NOW 66

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Hello poptimists, it's time to once more celebrate the great institution that is NOW compilations, giving your mum the chance to discard the popular music of a full six-month time period using only a handy two-disc/tape compilation since 1981.

We do this, like all things, with ticky boxes. Today we are ticking songs from NOW 66, released early in 2007, I think. Over the next indefinite time period I will be posting the rest of the compilations up to the current one for your ticking pleasure. Click the tag if you'd like to peruse back-issues of the NOW polls, the Hall Of Fame created from the polls is viewable in the userinfo.

[Poll #1226975]

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I ran out of texty-box space! Seamus Haji does sort of dancehall/bhangra crossover stuff. It's not bad.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

O rite. This makes more sense- I have to admit I was vaguely suspecting him to be a NOW Music employee.

Whups

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Obv. that Feeling song is 'Love It When You Call' -I thought I'd checked for typos but clearly that one passed me by.

Re: Whups

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Also Razorlite is actually 'Before I Fall To Pieces.' I apologize for slightly glib attitude there, will buck my ideas up for next poll.

Re: Whups

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Haha which is the Timberlake song?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

this may be Girls Aloud's worst showing in a NOW poll ever.

where have half the acts on this one gone? we don't seems to have heard from them since...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I feel this is something to be profoundly thankful for!

(I think the answer is that given the timing of this poll most of them are in the middle of the usual two-year gestation period for their next album)

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I thought the GA covers might have aged well. YouTube corrected me.

Hmmm

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I can see why Tom didn't poll this before. The relevant weekly chart polls and comments are still very fresh in my mind. Not enough time has elapsed yet to re-evaluate some of these, I fear.

(I still filled in the poll though)

Re: Hmmm

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes I'm not sure how much "re-evaluation" has gone on, it will be interesting to compare these numbers to the AYIP polls though!

Re: Hmmm

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Though the reason I didn't do the poll was inertia really! If the first word you have to type is "Mika" it doesn't exactly fill you with motivation.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Also, re: my post about sl4g pop the other week, 'Easy' fits quite well into the genre. I still can't listen to it due to the profound unease that grips me during the verses.

[koganbot]

I wonder if "Too Little Too Late" will beat the measly ten votes it got in A Year In Pop.

[koganbot]

Wait, I checked and it eventually got 15 votes, for a dominating 29%!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"Perfect" is the song here that's aged best - totally crept by me in winter 06/07, probably because it got the season wrong. Glad to see it leading the poll - at this early stage.

Biggest shift in Poptimists over its 3-year lifespan: huge ever-growing love for emo.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised to see Winehouse doing so badly - I remember near-unanimous approval for 'You Know I'm No Good' at the time. Maybe the realisation in retrospect that it is about cheating on her bf with BLAKE INCARCERATED has dulled it for some.

I just relistened to 'Irreplaceable' for the first time in ages and, you know...wow. It is so, so perfectly crafted and delivered. I am still unable to say the phrase "to the left" without adding another.

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

Re: the emo thing; I think the thing I'm finding with most of the half-decent emo I've got/listened to is that it is marginally less disposable than the ultra-disposableness of nu-indie that you describe earlier. Like, the first Fall Out Boy album is totally listenable, even now; it doesn't feel like it was written to burn out, even though that feels like an aesthetic that would fit the scene.

By contrast, the idea that the Fratellis have another album - or that the View might even release a second one - seems baffling, given how little investment I have in those tracks. They say nothing to me about my life, as it were.

[tjanik.livejournal.com]

Exceeder is a great instrumental but the vocals are a bit awful.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that I didn't recognize "Say It Right" as the best song of [insert year] sooner. It's sunk in within the past year.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was totally overshadowed by the BIG HITZ off Loose at the time but has gradually grown to dwarf them. I love the fact that it's a really emotional, heart-tugging ballad about...feeling nothing! It is about the absence of feeling, leavened by the mild awareness that emotions could be great. Nelly is beautifully blank, but the potential for blossoming is always there...

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Yep, right on. I can't think of another song that has continued to grow on me solidly for 18 months. It just gets better and better on every listen.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

This looks like it'll be an indie victory!

I think Take That was easily the best.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I would like to hear from some people who do not like 'Irreplaceable' or 'Say It Right', about why they do not like these songs, because I actually cannot imagine how that is possible.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Did we ever do this cover of Irreplaceable at the time? I imagine you'd hate it, I think it's rather sweet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-JgJRtXP1g

[koganbot]

I'm still trying to figure out the vast dislike/indifference towards "Too Little Too Late." My guess is that people find it too sweet, but I can only speculate.

"Irreplaceable" isn't as passionate and involved as "Survivor" (for instance), but it was an easy tick, unquestionably.