Will Young

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Does NOBODY have anything to say about this? OK there was a damp squib of a thread shortly after the result was announced, but his single is said to be the UK's fastest-selling ever. Surely that means something...

"Evergreen" sounds a bit like a lot of songs we've heard over the last few years, but (importantly) it's better. I don't know who wrote it but they pulled out all the stops for this one.

Another thing just struck me today after watching the video. The show is called Pop IDOL, which could suggest graven images...alternatives to Jesus.. Is that pushing it? But there's something about the video which hints at this. And his appearance on the final, celebratory edition of the tv show had similar echoes. The audience seemed like a congregation (gathered to give praise, but not just to Will - he's more like an offering to an unseen god...again I'm reminded of Jesus, God's Son and all that).

I suppose this has all happened before with Pop/Rock singers (it was depicted well in the film "Stardust"), but it doesn't often catch the public imagination on this scale. And I think it's subtly different this time because Will Young has emerged in a particular way. You know...as The Chosen One.

― David Inglesfield, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

C'mon, That'll Be The Day was loads better. Stardust was as bloated as its subject (not Dave Essex, but pop circa 1975). And the point about the song (which is, fair enough, pretty good considering, and better than the entire works of Louis Walsh's stable) is that it could just have been easily been the debut single of Gareth Gates, or Desperate Darius, or Hayley, Zoe or Rosie, or Fat Rick even. I gave up on Pop Idol for the last few weeks, as it was clear that none of the contestants possessed the slightest ounce of true star power (a rare gift to be sure, but something unconnected with competence), and I reckon that Will got the title simply for having a reasoned argument with Simon Cowell- i.e. talking back to the boss in a way most wage slaves respected, which elevated him in the public's eyes and made him unexpectedly trustworthy. Which is refreshingly prosaic. Don't get too worked up about the 'idol' word. It's been applied to solo stars for a long time now (and let's not forget that an icon is the picture on the wall that Orthodox peasants traditionally genuflect to. Jim McLean was driven mad by success, but Mr Young seems to have been elected for his down to earth qualities. Offerings to gods tend to get sacrificed, not worshipped. Does anyone remember the 'Big Brother' cast these days (except those of us who watch kids TV and DiY shows)?

― Snotty Moore, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Cathy Dennis wrote it and it's shit. But if he is the chosen one then the queue to nail the fucker to a plank of wood starts here.
― john-paul, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jim McLean was driven mad by success
Not convinced, when he lost it with that BBC journalist I suspect the fear of failure was uppermost in his mind.

As for young Will, well I'm sure he's a nice guy and is good to children and animals, but for fucks sake how much longer must we put up with this bland, anodyne, vapid tosh polluting the airwaves. I've heard this song a number of times and I still can't remember what he sounds like and I couldn't hum a single bar if you paid me £50.
― Billy Dods, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

as it was clear that none of the contestants possessed the slightest ounce of true star power (a rare gift to be sure, but something unconnected with competence)
I think he may have lasting appeal in a Cliff Richard mould (but not smug in the way that 'Cliff' has always been). He sings beautifully and has personal charm. That probably isn't what you mean by star quality though.
― David Inglesfield, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

End bold . Wow it worked. (Either that or I look mighty stupid right now).
― powertonevolume, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

End bold?
― powertonevolume, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ahh, f@~#, I give up.
― powertonevolume, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

let me have a go

― David Inglesfield, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I thought 'Evergreen' had already been a Westlife b-side or something...

― Andrew L, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah it is the other side (Anything is Possible) thats written by Cathy Dennis, Evergreen is an old Westlife album track written by that Scandanavian hit factory Cherion. The writing credits list Jorge Elofsson, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger, the only other Cherion related bloke I know is Max Martin (Baby One more time) but I think there were several others.

I can't recall any actual critical discussion about Cherion either here or elsewhere. Just looked them up on Google and found a site www.cherion.se which claims it closed as an studio a while ago. It still feels like a hit factory unit even if it is now several units, the site doesn't really say if it is still a functioning entity. Its a great site though and it does confirm there are several other producer/writers involved.

Why is nobody interested in these people? Am I being too 'Mojo Reader' in actually knowing and caring who wrote the song? Sorry, I like pop music, but I can't stop being a trainspotter.

btw: I think evergreen isn't ideal for Will, but remember it was chosen at a time we all thought it would be Gareth who would win.

btw2: The idea of Gareth releasing Unchained Melody is a terrible one by the way, it might sell well, but I dunno if will help establish him long term in the way a new or at least unknown song would. I would suggest he covers The Sweetest Girl, updating the originals gimmicky primitive drum machine with a slightly glitchy whirring drum playing (thats glitchy like recent Madonna, not like Prefuse 73 or Kid 606). Actually he would do a lovely version of that wouldn't he? Throw in a very soft acoustic guitar break after the 'now I think to myself' bit.

In fact I like the sound of this so much I feel like writing to Gareth and asking him to do it.

― Alexander Blair, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

btw: I think evergreen isn't ideal for Will, but remember it was chosen at a time we all thought it would be Gareth who would win.

He does a pretty good job on it though.

Presumably there must exist a version of it with lead vocal by Gareth (that will never see the light of day).

Why is nobody interested in these people? (Cherion)

1. Because they're Swedish (and therefore 'Euro' - how many people actually thought Abba were cool in the 70s). Sometimes a name will get elevated above the rest and acquire a credibility in Britain and the US that everyone else is denied (eg Max Martin now, Giorgio Moroder in the 70s).

2. There are so many writing/production teams operating in very similar ways now.

3. Because chart pop is always ignored. I think there was almost zero critical interest in SAW in the 80s (apart from hatchet jobs when their profile became too high to ignore). It always ends up being a re-evaluation/'rediscovery' thing years later.

― David Inglesfield, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm very interested in Cheiron. If I was a working pop journalist with time to do research I'd be really keen to write a sympathetic piece. I'm interested in how they all used to play in rock bands, and I'm interested in Denniz Pop, and the 'closure' of the set-up and how actual it is.

I'm not really interested, yet, in Will or Gareth. As a reality TV phenom sure a bit from a distance but they need to record a song which makes me go 'yeah!' before I'll really get into them.

― Tom, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

WARNING V.ROCKIST SUGGESTION FOLLOWS: couldn't cathy dennis and betty boo et al try writing songs which more directly addressed the sitches gareth etc are finding themselves IN thanks to their reality-TV ambitions and struggles — which yes yes wd just as well after all function as figures for "real life" lovelorn gran-viewer pain blah blah...

― mark s, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

haha re "lovelorn gran", i originally wrote "lovelorn teeny" then remember this is NOT in fact the prime demographic of sat-eve TV, and swapped in a more plausible target only forgot to remove a key word. What do lovelorn grans like to listen to? Where is Gale when we need her?

― mark s, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

All old people are lovelorn, its one of the great enevitables and why us old people hate you young people.

Not sure a song about the reality TV phenomenon from the inside would be any good, it might just sound like a whinge fest like Pink Floyd complaining about the music business on Wish or The Wall.

Fame, Fame, fatal Fame, it can play... etc.

Whats worse, a song about how terrible it is to be a famous millionare 'alone in the spotlight' or a rock pig shagging on the road song saying how great it is to act like an irresponsible child and treat other people like lackies?

― Alexander Blair, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

OK, it's the first single ever to sell a million copies in its first week (previous record: Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas", 750,000, December 1984), has outsold everything else in the Top 40 *combined* and is apparently already the 58th biggest-selling single ever in the UK.

You could tell how *immense* it was by the way Mark Goodier was treating it as an inevitability that Young would enter at number one, in a way I can't remember since "Candle In The Wind 1997".

― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mark Goodier attitude partly to do w/ PopIdol being an ITV thing and Will appearing in person on the Commercial Radio chart rundown and not the Beeb's Top 40 show? (Just asking - didn't hear either)

― Jeff W, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually, I what's really more interesting than the first week sales (The UK charts have been getting increasingly affected by record company front-loading in the past few years, so it's not really that much of a surprise. I mean, Hear'say did pretty well in their first week, but they're not exactly setting alight the charts at the mo.) is the stories already circulating regarding Will Young apparently wanting to shrink from the spotlight. (eg growing a beard to shake off fans, and todays story in one or two tabloids about refusing to appear on TOTP- though if that's true, I'm sure they'll do a filmed "live" spot somewhow. ) If this is a Pop Idol (Assuming what Fuller/Cowell & co mean by "Pop Idol" is what we think it means.) then apparently he's a rather reluctant one...

BTW Someone has mentioned "Pop Idols" before (ie me!!!), although in a more general manner. See this thread here.

― Old Fart!!!!, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually, I just saw Will on the TV this morning- does anyone think that this chap has got a bit of a superficial resemblence to Sean Maguire? Either that, or Will's really not wanting to play the fame game, and he's employing Sean as a stand-in!

― Old Fart!!!!, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The TOTP fuss is down to Will's people wanting the Beeb to allow him to perform both sides of the (AA) single, and the Beeb saying no. There is a short list of bands who have been allowed to perform more than one tune on the same edition of TOTP - I can think of The Ramones (cringeworthy Goodier-fronted prog circa '91?) and possibly Oasis. Any more?

― Michael Jones, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Erm, the Manics ("Why So Sad"/"Found That Soul") and the Jam ("Town Called Malice"/Whatever the B was called) spring to mind...

― Old Fart!!!!, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The first band to play both sides of a single on TOTP were the Beatles, playing "Rain" and "Paperback writer" on 16th June 1966 (I only know this date as it's my band mate's date of birth - Hi Paul K!), the next band were Jam doing "Town called Malice" / "Precious", then it was Oasis doing "Cum on feel the noise" and "Don't look back in anger". If Will thinks he's anywhere near in this class (and I don't consider the latter two to be in the same class as the Beatles) then he's got another thing coming. But just how DULL would a TOTP be with TWO Will Young songs on it be? All this stuff in the papers today about being the first "In the country but not allowed to perform" is crap as well - are you telling me that when Frankie were at #1 with "Relax" they were out of the country? Don't think so. Selective memories are so much fun.

― Rob M, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Will Young's single is bobbins but it's been bought by more people than any first week single ever and as it is a double A-Side it seems fair to let him play both, considering. ESPECIALLY when you think that the Manics got the chance to - I remember seeing them do it and feeling bloody cross, and a bit vindicated when the singles in question went in at #8 and #9. Basically Pop Idol was on ITV and the BBC are narked.

Top of the Pops shouldn't have an 'editorial policy' anyway, barring making sure the No.1, the highest new entry, and as many other new entries or climbers as possible are on it. Ideally nobody should do two turns in a single show. But once they've let one band perform twice they can't be high-handed about the practise.

― Tom, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, now there's something else to talk about...

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 9 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

wasn't there a week when the beatles had 10 singles in the US top 10 and, 15 in the US top 20? that wd have been a boring totp (if totp was done in the us) (and if the beatles weren't great) (note apostasy of rhizomatic reichsman)

― mark s, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But come on Ned, Will is only telling us something we'd already guessed anyway, so it's hardly the most shocking piece of news. Let's face it, when Ali G goes on live radio and accuses Will of being gay, it's not like it's going to surprise anyone. Will it do his career any damage? Probably not. Will anyone care? Probably not. Does it matter? Of course not. Now, will he do "Outside" as his second single?

― Rob M, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

A whole Cathy Dennis songwriting discography is on the mike schiller site, http:///www.mikeschiller.com/CathyDennis

― Jason Seigel, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I mis-typed that link

http://www.mikeschiller.com/CathyDennis

― Jason again, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

I'm not sure there's been a thread specifically about the (good) new Will Young album.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Saturday, 10 January 2004 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

It is very good, isn't it? Very understated and very English, he seems to have found his perfect niche as the male Dido (but without the wallpaper voice which ruins her songs). And the nine-minute closer! With the flute solo! "Very Kind", "Leave Right Now" and "Love The One You're With" are my favourites.

Veers into Simply Red territory too often though, he needs to stop sounding like Mick Hucknall.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I like "Stronger" a lot too - otherwise OTM. I'm not sure he's quite got a handle on the uptempo ones yet though, "Love The One You're With" aside. The only really awful one is track 10, I forget the title.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Mid-tempo seems to be Will's forte as his track record with the full-on ballads isn't great. I can't remember what track 10 is but it tails off in a big way towards the end (until the flute solo rescues it in the last stretch).

I think Alex Parks will go down the same route for her first album proper, though with Annie Lennox rather than Dido as inspiration (and if she's capable of something as amazing as "Maybe That's What It Takes" she could well trump Will, too).

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Shifting my lazy arse towards the pile of CDs reveals that Track 10 is "Out Of My Mind"

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I have absolutely no recollection of it, and don't know which pile of CDs it's in :(

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Leave Right Now is still the total standout track on the album. (oh if only he had sung this on world idol!) Your Game is nearly as great, then i like Friday's Child, Stronger and Free. there are quite a few horrible ones though (Love the one you're with, dance the night away, Out of my mind).

he looks great on the Leave right now video. sigh.

― lid, Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

that was an x-post.

i think i also don't like Love is Matter of Distance. But i keep humming it, so maybe i do.

Don;t you guys like Your Game? i think it's the next best one after Leave right now, fer sure.

― lid, Saturday, 10 January 2004 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard the album but I adore "Leave Right Now"; it may be fleshed out by its unintended context (ie Antonia Forest's death rattle) but it's a great song in and of itself, with exactly the right feeling and atmosphere to it.

anyone who thinks Will Young sounds "very English" (in the public school sense) clearly hasn't heard Peter and Gordon, though - one of several reasons why I'm really looking forward to Tico's take on "A World Without Love" when Popular reaches 1964.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Saturday, 10 January 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Video to "Leave Right Now" = ROWRRR, he's wearing the tightest t-shirt I've ever seen.

Robin - if I like Will Young's public school English thing, will I like these Peter and Gordon people?

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 19:18 (twenty-two years ago)

where does sophie ellis-bextor fit in all of this?

psst, in the latest Heat: picture of Will frowning, sans t-shirt and airbrushed to perfection.

― lid, Saturday, 10 January 2004 21:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Mmm I'll make a date with my newsagent tomorrow for sure.

Sophie E-B... I like the idea of her a lot, but since "Groovejet" the only song of hers I've liked is her cover of "Yes Sir I Can Boogie". She has a great voice and a fantastic ready-made image but somehow always ends up singing bland anonymous disco. I still think some tapes got mixed up last year and Emma Bunton ended up with the songs Sophie was meant to have, because "Maybe" and "I'll Be There" are fantastic and EXACTLY the sort of numbers Sophie should be doing.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

A Sophie E-B and Will Young duet would be GREAT though! Because both do the restrained middle-class English thing but in very different ways, and I'd guess they'd complement each other very nicely.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Problem with Sophie is she writes her own lyrics. And they aren't very good, usually.

Bunton's a strange and wonderful case. It seems like someone has spotted a blank canvas and decided to project their ideas for fantastic pop songs on it, knowing that no-one would obect, no-one would see it coming and no-one would expect it to work... magic. But it should be S E-B, so true, so true...

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

William OTM abbout La Bunton, and the thing is I don't even know if people associate her with the Spice Girls any more - there must be kids buying her stuff who think she's just some new popstrel on the scene. They did it when she first left the Spice Girls too, "What Took You So Long?" was luscious... which means that she is quietly up to three quality solo songs, wow. No, four - she covered "What I Am" as well and made quite a good go of it!

She doesn't even look out of place in the new video, which is in black and white, set in Paris and features French SUBTITLES which tell an actual NARRATIVE. This is all very strange and rather wonderful.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Ed O has one up on his blog right now that is good too:

http://enthuse.blogspot.com

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

And searching for Bunton on Soulseek throws up:

Emma Bunton - What I Am (Gangstarr Remix)

Hmm.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't she do "What I Am" with Tin Tin Out?

I'm very excited that the song on Edward's blog is called "Crickets For Annamaria", but it is a strange file which isn't an mp3 and I cannot play it, Luddite that I am :(

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:53 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a zip file. D/l it then unzip.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Er... "unzip"?

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Right clik, 'extract all'.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 10 January 2004 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't find any such option but I've found it on Soulseek - and from your email address it appears I've found it from you!

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 10 January 2004 23:00 (twenty-two years ago)

NO WAY! bunton's songs should stay bunton's. She has this really romantic/hopeful quality to her voice, whilst SEB's is kinda one-dimensional and cold. just imagine "What Took you So long" being sung by SEB, it'd be all disdane-y and "how dare you make me wait around, you insolent little man".

the Bunton does look stunning in the new video.

― lid, Sunday, 11 January 2004 01:45 (twenty-two years ago)

It does seem that Bunton has stumbled into a career that she doesn't really have the voice nor personality to back up, though.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 11 January 2004 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex - Peter and Gordon's immaculate pronounciations on "A World Without Love" make Will Young sound like Wiley. it's a product of its time, of course (recorded 40 years ago this month) - young people just don't speak like that now, anymore than Wiley or anyone else in grime speaks like Tommy Steele, and the fact that we think of Will and Sophie as "posh" is a sign of how levelled out things have become (I've always thought there's something very vaguely quasi-Australian about SEB's voice, but I can't say what it is - whatever, in 1964 it would never have been regarded as it is today).

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Sunday, 11 January 2004 04:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Quasi-Australian? Egads, maybe that's why I love SEB so - though I do not hear it. Will Young's album is fantastic - "Your Game" just hits straight and true, funky and emotional, very swinging. There's something so out of place having this kind of music in the charts at the moment - that said, Leave Right Now may have been designed as a 00s take on Careless Whisper-style things, but perhaps the fact that it sounds pulled out of 20 years ago will hurt its chances of being remembered as fondly as it deserves.

(Emma Bunton's album is fabulous too)

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 11 January 2004 10:18 (twenty-two years ago)

the fact that we think of Will and Sophie as "posh" is a sign of how levelled out things have become

Yes, I was thinking about this last night - Will and Sophie aren't stereotypically posh, they're stereotypically middle class - merely posh in comparison to a lot of other pop stars (Girls Aloud to thread).

(Bunton's "Crickets For Annamaria" is mind-bogglingly good)

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 11 January 2004 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, you might want to take a chance on the new SEB album - the second half really is very good, and quite idiosyncratic almost in a Kate Bush circa Lionheart sort of way.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 11 January 2004 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Surely "posh" is a operative term though, relevant to the person saying it, and as such the "posh" are those who are "posher" than you (see Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads for a better explanation).

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 11 January 2004 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

This is one of the few threads I have ever started..and a great example of how useful a delete button (for one's embarrassing posts) would be on here. I'm a bit surprised that Will Young is doing so well at the moment because he seemed to be on the way out (the album launch campaign was relatively low-key). I've only heard 'Leave Right Now' which is ok but didn't particularly move me. Bunton's 'Maybe' I championed from the off. It is a classic, no question. Who is writing/producing her stuff? I totally agree with lid: SEB doing that particular song just wouldn't work because she always projects a slight cynicism/disdain, never complete abandonment to naive romantic feelings (at least not in what I've heard). She is cool in her own way, of course.

― David (David), Sunday, 11 January 2004 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

he has begun exaggerrating his lisp recently, no?

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Robin - I downloaded "A World Without Love" and it's wonderful! And yes despite the shows Will up for the peasant he is it's definitely reminiscent of "Leave Right Now" et al (or, er, the other way round).

Alex, you might want to take a chance on the new SEB album - the second half really is very good, and quite idiosyncratic almost in a Kate Bush circa Lionheart sort of way.

SEB as Kate Bush?! I suppose they're both, again, very obviously middle-class and English, but I can't see SEB ever being quite as blue stocking as Kate. I will give it a try though, as long as it doesn't all turn out like "Mixed Up World".

I want to know who the evil genius behind Bunton is too, there's clearly a Big Idea behind this set of songs and it's one which no one else is really doing at all right now (maybe Alizée? If she was grown up? That's the closest parallel I can think of).

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 11 January 2004 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, if you want to test first search "The Walls Keep Saying Your Name", "You Get Yours", "I Am Not Good At Not Getting What I Want".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 12 January 2004 00:33 (twenty-two years ago)

"A World Without Love" doesn't show Will Young up as a "peasant", it shows him up as being of a different generation - his relatively classless voice is the norm among people who've gone to public schools over the last 15 years or so. like I said, it's no different to the vocal relationship between Tommy Steele and garage MCs. Peter and Gordon were something like the posh Herman's Hermits - they were more popular in the US than the UK and they had a number of hits there which played up to the public-school image (caution: one of them, which I haven't heard, was called "Sunday For Tea"). as with the Hermits' "I'm Henry VIII I Am", "Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" and "Leaning On A Lamppost", they weren't released in the UK because they could rightly sense that people here would laugh at that sort of thing, and that pop music here was mainly about an escape from it (indeed, a key part of the mid-60s British pop scene was public school people becoming entrepreneurs promoting US-modelled pirate radio stations, anticipating the full-scale abandonment of old public-school values in favour of American-led commercialism which has swept through the middle class since the upsurge of Thatcherism).

edward - as far as I can tell "Leave Right Now" is inspired by "Careless Whisper" through one remove, in that it reminds me very strongly of Take That's "Back For Good", which was universally likened to George Michael's opus in 1995.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 12 January 2004 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)

You might be right, Robin - there's definite common ground between Leave Right Now and Back For Good - (though Will Young's middle eight is much better) - and outside the core of pop lovers, something as brilliant as Back For Good is remembered with a bit of a sneer (rather than being acknowledged as the artistic high-point of an admittedly commercial entity), cf Careless Whisper which is a pop landmark.

Or maybe it's different in the UK.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 12 January 2004 09:18 (twenty-two years ago)

"Back For Good" is pretty widely admired in the UK, I think - it was certainly The Take That Single It's OK To Like among non-pop-lovers, cf "I Want It That Way" for the Backstreet Boys, etc.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 12 January 2004 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Quite why the non-pop-lovers didn't take to the fantastic "Never Forget" too though I'm not sure.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 12 January 2004 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

One wonders whether the long-term view of Leave Right Now will be what I think Back For Good has or what you think it is. As far as I'm concerned, it's the second excellent reality-TV pop album, from an earlier part of the reality phase, and its future reputation may work better in the light of the dross that surely seems to be coming from that field.

I'm genuinely curious as to how much of its classiness is down to outside writers or if any of it is down to genuine songwriting nous on Will's part, though.

(I'm a pop lover and I hated Never Forget - killed ANY goodwill I picked up toward TT!)

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 12 January 2004 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, one wonders what possessed whoever okayed the sequencing to open with a cover version - they were brave enough to wait four tracks before putting the single in (pre-Mp3s doubtlessly many people got conned into buying front-loaded albums through exposure on listening booths where you might only sample the first four or five songs) - and when this album is almost a grand statement of independance from the pop idol machine, this is either hedging the bets with a known quantity, or a lack of confidence in Will's own songs, which seem to be just fine.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 12 January 2004 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Will only co-wrote 3 or 4 of them.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 12 January 2004 10:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but they're by no means the weaker moments either, so opening with a cover seems odd.

"Free" sounds like Meshell N'degeocello's version of "Who Is He And What Is He To You?".

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 12 January 2004 10:36 (twenty-two years ago)

seven years pass...

I love this new single, it's very "Smalltown Boy" and the video is really good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MHtrM-jf9o&ob=av2e

― ha ha ha ha jack my swag (boxedjoy), Friday, 19 August 2011 13:16 (fourteen years ago)

love this.

― Gukbe, Thursday, 25 August 2011 22:45 (fourteen years ago)

i never thought in a million years that i would like this but i do. kind of lovely.

― teledyldonix, Friday, 26 August 2011 18:03 (fourteen years ago)

ten months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzFpF8xWVtQ

ooh hello

this is p dope

― r|t|c, Friday, 6 July 2012 13:05 (thirteen years ago)

what's this all richard x produced album saying, anyone heard it

if it's all budget george michael i'm kinda piqued

― r|t|c, Friday, 6 July 2012 13:08 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

just picked up the richard x produced album in local charity shop.

had it playing.

teenkind comes to eat, during one song he asks : 'dad, is this the weeknd ?'

was not happy when i told him the reality ..

one spin in : well worth a charity shop purchase.

― mark e, Thursday, 28 May 2015 16:52 (ten years ago)

Yeah, Echoes is a really great album. Jealousy and Runaway are the best songs he's done.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 28 May 2015 16:55 (ten years ago)

"jealousy" is so lovely. haven't heard the whole album tho b/c it didn't get released in the states :\

― dyl, Thursday, 28 May 2015 16:59 (ten years ago)

i love 'jealousy', when it opened the album i grinned from ear to ear as i had no idea it was 'that' song.

― mark e, Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:02 (ten years ago)

an unknown fact by me : drums by bloke from regular fries.

― mark e, Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:06 (ten years ago)

It's strange they never tried to launch him in America. I would have thought Leave Right Now would have been a hit here.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 28 May 2015 18:04 (ten years ago)

bizarrely, "leave right now" actually did see an american release and charted here in 2010, seven years after it came out elsewhere, because it was chosen as the exit music for american idol that season. they put out an ep w/ that song and a few of his singles from his earlier albums around then too.

― dyl, Thursday, 28 May 2015 21:12 (ten years ago)

and not a word about the newest album?

― boxedjoy, Friday, 29 May 2015 12:26 (ten years ago)

I've listened to his new album but it didn't do a lot for me. It seems Love Revolution was a bit of a risky single choice to lead this album as it's done absolutely nothing.

― Kitchen Person, Friday, 29 May 2015 19:43 (ten years ago)

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