Well, here we again, it's the end of another year. You know what that means, don't you? That's right, it means there's no 'paper next week so I have a week off. Hooray for Christmas, eh? Anyway, moving on, this is the Review Of The Year. Personally, I'd quite like to review the music of 1992 for a change, but I don't think the editor would be too impressed, so we'll settle for 2003. Well, what do you expect, this isn't the Golden Hour you know.
THINGS I LIKED
Electric Six - three high quality singles, T.A.T.U. - two good singles (should've been three, what happened to How Soon Is Now?), the Foo Fighters coming up with a handful of decent singles (a first in my eyes), Lemon Jelly's Nice Weather For Ducks has really grown on me, Placebo covering Daddy Cool, OK Go's Get Over It - whatever happened to them?, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster (more for the name than the songs, but they weren't bad either), Johnny Cash signing off in the best way possible (not only is Hurt a great song, but the video is stunning), the White Stripes, Dave Gahan proving you're never too old for a decent debut solo single, finishing last in the Eurovision - I don't know about you, but I laughed my head off, Rob Dougan's Furious Angels getting re-issued, Har Mar Superstar's EZ Pass and his advert for Vladivar Vodka, The Raveonettes' The Great Love Sound (class on a stick), Elton John getting to Number One with a seventies disco song (well, Philly soul) and without the need for a remix to update it to boot, Richard X's Finest Dreams, Stylophonic's Way Of Life - one of those songs that screams summertime, UNKLE's Eye For An Eye - watching the video in a darkened room is a real brown-trousers experience, the Rolling Stones releasing a decent (albeit thirty-five years old) single, the Darkness having a great big laugh at the music industry, Cookie Monster releasing a disco record, Jane's Addiction, Holly Valance releasing a surprisingly good State Of Mind and me not hearing Victoria Beckham's new single yet.
THINGS I DIDN'T
Blur didn't release Don't Bomb When You Are The Bomb and did release Good Song, Paul McCartney's ukelele-led scorched earth policy towards George Harrison's Something, D-Side, the Cheeky Girls refusing to believe that musically at least, less is more, Scooter (purely for the line "Respect to the man in the ice-cream van"), Ronan Keating, S Club splitting up and not taking S Club 8 down with them (thanks a lot for that one), naff trance reworkings of old songs (you know who you all are), Rob Dougan's Furious Angels getting ignored again, Pink's Feel Good Time, the Thrills being praised by everyone and making me feel as though I'm the only person who can 't see what the fuss is about, Daniel Bedingfield's slow songs all sounding the same, Westlife for two main reasons - firstly, the accapella bit in Hey Whatever and secondly, for Mandy (enough said), LFO's re-issue of their self-titled song from 1990 not making it over to the UK, TV adverts that are dubbed with English voiceovers (not music related but what the hell), Sean Paul - I'm always wary when singers have to namecheck themselves (see Craig David) and I'm afraid I can't stand Sean Paul's stuff, Dido coming back with more of the same, Busted coming back with more of the same, me giving Mel C a none too hopeful review of Yeh Yeh Yeh (I was right though, straight in at 27 and straight out) and the very next day she knackers her leg on telly (coincidence? I hope so, if that sort of thing's a gift I don't really want it), Mariah Carey's remix album (well, disc one at any rate), Atomic Kitten, Gareth Gates's Say It Isn't So for using every cliché in the book for the song and the video and the Idols video for Happy Xmas (War Is Over) with a grinning Simon Cowell looking on as his latest victims warble away with absolutely no idea of what they're singing (and doesn't the kids' choir just top it all off nicely).
Well, that's what I managed to come up with anyway.
PS. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both my readers! I knew I'd forgotten something.