Chart Review 21st Feb 2005 with DJ Chris Plant (2/2)	(1/2), (2/2).
www.djchrisplant.co.uk

Next up is a single which actually gained momentum during the week as unexpectedly Angel City have a new entry at Number 9. Thus far the group had had three hit singles with the successful formula of reactivating old songs with a new twist. Thus they began by turning Ready For The World's 1980s US chart-topper Oh Sheila into a millennium club anthem with Love Me Right, swiftly followed by a straightforward cover of Cathy Dennis' 1990s hit Touch Me. Both were Top 20 hits but they made the Top 10 for the first time at the end of last year with You Know (I Go Crazy) which mashed up Michelle Gayle's 1997 hit Do You Know with the instrumental noodlings of Robert Miles' chill-out classic Children to land a Number 8 hit single.

Sunrise is therefore actually something of a departure as the soaring pop hit is a totally original track, performed by the group themselves with Lara McAllen on lead vocals as usual. Judging it is actually tricky for whilst Angel City have proved themselves to be more than just a novelty covers act, their own material doesn't really push any pop boundaries even if it is an inch perfect pop record. The single gives them a fourth hit single, their second Top 10 success in a row and nicely heralds the release of their album at the end of the month. What more could you ask for really?

OK now, bear with me for the next bit because this is a bit complicated. Atomic Kitten split up last year, sorry no, they are resting at the moment having rounded off this stage of their careers with a Greatest Hits collection that came out a year ago. Their final single was Someone Like Me, which hit Number 8 in April last year at which point we sat and waited for the inevitable solo careers of one or more of the three girls.

Except that the solo deals have been a long time coming so in the meantime the girls have banded together one last time to keep their names in the spotlight. Cradle isn't exactly a new track, having also featured on Greatest Hits but it now emerges as a single a year later as a one-off charity release in aid of World Vision. In truth it is actually a much better swansong than the drippy Someone Like Me was, a good old put your arms around each other and sing along to the chorus track in a similar vein to If You Come To Me. Despite our cynicism the solo deals are apparently imminent but for the moment the Kittens add a further explanation point to their career as a group with a tenth successive Top 10 hit single.

Continuing their comeback roll are Embrace who return to the Top 20 with Looking As You Are, the follow up to Ashes and which matched the Number 11 peak scaled by that single back in November. The single release comes as the Yorkshire men announce a series of concert spectaculars over the summer that include two nights performing in Leeds' Millennium Square as well as a headline slot at this years T In The Park festival.

A clever marketing strategy has helped this single into the chart (frustratingly missing out on the Top 10 once more), all three formats of the single featuring a brand new b-side common to all and a further new track that can only be found on that particular format. The idea is that die-hard fans will buy a copy of all three (one store even offering a discount to punters who did just that). Hey, in days of depressed sales you have to do all you can. To follow up on some of the themes of the last few weeks, the Top 40 has a little more room to breathe this week with a mere three Elvis singles hovering around (last weeks entry Wooden Heart suffering the biggest fall yet with a 2-24 tumble) but there is still a place in the Top 20 for Out Of Touch, Numb/Encore and Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, the remaining three pre-Christmas hits still holding on doggedly.

Worthy of a special mention at the lower end of the Top 40 is Oxygen, the debut hit single from Willy Mason which makes a good debut at Number 23 this week. Aged just 19, the Martha's Vineyard-based singer has had critics falling over themselves to praise his sound - best described as Queens Of The Stone Age singing Jonathan Richman. Oxygen chugs its way through four minutes of whimsy in search of a chorus that never quite arrives but in a manner that you cannot help buy warm to.

Pop music it most definitely isn't but after having bashed The Game and Angel City for serving up polished records that offer something new, Willy Mason is nothing less than a breath of fresh air. His last (non-charting) single Hard Hand To Hold is actually a better introduction to his sound so don't write him off totally if Oxygen isn't exactly to your taste.

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