Now Millennium series revisted Pt.III

 

The last time we looked at this twenty-first century series in in late March when we rediscovered Crazy Frog but this last week the next instalment came out during the period I didn't get any Now discs but did get single artist titles instead.

As ever there are two years to this set, 2006 and 2007 and I elected to get the four cd book form for the extra notes on each track.

2006 kicks off on disc 1  with the lead single from Amy Winehouse's defining 'Back To Black' album, 'Rehab', followed by Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' - the biggest selling single of 2006 and the first single to reach #1 on download only sales. I really like the vocal on that track.

Furtado collaborated with Timbaland with huge success and her #1 'Maneater' is up next. Christina Aguilera showcases powerhouse vocals on 'Ain't No Other Man', while Corinne Bailey Rae's 'Put Your Records On' relaxes the vibe. I loved her debut album that year.

Fergie turns up the temperature with her first solo hit 'London Bridge (Oh Shh)' before  collaborations from The Pussycat Dolls and Snoop Dogg with their sizzling smash 'Buttons', and LL COOL J and Jennifer Lopez on the beat-bumping 'Control Myself, whilst dancefloor smash 'Thunder In My Heart (Again)' by Meck feat. Leo Sayer is next. 

That helped to revive his career and spark interest in his back catalogue.

 The irresistible riff from Orson's #1'No Tomorrow' leads into hits from P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, James Morrison and The Feeling - before Pop ballads from Shayne Ward and Will Young, and hit cover versions from McFly, Emma Bunton, Ronan Keating and Westlife. 

The second disc opens with the huge track 'Patience' from Take That which returned them to #1 after a 10 year absence, and the contemporary classic 'Chasing Cars' from Snow Patrol, before big hits from Keane and Lily Allen with her debut and first #1 'Smile'. 

Scissor Sisters 'I Don't Feel Like Dancin'' was a massive hit, a personal fav too and leads to superstars Robbie Williams, Pet Shop Boys and The Killers. A great run of Indie-Pop is next, including hits from Fall Out Boy, The Zutons, The Fratellis, and the #1 'America' from Razorlight. Leona Lewis won the 'X-Factor' and features alongside crossover club smashes from Fedde Le Grand, Booty Luv, and Infernal. 

2007: Britney Spears announces her intention to be heard on disc 3 with 'Gimme More', followed by more huge giant Pop acts - Girls Aloud's with 'Call The Shots', Sugababes with 'About You Now', and MIKA dazzles with his infectious #1 'Grace Kelly'. 

He was much talked about that year.

The irresistible '2 Hearts' from Kylie Minogue gives way to two massive floor-fillers; 'Proper Education' from Eric Prydz vs. Floyd and Freemasons feat. Bailey Tzuke with 'Uninvited'. A stellar selection of some of the best R&B smashes of the decade follows, from Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, Amerie, and Akon. Sean Kingston and Newton Faulkner both enjoyed debut success in 2007, while celebrated songwriters John Mayer, and Rufus Wainwright showcase their skills and lead into the closing tracks on the disc from legendary stars Céline Dion and Michael Bublé with their outstanding vocals. So good.

CD4 delivers hit after hit, starting with Leona Lewis's powerhouse ballad, 'Bleeding Love' - 2007's biggest selling single, before Fergie's global smash 'Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)'. OneRepublic's 'Apologize' and another timeless gem from Take That with 'Rule The World' and other brilliantly crafted tracks from singer-songwriters, lead by '1973' from James Blunt and 'Hey There Delilah' from The Plain White T's, alongside huge radio records from The Fray with 'How To Save A Life', and Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse on their version of 'Valerie'.

 Anthemic Alt-Rock hits from Kaiser Chiefs, The View and Scouting For Girls all feature, as do Top 40 debuts from Kate Nash, Just Jack, The Hoosiers and Peter, Bjorn and John, whilst the last word is given to Pop royalty the Spice Girls with 'Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)' - their first single to feature the original line-up in nearly ten years.

It was an interesting two years and it's been grear hearing  these tracks I recall from radio play again.

Bestuff - early social media

Thanks for everyone who read and enjoyed last weeks outdoor edition of the blog not least the pictures.
This week I'm going back a bit in time to around ten years ago before some of you were online even and looking at one site I loved in the before Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr were the social media of choice.
The main reason you join any kind of social media is to form connections with others,  in other words it's the cyber equivalent of face to face networking so you need to find thinks that link you to who share things in common.
The mainly British social media of choice in the 2000's was Friends Reunited that worked though connecting you to schools, colleges, university and workplaces to others who had connections to them.
Bestuff was an international site that did things in way that soon become more the norm.

Rather than looking at where you've been, it looked at what you liked such as favourite films, foods, pets, hobbies, dating likes and so on in groups created by users which you'd mark up as likes that added into a mosaic collection of your "Bestuff".

 New Stuff, new categories were listed you you could keep up and by going through categories you could find your "Bestuff" and share it.
It was a bit like a game where you'd go around looking for and creating things you'd share.
It's a bit like Tumblr where you look for thing you like, reblog and follow each other except it was a bit less high tech and didn't have the messaging sophistication.
There was a Friends section you could add those you shared the most stuff with and a messaging board and my best buddy on there is in that screenshot, Tribble, to whom we had a keenly felt relationship between us.
It closed down after a period of graveyard languishing a few years back but part of my past includes this early social media so when I think  back to things when this blog was in its infancy, I do think of those days by the "Big Computer" on sites like that before joining Google Plus and Tumblr.
Of the two I'd say Tumblr is the busier by far and Google Plus is one of those things I file under was encouraged by a group of friends who seemed to want to leave Facebook but then decided freebees were worth more to them than better privacy and control of who you posted too and promptly left me on there as I refuse to do facebook. Actually I have two accounts but do wonder from time to time about scrapping one completely since I seldom use the other.