feldman and 24 star Keifer Sutherland. OK so it wasn't actually much good but it did boast a rather appealing soundtrack which went on to spawn some chart hits - Echo and The Bunnymen's cover of the Doors' People Are Strange and INXS and Jimmy Barnes with Good Times, both of which were chart singles in early 1988. One track from it that wasn't a hit, despite copious airplay at the time was the title track - an epic gothic ballad called Cry Little Sister performed by Gerard McMahon (although he was credited as Gerald McCann on the original album for some reason). 16 years on and Cry Little Sister finally becomes a chart hit, albeit not in the form many fans of the film would have wanted. The track has been turned into a dance single by producers Harry Diamond, Sergei Hall and Kieron McTernan and although some of the more haunting gothic elements of the original have been retained it is actually one of those dance remakes which somehow manages to make a travesty of the near perfect original (compare and contrast Angel City's Love Me Right which managed to remake an 80s classic perfectly). One thing the track does have in its favour is the presence of McMahon himself who agreed to re-record his original vocals for this new club version. I guess if the writer of the original has given it his blessing we cannot complain too much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
26 FUNKY DORY (Rachel Stevens)
Talk that Sweet Dreams My LA Ex was originally intended for Britney Spears cannot diminish the fact that Rachel Stevens' debut solo single stands out as one of the best pop records of the year, the most percussive pop production since OMDs Sailing On The Seven Seas 12 years ago stormed the Top 3 and proved that not everyone saw the future of pop music as being pre-processed squeaky clean ballads. More worryingly though the single didn't exactly inspire huge sales of the debut album from the former S Club star and the fact that its title track has now bombed out quite spectacularly will cause some serious questions to be asked. Make no mistake Rachel Stevens was a major priority for the record company. Some blame will be put on the time of year and the fact that the single has come out in a very busy week indeed but there is now a worrying air of "oh shit what do we do now" hanging over the whole project. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
29 MAKE WAY FOR NODDY (Noddy)
Yes, that Noddy - the Enid Blyton created childrens character who has somehow survived politcally correct editing (my generation saw him attacked by evil gollywogs, none of this goblins rubbish) to retain his status as a valuable childrens commodity. So much so that here is the spin off single with Big Ears and all the gang putting in an appearance. Bob The Builder this isn't, which is actually a small mercy for which we should all be thankful. Be warned though - Basil Brush is on his way next week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
32 CHANGE CLOTHES (Jay-Z)
We are almost there, but first there are a number of singles charting at the very bottom end of the 40 this week. First up is Jay-Z, relegating to a chart afterthought after four hit singles already this year, the last of which came back in August when Frontin' made Number 6. Don't read too much into the failure of this one, it is just the wrong time for a single of this nature. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
33 HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) (John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band)
On the other hand, this one is an interesting release. The appearance of John Lennon's Christmas classic this week is almost certainly an attempt to spoil the version of the song to be released by the 12 Pop Idol finallists and which as far as most people are concerned is a shoo-in to be Christmas Number One next week. Those who will regard the new version as an utter travesty can be cheered by the fact that the original version is in the charts as well to remind everyone just why it was such a classic in the first place. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) was first released in December 1972, hitting Number 4 first time out. Like so many 70s Christmas hits (the time when every pop act worth its salt had at least one seasonal themed single in the catalogue) it has returned to the chart on many occasions since. A brief appearance at the bottom end in 1974 was followed by the single leaping to Number 2 in December 1980 following Lennon's tragic death. A year later it was back in the Top 30 and again was at Number 56 in December 1982. The last chart appearance for the single came in 1988 when it was part of a Lennon triple-pack that included Imagine and Jealous Guy although even this potent combination could only reach Number 45. So it is that the single now makes the Top 40 for the fourth time and gives John Lennon his first hit since the re-release of Imagine made Number 3 in December 1999. More bizarrely it is actually Yoko Ono's second chart hit of the year, following on from her dance remake of Walking On Thin Ice which made Number 35 back in June. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 THE YOUNG AND THE HOPELESS/HOLD ON (Good Charlotte)
New entry Number 15 this week is the fourth single from Good Charlotte, this the followup to The Anthem which made Number 10 back in August.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 I'LL SEE IT THROUGH (Texas)
...and finally the 16th is a rather lowly new entry from Texas who, Christmas rush notwithstanding, are clearly in danger of seeing their latest album flop badly if this single is anything to go by. Compare and contrast with the Number 9 peak of Carnival Girl which was released back in October. As things stand this will be Texas' smallest hit single since 1991!
Anyway enough of the flops, time to look forward to the big one. Next week is the Christmas chart with three big new releases battling to become the answer to trivia questions for years to come. Every year there is a single that seems a dead cert and every year we try to talk up the possibility of a geniune tussle for the top. Sadly the reverse often seems to be true with the dead cert sweeping all aside with consummate ease. Don't be too suprised if the same happens this year. Bring on the Idols... ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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| Friday, December 19th, 2003
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3:59 pm
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3:57 pm - Changes
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Anyone heard the song by Kelly and Ozzy Osbourne song "Changes"?
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| Saturday, December 13th, 2003
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7:07 pm - Merry Christmas
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Since I rarely use this LJ :P I just do this ahead of time. I want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
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| Saturday, November 22nd, 2003
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9:57 pm
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| Wednesday, November 12th, 2003
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6:40 am
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| Wednesday, October 22nd, 2003
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6:47 pm - Kill Bill
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Before I get KILLED! about my opinions about this movie. I didn't really like it at all. It had nice camera works. But overall really bad with plot and too much violence.
Interesting seeing all the martial arts and the Japanese actors too
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| Friday, October 10th, 2003
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11:47 am - 1602
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I love the new Neil Gaiman mini-series called 1602. It takes place like 500 years ago before the Marvel universe happened. Its interesting.
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11:42 am
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