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Liam Carey reviews
V o l u m e # 9 2 8 M a y 2 0 0 3
AH, KELLY!
The odds on the debut solo album from one-third of Destiny’s Child reaching #1 and becoming hugely popular would not be especially high, given the trio’s ubiquity in contemporary pop music and culture. However, what might be less predictable is that the record in question should not be by amazonian diva Beyonce Knowles, but the rather less ebullient Kelly Rowland.
No doubt aided by her duetting duties on last year’s smash Nelly single Dilemma, Ms. Rowland has quietly but convincingly entered into the public’s conscience. Simply Deep has been on the UK chart since the start of the year, clocking up sales to rival Destiny’s Child themselves, and spawning the impressive hits Stole and Can’t Nobody in additon to featuring Dilemma.
The album showcases Rowland’s pleasingly sweet vocals which never grandstand or venture into unnecessary histrionics, and while several of the songs are unremarkable, its jubilant highpoint – Train On The Tracks – is scheduled for release as the next UK single later in the summer. Expect the popularity of Simply Deep to soar to even greater heights as 2003 progresses.
RINGING THE CHANGES
It’s been 30 years since Mike Oldfield conquered the UK album charts, and launched not only his career but that of then-fledgling label Virgin, with Tubular Bells. Time for another inevitable re-issue then, just five years after the remastered 25th Anniversary edition? Well, sort of. Not content with exploiting the TB brandname four times already in the past 11 years (1992’s Tubular Bells II, 1998’s Tubular Bells III, 1999’s Millennium Bell and 2001’s The Best Of Tubular Bells), Oldfield has re-recorded the whole shebang afresh, creating a 2003 facsimilie of the original in every sense.
Given that the only Oldfield albums to sell in any quantity during the past three decades have all borne the TB association either in their title, such a tactic is perhaps understandable. Last year’s excellent Tr3s Lunas for example, despite positive reviews, failed to make much of an impact in this country.
RIGA 2003:NUL POINT IN EUROVISION?
For the first time in the UK’s long and occasionally glittering Eurovision history, its entry ended the night with the dreaded “Nul points”. A result of Britain’s part in the War on Iraq, which most of Europe opposed? Or simply a reflection on the quality of Jemini‘s song, and its out-of-tune performance?
Whatever the merits of participating in such an ultimately dubious competition may be (notably the blatant “you scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours” voting by neighbouring countries), the UK provides most of the funding for the body in charge of running the contest each year and the clear snub on the UK was joined by the lack of votes for the song by host nation Latvia. If musical merit obviously counts for so little, then perhaps Eurovision’s prime source of income and whichever nation happens to be holding the contest also ought to be granted a more charitable approach…
That said, Jemini hardly deserved to succeed, being a wretchedly cliched and forgettable sub-Steps concotion. Rather than signalling the end of their career, however, the infamy of coming last appears to offer a “unique” marketing and promtional angle if this week’s newspaper and television reports are to be believed.
The most notable aspect of 2003’s Eurovision, chart-topping faux-lesbian duo t.A.T.u. representing their mother country Russia, passed without much incident other than backstage claims of the girls’ petulant diva-like behaviour and 3rd place. Ne Ver, Ne Boisia has now been added to a freshly-issued version of the 200KM/H In The Wrong Lane album, which also includes a bonus DVD of interview footage lasting 25 minutes and a fold-out colour poster.
FUTURE SOUNDS
The best music on the horizon:
- PADDY MacALOON – I TRAWL THE MEGAHERTZ: The Prefab Sprout frontman emerges on June 2nd with his first solo set, an uncompromising but typically lush concept album that features a 22-minute monologue among its mostly instrumental tracks.
- STEVE WINWOOD – ABOUT TIME: After a difficult period in the 90s that produced only two patchy solo albums and an underwhelming Traffic reunion record, Winwood returns on June 23rd with the follow-up to 1997’s Junction Seven. Whether it will evoke comparisons with his benchmark 80s releases Arc Of A Diver and Back In The High Life remains to be seen.
Page Content copyright © Liam Carey, 2003.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.