Celebrating 10 Years of Hits - Too Right!
	10 Years of Hits has been a great success as an album. (Click on the album cover for track listing) With all his recent hits and a fitting nod to the Boyzone days it is not surprising that it went to #1 in the UK. The beautiful "Somebody Else" making it's debut a more than welcome addition to an enjoyable collection of songs. Although I don't doubt some people's favourite Boyzone songs were missed! 2004 has been a good year for Ronan with chart success with the singles "She Believes in Me", "Last Thing on My Mind" and "I Hope You Dance". Notably "She Believes in Me" and "I Hope You Dance" were classic country covers with "She Believes in Me" getting a considerable rewrite before recording. For the curious try Kenny Rogers original version for size - it's beautiful. "Last Thing on My Mind" is a fantastic duet with the extemely talented LeAnn Rimes accompanied by a sizzling video that I personally would kill to trade places with LeAnn in! Sadly "I Hope You Dance" did not receive the recognition it deserves. It's one of my favourite tracks but then I am more than a little biased by the fact I was already in love with the original! My personal highlight of 2004 was the success of "Last Thing on My Mind" a real triumph for Ronan's songwriting and a reminder to all his critics that he has come so far since the Boyzone days. Plus singing with LeAnn Rimes can only showcase him in America and those of you who saw her on tour last autumn will have heard the gorgeous solo version of the track - even though I was still hoping against hope he would appear I have to say she did a brilliant job. A fact missed by many UK fans is that the sensational "The Long Goodbye" has been a brilliant success in the USA for Ronan and co-author Paul Brady. Covered by currently hot country duo Brooks & Dunn it is featured on their recent album "Greatest Hits Collection II" as well as the acclaimed 2001 album "Steers and Stripes". The award winning duo have certainly done the track justice bringing the bit of country that we know is in Ronan to the attention of a far wider audience. Clips of their version of "The Long Goodbye" can be found on their website which you can reach by following clicking on their logo below. Many have suggested that the release of 10 Years of Hits was due to the lack of interest in Turn It On. It's not my place to comment on whether this is true or not but I only hope that his next studio album contains as many brilliant tracks as Turn It On. Ronan himself has been known to say that he's heard fans did not like Turn It On. To that all I can say is I beg him to look again because most of his fans vote Turn It On as their favourite album. With his next album undoubtedly in production I can only hope that someone is kind enough to tell him what we really thought of Turn It On.