As football fans worldwide prepare for the start of the Fifa World Cup in Germany this Friday, the music business welcomes the games with sounds designed to maximise enjoyment levels.

Among the releases - Sony BMG's "Voices"; Warner Music's "More Crazy Hits" by Crazy Frog; Platinum's "World Cup Dance 2006"; Universal Music's "Football Fever", "Goleo VI" and "Samba Goal"; and EMI's "Goal!"

Sony BMG was awarded the licence to make the official album of the 2006 World Cup and "Voices" features the official song, "Time Of Our Lives" by Il Divo, as well as the official anthem "Celebrate the Day" by Herbert Grönemeyer, Germany's most popular singer.

The guys will be singing the themes at Friday's opening ceremony in Munich, which is expected to attract a worldwide television audience of a billion people.

Top international quartet Il Divo have yet to make their breakthrough in Germany, but in the US, Sebastian Izambard, Carlos Marin, David Miller and Urs Buhler have already had a number one chart hit with their fusion of classical music and pop. In Britain, their debut album sold 1.3 million copies.

In the German-speaking world at least, Grönemeyer requires no introduction. His album "Bochum" (1984) was in the German charts for 79 weeks, and hits such as "Flugzeuge im Bauch", "Bochum" and "Alkohol" always get the entire audience singing, whether he is playing in a concert hall or a stadium. He was also the first non-English speaking singer to be invited to do an MTV "Unplugged" session.

Apart from Grönemeyer and Il Divo, international stars such as Shakira, Eros Ramazzotti, Youssou N'dour, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Whitney Houston can be heard on the two-CD "Voices" compilation.

One of three World Cup-oriented albums on Universal Music is "Goleo VI", named after the loveable lion and official Mascot of World Cup, who is spending his time as the "king of parties" celebrating, singing and dancing with fans from all over the world for four whole weeks.

The album features football songs in dance style by such DJs as Bob Sinclar, Lumidee, Atomic Kitten, the Marley family and Patrizio Buanne. Wolfgang Boss, who is behind Crazy Frog, is an executive producer of the album.

Singles "Dance!" with Lumidee and Fatman Scoop and "Love Generation" are already hits around Europe.

Others tracks include "All Together Now (Strong Together)" featuring Atomic Kitten; "All About The Football" featuring British Intelligence; "and "Svegliarsi La Mattina" featuring Zero Assoluto.

Also out on Universal release is the hot Latino release "Samba Goal". The first single "Goleador", meaning goal scorer, is sung by Samba Tri featuring Brazil centre forward Ronaldinho Gaucho on chorus and samba drums.

"Samba Goal" is a combination of interesting Samba songs that include Babado Novo's "Bola de Sabão", Zeca Pagodinho's "Deixa A Vida Me Levar", Jorge Benjor's "Taj Mahal", Tamba Trio's "Mas Que Nada" and Jeito Moleque's "Meu Jeito Molegue (Live)".

Universal's third album is "Football Fever" and it features a lot of great cheer songs, among them the Black Eyed Peas' latest single "Hump Hits", "Mas Que Nada" by Sergio Mendes featuring the Peas and Trio's "Da Da Da".

There's also "Ole Ole Ole", "Go West", "Brazil Party Mix" and "We Will Rock You" but what makes it a good buy for football fans is the free VCD about world-famous footballer Pele.

On Warner Music, the Crazy Frog returns "More Crazy Hits" opening with a music video of dance-mix track "We Are the Champions (Ding A Dang Dong)" on VCD.

In addition to his World Cup song, the Crazy Frog has recorded unique takes on Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy", DJ Otzi's "Hey Baby" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". He turns his hand to rap with his duet with Vanilla Ice on "Ice Ice Baby" and yodelling on "Crazy Jodeling". This crazy collection is completed with his modern interpretation of the Knightrider theme "Crazy Frog In The House" and the startling earworm of "Nellie The Elephant".

Thai marketing and distribution company, Platinum has come out with "World Cup Dance 2006" featuring 18 cheer songs from several countries.

Tracks including "Da Da Da (Ich Liebe Dich)" from Germany, "My Humpz" from the US, "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" from England, "To Brazil" from Brazil, "Aller Nippon" from Japan and "The Korean Soccer Song" from Korea.

"Soccer Heroes" by Neo Deo featuring Craig David is well worth a listen as the lyrics contain the names of more than 30 soccer superstars. Also featured are two newly written Thai bonus tracks "World Cup Song" and "Bankrupt".

Last but not least is EMI's "Goal!" featuring 21 classic football anthems, including Queen's "We Will Rock You", Blur's "Song 2", Coldplay's "Clocks", Chumbawamba's "Tub Thumping", Gorillaz's "Feel Good Inc", Dandy Warhols' "Bohemian Like You" and Simple Minds' "Alive And Kicking".

All the soundtrack albums have a mind-blowing selection of energy-fuelled songs that are ideal for partying in between matches.

Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

The Nation