World of Chig   

22.1.02

Mon 21/02/02

Today’s purchases:

Single Of The Week: a1– Caught In The Middle.
The boyband is dead – long live the boyband! a1 are attempting a death-defying leap from boyband status to pop credibility, by ditching the dance routines, playing their instruments on TV appearances, and pointing out how much writing they’ve done themselves. I wouldn't like to predict how successful this strategy this will be in the long-term, but this song has lodged itself firmly in my head for the last fortnight, so their third #1 could be in sight. Despite the 'Another Brick In The Wall - Part Two' intro, it's a lovely, catchy acoustic guitar type thing. The big advantage of them NOT leaping around the stage like they're in an aerobics session is that you get to see more of their faces on TV. And with Ben and Christian in the band, that's very pleasing indeed.

One of the extra tracks is called 2:59, although it’s actually 3:10 in length. Ooh, isn’t life confusing? It bears more resemblance to an unheard Robbie Williams single than it does to any track on their first two albums. Reminds me a bit of Into The Valley, and you can’t say that of any previous a1 song. By Jove, I think they’ve done it!

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