The overall rating of a review is different from a simple average of all individual ratings.
Advantages:
Familiar brand, established formula, and unrivalled value - for - money . More than 40 hit singles for little more than the price of a chart CD .
Disadvantages:
You get the good and the bad, all jumbled up together . The lack of acts from outside the Warner/Sony/BMG labels .
Recommendable
Yes:
Detailed rating:
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency of tracks
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money
How does it rate alongside the competitionOutstanding
And so, EnglishPatient - as a standalone entity - is no more. This account will self-destruct within...
And so, EnglishPatient - as a standalone entity - is no more. This account will self-destruct within approximately 24 hours. I can now be found under the name of DoubleTrouble - a collaboration with fellow Ciao user Broksababe. See you there!
Member since:30.07.2000
Reviews:132
Members who trust:59
The Now That's What I Call Music! series is by far the most successful compilation franchise of all-time. There are ordinary hits compilations and there are the NOW! collections.
Launched in the autumn of 1983, it's hard to say why or how they became such an institution so quickly - within two years they were recognisable enough a brand to be dubbed simply NOW!-whatever-the-latest-number-was. Quite possibly it was because they got in first, tapping into a then-dormant sector of the market. For a brief period in the late 1980s, however, they had a serious rival in the HITS series. NOW! was the brainchild of the three major British record labels of the time - EMI, Virgin and Polygram - while HITS was the US giants' response with CBS, RCA and WEA joining forces. In 1990, after a slight wobble during which time NOW! offshoots were tried - only the NOW Dance series has survived - and HITS achieved marginal supremacy, the franchise got back on track and quite simply hasn't looked
back since.
EMI and Virgin subsequently merged in the mid-90s, while Polygram were taken over by Universal, but little else has changed. The format for the NOW! albums remains more or less the same, with the total number of tracks having increased from around 30 at first to 40 or so in recent years, when CD allowed for longer running times and thus extra room for more hits.
Critical assessment of any NOW! release is almost irrelevant - much like the weekly UK charts it reflects, sometimes it's worse or better than others. With so many recent, current and - occasionally - even future hit singles included on each volume, value-for-money in general terms is always guaranteed.
Traditionally, three NOW!s are issued per year, one at each major holiday season - Easter, Summer and Christmas. The Christmas edition tends to be the biggest seller regardless of content, a slightly strange phenomenon but most likely due to its suitability for Festive parties and family gatherings.
NOW! 48 is the first collection for 2001, and does a pretty good job of representing what has been, overall, a fine start to the year for decent chart music (allowing for Hear'say, of course). The reliance on in-house acts from the EMI/Universal/Virgin labels means no room for the likes of Dido (Arista/BMG), Savage Garden (Columbia/Sony), Toploader (also Sony) or myriad other Warner Brothers artists, but that's been the case for a long time now and it's a minor inconvenience.
So to the music. As ever, CD1 opens with the bigger mainstream pop smashes (usually No.1s). Atomic Kitten's four-week chart champ Whole Again kicks off proceedings, followed by Hearsay (Pure & Simple, what else?) and S Club 7's Never Had A Dream Come True. Shaggy's hugely successful It Wasn't Me and Emma Bunton's first proper solo single What Took You So Long? are the other Number Ones included on the first disc.
Airbrushed pop confections such as Samantha Mumba's Always Come Back To Your Love, Paradise by Kaci, Britney Spears' Stronger, It's The Way You Make Me Feel from Steps, as well as the most recent hits from Martine McCutcheon, Kylie Minogue, Backstreet Boys, Ronan Keating, LeAnn Rimes and Damage are included, leaving space for a few quirky gems such as Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz, Nelly Furtado's I'm Like A Bird and..erm...Bob The Builder's Can We Fix It? (!).
Dance music for the masses is also featured through Modjo, Chocolate Puma and Fragma feat. Maria Rubia on CD1, with Planet Funk, Safri Duo, Dario G, Jakatta and Sonique cropping up midway through CD2.
Depending on your musical tastes, the second CD can be either home to the best tracks or the point to hit fast-forward through the more *alternative* tunes. This time around, it starts with 8 top-notch songs in a row. Eva Cassidy's Somewhere Over The Rainbow wasn't a hit itself, but it's largely responsible for her Songbird album topping the UK Album chart and thus justifies its inclusion here, while the sequence of U2 - Stereophonics - Coldplay - Texas - Robbie Williams - Feeder - Papa Roach is about as good as it ever gets for a NOW! compilation. To be able to leave the CD playing uninterrupted for almost half-an-hour is a rarity with any hits collection.
CD2 closes with some modern R'n'B sounds - Mya, Chante Moore, Joe, Architects - and two songs with Loco in their titles, by DJ Luck/MC Neat and Fun Lovin' Criminals respectively.
There is an admirable range of styles present on NOW!48's selection of 41 hits, although obviously they won't all appeal to everyone. They never do, and never will. Even if only 50% of the tracks are of interest, the RRP of around £15 (£14.99 - £16.99 depending on individual stores) still represents excellent value for money.
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Oh man!, I've only just stopped laughing at the two comments below!!...easy lads!! ;). Ahh, well great review again Jason, but something tells me you press 'skip' when the Hear'Say song comes on?!!...hehe!!...only messing!!. Take it easy, Paul.
EnglishPatient 24.04.2001 04:24
Ah yes, you're right...there are no fewer than four typos in this op. Shame on me for not upholding the high standards of Ciao. I know I've let the side down badly. Still, that's what being a CMW is all about...we're here to be shot down. I look forward to ignoring your masterpieces...I just couldn't bear to feel so inferior when I discover how brilliant your writing is. Corrections have been made, cheers.
windscreenviper 24.04.2001 01:23
If I was you I'd use a spell checker next time mate. I noticed a few typos in this. I'm new here and I thought with you being one of the important members on the front page u would set an example. Plus Now 48 is a big pile of pants - its full of pop songs and is bought by kids......cheerz geez, Jay
Advantages: Some excellent rock ballads are present on this album. Powerful vocals throughout. Disadvantages: Bryan Adams has recorded better albums than this.
RazzaLazza 10.03.2008 (10.03.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 11 - Bryan Adams
Apr 21st, 2001
(Apr 24th, 2001)
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