14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
Member since:02.06.2007
Reviews:180
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Splitting soon, will their comeback really be worth multi-millions?
Now that reality television is in our veins you may find yourself watching it without even realising, and just as with my Jordin Sparks review, I am once again turning my sights to review another musical talent that we have found through the art of singing every week and see how many people will pick up the phone to vote. I must also admit that there is a darker tone to the motive for this review, as I'm sure with the recent public break-up between Cheryl Tweddy and her footballer husband - Chelsea's left back, Ashley Cole - some may use their search enginges for the latest gossip on the affair and end up Googling their way to donating to my wallet. There is no 'i' in team though, and that is exactly what Girls Aloud have had behind them in the form of a great production team that have sent them from being a manufactured girl band to the UK's greatest group. Where others before them have failed; Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh and the already mentioned, Cheryl Cole, have managed to add longevity to the mix releasing their fourth studio album, 'Tangled Up', since winning the competition in 2002.
Hear'Say were the original music love affair of the country, that would eventually turn on them and the lives of such members as Mylenne Klass and Suzanne Shaw have only recently began to improve from the happy-slap attacks and hate mail. Obviously with peoples lives in tatters, the immediate reaction would be to put on another one of these talent shows, only this time creating a girl group and a boy group then putting them up against one another. Girls
Aloud stormed the charts with their winners record, 'Sound of the Underground' that still stands up as a pop record these years later, whilst the male victors - One True Voice - fell into obscurity shortly after their second single bombed, 'Shakespeares (Way With) Words'. Many could claim that there is very little competition for the group in the UK, with even three-piece Sugababes not exactly being in direct competition, however many of the band members are eager for their reality television label to be shaken off and if the high-profile lifestyles they are generating for themselves are anything to go by they should be able to do that. If being frontpage news isn't enough for Cheryl Cole, she can read up on Nadine's relationship with a hunky Desperate Housewives gardener and Hollywood actor, Jesse Metcalfe. Or perhaps Walsh's canabis scandal in 2006, Harding's battle with her public image and Harding's party-hard friendship with Danielle Lloyd.
"Yet another unrelenting pop masterpiece" - BBC Entertainment
1. Call the Shots (3.45) 2. Close to Love (3.53) 3. Sexy! No No No... (3.18) 4. Girl Overboard (4.11) 5. Can't Speak French (4.04) 6. Black Jacks (4.20) 7. Control of the Knife (3.51) 8. Fling (4.13) 9. What You Crying For (3.44) 10. I'm Falling (4.01) 11. Damn (3.46) 12. Crocodile Tears (4.18)
'Tangled Up' charted at #4 in the UK album charts, making it their third most successful release, only behind their debut album and greatest hits compilation and is already a platinum seller. 'Sexy! No No No' was selected as the first single release off the production, making it their sixtenth single, and not that I am someone that follows the career of the band step for step I still am not exactly familiar with the track. Considering that, a #5 peak in the charts is pretty good, and #3 peak in the Poland charts. This is projective of Girls Aloud appeal across Europe, however due to the fact that they can't shift quite enough numbers they still lack the power to crack the American market, and that is something that shall always stop them from being as successful as the Spice Girls. 'Sexy' is a very fast moving track, although it is still more pop than dance, and I struggle to understand the purpose of it - having an incredibly quick track also the shorted track on the album. Not something I would have picked for a first release, with the main characteristic of the song being 'no, no, no.'
'Call the Shots', the lead single off the album, would be more successful as a second release charting at #3 in the UK chart and this is a song I DO remember. The track also topped the charts in Croatia and Estonia. A bubbly pop song similar to that of what you will have heard from Girls Aloud before, I'm not sure how people putting this album in their CD player would get an immediate reaction of, "This is something new," from this track. Cheryl Cole did reveal that this was her favourite of all the tracks on the new album.
"I can't speak French, so I'll let the funky music do the talking" - Girls Aloud
Yet to still be physically released, 'Can't Speak French' is the third single release from the album. The track is without a doubt my favourite so far, and with it originally being delayed due to Cheryl's marriage issues this is no doubt set to get her further sympathy sales and I would expect this to be the groups fourth #1 hit (currently their top spot singles have only been their debut, their Children in Need single and their Comic Relief release featuring Sugababes). The concept of the song doesn't really make any sense, and I suppose that would be typical with a good pop song, and it all comes across very camp - although if you tune into the accompanying video your feelings are likely to be anything but camp as Girls Aloud use their sex appeal in French maid outfits. Mmmmm...
'Black Jacks' and 'Control of the Knife' were reported as the tracks to be getting the most positive feedback, and that is why when listening to the album I paid special interest to them. 'Black Jacks' is the longest track on the album, and is a rocky loud-chorus release that is similar to that of the most popular male group music in the UK industry at the moment, and also has the similar electro sound that many other tracks on the album do have. Personally, that isn't my thing and 'Black Jacks' isn't all it has been made out to be. 'Control of the Knife' was song I was interested in hearing based off the crazy name alone, and the opening beat matches that of the craze killers you are imagining the band members being with those knives, overall it is just a good pop record. In fact, everything about the album is pop, so if you like what Girls Aloud have done previously you should have no problem with anything this album.
'What Are You Crying' for starts sounding like a rave, meaning it caught my attention straight away, I didn't know Girls Aloud were trying their hand at drum and bass? 'Fling' on the other hand is all about spitting out one syllable words over and over again, by the time you're finished with this album something like that won't be unfamiliar to you. 'Damn' has familiar sounds to that of something that Christina Aguilera was trying on her last project, taking things back to basics. There is a distinct lack of ballads or lyrics with a lot of thought, meaning this is more something you could play in the background of a kids birthday, rather than an adults party. A lot of the lyrics are to do with girl power, something that we all know Girls Aloud aren't the true instigators of - that honour falls to some 1994 girl band. You know them? In closing, it's great at what it is, but for someone that's not a fan already it is poor. Also, the CD cover lacks complete inspiration and is barely respectable.
Pictures of Tangled Up - Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud
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