girlsaloud-tangledup music reviews Virgin Media
More genre-straddling genius from the hard-partying pinups
Girls Aloud are unique among pop bands in that they, where others fail, manage to tread the fine line between making music which appeals to 30-something musos as much as it does to the ringtone-downloading teenage market. This is, in part, thanks to the formidable garrison of songwriting and production talent backing them, and equally to the bombardment of personality from the band – in the press, and on record. Can this new album match the bar previously set so high?
Tangled Up doesn’t disappoint. Singles Sexy! No No No... and Call The Shots, along with album tracks such as Close To Love, slam home the power-pop message we’re used to, but on tracks like more melodic Girl Overboard and the soulful Black Jacks, and the wildcards – in particular the genuinely forward-thinking drum and bass track What You Crying For which, if you stripped it of its vocal, could easily be confused for a High Contrast track – the girls excel themselves. This is even more varied than we’ve come to expect, tempering the ballsy pop with moments of eclecticism which, in the hands of others, might lead to patchiness, but here simply results in hair-curlingly exciting music.
More to try: France Gall: 1968 High Contrast: High Society September: Dancing Shoes
Reviews round-up
