Now Millennium series part iv

It's all gonna be happening as the count down for the Christmas season record release schedule begins so batten your hatches, get the Winter Tires ready and let's resume from where we were in June this year with those Millennium compilations from Now That's What I Call Music.

We'd been going for a bit on this blog after everything in the adult world got so messed up I needed time out to recover which in part at least is where all else really fitted in so rather like in childhood the radio played a part with presenters playing hit tunes forming a part of those memories.

From the early nineteen-nineties though the chart moved more away from mainstream pop and rock to more club based sounds and various sub genres such as Grunge, "Shoegazing" etc so what I bought for myself typically on cd based albums was different which is really where a set like this fits in gathering enough of those other sounds you recall but didn't even bother with the four or more double cd Now numbered compilations back then as the misses to hits ratio with you would be rather high.

As mainstream chart as it got with me was a fully functioning reborn Take That and the North Wales retro fused female singer Duffy.

As is the standard in this series, each year has two distinct discs and my copy being the book form has short write ups about the songs and chart performance which all helps bring it all back.

Disc One kicks off with a run of pop gold, Take That’s triumphant #1 ‘Greatest Day’, the band’s 11th #1 single, starts the count for #1’s on this album followed by Girls Aloud’s BRIT Award winning homage to the sounds of the 60s, ‘The Promise’, another UK #1.  Britney leads a string of fabulous pop hits with the infectious ‘Womanizer’ before P!nk’s #1 ‘So What’ and Kylie Minogue’s ‘Wow’. 2008 Was a great year for new and breaking acts; Katy Perry announced herself to the world with the hit ‘I Kissed a Girl’, while The Saturday’s second single ‘Up’ shattered the high expectations set by their debut single. Duffy’s excellent  jazz-inflected smash ‘Mercy’ sits neatly alongside other jazz and swing-inspired hits on this disc with Alesha Dixon’s ‘The Boy Does Nothing’, Gabrielle Cilmi’s ‘Sweet About Me’, and Sam Sparro’s ‘Black and Gold’. Closing off Disc One are a pair of X-Factor superstars with Alexandra Burke’s debut UK #1, Xmas #1 and the best-selling single of 2008: ‘Hallelujah’, and Leona Lewis’ powerful cover of Snow Patrol’s ‘Run’.

Disc Two opens with the epic Coldplay’s  ‘Viva La Vida’ followed by The Killers’ indie dancefloor chart-topper ‘Human’. Back in 2008 we saw some huge trance-pop hits such as Basshunter kicking off a run of dance classics with their emphatic ‘Now You’re Gone’ before Scooter brings a similarly irresistible energy with ‘Jumping All Over The World’. Eric Prydz’s ‘Pjanoo’, Ultrabeat’s ‘Disco Lights’, and H Two O’s essential ‘Whats It Gonna Be?’ follow. Enduring playlist favourites from The Script (‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’), Kid Rock (‘All Summer Long’) and Nickelback (‘Rockstar’) lead into Oasis’ psychedelia-infused alt rock track ‘The Shock Of The Lightning’. To close this review of 2008, we have great bands including The Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, and Radiohead with ‘Nude’.

Disc Three and our review of 2009 opens with the Black Eyed Peas’ global hit ‘I Gotta Feeling’.  This UK and US #1 is followed by a slew of similarly huge floor fillers including David Guetta and Kelly Rowland’s ‘When Love Takes Over’. Next up, synth pop smashes from La Roux’s ‘Bulletproof’ and The Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Love Etc.’.  Local lad Robbie Williams continued his stellar chart run with ‘Bodies’. Lily Allen’s #1 ‘The Fear’ is followed by Florence + The Machine’s debut top 20 hit ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’. This is followed by a run of RnB pop finishes the disc off with Ciara and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Love Sex Magic’ followed by Flo Rida featuring Kesha on ‘Right Round’, Taio Cruz’s ‘Break your Heart’, JLS’ ‘Beat Again’, and Jason Derulo’s breakout hit, ‘Whatcha Say’.

Massive pop superstars open the final disc; Britney Spears (‘Circus’), Miley Cyrus (‘Party In The USA’), and The Pussycat Dolls alongside A.R. Rahman (Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)’). #1 debuts are up next from Cheryl Cole with ‘Fight For This Love’ and Pixie Lott with ‘Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)’. Airplay favourites from Paolo Nutini (‘Pencil Full Of Lead’), James Morrison featuring Nelly Furtado (‘Broken Strings’) and Kelly Clarkson’s #1: ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’ feature alongside top 10 smashes from Metro Station (‘Shake It’), Sugababes (‘Get Sexy’) and Little Boots (‘Remedy’). Hip-Hop and Grime are represented here with Tinchy Stryder and Ironik featuring Chipmunk on their huge tracks ‘Number 1’ and ‘Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer)’ (sampling Elton John’s classic that revived interest in that song). Our final disc closes with Westlife’s ‘What About Now’ – their 22nd Top 5 hit since their 1999 debut.

This is a great sampling of these two years before we started the twenty-tens.