| Pop Idol: The Big Band Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by various artists | ||||
| Released | 2002 | |||
| Recorded | 2002 | |||
| Genre | Big band | |||
| Label | Sony BMG | |||
| Producer | Stephen Lipson | |||
| Pop Idol chronology | ||||
| ||||
Pop Idol: The Big Band Album is a compilation album featuring big band songs recorded by the final 10 from the first UK series of Pop Idol . [1] [2]
The album was inspired by Robbie William's big band album Swing When You're Winning. Zoe commented "we've all listened to it and it's really brilliant music". In regard to having the chance to create an album in the same genre, she added "it's fantastic to be able to get in front of a live band and have them behind you while you're singing!". [3] The album saw 10 finalists singing big and songs "accompanied by the full big band orchestra, 'The Big Blue'." [4]
The album received negative reviews, with many blaming the unsuccessful experiment on the recent big band Robbie Williams album Swing When You're Winning that reinvigorated the genre.
NME gave the album a rating of 3/10, commenting "Anyone whose idea of a treat isn't a tin of Quality Street, however, knows exactly what they should do to this low swing. " [5] Entertainment.ie said "Blame Robbie Williams for starting the craze, if you like - but at least Sing When You're Winning had a certain amount of gaudy style. This is just plain cheap." [6] The Guardian concluded "One goodish track out of a dozen, then. Annoy Simon Cowell - boycott this nasty little cash-in." [7] In an unusually positive review, UKMix gave it 4/5 stars, " On the whole, this is a very good album and will make a nice change to your CD collection. I would recommend it to anyone who isn't a total rock snob!". [8]
Robert Peter Williams is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His discography includes seven UK No. 1 singles, and all but one of his 12 studio albums have reached No. 1 in the UK. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the UK, with two of them in the top 60, and he gained a Guinness World Record in 2006 for selling 1.6 million tickets in a single day during his Close Encounters Tour.
Swing When You're Winning is a swing cover album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, and his fourth studio album overall. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2001 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
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The first series of British reality television show Pop Idol was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom during the winter months of 2001 and 2002. The show was a singing competition open to people aged between 16 and 26 years old, with the winner receiving a £1 million recording contract to release their debut album. Pop Idol received ratings of as high as 10 million viewers for shows before the live final.
Pop Idol was a British television talent show that ran for two series, in 2001 and 2003. The show was produced for ITV in a reality television format and aimed to unearth a previously undiscovered singer who could become an international success. Will Young was the winner of the first series and was awarded with a £1 million music recording contract. Young became the most successful contestant with a series of top-five hits, including his debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen", which peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2002 and broke chart sales figure records. During the next seven years he recorded two further number-one singles, while two of his four albums were number-one in the UK Albums Chart. In the second series, Michelle McManus emerged victorious. Her debut single "All This Time" charted at number one in January 2003. Her second single, "The Meaning of Love", charted at a peak of number 16 and an album of the same name reached number three in the UK Albums Chart.
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