To start, I must unfortunately state that this is not actually the cover of the most recent Girls Aloud release, Tangled Up,
I first discovered Girls Aloud through my buddy Stu last year; which led to the best of Girls Aloud making my 2006 best of list. Needless to say, after my first listen, I was in love with this campy girl group. Formed from a TV show called Popstars: The Rivals in the UK, these girls have gone on to become an insanely popular and famous girl band in the UK and throughout other parts of the world. However, most American’s would be shaking their head and saying “Girls A-who?” if you mentioned them, but not this one; after everything I have heard, I am a tried and true Girls Aloud fan.
I will openly admit that I was super excited when I heard that they were releasing a new CD this year, especially after hearing the more “rock guitar” driven single “Something Kinda Oooh”, last year; in hopes that this would be the direction that they were moving with their sound. When the first single, Sexy No No No! was released, my suspicions were confirmed; this was going to be a record that moved fast, and rocked the pop. While I admit that I really did like Sexy No No No!, it wasn’t quite the hit that Something was, so I chomping at the bit to hear more from this power girl group. The second single, Call the Shots, did everything that the near perfect Sexy did not; it showed me that this was going to be a consistently good album, and I am hear to say that it definitely is.
If you have been a fan of Girls Aloud in the past, you will find your old friends up to their usual selves with this album; the pop doesn’t stop, and the bubblegum girls are putting it all out in full force from the first beat of the first song. There are a lot of really great tracks, most of which will get you moving in your seat, and overall, the disc is a solid effort from the girls. You’ll notice that most of the tracks carry out the same “rockish-pop” feel, which serves to unify the disc as a singular statement of manufactured pop done right. It also speaks of the vision of a handful of producers getting to go to bat with an entire record; and the result is a successful pop record.
What’s somewhat refreshing, is that this record represents itself as nothing more, and nothing less than pure “for the fun of it” pop. It is masterfully produced, and the manufacturing couldn’t be more pristine, which must have you wondering why I couldn’t give it a perfect 5 star rating. The fifth star is missing first and foremost, because of the strength of previous Girls Aloud hits that unfortunately, greatly overshadow more than a few of the tracks on Tangled Up. Secondly, the final song feels included for the sake of someone feeling that they needed something to close the record; which speaks to its lackluster, and out of sync feel (I think they should have just forgotten about Crocodile Tears all together). Finally, of the hard to ignore, tacked on bonus tracks, the remake of Teenage Dirtbag is downright painful to listen to. I don’t know what went wrong there, but it is really, really wrong. I do, however, feel the need to praise these girls for listening to their managers, and their producers, because the results they have delivered really do deliver in a big way; this really is pop at its best, and it is great to hear in an era that seems to miss the mark with pop so often, and so disastrously. Many times, you will have a hit or two thrown on a sloppy and downright pathetic album, but Tangled Up manages to highlight singles among many other potential single-worthy hits and other fun, well produced, backing tracks; (almost) all of which work.
Sure, there may be some critical “down the nose” view of “manufacturing pop”, but what better way to produce the best of something that is MEANT to be produced and manufactured? I can’t think of many groups better to do it than Girls Aloud; and with Tangled Up, they show us that they are more than capable of doing just that… delivering that pop that is just so, so good to my ears.
Song Highlights from Tangled Up:
Call The Shots, Black Jacks, Girl Overboard, and Damn.
Rating:
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