MUSIC BITS ‘N’ BEATS
By your host Takis Haggiandreou

Week of 01/10/2012 - 07/10/2012

This week’s Top 5 UK/US

UK

(1) Hall of fame (Script/Will I Am)
(2) Say nothing (Example)
(3) Gangnam style (Psy)
(4) Let me love you (Ne Yo)
(5) Blow me (one last kiss) (P!nk)

US

(1) One more night (Maroon5)
(2) Gangnam style (Psy)
(3) Some nights (Fun)
(4) We are never ever getting back again (Taylor Swift)
(5) Blow me (Pink)

(3) One Year ago….. Top 5 UK/US

UK

(1) No regrets (Dappy)
(2) Moves like Jagger (Maroon5/Christina Aguilera)
(3) What makes you beautiful (One Direction)
(4) It girl (Jason Derulo)
(5) I won’t let you go (James Morrison)

US

(1) Moves like Jagger (Maroon5/Christina Aguilera)
(2) Someone like you (Adele)
(3) Pumped up kicks (Foster The People)
(4) Party rock anthem (LMFAO/Lauren Bennett/Goonrock)
(5) Lighters (Bad Meets Evil/Bruno Mars)

5 Years ago……..Top 5 UK/US

UK

(1) Beautiful girls (Sean Kingston)
(2) Ayo technology (50 Cent/Justin Timberlake/Timbaland)
(3) Hey there Delilah (Plain White T’s)
(4) Stronger (Kanye West)
(5) 1973 (James Blunt)

US

(1) Stronger (Kanye West)
(2) Crank that (Soulja Boy)
(3) The way I are (Timbaland/Keri Hilson)
(4) Big girls don’t cry (Fergie)
(5) Ayo technology (50 Cent/Justin Timberlake/Timbaland)

© This and that

……. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Official Singles Chart, every weekend throughout September, our good friends at MTV have been counting down some very special Top 60s. Today at midday, they will be revealing the Top 60 biggest selling singles of the 21st Century which debuted at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart.

Pop Idol winner Will Young leads the charge with his 2002 double A-side single Anything is Possible / Evergreen being crowned the biggest-selling debut single of the 21st Century. In its first week on sale, it sold a staggering 1.1 million copies, and has shifted nearly 1.8 million copies to date.

Will’s fellow Pop Idol finalist Gareth Gates is at Number 2 with his version of Unchained Melody, which was made famous by The Righteous Brothers in 1965, and later Robson & Jerome in 1995. Gareth’s version, which was also released in 2002, sold 850,000 in its first week on sale and has sold over 1.3 million copies to date.

Shaggy's 2001 smash, It Wasn't Me, FT Rikrok is in third place, Peter Kay's 2005 reworking of Tony Christi's Number 18 1972 hit Is This the Way to Amarillo? Is at Number 4. 2008 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah completes the Top 5.

You can view the Top 10 below, but be sure to tune into MTV at 12 (midday) today to see the full Top 60 countdown!

01 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN WILL YOUNG
02 UNCHAINED MELODY GARETH GATES
03 IT WASN'T ME SHAGGY FT RIKROK
04 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY
05 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE
06 WE FOUND LOVE RIHANNA FT CALVIN HARRIS
07 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS BAND AID 20
08 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD KYLIE MINOGUE
09 JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (AMAZING) BRUNO MARS
10 THAT'S MY GOAL SHAYNE WARD

…… Legendary singer Andy Williams, known for his smooth voice and classics such as "Moon River," died after a year-long battle with bladder cancer at his Branson, Missouri, home Tuesday night, his family said.
Williams, 84, began his singing career as a child in a quartet with his brothers, but he rose to stardom as a solo act starting in the 1950s.
"The Andy Williams Show," a weekly television variety program that ran for nine years on NBC starting in 1962, and a dozen TV specials from 1959 through 1987 made Williams a household name in the United States.
He spent the last 20 years of his career performing on his own stage at his Moon River Theatre in Branson…..RIP…

(D) CD Spotlight

“Babel” by Mumford & Sons

It’s been three years since Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More" ignited many to debate if an album so gigantic could possibly be authentic. The British foursome went double-platinum with their affinity for folk music and all its rootsy, suspendered trappings. The group roved the globe in support of their debut, performing all the record's chestnuts and sometimes getting antsy enough to test-drive new tunes on audiences. While songs like "Ghosts That We Knew" and "Lovers' Eyes" rang strong in performance, "Babel" (Sept. 25) showcases those strengths precisely harnessed in the studio with producer Markus Dravs (Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Bjork), the same engineer behind "Sigh No More."
The sophomore LP dials Mumford's volume knob several distinct notches past the place it's sat for the last three years. "Babel" reveals a band happy to remain entirely Mumford - although a larger, smoother Mumford, offering fresh nuances and textures while emboldened by the promise of the initial mission. The group is still skyrocketing into success, and these four gentlemen are in a powerful creative zone as they pack another album with sing-alongs.
Marcus Mumford, now 25 years old and newly married to actress Carey Mulligan, sounds stronger and more convinced of himself. The percussion remains a low throb below the earnest string-based songwriting. The guitars are richer and more vivid. The banjo continues its pluck into pop culture's curious eye. The bombast is clearer. "Babel" is not the wheel reinvented; it's the wheel in HD.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Born and raised” by John Mayer.

John Mayer's mouth has gotten him in all sorts of trouble over the years. His music? Not so much. "Born and Raised," Mayer's fifth studio album, follows four successful full-lengths, all of which have reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200. Sadly, "Born and Raised" is the first album the musician will not be able to support live, at least for the time being: Mayer is currently struggling with a throat condition called granuloma, and canceled a planned spring tour earlier this year.

On his latest, the singer, songwriter, guitarist and (increasingly) harmonica player works with Grammy Award-winning co-producer Don Was and a small, tight ensemble that features Chuck Leavell (the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton) on keyboards, while Chris Botti, Sara Watkins, Jim Keltner and Greg Leisz make guest appearances. It's one of Mayer's most diverse and exploratory albums yet, trying on a variety of different styles to accompany a set of particularly reflective and soul-searching tunes.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Rize of the Fenix” by Tenacious D.

Jack Black and his music-making mate Kyle Gass start their third album by dealing with the fact the world wrote them off following their "bomb" of a second album, The Pick of Destiny, from 2006.
"The critics all agreed it was a stinky pile of chee," sings Black on the title track, accentuating the words as if he's bringing them up from the depths of his substantial wee belly.
"But," he snares cheekily, "one thing no one thought about was that the D will rise again ... just like the Fenix, we'll f****** rise again" Of course, he sings this in his best Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) wail which is accompanied by a fearsome Maiden-style gallop. And then, pow, it breaks out into a Who-meets-AC/DC rifftastic rock 'n' roll celebration. Meanwhile, the third section of the four-part mini epic has heartfelt ponderings about what would happen if Tenacious D were dead ("What will we do about all the fans who have the D tattoo?").
But the D ain't dead. They're back, with Dave Grohl on drums again, in all their acoustic, metal, and comedic glory.
There's the ridiculous rhymes of Roadie, which they played when they supported Foo Fighters at Western Springs last year, the All My Life-like headbang of Low Hangin' Fruit; the hick, thigh-slapping hoe-down of Rock Is Dead and the synth-powered power metal of To Be the Best are two late highlights.
So it's a rock 'n'roll hoot and with moments of filthy hilarity, which is all one really needs from the D.

(D) CD Spotlight

‘California 37” by Train.

Train were the comeback kids of 2010-11, saved by San Francisco, a ukulele and a soul sister. "Save Me, San Francisco" put the Bay City trio back on track after some mid-decade commercial, personal and business-side doldrums, all through the magic of their monster hit "Hey, Soul Sister." Now the group seeks to keep that, er, train rolling with "California 37," its seventh studio album overall and a set of tightly crafted, richly arranged pop songs. Produced by Espionage and Butch Walker, the album is filled with references to pop culture, romance and mortality -- and, in the title track, to haters who "didn't think that Train could ever roll again."
"You were the fuel that I used when inspiration hit a dead end," frontman Pat Monahan tells 'em, exulting that " 'San Francisco' got it done" -- and allowing Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood and himself to find some different muses, and musical directions, this time around.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Love is a four letter word” By Jason Mraz.

The universal message that led to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" being the longest-running Billboard Hot 100 hit ever was one of the biggest inspirations of his newest record. "The success of 'I'm Yours' really woke me up to the power of songwriting and how it can affect many peoples' lives. How words can empower an individual. When I sing that song, I watch audiences turn and sing it to each other. That they're choosing to put those words in their own mouths, and give themselves or their time to someone else and sing 'I'm yours' that they won't hesitate anymore and this is it," he tells Billboard.com. "That was a powerful, powerful experience. I wanted to continue that experience with this album."
And his newest album, "Love Is A Four Letter Word," draws inspiration from this amongst other themes. Despite seemingly falling out of it by calling off his engagement with fellow singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman, Mraz focuses his album on the concept to "celebrate love in a way that all of us strive to be loved and to love well. And love itself is such an extraordinary word that we use for so many things. We put a lot of pressure on that word, as soon as 'love' shows up in a relationship amongst friends, we put a lot more pressure on what that relationship means. But really 'love' shows up through our actions and how we help others and how we serve others."
Yet don't think the fans had nothing to do with this album. In fact, Mraz adds that they played a big role in choosing the final tracks. "I should really give all the credit to my career to fan support," the crooner adds. "I want to know which songs fans can see their own selves in the work. And that's important to me. And then of course being out on tour is the best because you start playing songs and of course the songs immediately end up on YouTube so you get to the next city and you can tell who's been watching and paying attention to the YouTube because people start requesting songs that they're becoming aware of.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Up all night” by One Direction.

Along with their boy band counterparts/friends/pseudo-rivals The Wanted, U.K. group One Direction has helped revive a left-for-dead genre of pop music by capturing the fancy of their native country in an incredibly short time. After finishing third on the British version of "The X Factor," Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson inked a deal with Syco Records, released their debut album, "Up All Night," in the U.K. last November, racked up over 100 million YouTube views for the music videos for the album's first three singles, and defeated artists like Adele, Jessie J, and Ed Sheeran at the 2012 BRIT Awards when "What Makes You Beautiful" was named Best British Single.
One Direction's popularity is growing, and with the March 13 U.S. release of "Up All Night," the boys have set their sights on the States
Let's get this right out of the way: first single "What Makes You Beautiful" is the real deal.
The song may not have earned its win over Adele's "Someone Like You" at the BRIT Awards, but One Direction's smash hit is as endlessly playable as "Bye Bye Bye" or "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)," and as unstoppable as its 65 million Vevo views suggest. As the first song on "Up All Night," "What Makes You Beautiful" leads a front-loaded effort -- its first three songs have doubled as its first three singles in the U.K. -- that can make the debut album feel a bit top-heavy. Themes of innocent romance are constant throughout "Up All Night," but tracks like "Gotta Be You" and "More Than This" hit a mark more smoothly than songs like "Everything About You" and "Taken."

(D) CD Spotlight

“Scars and Stories” by the Fray.

(D) CD Spotlight

Lana Del Ray ‘Born to die”

So: is it any good? Well, at 15 tracks, it's as puffy as the singer's oft-debated lips. Many of the songs tread the same lyrical territory (good girl falls for bad boy, or vice versa; variations on lines like "kiss me on my open mouth" and "take your body downtown" are used throughout), and the noir production from hip-hop vets like Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Jay-Z) and Emile Haynie (Lil Wayne, Eminem) starts to sound stale on late-album cuts "Million Dollar Man" and "Lolita."
But perhaps that's only because the highlights (title track "Born To Die" and the viral hits "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans") have already become veritable anthems for the Hype Machine circuit by today's short attention-span standards (it's worth noting that Lana Del Rey was a virtual unknown before "Video Games" created a blog firestorm in late July.) Backlash notwithstanding, the "SNL" exposure helped Del Rey crack the Billboard charts for the first time last week, including a No. 20 bow on the Billboard 200 for a self-titled digital EP. The continued curiosity surrounding Del Rey is only going to keep her atop Twitter's trending topics.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Fallen Empires” by Snow Patrol.

"Fallen Empires," the sixth studio album from Northern Ireland's Snow Patrol, dropped Jan. 10 after more than three years of radio silence from the band. Despite the lull, lead vocalist Gary Lightbody explains that the six months they took to the make the record in the Malibu sunshine heavily inspired them, allowing a more creative process and dramatically affecting the tone of the album.
"Fallen Empires," which the band will be supporting with a massive U.S. tour that runs from March 29 through May 18, is rife with Lightbody's childhood nostalgia, the intricacies of love, life and, more than anything, his personal interactions with strangers and close friends alike. He tells Billboard.com of the writing process, "Sometimes it's hard to just reach out, it's hard to ask for help. It's a recurring theme on the record."

(D) CD Spotlight

“Talk that talk” by Rihanna.

Were she willing to tip her hand a little earlier, Rihanna might have considered kicking off her new album, "Talk That Talk," with "Watch n' Learn," which appears near the end of the 11-song release and best captures the Barbados-born singer's most prominent obsession. On it, Rihanna, who over the last half-decade has risen to become one of the most successful pop artists in the world, outlines the myriad ways in which she'll have her way with a lover.
"Talk That Talk" is not entirely sex-obsessed. For balance's sake, and because she's making music in the pop realm and beholden to relatively conservative mores, Rihanna on "Talk That Talk" also harnesses her producers and songwriters -- including Dr. Luke, StarGate, Alex Da Kid, The-Dream and others -- to focus love above the waist and how passion affects both the body and the mind. Throughout, she plays on the idea that we all want the same thing out of life -- to be "drunk on love" (as she sings in a song of the same name).

CD Spotlight

“El Camino” by The Black Keys.

El Camino is the seventh studio album by American blues rock duo The Black Keys . It was co-produced by Danger Mous e and the band and was released on December 6, 2011 on Nonesuch Records .
The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee at Easy Eye Sound Studio, which was opened in 2010 by guitarist Dan Auerbach . Based on the difficulty the group had performing some of the slower songs from their previous album Brothers live, they conceived more uptempo tracks for El Camino . The record draws strong influence from early American music and popular genres from the 1950s–1970s, such as rock and roll , soul , and glam rock .
El Camino was preceded by lead single " Lonely Boy ", which was released in October accompanied by a popular one-sho t music video of a man dancing. The album has received positive reviews from critics since its release. In the US, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold 206,000 copies in its first week, the highest charting position and single-week sales the group has achieved in the country.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Ceremonials’ by Florence + The Machine

Florence Welch, the drama queen. "Over-the-top" is a suitable way to describe what she does with the songs on "Ceremonials," her second album that shows no signs of a sophomore slump.Tribal drums meld with a heavenly choir of what seems like a thousand voices, all of which sound recorded in an echoing cave. Harp, strings, toy pianos, eerie sound effects - they combine to create left-of-center pop anthems that sound equal parts U2 and Tori Amos.
Gothic, Celtic, bluesy, danceable rock: Sounds like a mess, yet quite the opposite -- due in part to Welch's hurtling vocals, some of the most bewitching in both the rock and pop worlds right now.
Musical growth comes in the form of cohesion - something Florence + the Machine's debut, "Lungs," lacked. For "Ceremonials," Welch rode out the wave of success afforded to her by breakout hit "Dog Days Are Over," and instead of going the shiny pop route, delved into her own darkness, aided by producer Paul Epworth.
From what we can tell from the 12-track, 56-minute "Ceremonials," Welch is a sucker for love: romance and heartbreak sharing equal billing, and always in a dire manner. Like we said, drama queen - but in the best sense of the phrase.

(D) CD Spotlight

“Mylo Xyloto” by Coldplay.

Coldplay announced the band's fifth studio album, "Mylo Xyloto" (pronounced my-lo zy-letoe), Produced by Markus Dravs, Daniel Green and Rik Simpson, with "enoxification" and additional composition by Brian Eno, "Mylo Xyloto" is Coldplay's first release since 2008's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," which debuted at No. 1 in Billboard and has sold 2.8 million units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan
Eleven proper songs, all named after the biggest and the best, like landmarks tumbling side by side: holy lands, flames, princesses, waterfalls and uh, Charlie Brown? Each song hits some sort of ridiculous climactic hotspot that seemed impossible the second before it happened. Just listen to “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” the moment the drums kick in for real. It seems completely implausible that a song that started so big could become any bigger. It sounds like the exact Coldplay song that you want to get made over and over again, and for Mylo Xyloto, it finally gets made. It’s Coldplay at heart.

The MTV European Music Awards took place last night (Sunday, November 6) at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall.
Lady Gaga was the big winner on the night taking home four awards (including Best Song, Best Video, Best Female and Biggest Fans) while Justin Bieber won three awards, and Bruno Mars and 30 Seconds To Mars took home two awards each.
Queen, who were awarded the Golbal icon gong, performed live at the event with former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert on vocals.

The full list of nominations and winners is as follows:

Best Song
Nominees: Adele – Rolling In The Deep, Bruno Mars – Grenade, Jennifer Lopez Ft. Pitbull – On The Floor, Katy Perry – Firework, Lady Gaga – Born This Way.
Winner: Lady Gaga – Born This Way.

Best Live
Nominees: Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Winner: Katy Perry.

Best Pop
Nominees: Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna.
Winner: Justin Bieber.
Best New
Nominees: Bruno Mars, Far East Movement, Jessie J, LMFAO, Wiz Khalifa.
Winner: Bruno Mars.

Best Female
Nominees: Adele, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga.
Winner: Lady Gaga.

Best Male
Nominees: Bruno Mars, David Guetta, Eminem, Justin Bieber, Kanye West.
Winner: Justin Bieber.

Best Hip-hop
Nominees: Eminem, Jay-Z and Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Snoop Dogg.
Winner: Eminem.

Best Rock
Nominees: Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, Linkin Park.
Winner: Linkin Park.

Best Video
Nominees: Adele – Rolling In The Deep, Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise, Beyonce – Run The World (Girls), Justice – Civilization, Lady Gaga – Born This Way.
Winner: Lady Gaga – Born This Way.

Best Alternative
Nominees: Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, The Strokes, 30 Seconds To Mars.
Winner: 30 Seconds To Mars.

Best World Stage
Nominees: Arcade Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Diddy – Dirty Money, Enrique Iglesias, Kings Of Leon, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Ozzy Osbourne, Snoop Dogg, 30 Seconds To Mars.
Winner: 30 Seconds To Mars.

Best Push
Nominees: Alexis Jordan, Big Time Rush, Bruno Mars, Far East Movement, Jessie J, Katy B, LMFAO, Neon Trees, Theophilus London, Wiz Khalifa.
Winner: Bruno Mars.

Biggest Fans
Nominees: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Paramore, Selena Gomez, 30 Seconds To Mars.
Winner: Lady Gaga

Best Worldwide Act
Nominees: Abdelfattah Grini, Bigbang, Britney Spears, Lena, Restart.
Winner: Bigbang.

Best UK/Ireland Act
Winner: Adele.

MTV Voices Award
Winner: Justin Bieber.

Global Icon Award
Winner: Queen.

….Best Buy To Shutter U.K. Stores; Invests $1.3 billion In Best Buy Mobile
U.S. retail giant Best Buy is to close all 11 of its U.K. stores by the end of the calendar year, it was announced today. Best Buy had partnered with Carphone Warehouse in May 2008 to form Best Buy Europe. The U.S. retailer is set to acquire full control of Best Buy Mobile for an upfront payment of about $1.3 billion which will allow the company to focus on emerging mobile phone markets…

…Conrad Murray Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Michael Jackson
Conrad Murray has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of Michael Jackson. A jury took less than nine hours to decide the verdict following a six-week trial in which prosecutors painted Murray as a reckless physician who plied Jackson with irresponsible amounts of the powerful anesthetic propofal…..

(D) CD Spotlight

“Here and now” by Nickelback.

Nickelback's dream girl apparently "smokes a little homegrown, drinks a little Cuervo" and drives a fast car. We're so surprised. But that's a welcome sign-especially for fans-that while the Canadian troupe has grown musically, it hasn't grown up on its seventh album, "Here and Now." The quartet comes out fixin' for a fight with the switchblade guitars of "This Means War," gets into full-on party mode with "Bottoms Up" and pursues that ideal female on "Gotta Get Me Some," "Midnight Queen" and "Everything I Wanna Do." The anthemic "When We Stand Together" offers a requisite bit of social consciousness, while frontman Chad Kroeger's melodic love songs-"Lullaby," "Trying Not to Love You," "Holding on to Heaven," the vividly characterized "Don't Ever Let It End"-boast a rich sheen that could be traced to producer Mutt Lange's work on 2008's "Dark Horse" but without quite as much bombast. It's a well-crafted brand of meat 'n potatoes hard rock.

Takis Haggiandreou
P.O.BOX 22111, NICOSIA, CYPRUS
TEL. 7000-1962, FAX. 22750417,
E-mail: progressive@cytanet.com.cy