I'LL NEVER STOP

N'Sync

Thankfully, the song does.

WE WILL ROCK YOU

Five + Queen

As boy bands go, Five are absolutely the best. They're more inventive (anyone who samples the theme tune to Battlestar Galactica deserves respect), they actually seem to be real people instead of identikit teenagers bunged in a group of four or five others and told to strike a pose at a given moment and they don't sound like everything kiddiepop in existence, churned out by the same factories that spawned Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and N'Sync. Yes, N'Sync, that's why your review's so short. If you can't be bothered to put the work in, neither will I. Anyway, the single. I think you can guess what you'll be getting. It's actually good, inasmuch as they genuinely will rock you, although not quite to the extent that the old Queen would. A definite result.

IN BLUE

Corrs (album)

Corrs! Huh! What are they good for? Well, nowadays it's sanitised rock, that's what. When they first reached the Hit Parade with any impact at all, it wasn't their distinctive folk/rock sound that did the trick. No, my huge and loyal army of readers (greetings to you both), it took a remix to make them big. The next few singles were also remixed and they too did great guns. Then some bright spark decided to remix the album because that's always a good idea. Slowly but surely, the musical styles that the Corrs had used pretty successfully for their career to date was being stripped away, which is annoying because whilst they're not my personal favourites, it was different and it made them stand out from other bands. So here we are at That Difficult Third Album (Proper) and it's all gone horribly wrong. A gentleman by the name of "Mutt" Lange has produced this and I'd say the nickname's about right as I think I've been sold a pup. The sound that made the Corrs the Corrs has virtually vanished (be fair, it does reappear in time for the last track) and replaced with songs that sound like they could've been offered to Shania Twain or indeed almost any female American rock singer. Bland, dull, forgettable driving rock with precious little personality, that's what you get here folks. Every band has to evolve, but right now it appears the Corrs are going backwards. Worrying.