Gillingham, Kent, UK (By Mikey) - Each week I preview an album which I think deserves a listen to and if it's worth to buy, I will cater for all tastes of music from R'n'B to Rock, Hip hop and Pop. At the end of the page, you will find all future album releases. With Xmas round the corner not many artists are releasing new material after December 8th, new album releases will resume at the end of January 2004.
Sugababes - Three
Release Date: 27 October, 2003
When is a girl band not a girl band? Seemingly when it comprises of three Sugababes. The sweet paradox that by gender default they are a girl band, but in practice exude so much more than the generalism implies. Musical sophistication, yet young and spunky. Street-cred worthy but with almost universal attraction.
Not to put too fine a point on it, in the space of two years and two albums, the Sugababes changed the face of pop. With 2000's sultry debut single 'Overload' they asserted that girl bands didn't have to be step perfect stage school dimwits. Then, after the departure of Siobhan Donaghy (the ginger one), they returned as sneering, man-eating teen strumpets with the genius bootleg 'Freak Like Me', scored their first Number One and set-up shop as the coolest thing to rule the charts in decades.
While by pop standards their third album is another brave challenge, by their own it's a safe banker. With the playing field already slanted to their liking, it's a tour round the Sugababes' bases to consolidate their strengths and bolster their reputation as a byword for sophistication. As such, it's both their most accomplished album to date and their least exceptional.
Yes they have had to field off recent press rumours that the founding two members Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena were not getting on with newer chum Heidi Range, but that's just d�j� vu. Siobhan Donaghy left to do her own thing a couple of years ago, her recent album paying tribute to the indie approach to music that tooted her horn and didn't fit in Sugarbabeland. So however uncomfortable the current threesome is (though apparently they all love each other to bits) this CD shows that they have definitely got what it takes. With much more R&B flavas this time, 'Three' is more Destiny's Child than Atomic Kitten.
Tunes with transatlantic traditions, but proudly British.
Their ability to conjure a chart-eating tune with the minimum of effort, remains spectacular. First single and Number One 'Hole In The Head' is a relatively dull dancefloor romp, made seductive as soon as they open their mouths. 'Whatever Makes You Happy' repeats the bootleg trick, this time borrowing the stadium sized synths of Sly Fox's '80s masterpiece 'Let's Go All The Way', while 'In The Middle' is a retro hip-shake in the 'Round Round' vein. Likewise, their downtempo moments are as moody as ever.
'Too Lost In You' and 'Caught In A Moment' both remind that they handle trip-hop melancholy with the same devastating confidence as their seething club stomps.
Elsewhere, there are detours to the quirkier side of their perspective. 'Twisted' lays a sly, candy coated melody over an eccentric off kilter bounce. Likewise "Dirty Ghetto" is downright get-down grubby. If you are prone to comparisons, then "Conversations Over" is most like the All Saints, and "Sometimes" is of a fashion ripe for a Mariah Carey vocal - though thankfully she stays away.
The tracks are sharp and complex, managing to lift their young vocals enough to give the whole album real presence. "Situations Heavy" has a tasty drum 'n' bass jazzy backing, while "Million Different Ways" has a great skittery Latin / Arabic beat that could be Holly Valance. It also shows off their harmonies perfectly and ends in a harpsichord. Large strings and restrained tip-top harmonies, that create an overwhelming giant of a track. "We Could Have It All" much darker, and again with great rhythm section that sounds like a Slinky being beaten up by a bag of nails. They've nabbed some fine production talent on this album, which compliments their own home-grown skills well, yet without out-shining them.
The depth of subject is barely explored beyond love and fledgling relationships, and lyrical purists will find fault that are too many lazily predictable lines. No aspiring band seeking artistic recognition should ever match up "home" with "telephone". Trite no-no girls. But to be fair, they do not strive to be Radiohead, and such poetic mouth traps should be overlooked when the rest of the package sounds so good. And it does.
Naturally their looks are sexily impressive, and although the CD does have some weak spots, the substance is there. No need for layers of lip-gloss to paper over the musical cracks. They have more going for them than most of their contemporaries, and certainly more bite than the Spice Girls ever did. The mix of power tracks and sumptuous ballads is just about right too, and 'Three' manages that tricky accomplishment of having instant appeal without saccharin style.
Their core values revised, refined and reasserted, 'Three' is a faultless reminder of everything that is good about the diminutive trio. And if unlikely to change the world, as their previous albums arguably did, it confirms there's still no one to touch them.
9/10
Tracklisting
1 Hole In The Head
2 Whatever Makes You Happy
3 Caught In A Moment
4 Situation's Heavy
5 Million Different Ways
6 Twisted
7 We Could Have It All
8 Conversation's Over
9 In The Middle
10 Too Lost In You
11 Busted
12 Sometimes
13 Nasty Ghetto
14 Maya
Album Release Schedule
November 10
Atomic Kitten - Ladies' Night
Coldplay - Coldplay Live 2003
Mark Owen - In Your Own Time
Pink - Try This
Holly Valance - State Of Mind
Various Artists - Capital Gold Rock & Roll Legends
November 17
Blazin' Squad - Now Or Never
Busted - A Present For Everyone
Michael Jackson - Ones
Ronan Keating - Turn It Up
Kylie Minogue - Body Language
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits
Cliff Richard - Cliff At Christmas
Britney Spears - In The Zone
Various Artists - Now That's What I Call Music! 56
November 24
Nelly Furtado - Folklore
Enrique Iglesias - Seven
Javine - Surrender
Lemar - Dedicated
Mis-teeq - Eye Candy (re-issued)
Alex Parks - Introduction To Me
Pet Shop Boys - PopArt (1985-2003)
Westlife - Turn Around
December 1
Will Young - Friday's Child
December 8
Alicia Keys - The Diary Of Alicia Keys
