speeddemon531's Full Review: Now That's What I Call Music! 9
The "Now" series is close to becoming an institution at this point. This 9th volume of the wildly successful compilation series is notable for having a ton of rap songs instead of the usual 1 or 2, but mostly sticks to it;s formula of presenting the top hits of the past 3 or 4 months. Here's a listing of the tracks.
Pink f/Redman "Get the Party Started (remix)"-Good way to start of the CD, and it's also cool that they use a version of this song which has not been released anywhere else. Pink's vocal sounds a little looser and the sample from Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" is kinda cute.
Britney Spears "I'm a Slave 4 U"-Guilty pleasure record of the year. This song is so stupid, but the beat is hot and it suits Britney's voice (or lack thereof) well. (By the way, is it me or does this song sound exactly like "Nasty Girl" by Vanity 6?)
Mary J Blige "Family Affair"-I am so sick of this song at this point, but I'm not gonna haterate or hollerate. You can't deny that it's a great record to dance to. Dr. Dre has turned into one of the great producers in all of music.
Shakira "Whenever, Whatever"-Another guilty pleasure. Shakira's voice sounds like Alanis on crack.
J. Lo "Ain't it Funny"-Note: this is NOT the Ja Rule/Murder Inc. mix. This is the original Latin-flavored version which I kinda like better, even though it sounds a lot like Enrique Iglesias' "Bailamos".
Ja Rule f/Case "Livin' it Up"-How cute...Ja Rule comes right after J. Lo. This is a throwaway track. Ja Rule talks trash for a couple of verses and Case does a bad Stevie impression.
Ludacris "Roll Out"-I hate this song, even though I kinda like Ludacris. Typical Timbaland track. Yawn.
Mr. Cheeks "Lights, Camera, Action"-This is another great dancing song. Again, this track is not lyrically substantial but that doesnt really seem to be the point.
Petey Pablo "Raise Up"-This dude and Mystikal really need to cut down on the caffeine. Another good "hype" song. It keeps people dancing.
From there, the tepo slowly decreases....
City High f/Eve "Caramel"-Ever notice that all Eve's lyrics kinda sound alike? City High's Claudette explains why she's so fly. I must admit, I thought City High was kinda corny (as is everything that originates from Wyclef Jean), but this song is pretty good, with or without Eve.
Nelly Furtado "Turn off the Light"-I like the Timbaland mix of this song better, but the original version is cool too. Am I the only person who sees a slight musical resemblance between Nelly Furtado and Neneh Cherry?
NSYNC "Gone"-Justin Timberlake's finest hour and a dry run for his imminent solo career.
Destiny's Child "Emotion"-I was madly in love with this song until they performed it on "SNL" and Beyonce took over the song. Probably the best Bee Gees remake ever (they wrote and produced it. Samantha Sang was the original artist).
Ginuwine "Differences"-The only worthwhile song this man has made in his entire career.
Backstreet Boys "Drowning"-This saves you if you really like this song and dont wanna buy BSB's hits album for just this one song.
and now for the rock stuff..
U2 "Stuck in a Moment..."-This song got played to death, but I love it. Bono and company pretend to be a soul band from 1974. Excellent lyrics, too.
Aerosmith "Just Push Play"-Just push stop, or skip. This band's best days are obviously behind it.
Lenny Kravitz "Dig In"-I love this song too, even though I'm not quite sure what it's about. Excellent drumming (probably from Lenny himself)
Incubus "Wish You Were Here"-I wasn't impressed by anything on "Morning View" until I heard this song. Chorus is a little too repetitive, though.
Adema "Giving In"-A little too aggressive for my tastes. I'm not a metal guy.
All in all, this, like all the other Now CD's is a pretty accurate sampler of popular music in 2002. This CD may be an even more worthwhile buy because most of these songs are off of cruddy albums that you'd be better off not buying (with the exception of U2, Nelly Furtado and NSYNC). The other problem I have is that some of the artists have been on too many Now CD's. There are plenty of hits on the Universal/EMI/Jive/Sony rosters that could've gone on here in place of artists like BSB, Britney and J.Lo, all of whom seem to be on every single Now release!!
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