While not as exciting as last week, this week, as well as the next few, offer some pretty good singles releases as well as a great volume of the perennial greatest hits collections that hit stores this time of year in advance of the holidays.
Leading the pack are a trio of second releases from major artists' latest albums. Justin Timberlake follows up "Sexyback" with "My Love." Covering more accessible and traditional pop/R&B territory for him, "My Love" is slinky, sexy pop, similar to his 2002 hit, "Cry Me a River." Will the UK embrace this as easily (and quickly) as the US did? My guess is 'yes.' Also following up an uncharacteristic release, in this case late summer's "Rudebox," Robbbie Williams offers "Lovelight," a lovely, upbeat mid-tempo retro piece of funky pop that wouldn't have sounded out of place coming from Jamiroquai. Christina Aguilera follows hyperactive "Ain't No Other Man" with fornlorn power ballad "Hurt." It's a lovely song, and although Aguilera can't resist punching those sharp chorus notes, she does show some restraint as well.
Snow Patrol will have a tough time following the single of their career, "Chasing Cars." They've chosen strange ballad "Set the Fire to the Third Bar," a surprisingly choice in my mind. It starts out as quiet and understated but gets quite dramatic as it goes on. Good, but doesn't hold a candle to "You're All I Have" or "Chasing Cars." Orson mines their album for a fourth single, "Already Over," which is pretty good, but like Snow Patrol's, not as good as what preceeded it.
Finally, Oasis has released an EP with a handful of tracks from their forthcoming greatest hits. The one getting airplay is "The Masterplan," a fan favorite and unreleased title track from their collection of B-sides. It's a great song--clearly should've been a single in 2000--and stands beside songs like "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall" as embodying the classic Oasis sound.
My ratings: Justin Timberlake (4/5), Robbie Williams (4.5/5), Christina Aguilera (4/5), Snow Patrol (3.5/5), Orson (3/5), Oasis (4/5).
The big album of the week is the return offering from the All Saints. Studio One features their current hit single, "Rock Steady," and from listening to the preview clips, many hits to come. Simon Webbe offers his sophomore effort, Grace, featuring "Coming Around Again," and Jack Black's band Tenacious D, releases its second album, The Pick of Destiny, a tie-in to the forthcoming film.
Greatest hits collections dominate the rest of the new releases. The biggest of which is the Sugababes' Overloaded: The Singles Collection. It includes two new tracks--current single "Easy" and "Good to be Gone"--along with 13 of their 16 singles, smartly jettisoning three of their less memorable releases.
The other two releases are a bit of a head scratcher. In 1998, Depeche Mode released two separate collections of singles, that included the remastered single versions of all of their singles in chronological order from 1981-1985 on the first release and 1986-1998 on the second. It was the perfect move for casual Depeche Mode fans as well as the more dedicated ones, since their singles often drifted from their album verions.
In contrast, the new release The Best of Depeche Mode, Vol. 1, is neither chronological nor comprehensive. It doesn't even include all of the new tracks released since the 1998 collection; the only single included from Exciter is "Dream On," and then only two tracks from Playing the Angel, "Precious" and "Suffer Well." There's a new track, current single "Martyr," and then 14 of their older singles, all of which were included on the 2-disc 1998 releases. These are, however, their biggest and best-known songs, so this would make a good first taste of the band, but to anyone else it is unsatisfying.
The other one is even more baffling. George Michael also released a 2-disc greatest hits offering in 1998. Although not comprehensive, nor chronological, it included most of his major releases and even some rare cuts and B-sides, as well as three new tracks. Since 1998, he's released only one album to score any singles--Patience--all six of which can be found on TwentyFive. The collection spans two or three discs depending on which version you buy. The two-disc version features faster tracks (labeled "For the Living") on one disc and the slower ones ("For the Loving") on the other (similar to how his last collection's discs were titled "For the Feet" and "For the Mind"). A third disc, "For the Loyal," includes cuts from his 1999 covers album and the other seven tracks from Patience. Yes! all 7 of them. The entire Patience album, save for the short closing cut, is included in TwentyFive. The only saving point here is that he's included four of the Wham! singles, though that excludes some really big ones. And "I Want Your Sex," which was missing from the 1998 collection (it included a remix), is still missing here.
Finally, Enya offers an unnecessary re-release of last year's Amarantine, now with a second disc of four Christmas tracks, including her take on "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
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