Now That's What I Call Music! 24

by

Various Artists

Edit

The Now That's What I Call Music series have been around since 1998, when the series first arrived with Janet Jackson, The Backstreet Boys, Fastball, and The Spice Girls. (Do any of those ring a bell?) But there is one thing the series have done and as of today continue doing; releasing tri-annual discs of what we were jamming to the past three months. Today we look at Now's 1 and 2 as "the best of the late 90's", and Now 24 gives us the Billboard Hot 100 charters of the first quarter of 2007.

Most of these songs were indeed hits, which we have to give Now! props on, since Now! complications 12-22 were fairly weak, although volume 19 was a slight step in the right direction, most of them had half and half as far as what were hits and what were on there as filler. And much like Now 23, this complication really has nothing that is truly filler, other than Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On", which is about two discs too late. And if you become picky and look at the charts, you'll probably wonder why Paula DeAnda, Ludacris, and Fall Out Boy didn't make the cut. Otherwise we have the typical Now! CD; divas and girl singers of the moment (Fergie, Rihanna, and Beyonce), pop culture icons of the year (Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, why not just say Timbaland?), your favorite rhythmic artists of the moment (Akon, Bow Wow), the R&B section (Ciara, Omarion, Chris Brown), some of your adult contemporary females that are all underrated (Corinne Bailey Rae, Lily Allen, K.T. Tunstall), and the four or five pop-rockers that are overplayed on mainstream radio (Hellogoodbye, The Red Jumpsuit Appratus, The Fray, Nickeblack, Daughtry, and The All-American Rejects). Really nothing jumps out and says "I'm a filler song and weren't a hit and shouldn't be on here.", except once again Corinne being a little late and Hellogoodbye not being a huge chart-topper. One thing missing on this album is the creme de la creme track that puts the album over-the-top, whether it be a country track (which has been a trend since the 16th edition) or some sort of harder rock track. No, most people buying the CD would careless about the "token track", but it makes the album as a whole stronger and not just a CD with a bunch of songs that if I'd turn it to the mainstream station they'd be playing. Also, it would be cool to hear some newer cuts, like what we are listening to RIGHT NOW, not three months ago, but I suppose that's not what these complications are all about. I definitely cannot hate on this complication, since it's probably the best Now! in the past few years, not including even one filler track. A good CD to keep, especially five years from now you open it up and remember when Timbaland and Timberlake were the two hottest things in the last quarter of '06 and first half of '07. 4.5 stars.

I've never been a big fan of mixes that pull their material from such a wide spectrum, and I will never be able to listen to this CD straight through, but I'm buying this and two other NOW discs for our Juke Box at work (a bar downtown Milwaukee, WI).

For that use - it works well, as customers come and go through the coarse of the night, the style of music played changes. Bad songs are good for a Juke Box (if someone plays them) as they get people off of their stools to play something they like. When the the bar is filled with people of widely different music preferences the Juke is still playing LONG after I'm done cleaning up for the night - HOURS after the last customer was kicked out...

This CD will work well for a Juke Box, but to play straight through at home or in the car it will have limited value - you'll get more milage pulling the songs you like off of it and burning your own mix CD.