Tuesday, November 30, 2004
A Fist Full of Love Coming Their Way
The first thing that will strike you about Girls Aloud's new album, What Will the Neighbours Say, is how ace it is. The second thing that will strike you about it is how seriously fucking ace it is. The third and fourth things follow a similar pattern, with rapidly growing heights of hysteria, while the fifth thing will be a rolled up paper towel, as someone attempts to take your attention away from the stereo speaker which you've been staring at with awe for the last hour. Words can't really do this justice, which makes this article ultimately pointless, but that's never stopped us before.
This is not to say that the album is perfect. It's not. It achieves it's aceness in spite of, not because of, certain tracks, and it's whenever the girls slow it down that it becomes less than brilliant. It's not so much that these are bad tracks, if it was any other girl band we'd probably be raving about them, but for Girls Aloud it feels more like they've dropped down a couple of gears and are just lazily coasting along, rather than burning up the pop highway while flicking V's at the bands they overtake. Hear Me Out is the pick of the ballads, written with some input from Sarah, it's probably already been penciled in for a single release and is being touted around various movie companies as the perfect piece to soundtrack the big love scene where the couple kiss for the first time. Nadine's 100 Different Ways is absolutely pointless and is probably the album's lowest point. Also, and it pains us to say this, we're not totally sure about Nicola's contribution, I Say a Prayer. While it undeniably carries with it a certain charm - and we do like the fact that Nic took full advantage of it being her song and told everyone else to bugger off out of the studio and did all the lines for a change - we do, if we're honest, feel we'd be a bit less forgiving of it if it wasn't her track. I'll Stand By You you'll already know, but it is striking how much it sticks out like a sore thumb, sandwiched as it is between the amazing Love Machine and the less amazing - but it has grown on us a lot - Jump.
In the middle of the styles we have Deadlines and Diets, a lovely, laidback track about a "botherd" attitude towards a constant cycle of failed relationships. This will undoubtedly sound fantastic soundtracking a lazy summer evening spent with a brightly coloured and embarrassingly named cocktail in hand, but it doesn't quite reach it's potential on a cold November afternoon.
The rest of the album, however, makes up for the weaker elements throughout. The singles signposted an album of genre-jumping music which would excite and challenge and generally redefine the whole concept of what pop should sound like in the 21st century, and it does this admirably. Highlight is probably Grafitti My Soul, which is just b'b'b'b'b'brilliant, but seems destined to join Some Kind of Miracle from the first album as one of the most fantastic number ones which will never get released as a single. Here We Go is all we were hoping for, all Cuban sass mixed with No Good Advice, while Wake Me Up is so down and dirty you can practically taste the grease. The other two tracks, Big Brother and Thank Me Daddy, input from Cheryl and Kim respectively, do suffer slightly compared to the company they're keeping, but even an ingot of pure gold will look a bit dull in the presence of an exquisitely cut diamond. Thank Me Daddy is a lot better than the title would have you expect, but does seem a bit toothless. Big Brother, however, is easily the best of the girls' tracks, and seems to be about Cheryl quite enjoying being watched when she's doing the dirty. Either that or she's just really supportive of the introduction of CCTV into the nations high streets and will be campaigning vigorously for the introduction of ID cards.
In summary then, we are slightly disappointed with the album, but our expectations were so high we probably would have been no matter what it was like. The girls haven't released their equivalent of the Spiceworld album yet, but they are clearly on their way there and we don't have to worry about them tumbling down the mountain of pop perfection down to the valley of musical mediocrity yet. Don't let the early negativity in this review put you off, this is a fantastic album, but it's because of the genius of the majority that the slight poorness of the minority stands out. Even with those tracks, however, it's still one of the best albums of the year and we feel happy to state that it is quite easily the 21st Acest Thing of all Time... Ever!
