Now That's What I Call Music! Vol 54

We are presented here with another generous and sweeping reflection of current musical genres, from a series that just keeps getting better and better.

T.V. Reality shows are well represented. Darius, Zoe, Ainslie, Sinead and David, plus the sublime Liberty X, not to mention a very creditable first single from Kym Marsh are all here.

R & B, the other growing musical trend, is covered by Nelly (with Kelly Rowland or Justin Timberlake), Justin on his own with his brilliant first solo single, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Cam'ron and friends, Beanie Man and Punjabi MC.

Established acts also get a look in - Robbie next to Oasis (now there's a thought!), Melanie C, Coldplay and a welcome chart return from Erasure, too.

Dance acts are here, the series facination with Scooter continues and DJ Sammy pops up too with Jamieson and Divine Inspiration meaning the genre is not neglected, and more of that in a moment.

The growing use of pop music in TV ads. is also noted with the inclusion of the Mock Turtles for a mobile phone company, and THE dance anthem, and my personal favourite, of 2003 so-far from soul veteran Oliver Cheetham and Room 5 P>Possible collectors' items are the inclusion of the penultimate S Club single and the first from an alleged pair of Russians lesbians. I can't help but think that t.A.T.u. might just have raised a few eyebrows nearly 20 years ago when Now 1 first saw light of day.

All-in-all, a well-rounded compilation, that never fails to hit the spot whatever your current musical tastes.

Here's to Now 55, and, looking further ahead, to December of this year when it's the 20th anniversary of the first of the series reaching that coveted Number One spot.

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CD 1 starts out with smash hits from TATU, Justin Timberlake, Nelly & Kelly and Liberty X, then we get some nice dance pop from Room 5 (from the Lynx advert) and Junior Senior, and then a huge collection of pop hits including Girls Aloud, Busted, Sinead Quinn, Atomic Kitten and Blue. Next up is a bit of R&B/Dance from Jay-Z & Beyonce and Jaimeson, then the disc finishes up with some more pop from S Club, One True Voice and more.

CD 2 is largely indie and ballads, starting off with Daniel Bedingfield, David Sneddon, Robbie Williams and Oasis. Then some more indie (Turin Brakes, Coldplay...). Then for the R&B, with Cam'ron, Nelly & Justin Timberlake etc. Halfway throught the disc we get some lovely dance (one of the biggest highlights of the album for me) with Panjabi MC, Scooter, DJ Sammy and Divine Inspiration. The album concludes with more indie from the likes of Mock Turtles (from the Vodafone TV advert), Counting Crows and Massive Attack.

Overall the CD is excellent, with few bad tracks, but there are still so many more awesome ones it missed:
Eminem, Blue & Elton John, Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent, Jurgen Vries and CMC, Love Inc, Pink, Gareth Gates, Will Young etc. etc.

However quite a lot of these can be found on Hits 55 - a great accompaniment to Now 54.

So, despite all the ones it missed, I still give it 5 stars simply because there are so few bad tracks, and so many good ones.

To finish up with, a couple of general observations:
1. This album features both Popstars: The Rivals bands, and the biggest two from Fame Academy.
2. It seems to be a new idea to put an old band's new song on Disc 2 - on here it's Queen, on Now 53 it was Status Quo!!

Thank you for reading my review! I am listening to the CD as I write this and it is absolutely amazing - really and truly one of the best Now CDs in years!!

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