Single Releases 14/08/06

Well this doesn't happen very often I must say. Nothing to review inbetween the weekly single round-up. Ah well, something will turn up soon I'm sure of it. For the record though, I'm not buying that Christina Aguillera record yet.

Looking down the list there's some familiar faces this week, and some not so familar faces. So without further ado I'll get to it.

First up is Alesha. You might remember her as the one from Mis-Teeq who had Tourette's syndrome. Lipstick is a track which people "in the know" have been raving on about for ages and I have to admit that it's a lot better than you might have expected. It's a good pop tune, but not a great one in my opinion. But lets face it, it knocks spots off most of Rachel Stevens back catalogue.

I suppose as things goes she's got a bit of competition off newcomer Cassie this week, with the minimalistic Me and U. I had to laugh when Jo Whiley debuted this song on her show but I think I'll save my patented Whiley rant for another day. It's not bad and I'm sure it will be a big hit.

We'll keep things Urban with a bit of Beenie Man feat. Akon and Girls. Mind you the only thing I ever remember about the homophobic idiot that is Beenie refusing to hug Simon Amstell on Popworld. So really I'm not giving this drivel anything more than a cursory glance. Back Like That by Ghostface Killah feat. Ne*Yo is more worthy of consideration, just, and actually does have a nice piano melody thing going on in there.

There is also some BRILLIANT cover versions out this week. Say a big "welcome back" to Chico, that loveable X-Factor rogue, and his unbelievably brilliant cover of D.I.S.C.O. Chico...Disco...C.H.I.C.O...D.I.S.C.O...! See what he's done? Ok, I'll admit it's rubbish.

Less rubbish, of a fashion, is Ronan Keating's attempt at the Goo Goo Dolls, Iris. But what is more frightening, that he recorded it or that it's really no worse than the cloying original. In fact, whisper it, it may even be an improvement.

Chico isn't the only X-Factor reject out this week. Maria Lawson is having a bash with a boring soul(less) number which might give her 15 minutes of fame but little else on this evidence.

Goodness, this is taking a long time this week. But as I've little better to do I'll crack on.

Iron Maiden return this week, sounding, as they do, that little less important than the last time they returned. Credit for the preposterous title The Reincarnation Of Bejamin Breeg for the single though.

At least Iron Maiden were relevant at one point though, which is more than I could really say about Rooster. "But they bring rock to the kids" was the cry when they hit the scene...and then we complain about the sanitised music we get these days! Good To Be Here is everything you would expect; bland, boring, pointless.

I can't make my mind up about The Young Knives. 'Weekends And Bleak Days (Hot Summer) is a case in point. I saw the video and immediately thought "what the hell is this rubbish" but I was still watching it when it finished, so it can't be all bad can it? Still I can't quite "love" this one. Still I prefer it to Worry About It Later by The Futureheads, which is yet another one of their tracks which makes me personally wonder what the fuss about them is all about.

And talking about heavily hyped, the Arcitc Monkeys return with Leave Before The Lights Come On this week. I mean come on, the albums hardly been out half a year and they hit the charts with new material. Sadly it's not all that "new". Could the magic be wearing thin already? Hopefully not, but they'll have to do better than this in the future.

Anyway I've panned nearly everything so far (god, I am a grumpy bugger at times) so let's, at least momentarily, get to some goodies courtesy of The Divine Comedy and Hot Chip. DC's To Die A Virgin should have been the first single off their album being as it is everything you would want from Neil Hannon, and just that little bit more to boot. Hot Chip meanwhile return with Colours which is perhaps a little less chaotic than you might expect from them. Well if you ignore The Boy From School, which was quite mellow as well. Well you get my point anyway. It's good, that's all that matters.

And credit must be given to All In My Head by Good Shoes. A good sparkling catchy tune which you should check out as soon as you can.

Back to the rubbish and let's have a rapid fire round. Morning Runner's Oceans is dull, Always and Forever by Chocolate Puma isn't the Eternal tune and is awful, Love Don't Let Me Go by Egg and something is off that car advert is is pretty pointless and finally Ridin' by Chamillionaire ft. Krayzie Bone does at least have a nice strings section on it.