Track Listing

1. Here 4 One
2. Biggest Fan
3. Flip Reverse
4. Ride
5. Still Thinking About You
6. No Angels
7. Stop
8. Shorty
9. Revolution
10. Girls
11. Baby It's The Weekend
12. All We Wanna Do Is Rap
13. We Just Be Dreamin'
14. Keep On
15. Life's A Struggle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82330 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
You'd be forgiven for thinking that Now or Never wasn't recorded by Blazin' Squad at all after the forlorn, 30-second piano solo that begins opener "Here 4 One". But then the street-gang, after-school, shouty rap comes in and you're back on familiar ground. Welcome to the (overpopulated) world of Blazin' Squad, who function as a bit of rough--a dangerous eddy--in the smooth waters of mainstream pop. "Here 4 One" does have a dusty Mexican outlaw guitar looping high in the mix though, giving it a desperate, vigilante feel that sounds more Santa Fe than East London chippie. However Blazin' Squad are best when they tone down their rapping, allowing silky-smooth R&B numbers to flourish, such as slick cut "Biggest Fan". "You're the girl who fits the picture in my mind," one of them (which one?) croons.

Lyrics aren't one of their strong points, which is why rapping is such a fatal mistake. "Still Thinking About You" has fairy-light balladry and spoken melody--yes, Blazin' Squad are the new East 17. Except on "All We Wanna Do Is Rap", where they try and sound like 50 Cent, with dark, undulating strings but little or no menace. Requests to "Turn the beat up, man" are actually comical.

This is bum-fluff rap; the sound of teenagers hanging around outside the Spar, keying your car and smoking. "This ain't Fame Academy," they sing, "These are real-life skills." Which is good, because they'll be needing them. The last song (ironically, a rather good acoustic strummathon) is called "Life's a Struggle", and you can't help thinking that, for these boys, it certainly will be now. --Cortman Virtue

CD Description
After the success of their debut album 'In The Beginning' the ten strong North London teenage crew release their secondalbum 'Now Or Never'. The album sees the boys mixing R&B, hip hop, and UK garage but with slicker and fuller sounding production work than on their debut release. The album also includes the singles 'We Just Be Dreamin' and 'Flip Reverse'.

Customer Reviews

Ooh, haven't they grown!
After a long, long wait – well, I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s been a helluva long wait for me – the second album from Blazin’ Squad is here!
For those who don’t know much about the Squad, here’s a brief introduction: Blazin’ Squad are ten 17-year-old MCs from East London. There’s Kenzie, Strider, Krazy, Flava, Freek, Melo-D, Reepa, Rocky B (aka Platnum B), Spike-e and DJ Tommy B. Their debut single, Crossroads, went to number one last summer, and since then they’ve done well with several more singles, their first UK tour and an album, In the Beginning.
Blazin’ Squad are my personal favourite band ever, but they’re not very widely respected; most people think of them as a bunch of talentless kids. Hopefully this album will show off just what they can do...

1. Here 4 One
If I had to describe this track in 5 words they'd be: weird, random, absolutely pure genius. It starts of as a classical, melodic piano tune, but then it goes quite upbeat and garage-y. The weird bit is there's an opera verse in the middle - seriously! Blazin' and opera...well I never. The chorus is really catchy and it's got a great beat and brilliant MCing. I don't know how this would do if they were to release it as a single, but it is truly inspired! Exactly my cup of tea - a brilliant start to the album! 10/10.

2. Biggest Fan
This is a really poppy track – it’s about the boys seeing a really fit girl in the audience when they’re performing, so the ‘biggest fan’ idea is sort of reversed. It’s a good, catchy tune, upbeat and poppy, and Krazy’s singing has really improved since the first album. It’d probably appeal to younger girls. Not the best song on the album, but not bad either! 7/10.

3. Flip Reverse
The second single from the album – out now! This is the single which gained the group a bit more respect within the industry and a wider range of fans. To be honest I wasn’t that keen on it to start off with, but it really, really grows on you and I love it now. It’s more upbeat and urban than their previous singles - it’s got a great, dancey beat and a really catchy chorus. 9/10.

4. Ride
I wasn’t too keen on this one to start off with, but it’s another one that really grows on you. Melo-D’s MCing on it is so good! There’s a good beat and the chorus is great - it sounds a bit like something Blue would sing. 8/10.

5. Still Thinking About You
When Kenzie said on TV that there were going to be “a few ballads” on the album, I thought of their second single, Love on the Line, and despaired. But this song has really, really surprised me – it almost made my cry! It’s a pop ballad but it’s actually not that cheesy, and it’s soooo unbelievably sweet! I don’t think Blazin’ have many male fans, but the few they do probably won’t be too keen on this one! Definitely aimed at girls – it’s lovely! Bless them all! I hope they don’t release this as a single though, as they’ve gained a bit more respect since releasing Flip Reverse and I think they’d lose it if they released a ballad like this. 9/10.

6. No Angels
An amazing song! Melo-D said “No Angels could be the best thing we’ve ever done” and I agree. I think this really shows off their talents. I was actually quite shocked after hearing – it’s the best example of how much they’ve grown up since In the Beginning. It’s quite slow and their MCing on it is brilliant, especially Rocky’s verse. The chorus is really good too, and the backing track is gorgeous. Excellent! 10/10.

7. Stop
This is actually quite jazz-y to start off with. It’s a slow, laid-back tune about a girl, with really good vocals – sung, of course, by Krazy. The first few verses are all singing, it’s only towards the end that the MCing comes in. It’s a really nice song – not one of my favourites on the album, but it’s still good. 8/10.

8. Shorty
I love this one! It’s another of the more urban tracks on the album and one of the strongest – it’s upbeat, the MCing is really good and the chorus is brilliant. I was singing “shorrrrtyyyy” for about an hour after hearing this. 9/10.

9. Revolution
When I read the title of this song, I knew I’d never be able to listen to it without thinking of Children of the Revolution, which has been one of my favourite songs for years. And it turns out it’s a cover of it! How chuffed was I! I even jumped around and screamed! Sometimes covers can ruin a song, but not in this case – Blazin’ have truly made it their own. It’s fantastic! It’s the most rocky song on the album. The MCing is excellent with a great beat, and it’s backed up by that brilliant chorus. For me, this is one of the best covers they could possibly do, and they’ve done it oh so well. I take my hat off to them! 10/10.

10. Girls
No prizes for guessing what this song’s about. It was produced by JD from So Solid Crew, and it’s quite garagey. It’s got a good beat, and some great vocals on it. Strider and Melo-D sing on it – not just Krazy for once! – and they’re both really good. It goes more upbeat at the end and that bit’s great, but to me, nothing about it stands out in particular. I think it might take a while to get into this song. 7/10.

11. Baby It’s the Weekend
This one is quite poppy – not as poppy as We Just Be Dreamin’ or Biggest Fan, but still pop. There’s some great verses and the chorus is really strong, I love it – overall, a great song. 8/10.

12. All We Wanna Do Is Rap
This is another of the more garage-y tracks on the album. They performed this one on tour in May so it’ll be familiar to some of the fans. It takes a while to get into it as the backing track is pretty minimal. But the MCing is good and the chorus is brilliant. 9/10.

13. We Just Be Dreamin’
This is the first single from the album; it went to no. 3 in the summer. It’s just a nice, laid-back summer track. It’s really poppy and the chorus is catchy and there’s some good MCing on it – it’s another one that will appeal to younger girls. 7/10.

14. Keep On
“This one’s for all the peeps with ambition”, the intro says – this one’s about going for what you want. It’s another very urban track with a good beat, and the MCing is really good. It takes a few listens to get into though. 8/10.

15. Life’s A Struggle
To be honest, this song let me down a bit at first. From the title, I knew this would be about hard times and trouble and stuff, so I thought it’d be like Where the Story Ends, which was one of my favourite songs from the first album. But it’s got a really good chorus, and I like the way they MC on it – instead of doing a long verse each, they only do a few lines. It’s got a nice guitar part – it’d sound nice acoustically. Not one of my favourites, but it’s a good song, and I think I’ll learn to love it. 7.5/10.

What I like about Blazin’ Squad is that you always get a wide range of music with them. There’s a mix of pop, garage, hip-hop and r’n’b in here – there’s even a bit of rock and opera! You’d never get that much variety on a Busted or Blue album. I also like the fact that they cover quite a lot of different topics in their songs – ambitions, problems, what people think of them, etc - not every track is about getting it on with a girl.

They’ve come so far since their first album. They’re MCing is much better, so is their singing and the songs in general are stronger. I’ll always love In the Beginning, and it’s got 4 or 5 brilliant songs on it, but the quality of the music on Now or Never is generally higher and more constistant. Also there’s more songs, which is always good.

To be honest, I really can’t think of that many disadvantages. The only thing I’d say is that you don’t hear that much of some of the boys – at times it feels like they should be called “Krazy, Flava and Rocky and the other lot” instead of Blazin’ Squad! I suppose it’s whatever’s best for the song but it doesn’t seem that fair!

Give this a try; I think you’ll be surprised.

4 stars
Well after the first album grew on me and i couldn't stop playing it for a whole year on and off. The second outshines it by far with the more mature sound, better backing tracks and mcin try this you won't be disappointed. Ok there are two tracks that that i tend to skip stop and biggest fan, but all the others are banging. Watch out for here4one the new single an amazing track with a piano intro and opera verse pure class!! Other songs that stand out no angels, ride, all we wana do is rap and for the girls the classy balard still thinking about you will hit the right spot! Give it a try if your a fan and if your not then this album might be one to surprise you!!

ITS HEAVY!!
I think this album is a great follow up from their first one! I shows they have matured and have come up with some heavy lyrics n bangin beats. There is nuffin i dont like bout this album n i cant stop listening to it. I made people who i knew didnt like Blazin' Squad listen to some of their tracks from this album and they agreed that these boyz do have talent and can write good tunes. My fave tracks are All we wanna do is rap and Flip Reverse.But overall i fink this album is Mint!