Now ... Us!

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Now ... Us!
Now ... Us! cover
Studio album by No Angels
Released June 24, 2002
Recorded 2002
Genre Pop, Europop
Length 47:18 (original)
56:58 (re-release)
Label Cheyenne
Producer Tim Brettschneider, Thorsten Brötzmann, Fahrenheit & Kelvin, Leslie Mandoki, Mousse T, Nick Nice, Peter Ries, Royal Garden Sound, Pontus Söderqvist, Sandi S., Syndicate, Daniel Troha
Professional reviews
  • CDStarts 2/10 stars link (German)
  • laut.de 2.5/5 stars link (German)
No Angels chronology
Elle'ments
(2001)		 Now ... Us!
(2002)		 When the Angels Swing
(2002)
Alternate cover
Special Winter edition
Special Winter edition
Singles from Now ... Us!
  1. "Something about Us"
    Released: May 6, 2002
  2. "Still in Love with You"
    Released: August 12, 2002
  3. "Let's Go to Bed"
    Released: November 4, 2002
  4. "All Cried Out"
    Released: December 2, 2002

Now ... Us! is the second studio album by German pop group No Angels, released by Polydor's sublabel Cheyenne Records on June 24, 2002 (see 2002 in music). It was primarily produced by Thorsten Brötzmann, with additional production from Peter Ries, Pontus Söderqvist, Leslie Mandoki, Fahrenheit & Kelvin, and Mousse T among others. The album opened at number 1 on the German Media Control chart, and became one of the best-selling German albums of the year.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Production and title

After a short break from public at the turn of the year 2001 the No Angels members reunited in February 2002 to begin working on their second album in Munich and Hamburg.[1] Asked to contribute own ideas and skills to guarantee a more personal album after fast-recorded debut Elle'ments (2001),[1] each member of the group focused on writing lyrics and melodies on her own - assisted by a wide range of different musicians and songwriters, including Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas, Nik Hafemann, Thomas Anders and Christian Geller. In the end five self-written songs made it to the final tracklist, four of them lead sung by a different member, and Vanessa Petruo-penned "Something about Us" emerging as the album's lead single. While another eleven songs were included on the album, primarily produced by Peter Ries, Mousse T, and Leslie Mandoki, Now ... Us! was eventually named as a reference to the band's own musical input into the album.[1]

The album cut "2 Get Over U" was originally recorded as a duet with UK popstars Hear'Say, and was scheduled to be released as a special Christmas single in December 2001.[2] However, due to Hear'Say's limited fame in Germany (their debut single "Pure and Simple" peaked at number 83 only) Polydor and Cheyenne Records decided to exclude the band's vocals from the song and moved it back to a spring 2002 launch.[3] Although the No Angels premiered the song on the The Dome 21 in Stuttgart on March 1, 2003 and a release date was set on March 18, 2002, "2 Get Over You" was eventually shelved as the lead single from Now ... Us! - in favour of self-written "Something about Us" and its b-side "Like Ice in the Sunshine."[1]

[edit] Release and reception

Media reception for Now ... Us! was generally mixed. Although most professional reviewers praised the band for the include of self-written material and a "less conventional" and more mature pop sound with "major influences of contemporary R&B and soul,"[4] laut.de declared the album as "teen-pop" on "average level."[4] Matthias Eisen from CDStarts cited the album "dissembling ... cheesy and cliched", sharply criticizing the cover songs on Now ... Us!.[5] However, the No Angels' second album became a major success: It debuted on top of the German albums chart, and at number 2 and 4 on the Austrian and Swiss albums chart respectively and was eventually certified platinum and double gold by the IFPI. Now ... Us! ranked twelfth on the German Media Control year-end charts.[6]

Although "2 Get Over U" was still considered to be released as a single at times,[2] Now ... Us! spawned three singles only: The album's lead single, "Something about Us"/"Like Ice in the Sunshine", became the band's third non-consecutive number-one hit on the German and Austrian Singles Chart within a period of sixteen month, but failed to enter the Siwss top ten with a peak position of 11. The second single, "Still in Love with You", reached the top 5 in Germany and Austria, and became the band's first top ten hit since 2001's "When the Angels Sing/Atlantis". By contrast, the single edit of "Let's Go to Bed" ended the run of the No Angels' consecutive top 10 songs in Germany, and charted outside the Swiss 100. A previously unreleased fourth single, "All Cried Out" was included on a November 2002 released Special Winter Edition of the album.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Anchor Your Love" (Oliver Dommaschk, Marco Quast, Kaidy-Ann Morgan) – 3:38
  2. "Something about Us" (Vanessa Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas) – 3:26
  3. "Still in Love with You" (Figge Boström, Johan Lindman) – 3:31
  4. "Push Me to the Limit" (J. Wahls, N. Hafemann, L. Mandoki, L. Bencker) – 3:23
  5. "Say Goodbye" (Sandy Mölling, Celitia Martin, Velroy Baily, Ian Pitter) – 3:37
  6. "Like Ice in the Sunshine" (Holger Julian Copp, Hanno Harders) – 2:57
  7. "Lovestory" (Reed Vertenley, Anders Bagge, Per Astron) – 3:35
  8. "Shield Against My Sorrow" (Jessica Wahls, Nik Hafemann, Leslie Mandoki, Lazlo Bencker) – 3:29
  9. "Autumn Breeze" (D. Dowlut) – 3:32
  10. "Now That We Found Love" (Ulrich Wehner, T. Brötzmann) – 3:34
  11. "Stay" (Lucy Diakovska, Christian Geller) – 4:09
  12. "Let's Go to Bed" (Mousse T., Errol Rennalls) – 3:32
  13. "2 Get Over You" (Sandi S., Tim Brettschneider, Alan Glass) – 3:24
  14. "Lost in You" (T. Brettschneider, Sandi S., A. Glass) – 3:28
  15. "Come Back" (Nadja Benaissa, Daniel Troha, Cal Abate) – 4:02
  16. "Atlantis 2002" (with Donovan) (Donovan Leitch) – 4:01

[edit] Special Winter Edition

(Released November 18, 2002)

  1. "All Cried Out" (Pop Version) (Alison Moyet, Jolley & Swain) – 3:27
  2. "Still in Love with You" (Single Version) – 3:31
  3. "Something about Us" (Latin Radio Edit) – 3:05
  4. "Three Words" (Andreas Romdhane, Josef Larossi) – 3:48
  5. "Let's Go to Bed" (Single Edit) – 3:15
  6. "Say Goodbye" – 3:37
  7. "Lovestory" – 3:35
  8. "Stay"– 4:09
  9. "Autumn Breeze" – 3:32
  10. "2 Get Over You" – 3:24
  11. "Shield Against My Sorrow" – 3:29
  12. "Anchor Your Love" – 3:38
  13. "Now That We Found Love" – 3:34
  14. "Like Ice in the Sunshine" – 2:57
  15. "Come Back" – 4:02
  16. "Daylight in Your Eyes" (Big Band Version) – 3:44

[edit] Credits and personnel

  • Curly Ausmer - guitar
  • Thorsten Brötzmann - keyboards, guitar
  • Laszlo Benker - various
  • Sven Bünger - acoustic guitar
  • Julian Feifel - various
  • Thorsten Fuchs - guitar
  • Stravos Iannou - acoustic guitar
  • B. La - percussion
  • Fan Fan La Tulip - guitar
  • Sami Khatib - various
  • Michael Knauer - keyboards
  • George Kopecsni - various
  • Peter Koobs - guitar
  • Johan Lindman - guitar
  • S.L.O. Warschau - strings
  • Ossi Schalle - various
  • Ingo Schröder - rhythm guitar
  • Berni Schwarz - various
  • Daniel Throa - keyboard, percussion, guitar
  • Peter Weihe - guitar
  • Peter Wölpl - various
  • Stephan Zeh - various

[edit] Production

  • Vocal assistance: James Caldwell, Linda Freeland, Inez Haynes, Franca Morgano, Daniel Troha
  • Engineers: Felix Knöchel, Spok, Mike Streefkerk, Stephan Zeh
  • Mixing: Peter Boström, Jeo, Pit Floss, Nike Nice, Mike Streefkerk, Stephan Zeh
  • Artwork: Ronald Rensberg, Berlin
  • Photography: Benjamin Wolf, Sven Jacobsen

[edit] Leftover tracks

  • "Three Words" (written by Peter Ries) (appears as a b-side on the "Still in Love with You" single) [7]
  • "Since I Found You" (written by Vanessa Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas) (appeared on the Four Seasons Tour setlist) [8]

[edit] Charts

Chart (2002) Peak
position		 Certification
Austrian Top 50 2 Gold [9]
European Top 100 Albums [10] 7
German Albums Chart 1 2x Platinum [11]
Hungary Top 40 65 —
Swiss Albums Chart 4 Gold [12]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Now... Us!. Austriancharts. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  2. ^ a b "Duett der «Popstars»". Netzeitung. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  3. ^ "Hear'Say Ditch X'Mas Duet". MTV Asia News. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  4. ^ a b Now... Us! review. Brainstorms. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  5. ^ Now... Us! review. CDStarts. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  6. ^ Jahrescharts 2002. MTV.de. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  7. ^ "Three Words". Swisscharts. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  8. ^ "Since I Found You". GEMA Search. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  9. ^ Austrian Certification: Platinum. Ifpi.at. Retrieved on 2006-02-03.
  10. ^ "Oasis Has The Right Chemistry At No. 1". Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
  11. ^ German Certification. Ifpi.de. Retrieved on 2006-02-03.
  12. ^ Swiss Certification: Platinum. HitParade.ch. Retrieved on 2006-02-03.
v • d • e
No Angels
Nadja Benaissa · Lucy Diakovska · Sandy Mölling · Jessica Wahls
Vanessa Petruo
Studio albums
Elle'ments (2001) · Now... Us! (2002) · Pure (2003) · Destiny (2007)
Other albums
Singles
Tours
Related articles
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