Album Assessment: Are tattoos forever?

Weekend catch up:

First of all, before I launch into the album reviews, it was certainly the most decent chart in a while on Sunday here in the UK. And actually that topped off what was a pretty decent weekend. Here are some of the highlights and random quotes...

• Darren's xbox 360 got the Ring of Death lights thingy on Saturday. He was not best impressed.
• He did look dead fit later in his figure enhancing FITCH t-shirt he bought on sale
• Hadn't seen Bernice for ages. Finally got to catch up with the little minx on Saturday night. Her life is still the title of Martha Wainwright's second album...
• Refurbished bar at the end of our street played some "banging" toonskis. In a cheesy discopop sort of way - i can't remember when i last heard Steps Chain Reaction, Six Whole Lotta Loving, Bananarama Every Shade of Blue, Alphabeat Fascination and Crush Jellyhead. Freaking marvelous.
• Random quote 1: "Can you believe he is in his forties and has never been tied up?!"
• Random quote 2: "If he's really dirty, try and slip a finger in his botty passage. Not too far, no one wants a brown tinged finger nail"
• Went to a car boot sale on Sunday am. Which really is now more of a farmers market as there were barely any non-professional car boot people there. And honestly, farmers market sounds so much more classier......
• Jonas Bros have achieved fame in the Uk! They entered the charts at 16 - proving that all those people waiting for the new McFly record will not wait forever. Still SOS is quite good I suppose (more on Jonas Bros, Camp Rock and their new song Burning Up later in the week)
• Billiam who clearly now exist purely to be slagged off by Popjustice, entered the charts at 23. My Generation frankly is not the best boyband material out there. However, they have worked hard and are on a tiny new record label so I think the boys done good. Read more of the fabtrashulous Billiam over here...
• Maroon 5 are still lingering on with Rihanna on their collaboration! Hurrah. And it ain't even out properly for a couple of weeks yet...That's my Adam :)

(Check out more and frankly better chart gossip over at Chartrigger)

ALBUM REVIEW ONE: Chris Brown ~ Forever

Chris Brown - MTV awards 2007

L'il Chris (not that one) and Jordin Sparks (more on her below) have been fingering the UK charts for sometime now with a variety of different singles. Thank God they have both finally plunged straight in as they have produced two of the best pop songs of 2008. Or at least within the top 30 (my half year round up coming Sunday!) and they have finally gone from bubbling under to bonafide top ten hits. I think I first became aware of Chris Brown when he dazzled audiences with his dancing skills at the MTV Awards last november (yes, the one where Britney performed approximately 2 bars behind the rest of her crew, so granted, everything looked pretty good compared to that!). I didn't really pay attention to his music though until he was quite rightly championed by Chartrigger and Poppostergirl (where for art thou?) earlier this year. While his album (an extremely bloated 19 tracks) isn't perfect, it has enough cool pop/urban ditties on it to keep me happy for the forseeable future. Here are the highlights:

Kiss Kiss is one of those urban club stompers that just reeks of quality career potential. It's incessantly catchy and deliciously feel good. It so could have done without the T-Pain rap though. Not necessary at all.

Forever (the current UK top 5 smash) is just a perfectly breezy pop song with some aces eurosynth beats, just the right smattering of vocoder and enough urban cool to keep it from being a cheesy boyband effort. No doubt this will be tearing up the dancefloors in Mykonos this summer :P

With You is a Stargate production that is the male version of Beyonce's Irreplaceable. It has an endearing groove, and is a nice change of pace from the synth driven sound of the album thanks to it's reliance on acoustic guitars and strings. Plus it gives Chris a chance to let his vocals shine, and they are as smooth as a baby's bottom after nappy change. Just lovely.

Take You Down sees Chris being more mature and a bit more sexualised than on his first album. It has some groovy electro sounding drum programming and isn't a million miles away from Ciara's Promise. It's not quite a clear cut choice for a single, but it's certainly one of the top songs on the album

I Wanna Be is a lovely ballad that will be perfect for the Christmas market, and probably benefit from his festive contributions to the This Christmas movie he was in last year...

All in all, there are about 8 decent songs on this album, 3 ok ones and the rest perfectly dreadful depending on your musical tastes. Chris certainly has a team surrounding him that picks the best singles and makes him look decent in shirt and tie on the album cover. This isn't the best album ever, but as a career stepping stone for a young developing artist, it will do for now...

ALBUM REVIEW TWO: Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks

Jordin and Chris on American Idol

Ah little Jordi. I pretty much ignored her last year when she beat my lovely Blake in the American Idol final (boo you whore) but she has since won me over with her quite lovely pop singles that she has had the sense to release. Those two key radio friendly tracks have shaken off the Idol spectre and wafted across the Atlantic to give the young idol two bonafide hits. Much like her duet partner on No Air, Chris Brown, her album isn't quite flawless, but again has enough highlights to keep pop people satiated. For now....

• Ignore the dreary obligatory Idol winners song and go straight to "first single proper" Tattoo. I first heard this in Walgreens (classy!) in Vegas and couldn't work out who the loveliness was coming from until the chorus and then I was a smitten little kitten. Again much like Chris' With You, it reeks of Beyonce's Irreplaceable and is carried well by a memorable if understated chorus and Jordin's enchanting vocal.
• No Air is of course the UK top ten smash duetting with pop star du jour Chris Brown. Not since Kylie and Keith has a duet worked so well (some people will think that is sarcasm, but I bloody love that cheesy little ballad) - it positively creeps it's way under your skin and then lingers there until you are completely sucked into the ethereal little tune. A gorgeous acoustic version is floating around somewhere, so be sure to check it out.
• Freeze is probably the riskiest song on a tame album but it works - Jordin's voice suits the darker themed number and is quite a haunting track. It's also a key track in showcasing that Jordin will probably have a career beyond the tween set and reach a more mature crowd. Definitely an album highlight...
• One Step At A Time is a catchy little pop ditty - not outstanding, but now it's a single probably worthy of some beefed up remixes to give it the extra je ne sais quoi that it definitely deserves. Though Shy Boy would have been a more daring choice (though apparently fans hate it) - it is a real club thumper with an electrifying prince tinged chorus, a great hook and lovely understated vocals.

Overall, like Chris' Exclusive, the album is somewhat frustrating. There are some incredibly well crafted pop tunes on there, and then there are dire songs like God Loves Ugly (but i'm pretty sure he wouldn't love that song. Shudder) and the boring beyond belief Now You Tell Me (old lady music at it's finest. Celine would have been better served recording this instead of the shambles that was (not) Taking Chances). Still the beauty of the mp3 age is that you can take what you like and ditch the rest. And that is exactly what I intend to do...

Coming tomorrow: Fizzypop 21 continues and a look at Camp Rock...