The Music's No Good Without You

"The Music's No Good Without You" is a song recorded by American singer Cher for her twenty-fourth studio album, Living Proof. It was released on November 27, 2001 by Warner Bros, and WEA in Europe, while it was released in 2002 in the United States.

"The Music's No Good Without You"
Single by Cher
from the album Living Proof
B-side"A Different Kind of Love Song"
Released
  • November 27, 2001 (Europe/Canada)
  • August 13, 2002 (United States)
Recorded2001
Genre
Length4:42
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Mark Taylor
  • James Thomas
  • Jeff Taylor
Cher singles chronology
"Più che puoi"
(2001)		 "The Music's No Good Without You"
(2001)		 "Song for the Lonely"
(2002)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

The song reached the top 20 in many countries worldwide, expanding Cher's chart success into five decades.

Background and composition

After releasing her album Believe in 1998 and achieving significant success with its singles, particularly the lead single "Believe", Cher released her compilation, The Greatest Hits in 1999, and later released Not.com.mercial, in 2000, her first album not sold in stores but exclusively online.[1] Later, in 2001, Cher reunited with the UK-rooted production team of Taylor and Brian Rawlings, who helmed the single "Believe" and much of the ensuing album. Cher also collaborated with Rick Nowels, British musician/producer Chicane, and Norwegian team Stargate. Cher described the album, titled Living Proof, as "a record with a notably positive lyrical tone." She further added, "[...] This had subconsciously become an album filled with love and warmth. It was a pleasant surprise, and it's certainly an appropriate time to put some positive energy out into the world."[2]

"The Music's No Good Without You" was released as the album's first international single, on November 6, 2001.[3] The single was also released as a double A-side single, along with "A Different Kind of Love Song", on August 13, 2002.[4] "The Music's No Good Without You" was written by Cher, James Thomas, Mark Taylor and Paul Barry, while production was done by Taylor, with co-production by Thomas and Jeff Taylor.[5] The song is drenched in hypnotic synth lines and computer-savvy vocal effects.[2]

Critical reception

The song received mostly mixed reviews from music critics. Kerry L. Smith of AllMusic gave a negative review, writing that, "the lingering sense of loss and longing echoing through on tracks like 'The Music's No Good Without You' suggest that maybe Cher isn't the only one left still waiting for something truly magical to happen on this record."[6] Tony Peregrin of PopMatters called it one of the album's imperfections, "where Cher’s voice has been manipulated to such an extent she sounds like the embodiment of a haunted extra-terrestrial, whatever that is."[7]

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine was more favorable, writing that, "Cher's voice is virtually unrecognizable on the French techno thumper that would have made a brave lead single here in the U.S. as well."[8]

Chart performance

The song managed to become a top ten hit in Canada, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, while elsewhere it became either a top 20 or a top 40 hit. With a peak position of number 8 in the UK Singles Chart, Cher became the only female recording artist to have top 10 hits in every decade, beginning in the 1960s (her first top 10 hit was "All I Really Want to Do" in 1965). It was Cher's 12th consecutive and 33rd overall top 40 single in the UK and the last single released until "I Hope You Find It" in 2013.

In the United States the album Living Proof was not released until February 2002 and its lead single was "Song for the Lonely". By the time "The Music's No Good Without You", along with "A Different Kind of Love Song", was released as a single in the United States, Cher was already on tour, which led to a lack of promotion.

"The Music's No Good Without You" was exclusively released as a club single only; the song peaked on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart at number nineteen.

Music video
Cher in the music video for "The Music's No Good Without You".

The accompanying music video for "The Music's No Good Without You" was directed by Nigel Dick, who had previously directed Cher's music videos for "Believe" and "Strong Enough". It was filmed on October 7–8, 2001, on an elaborate sound stage with a "spaced out" design at Nikken Building, in Irvine, California.[9][10] The director commented, "Cher is about the only other person I know who knows anything about Gormenghast – and that was my model for this video".[9] The video follows the concept of the lyrics of the song. In the music video Cher is an outer space queen who is sad because her lover has left her. Throughout the whole video she writes a letter claiming that she knows he doesn't need her anymore. In the end she places the letter in an empty bottle and sends it floating into space. It appears that this had not been the first letter that she had sent to him because there are dozens of bottles floating in space.

A remix video was made for "The Music's No Good Without You". The remix video was the entitled Almighty Edit and the remix used for the video was the radio edit of the Almighty mix. The video was officially released by Warner Bros. as a promo only.

In 2001 the video for "The Music's No Good Without You" was commercially released in the UK on a box set which included the video in PAL format. In the box set the song and three promotional pictures were also included.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of all single releases of "The Music's No Good Without You".

Charts

References
  1. Promis, Jose F. "Not.Com.mercial - Cher | Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  2. "Cher Offers 'Living Proof'". Billboard Magazine. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  3. "iTunes - The Music's No Good Without You - EP by Cher". iTunes. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  4. "iTunes - A Different Kind of Love Song / The Music's No Good Without You (Maxi-Single) by Cher". iTunes. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  5. Living Proof (inlay cover). Cher. Warner Bros. Records. 2001. p. 3.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Smith, Kerry L. "Living Proof - Cher | Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  7. Peregrin, Tony (February 25, 2002). "Cher: Living Proof | PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  8. Cinquemani, Sal (January 21, 2002). "Cher: Living Proof | Slant Magazine". Slant Magazine. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  9. "PRODUCTIONS 2001". NigelDick.com. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  10. Roseberry, Tony (October 10, 2001). "NEW VIDEO OUT OF THIS WORLD". Cher.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2001. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  11. Cher - A Different Kind Of Love Song/The Music's No Good Without You
  12. "The Music's No Good Without You Single".
  13. Cher - A Different Kind Of Love Song/The Music's No Good Without You
  14. Cher - The Music's No Good Without You
  15. Cher - The Music's No Good Without You
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  22. "Ultratop.be – Cher – The Music's No Good Without You" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
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  34. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 50, 2001" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved November 1, 2015.
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