New CD's released this week include an offering from NSYNC heartthrob and former Mouseketeer, JC Chasez. The disc, entitled Ooooo Yeah, Baby (Girl) - Live at Red Rocks, opened to brisk sales. Billboard Soundscan reports that it charted at 201 on their Hot 200 list, with sales of -3%. It did, however, shoot straight to number one in Japan and Nova Scotia, knocking David Hasselhoff off of the top slot after 159 weeks.
But don't let these dismal numbers fool you, this is a solid album. Released as a follow-up to Uhhhh, Whoa Girl (Babe) - The Chasez Experience, this recording is a must for all fans of the jazzy musical stylings of such greats as Keith Sweat and Color Me Badd. The aspiring songwriter cuts loose on tracks like "Two-Way Baby (Page Me)," the millennium answer to the New Edition classic "Mr. Telephone Man," and "Angel Of The Strip Mall," which Chasez claims is an ode to all the girls he knew growing up in the town of Bowie, Maryland. Adding a flamenco flair to the album, he is also joined on the song "Fornida Mamacita, ¿Donde Esta Tus Borlas?" by rock legends Los Del Rio, making an amazing comeback on the track that is sure to be burning up clubs across Japan later on in the year.
While sales were slow, that didn't stop some loyal fans from camping outside of the Coconuts in Times Square in the chilly January weather, eager to snap up the first copies of the CD. Said Tifani Lynne, 37, Bronx, NY, "I can't really feel my lower extremities anymore, and that homeless man over there has been staring at me while he polishes a rusty knife, but I don't care! Buying this new CD will make it all worthwhile."
Some fans also chose to reserve their copy at all Virgin Megastores across the country, not wanting to brave the elements or the mad rush. Brooke Renee, manager of the Virgin in Boise, Idaho, reported that of the 200 CD's to be shipped, 2 of them had been reserved, a record for all stores in the Corn Belt. "It feels really good," she claims. "People out here are really receptive to new things, and this just proves it."
Here's hoping that the release of the first single, "Clouds," which includes a small sample from an unidentified Grandmaster Flash song which Chasez refuses to name, will provide a much needed sales boost. But Chasez isn't concerned. "I've already got all the fame and money that I need. [Fans] can buy my record, or they can let it sit. But at the end of the day, I look around at all my diamond records, the pictures of celebrities I've met, the Mouseketeer ears, I know that I've done something good, something that I highly recommend to everyone. And I was me. That's all I can do. I can only be JC Chasez."
Indeed.