Chemistry

by

Girls Aloud

Edit

It's a shame that the finest pop act of this decade by far is not even known here in the States. After twelve consecutive top 10 singles in Britain and the unlikely praise of respectable rock critics who normally wouldn't even consider TV-made music groups as a sloppy after-thought, it's near rude to say that the UK's Girls Aloud deserve to go unnoticed. Their third album, Chemistry, is their finest effort yet, and no other record on the current pop map better illustrates a group with more personality and more edginess. The tracks here defy the rules of your typical pop song, and Girls Aloud's producers, the acclaimed production house Xenomania, do anything they possibly can to toss every concievable musical genre into the mix. And they succeed on all accounts. Everything from sultry electro ballads ("It's Magic") and snappy numbers that sound like they came straight from the '60s ("Waiting)", to the A-Ha-esque bounce of "Models" and the jangly guitars on "Long Hot Summer" make this a tour de force of how genius pop is made when it is both accessible and experimental. The crowning achievement, by far, is lead single "Biology". An unprecedented combo of three different songs packed into one furious package, it vamps, glides, and sasses along like no other mainstream pop track in recent memory. That track alone is well worth the purchase, but another surprising element of the Girls Aloud formula is the overwhelming lack of filler material. The ballads, as to be expected, are well worth skipping, but when it's back to the uptempo numbers and the musical mayhem begins to ensue all over again, you'll be sorely disappointed that they have yet to make their mark on America.

Oh look everyone! It's Barbie Spice (Sarah), Pouty Spice (Kimberley), Irish Spice (Nadine), Biffo Spice (Cheryl) and Lohan Spice (Nicola) coming over the hill to steal your 10-year-old niece's pocket money!

Showing far more longevity than other hapless winners, Girls Aloud have gone from strength to strength since winning the UK talent quest Popstars in 2002, with their antics, beauty and songs (in that specific order of importance) ensuring plenty of media coverage in their homeland. Drunken brawls, footballer shagging and suggestive lyrics haven't quite yet elevated them to the height of Spice Girls outside the UK, but the production gloss of Chemistry ensures there's plenty of light pop tunes that could easily invade the singles chart if given half a chance.

Slyly ripping off new wave band X-Ray Spex with the artwork to initial Chemistry single Biology, its parent album similarly takes unfeasibly large chunks of pop history, feeds it through a pristine production machine and spits out 13 tracks that are respectable but never remarkable.

Biology feels like a couple of Geri Halliwell tunes that have been squished together with all the expertise of a five-year-old's plasticine creation, Whole Lotta History is a light and supple ballad and the funky Watch Me Go feels like Gwen Stefani fronting The Black Eyed Peas right down to the ridiculous My Humps-ish lyric `I know what you're thinking - you've been thinking about my butt'.

The old DC Lee ballad See The Day is neatly revamped and Swinging London Town has a Giorgio Moroder beat at its heart, but the sparky personalities of the individual girls is unsatisfactorily addressed on Chemistry. Girls Aloud are allegedly planning a horror movie next, but the nightmare may have already begun.