So good she gave it her own name (Britney - Britney Spears)

Member Name: bilbob20

Product:	Britney - Britney Spears
Date:	22/05/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its better than the first two albums

Disadvantages: Its not as good as her post-breakdown stuff

I rather like Britney Spears. She is unremarkable in every way, other than her appearance. Her concerts are badly mimed and only worth their fee to watch the aerobic-style antics from the out-of-rhythm diva. Her voice is substandard, but recognisable. Her albums are generally made up of 3 hits and a load of old dross. Still, there's something steely and determined about her. Pre-breakdown, she was the darling of the pop world, churning out 4 hits a year, and showing her peers how its done. This was the third of four albums from that era.

The album opens with one of her biggest hits to date. I'm A Slave For You is a sexed up suggestive track with an Eastern feel to it. Not to be out-done by ex Justin, Britney whoops and whispers over a broken up beat that charms the snakes out of the basket. The song could also be taken as an ode to the continuous obsession with her body at the start of her career, where she really was a slave to her audience.

Its business as usual on Overprotected which diverts things back to a more familiar sound. Using a backing track all too familiar from her first and second album, Spears can be forgiven when the sound is this exuberant. This also gave her another of her Top 10 hits earlier in the decade.

There's a backing vocal overload on Lonely where Spears breaks the beat down again for something slightly different. That determination of hers comes across as she states that no matter how lonely she gets, she doesn't want to let (said lover) back in. As unremarkable as her voice, the song is instantly forgettable, save for a pretty bad mid-track rap.

One of the better songs to come for her career, its back to familiar ground for the twee but touching I'm Not A Girl. Used as the soundtrack to promote her debut film Crossroads, this is one of the few tracks that boasts a genuine ability in Spears' vocal. I couldn't have been the only one who laughed hysterically as her character pretended to write the song though.

This album could easily be a sountrack to Spears short-lived but attrocious film career. Boys played out her cameo on one of the Austin Powers films, as she cavorted and competed with Mike Myers in both the video and the film. That video and its inclusion is the only thing memorable about the song, a bland and generic attempt to shift from type.

A slight 80s-disco twist brings Anticipating thrusting to life. Of course, you have to be able to tolerate Spears thin and sugary voice to allow yourself to get this far into any of her CD's. If you manage it, the song is enjoyable if merely for the change in direction the CD takes. It might sound like something that Cathy Dennis wrote for an unimpressed Kylie, but its one of the better songs on the album.

Is Joan Jett still alive. If she is she'll be spinning in her margerita. This cover of I Love Rock N Roll is a disgrace to music. I loved the original with its fiery vocalist and head banging chorus. Spears rips the life out of the song and delivers her vocals like she's reading the points on her latest weight watchers diet.

Cindarella? Could she be any more blatant. Spears fancies herself as some sort of poor girl makes good. I'm sure its been a while since she routed around in the bins for half eaten sandwiches in LA. However, she dresses herself up as Cindarella, famed for running away from her prince and losing her shoe and her dignity. The song sounds like an unfinished demo, and pretty much borrows from the traditional Britney sound.

Let Me Be has a strange vocal from Britney. I have no idea why she puts on that froggy voice in the verses. Very odd. Its probably the low light of the album, save for her Joan Jett cover. A song that should have been saved for the b-side of her least successful single.

Bombastic Love is far from Bombastic. There are more voice quiverings from the pop diva and an overload of vocals from her backing singers. It's resemblence to Oops I Did It Again is a bit of a cheat, but its an enjoyable ditty nonetheless, made better with the clever rhyming of exactly and fantastic, as well as the chimes that subtly underlie.

We are transported to Japan for the opening of Thats Where You Take Me. God knows how she manages it, but Spears can take the sound of every continent and make it all sound like a 7 track remix cd of the one song. Before long, we are sucked back in by Spears and the Spearettes.

The album ends on Whats It Like To Be Me, which has some rent-a-rapper moment in the beginning, a thrusting base, and more of exactly the same.

There's no doubt that some clever lyrics, and excellent production make Spears third outing a rather better affair than her first two daft albums. The problem is that there are very few deviations from the norm. A sensationally sexy opening single and a couple of tracks that attempt to be different make it a better experience.

Spear will always be remembered more for her dance routines, and that nervous breakdown, as well as her insistence to drop down to her knickers whilst preaching the word of god. Like the overrated Madonna, she isn't a singer by any measure, but is vastly superior looking and at least seems to acknowledge her own shortcomings as an artist. Which is just as well, because on the evidence, she would have to have a sense of humour to keep releasing this kind of samey material.

Summary: A rather enjoyable pop album that doesn't really bring anything new to the Spears pot