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10/31/03
It's not technically the 31st on this side of the world...but...
Happy Halloween! Get lots of candy...but don't get fat eating it =)

1st review: Turnaround
Made by the Daily Record
[with my edits in brackets]

We've had an exclusive first listen to Westlife's make-or-break album Turnaround, out on November 24. After dumping Simon Cowell, the boys chose the following 13 tracks themselves:

Mandy: Latest single, out on November 17, a cover of the Barry Manilow ballad. The fans will love it. 6/10

Hey Whatever: The ballad boys went rock it only got to No.5 [um...any fan would know that it went to #4...but that's still not #1, sigh]. Nuff said. 6/10

Heal: A Euro dance beat doesn't save a weak track. 6/10

Obvious: Another ballad in the Westlife style of epic, soaring vocals. Wellproduced and well-sung. 7/10

When A Woman Loves A Man: A Bonnie Tyler-style intro on piano but not as good as Percy Sledge's When A Man Loves A Woman. But for fans, it's what they do best. 8/10

On My Shoulder: Another ballad, with a slow hip beat adding an edge. 7/10

Turnaround: Westlife go dance. With those swirly synths, it could be The Thompson Twins. 8/10

I Did It For You: Back to the ballad-by-numbers that gave them 11 No.1 hits. 6/10

Thank You: More dance beats, crunchy guitars breathing new life into Westlife. The spaceship noises let it down. 6/10

To Be With You: Dreadful lyrics. This cover of Mr Big does them no favours. 5/10 [as someone who grew up in the early 90's, I don't think anyone could do a cover of this song any justice, but I have heard a live version, and it ain't bad enough to give them a pathetic 5/10]

Home: Westlife trying to be Seal without the tricks. Mid-tempo song with more spaceship-sounding synths. 5/10

Lost In You: ``Heaven knows I'm head over heels and it shows'' again bad lyrics and more ballad by numbers. 5/10 [except for the fact that the song is a Garth Brooks original song...thus it's another remake]

What Do They Know: Almost like a lul-laby with some nice Spanish guitar. 8/10

Christmas odds

William Hill are quoting the Pop Idol 12 at 4/1 to dominate the Christmas charts by having both the Christmas Number One single AND album.

Said William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe, 'Although the Pop Idol people seem to think the John Lennon classic track was called Merry Christmas ,War Is Over, which it wasn't, it should still be a racing certainty to top the charts and the album is sure to shift shed-loads.'

The Pop Idol single, Happy Christmas, War Is Over has been installed as 1/2 favorite to top the Xmas chart by William Hill who also offer 6/1 The Darkness; 10/1 Avid Merrion; 12/1 Cliff Richard; 16/1 Alex Parks; 20/1 Bill Nighy; 25/1 Blue/Stevie Wonder; Sugababes; 33/1 Justin Timberlake; Westlife; 40 Kylie Minogue; Elvis Presley; 50/1 Eminem; 66/1 Basil Brush.

Guess Westlife isn't slated fo a #1 Christmas #1..hehe.

Children in need concert

More than 8,000 tickets were snapped up in two days for this year's Children In Need concert at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Westlife will be joined by Simply Red for the special concert on Friday, November 21.

A host of other stars are expected to fly into Belfast to play for Pudsey. As soon as hotline numbers for the gig were broadcast on television earlier this week, phonelines were jammed with callers keen to attend the show. Last year's concert featured Lulu, Simply Red, Six and Robin Gibb.

During the day Radio Ulster will be geting into the party spirit with a special outside broadcast from the Odyssey Pavilion from 9am to noon, presented by John Bennett and Gerry Anderson. Hugo Duncan will be continuing the build-up to the big night, broadcasting his show from BBC Broadcasting House from 1.30pm to 3pm, followed by George Jones and his now annual on-air auction which runs from 3pm to 5pm.

Anna Carragher, controller of BBC Northern Ireland, said: "We are delighted with this wonderful line-up of stars joining us for what we know will be a great night out for all the family."

10/23/03

Westlife arrive in Hong Kong

The boys just finished radio interview with Metro Radio of HK. They are in HK for their "SARS concert". As mentioned earlier this week, MTVAsia will also be meeting up with the boys.

Meet and Greet type session for 10/24

click here for the brochure and pic

10/19/03

Westlife.com contest

Turnaround Fan Conference contest. Submit a question to ask Westlife. 50 winners will be chosen and they can each bring a friend to meet Westlife in person in London on Nov 17, 2003. Deadline is Nov 3, 2003.

DVD tops charts

Westlife's greatest hits DVD enters UK music DVD chart at #1, selling more than 7x as much as the #2 DVD.

MTVAsia - Ask Westlife

The MTV Ask team will be meeting up with Westlife in Hong Kong on October 25, 2003. They will pick the best questions and have Westlife answer them on MTV Ask!

click here

Westlife on "Turnaround"

from Sunday Mail (10/12/03)

Westlife have sold more than 30 million records, notched up a record-breaking seven successive UK No 1s and are millionaires into the bargain. How does that make them feel? Happy? Confident? On top of the world?

No, the answer is dead nervous. Pop's biggest boy band are terrified their phenomenal five-year run of success could be about to end. The Irish lads Bryan McFadden, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan release new album Turn Around on November 24.

As they gave the Sunday Mail an exclusive track-by-track preview, they admitted it could be the beginning of the end unless they take a few risks. Kian told me: ``This is a turning point. We've got to succeed with this record. After we released our greatest hits album, Unbreakable, last year, many people thought that was it for Westlife. They didn't think we were coming back. We know that if Turn Around isn't up to the standard of previous albums we're in trouble.''

Mark added: ``We've achieved record sales of more than 30 million. Nobody can take that away from us. The only pressure we have is to sustain that success. If we don't we'll be nothing more than a big lump of meat to a bunch of vultures. There are people who'd love to attack us. We're only human. Of course we worry about the day all this ends. We're hoping this album will keep Westlife going.''

Nicky said: ``We all share the same goals. We're never happy being No 2, we want to be No 1. We want to be headliners. The main attraction. The best. Bands have started to challenge ourposition. It's more difficult for us to get a No 1 record than it was three years ago.''

Westlife are locked away in a London recording studio putting the finishing touches to Turn Around. Last Monday, they broke cover to launch their latest DVD, The Greatest Hits Tour Live from MEN Arena. They talked to me frankly about fame, money and trying to sustain their amazing success.

Turn Around features a selection of new tracks including their next single, Mandy, a cover of the cheesy 1971 Barry Manilow hit. The idea came from their record label mentor, Simon Cowell of Pop Idol, and it's already being tipped as a Christmas No 1.

Other key tracks are I Did It For You, written by superstar songwriter Diane Warren, a U2-style track called Here and a version of Garth Brooks' Lost In You.

Nicky said: ``Our manager Louis Walsh and our record company BMG say we can become the next Bee Gees. I don't think so. We can only be a boy band for so long before our popularity fades. It's time we tried different songs and took a few big gambles. It's time to be more courageous. Robbie Williams is a perfect example of a pop artist who takes risks. We should do the same.''

Kian added: ``We've got to be careful if we make a change. It's when acts switch from what they do best that it can all go wrong. Look at Celine Dion or Mariah Carey. They both lost what they had when they tried to be a bit more credible and cool. We sold out 67 shows in the UK last year. You can't turn your back on what has made us successful. If another boy band comes along and improves on what we're doing that's when our popularity will fizzle out.''

It's hard to imagine Westlife's shelf-life coming to an end. At 25, Nicky is the oldest member of the group. But if the lads were forced into premature retirement, financially they'd be set up for life.

When I asked them: ``Are you rich?'' the answer was an unequivocal ``Yes.''

``We're rich beyond our wildest dreams, '' said Nicky. ``It's a brilliant feeling. When you're 17 and still atschoolyouthinkof all the things you could buy if you were a millionaire. Then when you're in this situation you don't feel rich. We couldn't buy a cheap house in some estate not because we're snobbish but because we'd constantly have 1000 kids camped outside. So we're forced to buy expensive houses with security. You have to spend twice as much on a place whether you want to or not.''

Kian added: ``We're all millionaires but it happened slowly. When the big cheques came rolling in we looked at them and thought: `Wow!' ``But we'd had seven UK No 1s before we began to see our first big money. Our biggest extravagance is cars. We've got Ferraris and BMW 4x 4s. We do live it up to that extent.''

But handling pots of cash took a bit of getting used to. Nicky told me: ``I remember goingtoseemybankmanagerin Sligoand got a loan of £16,000 to buy a Peugeot 306 and another £5000 on overdraft for insurance. I didn't make that much money with the band for another two years. We'd been told we'd signed a multi-million pound record deal. I thought we'd won the Irish Lotto. It just goes to show how naive we all were. In the end, I sold the car to cut my losses for £3000 less than I bought it.''

Westlife are planning a tour next year to perform the songs on Turn Around. Andthey can't wait to return to the SECC for a string of gigs. Their last visit to the Glasgow venue was certainly eventful.

``We'd just come off stage when two girls burst into our dressing room, '' recalled Shane. ``We were sitting in our boxer shorts, half naked, covered in sweat. We thought: `What the hell are they doing?' Our wardrobe mistress was screaming at them because they were trying to nick some of our clothes as souvenirs. It's great to have lots of women scream at you. But it's hard to take it seriously. We feel that if girls queue up, spend their money on a Westlife ticket we should give them what they want.''

But just how long can Westlife keep up this phenomenal level of success and adulation?

Kian said: ``We've learned our trade both on stage and off. But we're mature enough to realise that if any one of the five wanted to quit we wouldn't stand in his way. If anybody said: `I don't want to be in Westlife anymore, ' we wouldn't force them to go on. We'd shake each other's hands, walk away and in 10 years time still remain good friends.''

10/11/03

Blue on Westlife

The group, who release a new single, Guilty, on October 20 and a third album next month, also spoke of their "utmost respect" for fellow boy band Westlife.

And they dismissed any suggestions that the Irish band, who failed to reach number one with their last single, were washed up.

Anthony said: "I tend to measure success by album sales. An act can have a number one single, but their album might be rubbish. Westlife are great at what they do and they have had such wonderful success with their albums. Blue would love to be in their position. People try to compare us with them, but we're two different bands. But we have the utmost respect for them and I reckon their last song, Hey Whatever, was one of their best so far."

"Hey Whatever"

Falling rapidly down the UK charts...now at #19.

UK Christmas #1 odds

The Darkness are second favourites for the Christmas No 1 single spot - behind the as yet unknown Pop Idol winner. The rock band have already recorded their Christmas single, (Christmas Time) Don't Let The Bells End, and filmed a video featuring spear yielding natives and crocodiles.

William Hill make The Darkness the 5-1 second favourites for the Christmas No.1 single - just behind the Unnamed Pop Idol winner at 3-1. The unnamed winner of Fame Academy is at 7-1, Justin Timberlake and Girls Aloud are both 10-1, Busted are 11-1, while Westlife, Robbie Williams and Alex Parks are all 12-1.

After the runaway success of their album Permission To Land, Hills also have The Darkness in their Album betting at 9-1. Joint favourites for the No 1 Christmas album are Dido and Robbie Williams at 5-1, ahead of Westlife at 6-1, The Darkness, then Kylie Minogue and Gareth Gates at 10-1.

Westlife at Royal Variety Performance

Opera star Luciano Pavarotti is to headline this year's Royal Variety Performance. The tenor will perform in front of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at the 75th anniversary event hosted by Cat Deeley.

He will share the bill with Daniel Bedingfield, Busted, Westlife, Gloria Estefan, jazz star Jamie Cullum and Donny Osmond.

Amanda Holden and Maureen Lipman will perform a number from their upcoming West End musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. The Royal Variety Performance will be held at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre later in the year and is being broadcast on ITV.

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