Lacking Chemistry (Chemistry - Girls Aloud)

Member Name: IainWear

Product:	Chemistry - Girls Aloud
Date:	29/01/06 (573 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of decent tracks

Disadvantages: More less good ones

This is not a place I honestly ever expected to find myself in, reviewing Girls Aloud’s third album. For one thing, I wasn’t entirely sure they would ever last long enough to release it, given the fickle nature of many of today’s music fans, especially the younger pop fans that Girls Aloud seem to be aiming their sound towards and how many of the other reality TV pop acts have vanished long before this point. Also, despite enjoying their music so far, I didn’t really expect my interest in them to last this long, as I expected the quality to dip once they were away from the attention of the TV show that got them a record deal to begin with.

Indeed, I was very nearly put off by things leading up to the release of “Chemistry”. Despite enjoying first single “Long Hot Summer”, I was disturbed by Cheryl Tweedy’s comments that Charlotte Church could keep their old sound. This was a worry, as I liked Girls Aloud’s old sound and wasn’t sure if I would like the new one quite so much. Secondly, was the live performance of “Biology” on “Children In Need”, which was the first time I’d heard the song. I was not impressed, as it sounded like three songs poorly welded together.

But as the release of the album occurred around Christmas time and I could get a copy without paying for it, I figured it was worth a shot. After all, I’ve been burned by buying albums thanks to a great single, only to discover the rest of it wasn’t all that good. Maybe the reverse would be true here and that, despite a slightly dodgy single, the album might turn out to be OK.

The opening “Intro” is precisely that. A short dance-pop number with almost rapped vocals, not dissimilar to some of All Saints earlier stuff in sound and delivery, which segues into the true opening track, “Models”. The latter is an up tempo synth-pop tune. It’s got a 1980s influence to the music, with quite a funky beat, although the vocals do let it down. There are points where it slows down a little and it’s not an entirely satisfactory track.

Next up is the second single from the album and the one I felt was a bit of a let down. “Biology” opens with an almost 1960s rock and roll sound, which isn’t too bad, but then becomes a pop-dance number, like much of their last album. But when the chorus comes in, it’s more of a synth-pop song. The three parts just don’t seem to work together terribly well, which makes the song seem like a bit of a mess. It’s a shame, as the individual elements don’t seem all that bad, with aspects of some of the former Girls Aloud sound in there, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts.

The opening to “Wild Horses” sounds a little like a stage musical, before the music comes in and it’s just a standard pop track. There are some rapped vocals which don’t quite fit in somehow and aren’t well delivered. It’s as if they’re trying to emulate TLC, but they just aren’t good enough at the rapping and not funky enough with the music or the rest of the vocals. The “wooh-wooh” noises, which are clearly meant to represent a train, are particularly badly done.

After mangling the Pretenders “I’ll Stand By You” on their last album, a cover of Dee C Lee’s “See the Day” threatens to prove that Girls Aloud have learned nothing. This time, however, the choice is a lot better, with this being a pop ballad to start, which is more their style. What you end up with is a lacklustre pop ballad that really doesn’t go anywhere and could have been performed by pretty much any girl group, although it sounds closest to Atomic Kitten.

The tempo is raised again for “Watch Me Go”, which has a mid-tempo dance-pop influence to it, with a funky beat running underneath. The song never really gets going, despite an almost All Saints style rapping section part way through and some of the lyrics, particularly in the chorus and towards the end, aren’t the kind of thing you’d really want young children listening to. It may be that Girls Aloud are aware of the fickle nature of young pop fans and are trying to appeal to an older music fans, but I can’t see that transition succeeding.

The opening to “Waiting” sounds as if it’s borrowed the same guitar sound as that section of “Biology”. It’s an up tempo pop track with a bit of a rock and roll influence and doesn’t sound too dissimilar to a slightly watered down Strokes tune musically, although the vocals give it a definite pop sound. Strangely, the vocals aren’t as clear this time around and this gives the song a bit of a weak feel overall, which is a bit of a shame, as it’s one of the better ones, musically speaking.

The spoken intro to “Whole Lotta History” reminds me of All Saints style again, although the overall sound isn’t quite that strong and this is more along the lines of something like the Spice Girls “2 Become 1”, with even the vocals of each member sounding distinctive (although I’m not sure which one is which), much like the Spice Girls used to do. Again, though, it’s a song that really doesn’t go anywhere and it’s a bit of a let down.

Fortunately, it’s “Long Hot Summer” up next, the first single from the album and perhaps the closest this album comes to the old style Girls Aloud sound. It’s an up tempo pop track with a bouncy beat and a slight pop-dance influence. This is the kind of song that kept making me mistake Charlotte Church for Girls Aloud when I heard her first single on the radio and the kind of sound that gained them so many fans to start with.

There’s a definite dance influence to “Swinging London Town”, with the music almost sounding like a weak version of the Prodigy. The vocals are almost rapped again, which makes me think of an All Saints track, remixed by the Prodigy. The overall effect shows why the All Saints never tried this for an idea, as it doesn’t quite work and the vocals are buried quite low in the mix and get overwhelmed by the music. Apart from one section late on, which doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the song at all.

The same influences are again clear with “It’s Magic”, although it’s a gentler dance sound than before and the vocals aren’t quite as buried. It’s a worry that this is the direction Girls Aloud may want to go in from here and, this being the case; they’re likely to fall apart. Progression is essential for any pop band to survive, but this sound just doesn’t work, as they’ve become a vocal group where you can’t hear the vocals!

The first of two bonus tracks is the pop ballad, “No Regrets”. The backing music sounds as if it’s been taken directly from the “auto-play” feature of a Casio keyboard and the vocals don’t stand out enough to make the song worthy of anything. Again, it’s a lacklustre pop ballad and that’s really all there is to it. The vocals make the song sound like a solo track, which is potentially another worrying development. You have to wonder if this was recorded by the first one to arrive at the studio one morning, whilst waiting for the rest of the group and the person who knew how to program the keyboard properly to turn up.

Luckily, the second bonus track is a lot better. “Racy Lacey” is probably my favourite track from the album; with an up tempo pop sound, coming closest to matching “Long Hot Summer” in the “sounds most like Girls Aloud’s old sound” stakes. On the down side, it’s quite possibly one of their more risqué lyrics, so it’s not entirely suitable for younger fans and it is let down in a number of parts by lyrics that don’t seem to be entirely thought out. It does stop a little suddenly, too, bringing the album to a somewhat abrupt end.

To call “Chemistry” a bad album is being a little harsh on it, as there are some decent moments here, even if they are few and far between. However, to call it a good album would be an outright lie, as in 46 minutes, maybe only 10 of them are all that good. This is an album that can at best be described as inconsistent and at worst, patchy.

This means that the price for the album as it stands at the moment isn’t good value. Play.com offers the album at £8.95, Amazon at £8.99 and the Amazon Marketplace at £7.39. If you do want to buy, eBay’s 99p is just about worth it, for 13 tracks and 46 minutes of music.

It seems that Girls Aloud are looking at moving on from their straight pop sound and trying to add a little maturity, potentially to attract a wider audience, having seen their previous fans drift away and move on. There is some hope in that their debut “Sound of the Underground” suggested a group trying to nail down a sound of their own and their second “What Will the Neighbours Say?” suggested they’d found it. Maybe this will prove to be a similar story and the fourth album will be better. On this evidence, though, I’m not at all confident.

Summary: The 3rd album from reality TVs most successful group