sugababes - taller in more ways - C or D?

that's still not as good as my time out review.

didn't you notice the thread 19 threads below you, then?

I hate the album title

I like the fact that it makes no sense whatsoever.

your time out review was too nice, it was reading that that made me think i was in for something special!

the title is baffling. they all look as stumpy as ever. except heidi. shes great. and quite tall i think.

No one really seems to be with me on this. I note JtN's review in this month's Uncut. I would have swapped the review - and the star rating - with the one he did for Franz Ferdinand in the same issue.

they really must stop doing ballads, and they really must never ever do anything that involves an orchestra (or anything with over dramatic, nearly-pompus, pseudo-noirish chords).

i love "2 hearts"! it's the bastard child of "manchild"!

sugababes are really good at a certain type of ballad! the lush, swoony, orchestrated, post-babyface stuff they started to do on three (which was pretty much all that was good about that album - 'caught in a moment', 'too lost in you') is amazing. acoustic stuff less so. thus, 'follow me home' and '2 hearts' are wonderful on the new one.

i'm very pleased with the album generally, they play with a whole load of stuff and it works in most cases. 'bruised' is one of the most exquisitely perfect things ever. 'red dress' and 'it ain't easy' are similarly fantastic.

i asked tom to consider "red dress" to play at the club tomorrow but suspect he'll probably go for "push the button."

i love the xtina-hollers on 'red dress' which push it up to a whole new level of CHOON-ness. i was going to play it at sugar, but a friend requested 'push the button' so i went for that instead. 'red dress' will have its time.

Lex how could you not like the rest of Three???

I'm looking forward to the new album.

I did kinda like the rest of Three at the time but now never ever listen to it and can't even remember most of it. It's not a bad album but compared to the other three it's a massive dip in form.

A resounding 'C'. I cannot take seriously anyone who thinks Sugababes are bad at ballads, full stop. They've spent *5 years* producing the best run of ballads this pop age has, and will probably ever see for that matter (until either Cornelius remixes every ballad going or The Shortwave Set make as many albums).

Three is, fittingly enough, the third best album right now. Angels... would have to be the weakest.

I'm with BARMS on this, the Sugababes are one of the very very few groups who consistantly release good ballads. And 'Obsession' isn't as bad as everyone is making out but I am failing to see the purported greatness of 'Red Dress'. Only given the album a few listens but it's a solid 'quite good' at the moment.

mmmm 'ace reject' is on repeat for me

Angels > One Touch > Three > Taller

Nobody agreed with me on this, but that's the way it is.

In my mind, I can't help thinking Sugababes' career has many things in common with Pink Floyd's. One Touch's their "Piper", being Siobhan's finest hour and all that. It's also my personal favorite. But "Angels" is probably their "Dark Side of The Moon", the one album that jumpstarted their "second" career.

That being said, the other two are also amazing. And "Who" was probably one of my favorite b-sides of the decade.

Push the Button, Red Dress, and Ugly are pretty untouchable. The rest of the album, not so much.

"And "Who" was probably one of my favorite b-sides of the decade."

I also adore "Someone In My Bed". They should do more stuff like that.

I've just listened to "Someone in my bed", "In The Middle" and "Red Dress", and there's definitely a connection in there. All of them seem to be Xenomania tracks that can only be sung by the Sugababes, much more reliant on beats and basses than the ones they write for Girls Aloud.

There doesn't seem to be a similar link between them and "Round Round", though I'm not that sure whether Xenomania had already come into their own or not back then.

Siobhan Donaghy as the new Syd Barrett? I'm not so sure about that!

(btw iodine I did get your email - long and complex questions demand long and complex answers but I will respond asap)

Siobhan Donaghy's album is actually better and more consistent than any of the Sugababes', but to be fair, it didn't have any brain-exploding, world-beating pop gems to trouble the charts on it (although "Twist of Fate" is still one of my favourite singles of the decade), and even though my hopes for her second album are not very high, I think her leaving was actually one of those artistically and commercially (for the Babes, anyway) decisions that everyone really has cause to be happy with. Hooray.

Still not bloody sold on "Taller" though, sadly, will re-listen next week.

Several of the songs have grown on me with the 4th-5th listens: "Ace Reject" and "2 Hearts," so those join the obvious stars ("PTB," "Red Dress," maybe "Ugly") in the "good" category. I'm still waiting for the rest to pop.

It's a boring listen, not sassy enough. Not sassy at all any more. Take or leave it, only please believe it, they already are... respectable.

Happily Madonna's album is here and it's a disgrace (at her age!!!!) - which is much more like it.

Go back to sleep.

push the button is ridiculously brainwashing, are you guys sure you're just not being brainwashed? i like the video cause its sexy.

Shit I had written a long response and I accidentally closed the window...

Siobhan Donaghy as the new Syd Barrett? I'm not so sure about that!

I was planning to write a smartass joke implying that "hey, not even in my wildest dreams I'd dare to compare the great Syd Barrett to that skinny white gal", but I just can't. For very different reasons, I love and need the both of them. And, luckily, she didn't end up that much deranged...

That being said, I really enjoy all of the post-Siobhan albums...wouldn't go as far as saying that her leaving the band was a great thing, but I'm happy things turned out well for both her and the Sugababes.

btw iodine I did get your email - long and complex questions demand long and complex answers but I will respond asap

Thank you so much! But I don't want to put you under any kind of pressure...

"Someone In My Bed" - i hope this is a sexy single/video.'
*interlude*
He's got me sick
Wanna get it
I can't help it
I just need it
He's got me sick
Wanna get it
I can't help it
I just need it

*verse 1*
You're always on my mind
I wouldn't call it love
But when we're in the club
We always move in time
And when it gets too much
I hurry home and rush

Wanna see me through the walls
Wanna slide through the floor
And my bed is calling
Blush, as my conscience starts to tell
When I'm going up the stairs
It can't wait 'till morning
*
Chorus*
Ooh there's something on my (who)
Is moving on my (who)
I think I'm gonna ooh ooh ooh ooh

Ooh there's someone in my bed
Must be something that I said
And it must of been good
(Let me hear you say)
Ooh there's something on my mind
Don't know what I don't know why
But it must of been rude
(Feeling good today)

Ooh there's someone in my bed
Must be something that I said
And it must of been good
(Let me hear you say)
Ooh there's something on my mind
Don't know what I don't know why
But it must of been rude
(Feeling good today)

*verse 2*
Now it's about that time
Undressing with a sign
That later you'll be mine
We're caught into a vibe
With dirty thoughts that crosses over the stop sign
It's crazy that I feel
Confused it's so surreal
What's happening to me?
One touch and I'm just there
And I'm coming down the stairs
Bragging cos he made me go

Chorus
Ooh there's something on my (who)
Is moving on my (who)
I think I'm gonna ooh ooh ooh ooh

Ooh there's someone in my bed
Must be something that I said
And it must of been good
(Let me hear you say)
Ooh there's something on my mind
Don't know what I don't know why
But it must of been rude
(Feeling good today)

Ooh there's someone in my bed
Must be something that I said
And it must of been good
(Let me hear you say)
Ooh there's something on my mind
Don't know what I don't know why
But it must of been rude
(Feeling good today)

Late at night your eyes on me (ooh)
I know you like what you can't see (ooh)
Face to face along we breathe (oooooh)
I can't see what's on your mind (ooh)
Moving slowly down my thigh (ooh)
And the thought just makes me (oooooh)
It feels divine

Chorus
Ooh there's something on my (who)
Is moving on my (who)
I think I'm gonna ooh ooh ooh ooh

Ooh there's someone in my bed
Must be something that I said
And it must of been good
(Let me hear you say)
Ooh there's something on my mind
Don't know what I don't know why
But it must of been rude
(Feeling good today)

Ooh there's someone in my bed
Must be something that I said
And it must of been good
(Let me hear you say)
Ooh there's something on my mind
Don't know what I don't know why
But it must of been rude
(Feeling good today)

He's got me sick
Wanna get it
I can't help it
I just need it
He's got me sick
Wanna get it
I can't help it
I just need it

Now we can have a dvd of 12 videos .

Preliminary thoughts here. I feel another listen coming on soon.

Currently: better than the Cagedbaby record, not quite as good/consistent as the Shortwave Set's.

A- and still their second best album. How anyone can be this brilliant for 5 years in these times is both heartening and surprising.

Maybe I shoulda posted this on the 'Biology' thread ;-).

I was pretty massively disappointed at first, all the second-half songs in particular seemed flimsy and aluminium-lite and unbassy and musically positioned right up THERE whereas the vocals were all the way down HERE and it didn't match at all. Big gulf. Also I thought that "Gotta Be You" and "Follow Me Home" were very drab, and UNSASSY, yes.

Now I don't think any of this. All of their albums have been growers. "It Ain't Easy" was blasting out of River Island in frosty town yesterday afternoon and it was perfect and ace. "Obsession" is still a bit shonky and knocked off (why cover this, Sugababes? it seems a bit of a song-for-non-'technical'-singers to sing, to get them onto TOTP. like Being Boiled or whatever. you are singers, and can sing songs for singers, you don't need to emote-wobble all over this instead), but still an ace song, no harm done.

The remaining rubbish thing is the big orange OPENDISC stripe on the back on the sleeve. The cover is nice but the sleeve is mostly a bit bollocks. I don't like the circles on the back either, they are artwork-filler. But that's all. This is an ace album now.

'Red Dress' needs an extended edit, like, STAT.

I listend to the whole thing on the tube this morning and it never fails to hit me how three girls who are obviously r'n'b singers at their core can be stretched across so many different genres over 4 albums with nary a hiccup(and Siobhan is an indie girl, so her contributions are defnitely her finest hour for that reason alone).

'Follow Me Home' has become so emotive to me in the last few days, even though '2 Hearts' is meant to be the ultimate heartstrings tugger - I usually listen to the latter in some kind of trance where I'm never really sure of what it's doing to me. And 'Joy Division' is very impressive in the way it iceskates deftly and gracefully over its own potential naffness.

On some days "Joy Division" sounds to me like it could be a dubby Massive Attack track. A good one, at that.

OTM. And I only ever liked 30% of each Massive album.

Also, when the fuck are they gonna get remixed by or collaborate with the likes of Basement Jaxx and Cornelius?

my guess is never. i expect you will get a Mylo mix of 'Obsession' any minute now though.

(still not heard this album yet, bad me)

Dear Rex The Dog, please remix 'Red Dress' or 'It Ain't Easy'. Thanks,

B4r1m4 in London.

Has anyone bothered to access whatever it is this OPENDISC thingy is? What do you doyouget?

Mylo's mix of Amy Winehouse pretty much is a Sugababes song, Steve.

OK. So which Cocteau Twins song does 'Ace Reject' rip-off? I've never been good with track names.

Actually, scratch that, it's not The Cocteau's. I've just realised that 'Ace Reject' sounds very similair to Lush's cover of The Gists "Love at First Sight".

I don't hear that similarity, but I suppose I need to relisten to the Lush song.

breaking news: mutya has quit. more to follow.

no!

i still haven't heard this album yet, but i listened to three tonight and remembered intensely how much i love it.

oh no! b-b-but she can't quit until 'red dress' and 'bruised' have the supermegacharteating success they deserve.

Which song will have the photo montage?

At least she's got a fairly decent cover story for her pathological hatred of heidi reason for leaving the group.

But...what about me? What about...us?

Victoria Newton wrote this, so it must be false, It must be...must be...

*Tear falls*

Mutya HASN'T quit. oh and Red Dress is released March 6th in the UK... apparently

The Sun have been reporting a Suga split for about 4 years now anyway (I did wonder for a fantasy moment if they'd just replace her with Siobhan, though it's alleged that it was Keisha who really made her miserable).

It's alleged the girls would much prefer 'Gotta Be You' over 'Red Dress', but there's no way they'd avoid shopping Brian & co. royalties post 'Round Round', even over Dallas (this loyalty system presumably would make 'Follow Me Home' or '2 Hearts' 4th single contenders, though I wouldn't discout 'Bruised' or 'Obsession').

"It's alleged the girls would much prefer 'Gotta Be You' over 'Red Dress', but there's no way they'd avoid shopping Brian & co. royalties post 'Round Round', even over Dallas (this loyalty system presumably would make 'Follow Me Home' or '2 Hearts' 4th single contenders, though I wouldn't discout 'Bruised' or 'Obsession'). "

What this Barms? Explain this loyalty system?

I was surprised to realise today that Three only has 3 Xenomania tracks on it, it sorta feels like more.

which are the xenomania tracks on three?

from the round of album promo interviews it did seem that the girls were very attached to 'gotta be you', they were boasting about how they were the first uk act to do a crunk song. i vaguely remember that the racistjustice message board disapproved of it, too.

"Hole In The Head", "Situation's Heavy" (massively underrated track, maybe my favourite on the album) and "In The Middle".

The Craigie/Guy Sigsworth combo do four, I think.

I meant to say that the "loyalty system" is really a theory, but a majority of their hits are usually with some of their old friends (McVey & Rockstar since One Touch and Xeno since Angels) and it'd be a shame to let the big name new friend (Dianne Warren on 'Too Lost In You' and now Dallas having a large hand in Taller) inform their singles releases right now (ie, please don't release 'Gotta Be You').

x-p You forgot 'Twisted', Tim.

I always forget "Twisted" because it's not on the Australian version strangely!

"Gotta Be You" is the LAST song on this album that should be a single. I'm thinking "Ace Reject" and "Two Hearts" should be the next two singles if the girls don't like "Red Dress" that much (is the rumour in p*pb1tch about Keisha rubbishing "Ugly" true, at all?)

We only learn truths about Sugababes in their interviews, probably - they did say they were proud of each song in The Observer, I think.

We also know they make fantastic pop ;-).

I've really come around to "Gotta Be You." Sonically it sounds as fantastic as "Push the Button." But of course it's still not among the five best songs on the album.

'gotta be you' is a really weird not-very-crunk attempt-at-crunk. it works, but possibly not in the way they intended it to work.

it wouldn't be very good as a single, it's not the most tuneful thing ever.

No, the tune is not very tuneful, although the tooo-tooo-tooo-tooo bit that runs throughout is annoyingly hooky.

Also, my ass is the only thing you'll see.

yes keisha seems to be quite into her ass at the moment. i don't blame her though

You mean Mutya, owner of a dimension-channeling sexy ass that's the only thing you'll see. Pay close attention!

I'd like to bet their cover of the Arctic Monkeys will later be re-released as a proper a-side single, and that it will be a massive international hit.

It's a very clever and well-timed publicity stunt - not so much because of the Arctic Monkeys hype (though that too) but because it shores up their edgy cred in the face of mutya's departure (mutya always appeared to be the edgiest member). "Freak Like Me" performed exactly the same function last time.

I like the crappy version I've heard - surprised actually at how interchangable it is with the original! - but I hope any version that is actually released foregrounds the nasty glittering synths which I'm either hearing or imagining.

Amelle - C or D? I'm totally ambivalent because her 'Red Dress' vocals are wack and her Monkey business is fairly so-so - she has a good voice but there's nothing unique or special about it, particularly in the way the others are ie I don't think her vocals have complemented her bandmates so far. One Amy Winehouse is good enough anyway and everyone needs to go find Mylo's mix of 'Fuck Me Pumps', which is effectively a Sugababes song.

My feeling is that someone in the Sugacamp thought the cover would be a nicely ironic piece of justice after some jumped-up indie fan was shown on a UK news broadcast praising the Monleys for ending 'Push The Button's *3 week* chart-topping.

"Situation's Heavy" (massively underrated track, maybe my favourite on the album)

Oh yeah, ditto.

Incidentally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBNjGHf_VpI&search=sugababes