Now ... Us!

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Now ... Us!
Studio album by No Angels
Released	June 24, 2002
Recorded	2002
Genre	Pop
Length	47:18 (original) 56:58 (re-release)
Label	Cheyenne
Producer(s)	Tim Brettschneider, Thorsten Brötzmann, Daniel Troha, Fahrenheit & Kelvin, Leslie Mandoki, Nick Nice, Peter Ries, Royal Garden Sound, Pontus Söderqvist, Sandi S., Syndicate, Mousse T
Professional reviews
CDStarts link (German) LAUT link (German)
No Angels chronology
Elle'ments (2001)	Now ... Us! (2002)	When the Angels Swing (2002)

Now ... Us! is the second studio album by German pop group No Angels, released on June 24, 2002 on Polydor's sublabel Cheyenne Records. It was primarily produced by Thorsten Brötzmann, with additional production from Peter Ries, Pontus Söderqvist, Leslie Mandoki, Fahrenheit & Kelvin, and Mousse T among others. The album peaked at number 1 on the German albums chart, number 2 on the Austrian and number 4 on the Swiss albums chart and spawned four (hit) singles: "Something about Us", "Still in Love With You", "Let's Go to Bed" and the remade pop version of Alison Moyet's "All Cried out".

Contents 1 History 1.1 Production and title 1.2 Release and reception 2 Track listing 3 Credits and personnel 3.1 Production 4 Leftover tracks 5 Charts 5.1 Album 6 Notes 7 References

[edit] History

[edit] Production and title

After a short break from public at the turn of the year 2001 the No Angels reunited in February 2002 to begin working on their sophomore album in Munich and Hamburg. Asked to contribute own ideas and skills to guarantee a more personal album after fast-recorded Elle'ments (2001), each member of the group focused on writing lyrics and melodies on her own - assisted by a wide range of different musicians and songwriters, including Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas, Nik Hafemann, and Christian Gellar. In the end five self-written songs made it to the final tracklist, four of them lead sung by a different member, and "Something about Us" emerging as the album's lead single. While another eleven songs were included on the album, primarily produced by Peter Ries, Mousse T, and Leslie Mandoki, Now ... Us! was eventually named as a reference to the band's own musical input into the album.

The album cut "2 Get Over U" was originally recorded as a duet with UK popstars Hear'Say, and was scheduled to be released as a special Christmas single in December 2001. However, due to Hear'Say's limited fame in Germany (their debut single "Pure and Simple" peaked at number 83 only) Polydor and Cheyenne Records decided to exclude the band's vocals from the song and moved it back to a spring 2002 launch. Although the No Angels premiered the song on the The Dome 21 in Stuttgart on March 1, 2003 and a release date was set on March 18, 2002, "2 Get Over You" was eventually shelved as the lead single from Now ... Us! - in favour of self-written "Something about Us" and its b-side "Like Ice in the Sunshine".

[edit] Release and reception

Media reception for Now ... Us! was generally mixed. Though most professional reviewers praised the band for the include of self-written material and a "less conventional" and more mature pop sound with "major influences of contemporary R&B and soul",^[1] LAUT declared the album as "teen-pop" on "average level". Matthias Eisen from CDStarts cited the album "dissembling ... cheesy and cliched", sharply criticizing the cover songs on Now ... Us!. However, the No Angels' second album became a major success: It debuted on top of the German albums chart, and at number 2 and 4 on the Austrian and Swiss albums chart respectively. Sales declined soon but uniformly continuous, and the album was eventually certified platinum and double gold for more than 300,000 copies sold.

Though "Autumn Breeze" was considered to be released as a single at times, Now ... Us! spawned three singles only: The album's lead single, "Something about Us/Like Ice in the Sunshine", became the band's third non-consecutive number-one hit on the German and Austrian Singles Chart within a period of sixteen month, but failed to enter the Siwss top ten with a peak position of 11. The second single, "Still in Love with You", reached the top 5 in Germany and Austria, and became the band's first top ten hit since 2001's "When the Angels Sing/Atlantis". By contrast, the single edit of "Let's Go to Bed" ended the run of the No Angels' consecutive top 10 songs in Germany, and charted outside the Swiss 100. A fourth single, "All Cried out" was included on the Special Winter Edition of the album.

[edit] Track listing

#	Title
1.	"Anchor Your Love"	3:38
2.	"Something about Us"	3:05
3.	"Still in Love with You"	3:31
4.	"Push Me to the Limit"	3:23
5.	"Say Goodbye"	3:37
6.	"Like Ice in the Sunshine"	2:57
7.	"Lovestory"	3:35
8.	"Shield Against My Sorrow"	3:29
9.	"Autumn Breeze"	3:32
10.	"Now That We Found Love"	3:36
11.	"Stay"	4:09
12.	"Let's Go to Bed" (in bed with Mousse T)	3:32
13.	"2 Get Over U"	3:25
14.	"Lost in You"	3:28
15.	"Come Back"	4:02
16.	"Atlantis 2002" (with Donovan)	4:01

• Special Winter Edition

Released November 18, 2002

#	Title
1.	"All Cried out"	3:27
2.	"Still in Love with You"	3:33
3.	"Something about Us" (Latin Radio Edit)	3:05
4.	"Three Words"	3:48
5.	"Let's Go to Bed" (Single Mix)	3:15
6.	"Say Goodbye"	3:37
7.	"Lovestory"	3:35
8.	"Stay"	4:10
9.	"Autumn Breeze"	3:33
10.	"2 Get Over You"	3:25
11.	"Shield Against My Sorrow"	3:29
12.	"Anchor Your Love"	3:38
13.	"Now That We Found Love"	3:36
14.	"Like Ice in the Sunshine"	2:57
15.	"Come Back"	4:02
16.	"Daylight in Your Eyes" (Big Band Version)	3:44

[edit] Credits and personnel

Curly Ausmer - guitar Thorsten Brötzmann - keyboards, guitar Laszlo Benker - various Sven Bünger - acoustic guitar Julian Feifel - various Thorsten Fuchs - guitar Stravos Iannou - acoustic guitar B. La - percussion Fan Fan La Tulip - guitar Sami Khatib - various Michael Knauer - keyboards

George Kopecsni - various Peter Koobs - guitar Johan Lindman - guitar S.L.O. Warschau - strings Ossi Schalle - various Ingo Schröder - rhythm guitar Berni Schwarz - various Daniel Throa - keyboard, percussion, guitar Peter Weihe - guitar Peter Wölpl - various Stephan Zeh - various

[edit] Production

• Producer: Tim Brettschneider, Thorsten Brötzmann, Daniel Troha, Fahrenheit & Kelvin, LaCarr, Leslie Mandoki, Peter Ries, Royal Garden Sound, Sandi S., Syndicate, Mousse T
• Vocal assistance: James Caldwell, Linda Freeland, Inez Haynes, Franca Morgano, Daniel Troha
• Engineers: Felix Knöchel, Spok, Mike Streefkerk, Stephan Zeh
• Mixing: Peter Boström, Jeo, Pit Floss, Nike Nice, Mike Streefkerk, Stephan Zeh
• Artwork: Ronald Rensberg, Berlin
• Photography: Benjamin Wolf, Sven Jacobsen

[edit] Leftover tracks

• "Since I Found You" (written by Vanessa Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas) (appeared on the Four Seasons Tour setlist) [1]

[edit] Charts

[edit] Album

Chart (2002)	Peak position	Certification
German Top 100	1	Platinum [2]
Austrian Top 50	2	Gold [3]
Swiss Albums Chart	4	Gold [4]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Now ... Us! - Trajectory". Chartsurfer.de. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
• Now ... Us! - (AUT) Song information. Austriancharts.at. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
• Now ... Us! - (SWI) Song information. Swisscharts.ch. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
• Wenn. "Hear'Say Ditch X'Mas Duet". MTVAsia.com - News. November 6, 2001. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
• Nz. "Duett der «Popstars»". Netzeitung. August 20, 2001. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
• "Die Neue Single". Beepworld News Archive. Retrieved December 29, 2006.

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