Sugababes Three

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Just downloaded the first seven tracks of this. IT IS GREAT!!! Thread started for inevitable future discussion.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

why oh why isnt slsk working

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

mymble2 for anyone whose slsk is.

OK Hole In The Head you know - if you like it you'll really like the rest, as the whole vibe is top-of-its-game pop, no massive stylistic jumps or attempts to be different, just cracking, confident tunes (if the S'Babes DO write their own material then they've come on massively with this one).

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

#2 - Whatever Makes You Happy - big borrowings here from SLY FOX!! but with a more electro sound, definite single possibility, kiss-off to equally-famous boyfriend, 'babes want someone from outside the VIP bar, really lovely do-do-doo backing vocals. The producers really know how to make the most of the 3 voices on this record.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

#3 - Caught In A Moment - MONSTER ballad, along the lines of "Stronger" but better I reckon, instrumentally standard (piano, string washes, guiltar plucks etc etc) but absolutely stuffed with hooks, the "drip - by - drip" pre-chorus is ravishing, the chorus itself is great, best pop ballad this year probably. Yet another obvious single.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

#4 Situations Heavy - weird phased strings and a shuffly beat, acoustic guitar stuff, sort of cyber-skiffle. Pretty and definitely good but underwhelming after the first three, the Sugababes float through the tune in fairly typical fashion, this would have sat nicely in the second half of the last album though it's better than the Sting track obviously.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:13 (twenty-one years ago)

#5 Million Different Ways - BHANGRA SAMPLE ALERT! A fusion of Clappas/Diwali style instrumentation (not a dancehall beat though) with that acoustic guitar thing and a rather nondescript chorus. It's interesting but a bit of a mess, might grow on me but the components don't exactly gel. (Oh there's big synth drones in the middle eight AS WELL).

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

#6 Twisted - Back on track hooray! Great goofy bounce-beat and a sterling chorus with (yay!) actually good not in-yer-face use of a sitar (or sitar-esque thing or sitar patch), lots of very pretty background noises. Three minutes, doesn't stick around too long, good stuff.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

sigh.

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

#7 We Could Have It All - turns into a sort of Sugababes-do-Appleton thing, bit too much guitar for my liking but it's good, classicist pop, as 'Beatlesque' as this band is ever likely to get and then turns the kind of pop-rock-R'n'B melange that seems to be 'in' at the moment.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

#8 Conversations Over - OK, that acoustic is starting to wear on me now. Ballad time again, passes the time nicely, there's a very pretty little melodic dip just before the chorus but the chorus itself isn't all that, the middle eight is good though (Heidi I think), and after that the energy picks up a bit.

Initial 'GREAT!!!' reaction downgraded a little to 'very good'. This album is total proof of a style-shift in UK pop, with few exceptions there's almost no R&B here, I think writers and producers have twigged they're not very good at it and have gone back to electro and old pop and even rock for inspiration, this is definitely the 'whitest' sounding Sugababes album yet.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

TO BE CONTINUED!

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:39 (twenty-one years ago)

B side of the single is produced by Audio Bullys. Sounds like you know it does.

― JoB (JoB), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 13:59 (twenty-one years ago)

woah!

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

#9 In The Middle - Rubbish rhyme on the chorus ("I'm caught up in the middle / Jumping through the riddle") then rhymes "sooner or later" with "drunken elevator", phew. "Why can't the boys be the toys that the girls want the boys to be?" - sounds like it was written for Girls Aloud, very upbeat but quite un-Sugababes-y, riding on a squelchy keyboard sound and lots of stop-starting. Not totally successful.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

#10 Too Lost In You - you just know it's going to be a ballad and lo! it's a ballad. Pianos, soft drums, string sweeps, coo-ing harmonies, the mood is desperate rather than romantic though. Yet ANOTHER track that 'goes rock' halfway through, the Matrix totally to blame here, it can't quite decide whether to just GO FOR IT Bonnie Tyler style and ends up wimping out a bit. Not bad at all but bound to be The Single People Slag Off this time out unless there's something worse coming up.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:18 (twenty-one years ago)

#11 Buster - Potentially token R&B tune, high piano line and honking '00-Dre style beat, Sugababes in the club getting hit on by no-marks. Competent genre workout which gets a bit more intriguing when odd opera samples start breaking through the mix halfway through.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

#12 Sometimes - Sweet MOR love-in-trouble ballad with a nice swayalong chorus. If the Sugababes are still the girl group band indie kids like then this will be the track they like least, however it's a terrific bit of schlock and what's that in the background? can it be? MY GOD IT IS, a guitar solo, a proper guitar solo as well, they should mix it up for the single (let's face it these are all singles) and go on TOTP with The Darkness. Maybe they were trying for a Gilmour-on-Wuthering Heights effect and chickened out, I can't think why it's so low in the mix, somebody must have put their foot down.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

#13 Nasty Ghetto - OK, last chance pretty much to turn this from Another Good Sugababes Album That Tails Off A Bit into a cracker. This is their bump-and-grind song, most 'now pop' production, big hollow metal sounds on the drums, lots of synth wobble, all pretty minimal, it needs a big hook to pull it off... ohhh, no, they've not quite managed it. Also "He got caught in the nasty ghetto" is the "Virgin sexy, if you want me just text me" of this album. I know what they're going for on this one but here is where Richard X could really have come in handy for scrunching up the production. Some good noises. NO GUITARS amazingly.

Bear in mind I'm listening to all these on headphones in the office and they're all MP3s so I'm probably missing a lot of sonic whomp on stuff like this.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

#14 Maya - OK final track. Wow. Genuinely unexpected. Metaphysical ballad (to a dead friend/relative) riding on a heartbeat drum pad and low synth washes, it's really, really pretty and affecting and new-sounding too, kind of space-pop (the lyric is about prayers travelling through space too, the chorus goes "If this universe is really shrinking / We'll be together in time."). It's lovely, honest, and so fragile.

Blimey.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)

OK to sum up.

If you like modern pop you should buy this album.

If you liked the last Sugababes albums you should buy this one too but it is a shift in sound.

Otherwise you might want to check out the best tracks.

These are: Hole In The Head, Whatever Makes You Happy, Caught In A Moment, Situations Heavy, Maya.

Also good: Twisted, Conversations Over, We Could Have It All, Too Lost In You*, Sometimes*, Nasty Ghetto (* denotes presence of ballad for ballad hataz)

Not feeling: Million Different Ways, In The Middle, Buster

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

when does it come out in the shops? i don't download music

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not feeling Whatever Makes You Happy, but Caught In A Moment is a monstrously good ballad - everything Stronger was trying to be. It does sound like a good portion of it is a lot stronger than the first single, which is cause for glee indeed, although Nasty Ghetto fails to live up to its name - but really, could it have?

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 9 October 2003 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000DK4SF.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

This is the album cover?? Hmmm...

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Thursday, 9 October 2003 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

that's fantastic!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 10 October 2003 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Finally, I discover where the link on NYLPM goes to.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 10 October 2003 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Recently, I accepted that I am very much a Sugababes fan for life or until their first shitty album hits (the one where they'll all have been recording their vocals in different studios on separate continents no doubt). Mind you, the single cover is better than the album's, which is potentially their first (relative) dud cover. And yes, please get Richard X and Cameron McVey back into their rolodexes.

― Barima (Barima), Friday, 10 October 2003 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

I'm not totally feeelin this, why is it so? Have been playing it all day and fully expect it to SNAP into place suddenly, but hasn't quite happened yet. Certainly the ballads rule supreme here, and each track feels far more carefully crafted and packed full of little sonic intricacies and bustlings and hooks than a lot of AWDF did and yet the whole feels much less than the sum of its parts, whereas on the previous albums the opposite was true. And yet I kind of know that it is genius and will let me behind its velvet rope eventually, but when when when? More stuff in the astro-washy Maya vein would have been glorious.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 00:03 (twenty-one years ago)

that cover looks like an issue of dazed and confused. im confused by the sugababes love but not as confused as i am by the girls aloud love.

― jed (jed_e_3), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

'Twisted' sounded grebt on the listening post. the rest sounded (at worst) worth devoting some time to.

WH Smith are charging just £9.99. hopefully Sainsbury's will too. now, where's my Reward card got to...?

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard it a few times now, yeah, it's alright. It's not bad. I think I prefer Angels on the whole.
I've made up my mind and I like the cover - esp Heidi - and I like the scrapbook feel, though Mutya, unfortunately, looks like a Klingon.

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

totally hooked on "Caught In A Moment" !

― Paul (scifisoul), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

What's the blanked out (backwards?) vocal bit on 'Buster' ... and is this 2003's Missy "what is she saying" moment?

― Jeff W (zebedee), Tuesday, 4 November 2003 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always been confused by Sugababes lyrics, just because they seem to oscillate wildly between "I don't need a man" and "Actually, I really really need a man", often in the same song and, more worryingly still, in the same chorus (if I'm hearing 'Hole in the Head' properly)

Anyone else find this?

Ace album though.

― Kate Jane Connolly (fixitgirl), Tuesday, 4 November 2003 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

dig that flexatone! a much underrated instrument IMO

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 4 November 2003 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I like every track on this album! It is very very great.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

"Million Different Ways" - one of those rare tracks which works in spite of rather than because of its busy futurist production. The chorus is utterly beautiful.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:31 (twenty-one years ago)

ehhhh. aside from HITH and the occasional flirtation with Situation's Heavy, i'm not feeling it. although Tim has made me reevaluate Million Different Ways, and i'm wondering if it's contextual.

where have you all been hearing this? my only exposure is on headphones at work, and it feels wrong.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I love this now, and can't quite figure out what I was struggling with before. They sound really crushed at certain points but all works in their favour, it is now suddenly their most consistent album and a deluxe-ical wash of blissy lusciousness.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:41 (twenty-one years ago)

CD for review but not on headphones.

I'm only on my second listen, but I think it's smart, thoughtful, frequently *lovely* sounding. I've always thought if anything was going to hold the Sugababes back it would be a fear of largeness (a fear in keeping with their "indie" roots). I'm so glad that they've totally conquered that and have made such a *big* sounding album.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I just realised though that the Aussie version of the album doesn't jave "Twisted" or "Buster" grr.

Although has anyone else heard "Who" - their track with Audio Bullys? It was on the "Hole in the Head" single here and is also pretty great.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"Who" is ace, maybe too corrosive for the album but on the other hand I think they pull off loads of deft tiny stylistic leaps on here so it might just fit snugly.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Monday, 10 November 2003 03:51 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

im really late but "maya" is incredibly gorgeous and moving.

― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 2 October 2004 18:41 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

i think this might be their best album?

every winter, "too lost in you" and "maya" are my favourite sugababes songs

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Friday, 31 December 2010 18:47 (fourteen years ago)

the lyrics to "maya" are pretty #BASED (and also, like, really moving at the same time)

there are worlds within worlds that keep rotating
and so many thoughts that run through my mind
if this universe is really shrinking
we'll be together in time

mutya was ALWAYS the best sugababe

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Friday, 31 December 2010 18:48 (fourteen years ago)

Yeah, definitely. I really hopes she reconsiders quitting music and records again.

― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 31 December 2010 19:04 (fourteen years ago)

Mutya's voice was probably my favourite of the last decade. I love how it always sounded so lazy, so effortlessly cool, yet at the same time was filled with so much gravitas, like she'd already lived a life full of experience.

i'd say one touch was their best album though for me - "run for cover" & "new year" are really perfect for this time of year.

― prolego, Friday, 31 December 2010 19:20 (fourteen years ago)

Yeah, this is their best record. The second one runs it close, but this wins.

― Captain Ostensible (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 31 December 2010 19:25 (fourteen years ago)

i'd say

three > one touch >>> taller in more ways = angels with dirty faces >>>>>>>>>>>>>> change >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> catfights & spotlights

i never even bothered to hear their latest

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Friday, 31 December 2010 19:30 (fourteen years ago)

it's so sad that they (whoever "they" are in this band) have managed to so conclusively fuck up what would've been such a brilliant legacy if they had just left things in 2005.

― prolego, Friday, 31 December 2010 19:42 (fourteen years ago)

nine years pass...

album still slaps

― überweiss, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 14:49 (five years ago)

i'm not growing old before my time
even when there's WARNING signs
and consequently i can see
the situation's heavy
heavy

― überweiss, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 14:50 (five years ago)

Just listened to this album a couple of months ago and it really does still stand up. Maya and Conversations Over are two of my favourite album tracks of theirs. Three and Taller In More Ways feel like their peaks to me.

― kitchen person, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 15:06 (five years ago)

I'm just amused at the start of the thread being reminded how near and yet how far away we are in terms of growth of musical availability online.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 15:39 (five years ago)

I’m amused I once thought paying a tenner for a 💿 was a bargain

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 19:27 (five years ago)

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