Now That's What I Call Music! 52

Skip Ronan, and every track is fine on Disc 1, which includes many dance hits, Scooter, Flip & Fill and Moony are fantastic tracks and finishing up with the inspired cover of Mad'House and the surely an impossibility, S Club 7's "You" manages to be even more cheesy than "Reach".

Disc 2, although doesn't contain many big charting artists, you only need to look at the quality. The sultry Aaliyah, laid-back Reelists and the exquisite "Just A Little Girl" by Amy Studt, which is surely the best song on the album. Some indie music rounds it off including the low-charting but superb Doves track "Pounding". Well worth a buy and if you get Hits 53 as well, you've got everything.

My review of Now 51 was the most read, so thanks you guys.

Starting off with some huge number 1 singles from Ronan Keating and Liberty X, we then progress onto George Michael's Freeek! - this was good when released but would have been better off on Now 51 - it was after all the same week as Blue's Fly By II which made the album. We then get some dance pop with Sugababes and Kylie Minogue, Enrique Iglesias, Sophie Ellis Bextor and S Club Juniors. The rest of CD1 is filled with glorious dance, and what a beautiful experience listening to it is. We finish with S Club 7's You, which is again from the Now 51 period, but why not have it as a bonus - after all there's room on the disc. Now we move on to...

CD2. Atomic Kitten, Britney Spears... and loads of cool R&B! Ashanti, *NSYNC and the hugely underrated Reelists stand out as the pick, but it's all wicked! We finish with the alternative approach i.e. indie, rock and a bit of diverse dance from Moby. Mission complete!

Overall, this is a brilliant compilation from the best compilation series of all time. At first glance it does look like a disappointment, but they seem to have included some kind of magic which makes it perfect listening pleasure! I also love the way it explores more diverse genres - Shy FX from Drum & Bass as a prime example.

A lot of the tracks (listed above) which got missed off are in fact available on the awesome Hits 53 (out 29 July 02) which I will be buying as a brilliant partner to this - it has a higher proportion of pop compared to:
Pop - 29%
Dance - 36%
R&B - 21%
Rock/Indie - 14%
on here.

To finish off with, a couple of oddities the Now! series seems to be repeating recently:

1. Including tracks from the previous volume's selection period and even those from the same week as some on the last album - George Michael (same week as Blue on Now 51), Shy FX and S Club 7.

2. Releasing the CD with the pre-release tracklisting plus one song (S CLub 7 here).

Here's to 52 more blissful volumes!

The CD kicks off with big chart smashes from Ronan Keating and Liberty X and on the first half of CD 1 contains other huge hits from Sugababes, Kylie, Enrique and Sophie Ellis Bextor as well as the inspired choice of Freeek from George Michael and the dreadful S Club Juniors. The rest of the CD is taken up mainly by dance music which is not entirely to my liking but most of them have been large hits so this is understandable and includes Scooter, Paffendorf, Flip & Fill and a catchy cover of Madonna's Like A Prayer.

CD 2 starts with big hits unsurprisingly, this time from Atomic Kitten and Britney Spears before heading into R&B music which can get a little tedious but there are a few great tracks from *NSync, Ashanti and Nelly. The CD then takes a turn for the better with possibly it's best quarter with some rock songs including big hits from Oasis and Puddle Of Mudd as well as some great choices in the Doves' Pounding and Idlewild's American English as well as I Would Die 4 U by Space Cowboy.

Now 52 may not have the biggest hits which is unusual but if you buy this with Hits 53 then you get basically all the hits of the last 4 months. A good cd though not great which is improved but the great end to disc 2.