via//chicago

Slop From The Pops: UK Pop Chart 02.13.05
ok so i apologize for the lateness of this week's chart look, but it's been a long couple of days since i got back from being out of town and it was difficult to find time to stream the show. but now it's done, and we'll take a look at what this week held in store...

40. "girls" - cam'ron f. mona lisa (last week's position: 25)
39. "object of my desire" - dana rayne (35)
38. "against all odds" - steve brookstein (33)
37. "jailhouse rock" - elvis presley (27)

36. "this will be our year" - the beautiful south (new entry)
i didn't even know this band was still recording, but apparently they are back with some sort of covers record or something, of which this is the first single. if you've ever heard a Beautiful South song before, you may know what to expect ? indie pop goodness with some lush orchestration backing up the dueling male/female vocals. this is pretty though, and keeps bouncy enough to stay enjoyable. this band never really made a dent on our side of the Atlantic, which is a shame.

35. "if there's any justice" - lemar (31)
34. "staring at the sun" - rooster (23)
33. "what happens tomorrow" - duran duran (11)
32. "a fool such as i" - elvis presley (22)
31. "one night" - elvis presley (26)
30. "filthy/gorgeous" - scissor sisters (24)
29. "penny & me" - hanson (19)
28. "la la" - ashlee simpson (20)
27. "it's now or never" - elvis presley (14)
26. "grief never grows old" - one world project (8)

25. "lion rip" - duke spirit (new entry)
here we've got a female fronted ROCK band that i really can't figure out, not because they are bad in any way but just because they remind me of someone else that i can't quite put my finger on. anyway, this is pretty solid straight ahead rock and roll here, with driving beat and passable guitar work. wait, actually i think it just hit me what i am reminded of - this is somewhat like a sweeter, more tame version of Brody Dalle from the Distillers. which is fine by me, as i love Brody's voice... so this is enjoyable enough.

24. "shine" - lovefreekz (16)

23. "the good ones" - the kills (new entry)
nice to see this band hitting the top 40 and especially nice with this song, as its probably the best thing i've heard on the chart so far this week. this definitely fits well within the standard "pop song" structure, but it also stands well outside it with a particularly noisy and disjointed guitar solo that wouldn't sound out of place on a Sonic Youth album. her voice is excellent as well, drawing you in and soothing you as the fuzzed out guitar hopscotches over the beat. pretty frickin' sweet.

22. "do this do that" - freefaller (17)
21. "i just wanna live" - good charlotte (9)
20. "are you lonesome tonight?" - elvis presley (2)
19. "so here we are" - bloc party (5)
18. "boulevard of broken dreams" - green day (21)
17. "breathe in" - lucie silvas (15)
16. "wires" - athlete (12)
15. "hey now (mean muggin')" - xzibit (13)
14. "numb/encore" - jay-z/linkin park (18)
13. "out of touch" - uniting nations (10)

12. "wrap my words around you" - daniel bedingfield (new entry)
um yeah, this song almost completely passed me by without even knowing it was playing, that's just how bland it is. i've never been a huge fan of Daniel, but this seems to be pretty bad even for him. i'd gladly take Natasha any day, and not just because she's far easier on the eyes.

11. "calendar girl" - noise next door (new entry)
this one starts off very promising with the crunching guitars that harken back to glam metal days of yore, but then the someone turns on the acoustic guitar ProTools filter and it's all downhill from there. seriously, we already have a Busted and McFly, is there any reason this band has to exist? at least the American pop-punk contingent seemed fit to let the trend die off after Simple Plan. who do we have to blame this on? Blink 182? Green Day? perhaps, but I highly doubt we'll ever see a late-career resurgence by Noise Next Door on the level of American Idiot or Blink's self-titled album.

10. "goodies" - ciara (6)
9. "galvanize" - chemical brothers (7)
8. "only u" - ashanti (4)

7. "angel eyes" - raghav (new entry)
this is some sort of reggae thing going on here, going for a summertime feel-good vibe that just feels really out of place on this cold February day. the chorus is kinda cool with the "oooohhhHHhh... angel i-i-i-i-ieeeeyyyes", but the beat seems to come from some producer's stock kit and leaves me with a bitter aftertaste. towards the end it starts to drift into some sort of middle eastern thing that just really doesn't fit at all. it's a decent attempt, but one that falls short of the simplicity that made something like "Oh Carolina" a wonderful hit for Shaggy back in the day.

6. "black and white town" - doves (new entry)
another great single by the vastly underrated (at least in America) Doves. very few bands are doing the subtle combination of guitar-based rock and electronica with the consistent quality of this band. this single, however, falls more heavily into the "rock" part of the equation and works quite well. the jangly chorus gives way to a superb guitar solo, just before the song's breakdown. there's just something that keeps this band very exciting to listen to after three albums, something that i don't think bands like Keane will have going for them, and i think that thing is an attention to detail. lovely.

5. "almost here" - brian mcfadden & delta goodrem (3)

4. "soldier" - destiny's child f. t.i. & lil wayne (new entry)
this is a pretty solid DC single, but like "Lose My Breath" it's miles away from the classic stuff this trio (quartet in the best years) used to crank out regularly. the guest verses from the always spectacular TI and decent Lil Wayne save this from complete mediocrity though, as the girls tend to get a little repetitive by the end. nice voices aren't everything ladies, where's the always stunning production of your early singles?

3. "toy soldiers" - eminem (1)

2. "wooden heart" - elvis presley (new entry)
so this week we get the King gone polka, and it just reeks. i've never heard this one before, and i can't say that my life was missing anything at all. unintentional hilarity ensues when the king inserts an awkward pause to fit the rhyme scheme in the "i've got a wood.... en heart" section of the chorus. but wait! now the King kicks it inna German stylee, this could really make this song awesome. nah, it still sucks. but it makes me wonder how awesome it would be to hear all of the King's number ones sung in German. project for the Presley estate with the 2025 reissue singles?

1. "sometimes you can't make it on your own" - u2 (new entry)
well U2 gets their second consecutive number one single with this ballad. i'm completely torn on what i think of this single, basically liking it and disliking it for exactly the same reasons. first of all, this is just as overdramatic and cringe-worthy as any of the band's other ballads over the years ? but at the same time, this is exactly the sort of thing the band does best. really, i don't think this song would have sounded out of place on The Joshua Tree - which i mean as somewhat of a backhanded compliment. that album was, in my opinion the band's highpoint and to have a song nearly twenty years later that sounds like it would fit right in is pretty swell, right? maybe. i mean, don't you think a band such as this should have evolved a little over the years between? all the explorations the band took throughout the '90s resulted in very little, as the band has come full circle back to this sound. but then again, it is U2 and u kind of love them for that. awesome guitar work by Edge either way though.