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Westlife - 'Us Against The World'

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Fraser McAlpine | 10:01 UK time, Friday, 8 February 2008

WestlifeYou will absolutely never guess what kind of musical direction the 'Life have gone in with their latest 'hot waxing'. I mean there are so many genres to choose from, and Westlife could have picked any one of them. Rock, pop, reggae, soul, R&B, hip-hop, metal, indie, crunk, new rave, dubstep, klezmer...it could be any one of these, or perhaps even something so new it doesn't yet have a name! You never can tell with this lot...

(I'm not entirely sure of the legality of this, seeing as it's an illicit recording of Westlife performing on an ITV TV show, which is now being hosted on a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ blog. Let's see what happens, shall we?)

Well! A ballad! Who knew? And not just any kind of ballad, a ballad about how Westlife are so in love with you that they can climb any mountain, ford any stream, face any trial, and generally perform Herculean tasks to order, having been given strength by your passion for them. How very unusual of them.

OK, OK, slightly overdoing the sarcasm there. And clearly if anyone is going to put this kind of a song out, it might as well be Westlife, because Lord knows their audience doesn't seem to like it if they up the tempo and attempt a little bit of funky with their grandiose balladeering. The boys have got to eat, haven't they?

Furthermore, if they're going to put out another great big wet hug-on-a-plinth of a record, it might as well be one like this, which is un-troubled by mock-operatic grandness or faux-celtic twiddles, and has a proper memorable melody which doesn't immediately make you think of 'Danny Boy' or some other pre-rock 'n' roll standard.

(Having said that, there's something of the Chariots of Fire theme about the first chorus, which explains why listening to it put images of Westlife running in slow motion in my head every time I put it on.)

In fact, by Westlife's normal olde worlde standards, this is a sleek, modern, robo-ballad, and they don't even bother with the key change/jumping off the stool moment. That's how much they're mucking with the formula here, and it's really, really welcome.

That said, it's only Westlife doing another blimming ballad, so there's a limit to how much excitement this can generate.

Three starsDownload: Out now
CD Released: February 18th

(Fraser McAlpine)

Comments

  1. At 12:22 PM on 09 Feb 2008, flossy wrote:

    I think this sounds like Take That's Rule the world!

  2. At 05:53 PM on 09 Feb 2008, katstevens wrote:

    The boys done good. What smashing singers they are! You should have posted the video with all the ice skating going on in the background though, that was awesome.

  3. At 09:49 AM on 12 Feb 2008, JAF wrote:

    Hiya ppl me again
    I think Westlife r okay but their stuff's so boooooooooooooooooooooooooooring. They need to do another direction in musiccccccccccc. Hhaha.

  4. At 02:25 PM on 12 Feb 2008, gem wrote:

    RE: JAF's comment (No.3)

    i think westlife are really good, there are so many that are worse in the charts so lay off westlife

    westlife no1 fan!!

  5. At 02:32 PM on 12 Feb 2008, gem wrote:

    RE: JAF's comment (No.3)

    i think westlife are really good, there are so many that are worse in the charts so lay off westlife

    westlife no1 fan!!

  6. At 02:51 PM on 12 Feb 2008, boggy the froggy wrote:

    This song sucks i hate it
    posted: FRoggy the boggy
    Adreess:Under the sea

  7. At 03:27 PM on 12 Feb 2008, JAF wrote:

    Sorry Gem i didn't mean to offend u. I just think that WESTLIFE are just not my cup of brew.

  8. At 05:50 PM on 12 Feb 2008, Kat wrote:

    Awh, Fraser you just wish you had purdy eyes like Shane!!

    I resent it when the camera switches to someone else.

  9. At 04:04 PM on 21 Feb 2008, steven cordiner wrote:

    I absolutely love this. Why bother starting such a negative blog? Westlife make life so much happier for a lot of people, including me.

  10. At 01:51 PM on 09 Mar 2008, dearbhla arkins wrote:

    i love this song it is amazing especially da video
    no.1 deffo!!!!!!!

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