Here One She Made Earlier... (Read My Lips - Sophie Ellis-Bextor)

Name: stoffy

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Product:	Read My Lips - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Date:	04/09/02 (1717 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 'Murder On The Dancefloor' and 'Take Me Home' are perfect pop songs

Disadvantages: about 6 or 7 weak filler tracks

Being the child of a famous kids TV presenter can often come in handy if you want to break into the starry world of showbiz - just ask Zoe Ball. However, it wasn't always easy for Sophie Ellis-Bextor, whose Mum Janet Ellis was a 'Blue Peter' presenter in the mid-80's...

It was as the frontwoman for the band 'Theaudience' that Ellis-Bextor first gained notoriety with her nonchalant and aloof mannerisms and her clever-clever songs. Still a teenager when they were signed, a high media profile wasn't matched with sales, and despite the hype, releases like 'A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed' failed to make much impact on the charts, and the band were dropped.

Fast forward a year or two (and after leaving music behind for some modelling work), and Ellis-Bextor was thrust into the limelight once again after providing vocals to Spiller's 'Groovejet', which beat Victoria Beckham's first solo offering to number one. Dubbed as the battle of 'Posh vs Posher', it set the foundations for a frantic record company scramble to sign Ellis-Bextor as a solo artist.

After settling on Polydor, she went about recording 'Read My Lips', on which she co-wrote all of the tracks. Her opening single 'Take Me Home' gets the album off to an outstanding start. Something of a grower, it was an old Cher track that had it's lyric sheet ripped apart and rewritten with typical Sophie style. Blowing her own trumpet with lines like 'you deserve a girl like me', it was a big smash, reaching #2.

The following two tracks are two of the strongest. 'Lover', was a moody electric number that had a gorgeous chorus, a little bit reminiscent of Blondie. Although (wrongfully) not released as a single, it is one of the most addictive songs on the album. 'Move Any Mountain' was the B-side to later hit 'Get Over You'. The only song that I can remember in recent
memory to use hand-bells, it shows Ellis-Bextor off at her feisty best.

Track 4 is the infamous 'Murder In The Dancefloor', which was a big hit around Christmas 2001. With it's disco chorus (and even a cheesy guitar breakdown), it was a bit of a deviation from the rest of the album, in that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Complete with a hilarious video (which shows Sophie deviously rigging a dancing competition), it was co-written by Gregg Alexander, who had a massive hit with 'You Only Get What You Give' under the guise of 'The New Radicals'...

After the classic openers, 'Read My Lips' soon descends into also-ran territory quicker than you can say 'here's one I made earlier'. 'Sparkle' fails to spark, whilst 'Final Move' fails to pack a punch, and has the effect of wanting to hit the skip button.

'I Believe' starts off a bit more promising, with it's Neneh Cherry-esque hip-hop-pop beats. However, it fails to have the magic touch of the quartet of songs which opened the album. 'Leave The Others Alone' is a bit darker, and has some nice strings in it, but by this stage, Sophie's voice is beginning to grate on the sparse tunes, and you're dying out for a song with a catchy hook that makes the most of her unique style.

There's something faintly retro about 'By Chance', a bit like it should be performed by an also-ran girl-band on 'Pebble Mill' at some time in the mid-80's. 'The Universe Is You' is an attitude-laden 3 and a half minutes who's lyrics spawned the album title. Even so, it still seems to lack a vital hook, and doesn't really stand up to repeated listening.

'Is It Any Wonder' is as close to a ballad as you get, despite having a fast backing beat. Minimalist, it is nothing more than aural wallpaper. 'Everything Falls Into Place' ends the original for
mat of the album (see below). Another 80's throwback, it sounds a little like the Human League, but once again, isn't a patch on 'Take Me Home' or 'Murder On The Dancefloor'.

Although my album ends here (with a whimper rather than a bang), the all-new repackaged 'Read My Lips' has the single 'Get Over You' as a bonus track, as well as a live version of 'Groovejet'. 'Get Over You' was something of a disappointment - despite growing on me slightly as it constant radio and TV play, I can't help but think that she needs a new change in direction - not necessarily 'Groovejet Part Two', but something that makes the best of her unusual delivery without frustrating the listener with bland sub-standard tunes. Although it's nice to hear a different version of 'Groovejet', you can't help but think that putting on a re-issued album two years after it was released smacks of desperation.

In all, 'Read My Lips' is disappointing. Had the opening two tracks released from it not been so good, the other tracks may not have appeared so bad, but the chasm in the quality of the beginning and end of the album is too obvious to cover up. It seems almost shocking to think that someone who turned down 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' filled her album with some of this stuff...

A new album is due from Sophie at the start of 2003, and hopefully it will be more considered and less rushed than this collection. Her cover version of Blondie's classic 'One Way Or Another' sounds superb, so I'm not giving up hope on that just yet. I just wish that 'Read My Lips' contained a little bit more 'Murder On The Dancefloor' and a little less mediocrity...

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