Album Review: Girls Aloud - Out of Control

A deluge of artists are releasing albums annually! Sugababes, Britney and Girls Aloud! There are no signs of quality control issues with these prolific pop stars!

"The Promise" opens Out of Control with aplomb and benefits from an extended mix. "The Loving Kind" evokes the electro-pop brilliance of the Pet Shop Boys; whom collaborate on the sensational "Love Is Pain"! "Turn to Stone" is a synthesised tour de force that Gary Numan would be proud of!

This is the band's fifth studio album. There's a melancholia that punctuates Out of Control and it's all the better for it! Critics may argue that Out of Control can't match Chemistry or Tangled Up for sheer experimentation! Indeed the production, at times, is akin to a Tangled Up mashup! However, I'd suggest that no other band, in recent times, in any genre, is as eclectic, or adventurous, as Girls Aloud!

Girls Aloud is a manufactured band that has transcended its origins and produced some of the best music of the last decade! Out of Control crystallises that enviable reputation.

**** out of *****

Girls Aloud release Tangled Up Live from the O2 (Blu-ray) this month!

Britney's Circus is Coming to Town

Billed as one of the all-time comeback pop albums, and accorded the pomp and circumstance of Michael Jackson's Dangerous (1991), Britney's Circus, the follow-up to last year's stunning Blackout (2007), comes to town this upcoming holiday season.



The complete track listing:

1. "Womanizer"
2. "Circus"
3. "Out from Under"
4. "Kill the Lights"
5. "Shattered Glass"
6. "If U Seek Amy"
7. "Unusual You"
8. "Blur"
9. "Mmm Papi"
10. "Mannequin"
11. "Lace and Leather"
12. "My Baby"
Bonus track
13. "Radar"
Additional bonus tracks for international release
14. "Rock Me In"
15. "Phonography"

"Womanizer" was one of the first music videos I downloaded, from iTunes, onto my iPod touch 32GB! The single failed to impress me upon first listen! However, the promo video changed that and "Womanizer" is a contender for pop single of the year along with The Saturdays' "Up" and Girls Aloud's "Promise"!

Zomba Label Group has revealed that Circus' title track will be the next single released to whet your appetite for the main event. I'll be reviewing the album soon.

Album Review: The Saturdays - Chasing Lights

With the economic recession dominating headlines, pop music provides a much-needed diversion, and a burst of optimism, from the crisis of capitalism!

The Saturdays' debut album delivers unfettered pixel perfect pop (with a sprinkling of R&B) that, at times, rivals Fascination Records' 'other girl band' Girls Aloud; none more so than on "If This Is Love", "Up", "Keep Her", "Issues" and "Work"!

"Chasing Lights", the title track, is tailor-made for the Christmas market and "Set Me Off" wouldn't make Britney blush!

The Saturdays (two parts S Club 8) could be accused of merely being pretty Stepford WAGs-in-waiting! Yet, against the odds, Chasing Lights is an ebullient contender for pop album of the year! Girls Aloud and Sugababes have compelling competition in the Official UK Charts. Rejoice. Up is where we go from here.

**** out of *****

Reluctant Spice World

When I began my tenure at Reuters in 1996, the Spice Girls appeared on the pop scene and, mentored by their manager Simon Fuller, sold the ideological premise of "Girl Power!" wholesale to the masses.

This equated to a license to print money and, whatever you may think of the Spice Girls musical oeuvre, there's no denying Fuller's conquest of the retail aisles! From CDs to posters and toys to sweets, the Spice Girls foreshadowed the arrival of Bratz and the brand dilution of Barbie!

Incidentally, Victoria Beckham (then Adams) AKA Posh Spice, allegedly auditioned for a Bournemouth University BAMP production prior to the Spice Girls! Please don't ask me for details as I don't have any further information!

In anticipation of their upcoming tour...

I’M RELUCTANT SPICE, MEL C TELLS GRAHAM NORTON THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW

10.00 pm, Thursday 25 October 2007 (repeated Sunday), BBC TWO

MELANIE ‘Sporty Spice’ CHISHOLM confirms she was slow to sign up for the Spice Girls’ forthcoming world tour when she joins GRAHAM NORTON this week.

‘I was Reluctant Spice’ she says, ‘I was the last to make my decision because it was a hard decision to make .. I was scared we couldn’t do it again. It was a weird time of my life, I had a lot of personal s**t to get over after the Spice Girls.’ But she denies press rumours that she was bullied; ‘I never said that. How can they quote you? I wasn’t bullied at all. .. I just love the British tabloids, they’re so imaginative! In America they’re more of a joke.’

About the forthcoming single she says they all share the singing honours; ‘We all sing the chorus, we all have an equal part in the song .. it’s a very ‘Spicey’ ballad, it’s lovely to hear all our voices again, I love doing that kind of stuff.’

Mel also comes out in support of troubled Britney Spears. ‘Poor Britney, I feel bad for her. She used to be looked after. Obviously she’s not happy, she really needs someone to step in.’

And she also reveals she’s been round to the Princes’ for tea; ‘I met them a while ago. We [the Spice Girls] were invited to Highgrove for high tea. Some of us didn’t like cucumber sandwiches and we made this known to our hosts, and we were made peanut-butter on toast by Prince William (but) the kitchen was rubbish, like MFI!’ she said.

Graham is also joined by Hollywood royalty JOSH HARTNETT whose latest blockbuster 30 Days of Night is released in the UK next week; and RUFUS WAINWRIGHT performs his new single Tiergarten live in the studio.

Watch the interview clip (iTunes required).

The Graham Norton Show is a So Television production for BBC TWO.

Cold Lazarus

The second episode of the new Doctor Who series, The End Of The World, has cemented my enjoyment. From Michael Jackson and Britney Spears to the 'Photoshop theatre' of the Star Wars prequels, the producers greedily excavate popular culture. The iPod reference was exquisite.

Billie Piper (Rose) continues to be a revelation and Christopher Eccleston captures the dramatis personae inherent in being a cosmic orphan (a knowing wink to Batman?). The look and feel of the series owes much to the Dennis Potter mini series Cold Lazarus (1996) and Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The latter literary luminary worked on Doctor Who and penned City of Death (1979) as David Agnew. The complete series one DVD box set can't come fast enough! And here's a sneak peek (credit: Play).

Return of the Saint

The first time I heard Shaznay Lewis' solo single Never Felt Like This Before, I had goose pimples! The unmistakable All Saints sound, which Lewis was largely responsible for crafting, remains unblemished. Her hooks are as tenacious as ever, and I can’t wait for the album release.

The above emotional response occurred when listening to Britney’s beautiful Everytime, a haunting ballad that rapidly became a part of the soundtrack to my ‘imploding’ personal life late last year. Britney secured pole position in the UK charts yesterday.

One of my Godfathers, who is as passionate about BMW cars and bikes as I am about Apple Computer, will be delighted at the news of their strategic partnership! Another inspired iPod brand extension.

Express Yourself

Pepsi has announced an iPod promotion in Australia alongside sponsorship of pop sensation Delta Goodrem! Presumably there'll be a similar Pepsi promo in Europe when iTunes Music Store is released?

After losing many daylight hours testing the World of Warcraft beta. DarkRyder has been joined by Human Warrior Mondas (named after the home planet of Doctor Who's calculating Cybermen). He resembles the new He-Man sculpt from The Four Horsemen! Fans of Blizzard's various franchises may be delighted to learn that Mac OS X installation patches for classic titles Diablo and Starcraft are to be released over the coming weeks. Feel the love!

Can't wait for Friday's release of The Day After Tomorrow! CGI geeks (and who isn't?) should see Terragen, a landscape generator that is heavily utilised in the movie!

Madonna begins her "Reinvention" World Tour tonight. Aroused by the success of Britney, Beyoncé and Kylie, Madonna is "dusting off" those old hits - Get Into The Groove to Vogue - and promises a show as spectacular and provocative as Blond Ambition '90 (I attended the infamous live BBC Radio One broadcast from Wembley Stadium in July, 1990).

The Sun and listening to Alanis Morissette's So-Called Chaos is so soaking up my time! BTW I watched The Corrs new video on MTV! It still "hurts" to look at Andrea!