Monday, May 15, 2006

I See Red, I See Red, I See Red

Nothing says charity like red underpants on your t-shirt!

No, seriously.

Recorded to raise money for Comic Relief, the video featured a star-studded lineup including Claudia Schiffer and Ioan Gruffudd, and was directed by good old Richard Curtis (he makes soppy English romcoms, like Love Actually). But they don't appear on the cover, so screw them.

As well, it fulfilled a lifelong dream for little Mark and Shane, both of whom had expressed long beforehand that this was the first song they rememered singing as children, and their desire to one day cover it (everybody say "AWWWWW...!")

Claudia Schiffer didn't hurt the deal much either, I'm sure.

The b-sides are Angel's Wings (from the Coast To Coast album) and Close Your Eyes, which was released on some special versions of Coast To Coast. It's an absolutely fantastic song, very reminiscent of their Swear It Again/What Makes A Man-style work. Amazing vocals, spot on harmonies, incredible lyrics... it should have been its own single instead of the god-awful Mariah Carey one.

On to the cover... doesn't it just scream: "Look at us! We're having fun!"? They're mucking about, throwing red clown noses, smiling and laughing - it also screams 'cheesy'.

Bryan looks like he's broken his ankle, like that messed up zombie in Resident Evil that drags its foot along behind it. Shane's hand has come down to protect his balls from that plastic nose Bryan's holding, and I would too (if I had balls), because the pain of that mangled foot would probably muck up your aim.

Mark is wearing short sleeves, which put to rest all the rumours that he didn't actually have skin on his arms. The lad was never seen without long sleeves before this, and hasn't been seen without them much after. But it's nice to know he could let his (arm-)hair down for five minutes, just for charity. Maybe all the red got him excited.

3 comments:

Annabel Taylor said...

I remember this song! It was playing at a school dance in grade 10 when security asked me to not sit on the floor in the hall's foyer.

Random, I know.

Grace Suter said...

Lol, yep! It was the first Westlife song I ever remember seeing on Aussie TV!

It was in 2001.

Grace Suter said...

Why thank you, my dear. I aim to unsettle.