New boys and girls groups - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by Baby Gil

There are boy groups, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, N’Sync, etc., and there are girl groups, Spice Girls, All Saints, Destiny’s Child, etc. And then there are the boys and girls groups where both sexes pool their talents together to create music that they hope will translate into hits. Among these are Steps, S Club 7 and the most notable example of the moment, The Corrs which is made up of three sisters and one brother. Here now are two new entrants to the club, ATC (A Touch of Class) and Da Buzz.

Recent Manila visitors ATC is made up of four friends who come from different parts of the world. Joe is from New Zealand, Sarah is from Australia, Tracey is from England, and Livio comes from Italy. The group though is based in Germany and its music is a blend of Europop and light R&B that recalls the sweet sound of former teen divas Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.

The group’s first album is titled Planet Pop. The single Around the World was number one in the European charts for nearly two months last summer and has broken radio airplay records. It has also since sold over a million copies. ATC hopes to duplicate this feat in Asia and this was the reason why the foursome dropped by for a promo visit in several major cities in the area two weeks ago.

Selling ATC to the Asians should not be too difficult. The group’s music is so easy on the ears and has a most appealing lilt. If Around the World fails to do the trick, there is the very infectious My Heart Beats Like a Drum (Dam Dam Dam) and the lovely ballad Thinking of You. Other notable cuts are Love is Blind, Notte D’Amore Con Te and So Magical.

From Sweden, the land of Abba, the greatest boys and girls group of all time, comes Da Buzz. This one is made up of Annika Thornquist, Per Liden and Pier Schmid. Per and Pier met in a recording studio as musicians working on different projects. Per was onto heavy metal and dance, while Pier liked jazz, soul and funk. But that did not stop them from becoming friends and writing songs together. They found Annika while she was performing with a local band in Karlstad and right away knew that she was the right girl for their songs.

The trio’s debut album is titled Da Buzz Da Sound and it is made up of lushly arranged, melodic pop tunes that you can dance to for hours on end. Think of how the songs of S Club 7 sparkles with a unique European feel and you will get an idea of what three different mixes. Take note too of other possible hits with Your Love will Shine on Me, Paradise, Believe in Love, I Wanna be Free and Out of Words.

Speaking of The Corrs, this bit of news is for all those who like me, were disappointed that the group had to cancel its Asian tour, which included a gig in the Philippines last month. But no matter, although they have not resumed touring there remains a strong chance that The Corrs will still be able to hit local shores in a year or so. As we all know, hope springs eternal for any fan.

And since there seems to be no new album in the offing, you might want to check out the In Blue Special Edition CD. This one has the entire In Blue album with the huge favorites Breathless, Radio, All the Love in the World, Say, Irresistible and others. But because this is supposed to be special, the package also comes with a Bonus CD with two new songs, not available anywhere else, Love in the Milky Way and Looking in the Eyes of Love and acoustic versions of Somebody for Someone, No More Cry, Radio, At Your Side and a live instrumental rendition of the old favorite Haste to the Wedding that you can practice your Irish jig to.

Great stuff for fans of The Corrs and a learning experience for aspiring producers and studio technicians who get the opportunity to study how the arrangements, the layering and the mixing of The Corrs works with this single CD.