That’s My Jam: Atomic Kitten – Right Now

That’s My Jam is a weekly feature where one person from the Selective Hearing staff goes to wax poetic about music that is pivotal to their musical tastes. Whether that would be an album, a song, or anything in-between. We all had to start somewhere.

Atomic Kitten Right Now

Release Date: October 23, 2000

Track Listing

  1. Right Now
  2. Follow Me
  3. Whole Again
  4. Eternal Flame
  5. Tomorrow & Tonight
  6. Get Real
  7. Turn Me On
  8. Hippy
  9. You Are
  10. Cradle
  11. Bye Now
  12. Strangers
  13. See Ya
  14. I Want Your Love

Review

Atomic Kitten is an English 3-member girl group formed in 1998 by OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark) frontman Andy McCluskey. This BRIT Award-nominated group has three number-one UK chart singles and two double platinum albums, including this, their debut album.

Right now is unique in that there are three different versions of the album due to the change in membership during its promotion making two appearances in the UK chart. The original peaked at number 39, while the re-issue topped the charts.

The third version of this album is a rare Japanese release which is closer to the pop roots of the original UK version and includes a remix of the title track by famous idol music producer Dance Man, alternate versions of the album cuts and a Japanese exclusive original track called Real Life.

Due to the success of the ballad Whole Again, the re-issue features more mature-sounding pop songs in addition to the original tracks. The copy of this album I have for review is the re-issue featuring Whole Again, their cover of The Bangles’ Eternal Flame and You Are.

In 2000, I was knee-deep in British girl pop groups such as the Spice Girls, All Saints, Eternal, B*Witched, The Sugababes & the like, so it’s no surprise Atomic Kitten would appeal to my musical sensibilities at the time.

After listening to this album after so many moons, I find that it has aged quite well and is very close to the idol pop I listen to now. Of course, Right Now has a different type of production (as I mentioned above), so perhaps it’s not exactly fair to make that comparison. Apples and oranges, after all, right?

Anyway, there are a lot of finely crafted gems on Right Now that make it an extremely consistent listening experience. All the songs have some redeeming quality that makes them memorable, which is quite rare for a pop album of any era. Style over substance is usually the norm.

Besides the singles (Whole Again, Eternal Flame, You Are) there is plenty to take in, such as the funky Get Real or the Disco flavoured Turn Me On. If you’re more into the mid-tempo/ballad type of songs, give Cradle, Strangers or Bye Now a go. The last song I listed is a good example that the group was more than pretty faces and that the members could become divas when needed.

While Atomic Kitten never really managed to recapture their success with subsequent releases and confusing membership changes, I feel they cemented their place in pop lore with this album. It certainly helped shape my future musical tastes. Give this album a try if you want to hear some brilliant pop.

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