1. Up!
2. I'm Gonna Get You Good!
3. She's Not Just A Pretty Face
4. Juanita
5. Forever And For Always
6. Ain't No Partuicular Way
7. It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing
8. Nah!
9. (Wanna Get To Know You) That Good!
10. C'est La Vie
11. I'm Jealous
12. Ka-Ching!
13. Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon)
14. Waiter! Bring Me Water!
15. What A Way To Wanna Be!
16. I Ain't Goin' Down
17. I'm Not In The Mood (To Say No)!
18. In My Car (I'll Be The Driver)
19. When You Kiss Me
CD2 - BLUE "RHYHTMIC" VERSION
1. Up!
2. I'm Gonna Get You Good!
3. She's Not Just A Pretty Face
4. Juanita
5. Forever And For Always
6. Ain't No Partuicular Way
7. It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing
8. Nah!
9. (Wanna Get To Know You) That Good!
10. C'est La Vie
11. I'm Jealous
12. Ka-Ching!
13. Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon)
14. Waiter! Bring Me Water!
15. What A Way To Wanna Be!
16. I Ain't Goin' Down
17. I'm Not In The Mood (To Say No)!
18. In My Car (I'll Be The Driver)
19. When You Kiss Me
Woah! Shania is back! Yeah! You go girl! Bring it on!
If nothing else, Twain sure knows how to use her exclamation marks. English
teachers and publishing editors around the world might despair, but dang! she
just wants to have a good time!
And she does, bringing her infectious, easy-on-the-ear brand of what used to
be known as FM Rock to the masses again after a lengthy hiatus following Come
On Over's 34-million sales and enduring success that stretched from late 1997
right through to the 21st Century's dawning. Wow!
Up! - distinuguishing itself from the recent Peter Gabriel release by
utilising that handy exclamation mark - clocks in at no less than 19
brand-new songs and 78 minutes. Twice over! You see, Up! marks the possible
arrival of a worrying (and time-consuming!) trend of issuing an album with
the tracks recorded in two separate versions. Shania's sleevenotes talk
amiably of artistic expression and offering listeners the choice of
interpretation to suit their mood or tastes (it's what she herself does with
Up!, apparently). Whatever her motives, the result is not only a more
expensive CD, since it's a double, but also way too much music. Somehow we've
moved from the classic 40-minute album, to the chaff-inclusive 70-minute CD,
and now the 150-minute "cover-all-bases" behemoth in barely a decade or so.
Believe it or not, there is even a third (!) incarnation of these tracks,
dubbed the "GREEN" version, to be found exclusively on her website. Enough!
Anyway, back to the music itself, seeing as there's so much of it on show.
Up! compensates for its conceptual and punctuational excesses with a largely
flawless assemblage of airbrushed pop-rock, made all the more appealing by
its sense of fun and self-deprecating humour. When one of the most beautiful
women on Earth sings about wishing she could grow a beard to cover up her
facial spots, as she does on the irrepressible and bouncy opening title
track, it's obvious that a tongue/cheek interface is taking place. Hahaha!
Shania, in collaboration once more with husband Robert "Mutt" Lange, pulls
out all the stops - no chorus too big, no arrangement too OTT, no lyric too
silly, no sentiment too syrupy - yet, their aim is almost unerringly true.
These people know what they're doing, and exactly how to best do it. Up!
therefore has a professionalism, certainly, but not at the expense of fun and
entertainment. Few albums in 2002 can claim to give a better ratio of
feelgood vibes per pound/euro/dollar/yen/currency of choice.
Perhaps an initial drawback for this successor to the biggest-selling album
by a female artist of all-time is the apparent lack of something so
immediately commercial as That Don't Impress Me Much, or a ballad likely to
capture lovers' imaginations quite the way You're Still The One or From This
Moment On managed to do. Come On Over's unprecented popularity was driven by
such singles, but it remains to be seen if fan loyalty will be enough to see
Up! through.
However, this record has its share of less obvious gems. The opening trio of
Up!, first single I'm Gonna Get You Good! and She's Not Just A Pretty Face
kick things off in fine style, all bursting to the brim with immaculately
constructed hooklines. It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing and I'm Jealous score
highly on the smooch-ometer, although Forever And For Always, Thank You Baby!
and the closing When You Kiss Me are less engaging slushfests. Gah!
The album is at its most persuasive on the uptempo tracks, especially those
with the most joi de vivre such as the cheesy, Abba-esque, 70s power pop of
C'est La Vie or, most memorably, the glorious put-down that is Nah! - That
Don't Impress Me Much Part 2, maybe, but simply inspired nonetheless.
Likewise, to a slightly lesser extent, the anti-consumerism of Ka-Ching!
The formula is not wholly foolproof; a few songs seem too contrived, as
though they only exist to make use of more quirky titles - In My Car (I'll Be
The Driver), Waiter! Bring Water!, I'm Not In The Mood (To Say No)! spring to
mind. Nothing, though, spoils the party; Up! is an admirably enjoyable
experience, performed with confidence and affection.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
