SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T MAKE IT ON YOUR OWN

U2

Oh dear, they’ve done it again. U2 seem to have this tradition you see, the first single off the album is usually something rather special – some examples for you would include With Or Without You, Desire, The Fly, Discotheque and because I’m generous I’ll even throw in Vertigo, but not Beautiful Day because that really wasn’t very interesting (it’s hardly Match Of The Day either, is it?). Now look at the second singles – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For may be a classic, but I’ve never been that fond of it, Angel Of Harlem is the sort of song I bet only U2 fans can remember, Mysterious Ways – fair enough, I’m give them that one, Staring At The Sun was nothing special and don’t get me started on Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of. This is a worthy addition to the ranks of U2’s mediocre second singles, then. It plods along, deeply, meaningfully, quietly, but it sounds like a tired retread of their older stuff. You know when you go round someone’s house and they put on a CD as background music? This would be perfect for that, because there’s nothing here that requires your full attention. Shame really, U2 are much better than this.

CRADLE

Atomic Kitten

What’s going on here? I thought Atomic Kitten were kaput. First Hanson, now this lot, this is worrying, makes you wonder which other dormant pop bands are going to re-emerge (please, not the Backstreet Boys). I suppose the nicest thing I can say about this is that they’re picking up exactly where they left off. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this stinks so much that if I left it in the garden I fear my cat would try to bury it. It’s the usual mid-tempo pop effort with a few strings thrown in to add a touch of glamour that I’ve come to expect (and dread). It’s for charity, but even that won’t save this from a rapid tumble down the listings. Sometimes the fact that we have the world’s fastest chart is a good thing.

HOUNDS OF LOVE

Futureheads

Yep, the old Kate Bush song (No.18, February 1986). Done with guitars, drums and blokes, so basically any resemblance to the original is purely coincidental. It’s much louder, starts with a bizarre acappella bit that only comes together once the tune starts to kick in and it’s much better than it has any right to be. Beats the pants off Atomic Kitten, that’s for sure.

I'M FROM FURTHER NORTH THAN YOU

Wedding Present

Who’d have thought it? RCA start chucking out Elvis singles like they were going out of fashion (or copyright – I’ll let you start your own conspiracy theory there, though) and along come the band who practically invented the idea. Eighteen singles in eighteen weeks is a challenge, but if the songs have already been huge hits before, then your job’s half done already. Try creating twelve brand new singles and bringing out one every month, now that really is impressive (and they were also on RCA, good heavens). Some bands would quite happily dine out on that for the rest of their careers whilst slowly sliding down the dumper, but I have to tell you – this is great. It’s laid back, slow-paced and it’s the best thing I’ve heard from this band (even including their amazing cover of The Theme From Shaft). In the olden days, guitars would thrash about, the drums would get the living daylights bashed out of them and if you could make out what David Gedge was singing that probably qualified you for a Blue Peter badge or something. Nowadays, things are a lot calmer and the lyrics (about a relationship that started off well but ends up stagnating within six weeks) are down to earth and actually relate to things that really could happen to the likes of you and me – no “ooh baby”s, no “yeah”s and you know for a fact that they’re never going to invited onto Top Of The Pops Saturday, this song is wasted on a show like that. It should go Top 20 at the very least, but things are never that easy.