Girls Aloud / OUT OF CONTROL

Girls Aloud OUT OF CONTROL, November 2008

1. The Promise
2. The Loving Kind (collaboration with The Pet Shop Boys)
3. Rolling Back the Rivers
4. Love is the Key
5. Turn 2 Stone
6. Untouchable
7. Fix Me Up
8. Love is Pain
9. Miss You Bow Wow
10. Revolution In My Head
11. Live in the Country
12. We Wanna Party (Bonus Track)

According to reports, 'Revolution in My Head' includes a
Nadine rap whilst the drum'n'bass influenced 'Live in the Country' has animal noises!

Miss You Bow Wow?

I hope that The Promise was a red herring and not indicative of some ill-advised musical digression that GA is taking in the name of "maturity". More Love Machine/The Show/Something Kinda Ooooh stompers please.

So track 12 is another cover of a song off the Lene album (following on from 'Here We Go', whichever one that was on)? Five years later? Hmm.

I think having a song called "Miss You Bow Wow" means they haven't matured that much. I'm glad.

am i the only one that read that as 'miss you bow wow wow'

I like the new more mature direction of "The Promise". I like that they sound and
act (see video) more confident, more aware of who they are.

there's a faction that think they are the best pop band since ABBA.
i am in that faction.

I don't get why people are so down on The Promise. It's doesn't seem self-consciously 'mature' to me at all, it's a perky, very hooky pop song.

In fact I was halfway through it when I wrote that post, and I just clicked back to the start. Which must mean I like it quite a lot.

According to reports, 'Revolution in My Head' includes a
Nadine rap whilst the drum'n'bass influenced 'Live in the Country' has animal noises!

ffs just STOP

Has this leaked yet, or are we just a-speculatin'.

The only thing I've heard off this so far is "The Promise" which seems to fulfil their apparent ambition to mutate into Westlife.

I note that most of the above album track titles would have been equally at home on the new Oasis album.

I'm not exactly craving to hear the rest of it.

Is it true that Live On The Farm is about dogging?

I'm trying not to get caught up in the backlash here but if there are two songs here I really like, I will happily bin the rest without caring.

Sorry, how does The Promise sound anything like Westlife?

Pay me and I'll tell you.

can we pay you not to post on this thread again?

Terms and conditions apply.

I hope track 5 is an ELO cover. That song would suit them to a tee, actually. I can hear it now.

It's over, people, deal with it.

THE PROMISE is my fave single by them since NO GOOD ADVICE. people seem to want them to become 'mature' sounding cause they're getting older, but really there are plenty of songs from far longer ago that could fit that bill. a leading national newspaper called cheryl 'the most loved pop star in the country' on sunday. who'd have thought?!

By whom?

I just want them to become less BORING and try some proper harmony work instead of that stupid monotone which really is getting on my wick now.

Also, change writers and producers. Now.

I've found Cheryl surprisingly likable on The X-Factor.

She called me a "fookin' nutter" and "mental."

Then again, I won't be the one playing Butlin's Noughties Weekend at Minehead in 2014.

There's still time.

but is there demand?

They might have to settle for second billing under Mania.

I note that most of the above album track titles would have been equally at home on the new Oasis album.

Especially "Miss You Bow Wow". I could imagine some unbelievably half-assed "Dear Prudence"-type riff accompanying those words.

uh there is no way Oasis would ever call a song 'Miss You Bow Wow'.

Not even Oasis would be that naff. No matter how many drugs they took.

Marcello, which (if any) period of Girls Aloud's work did you like? I'd always gotten the impression you were kind of against them generally, but the tone of your posts here suggests disappointment as much as dislike.

Not even Oasis would be that naff interesting. No matter how many drugs they took.

FIXED.

They're not really covering "We Wanna Party" are they? That's one of the weakest songs on the Lene album, I know Xenomania only did two songs on it, but there are five Lene songs that would be great done by Girls Aloud (as a sidenote, "Here We Go" is not one of them, the Lene version pwns GA's) - I'm thinking "Bite You" and "Paper Bag" in particular!

"The Promise" is good but then again so was "Call The Shots" and that didn't stop Tangled Up being generally not very good.

completely off-topic, but mark e: any chance of re-uploading the third part of Strictly Kev's Output mix from yr blog?

Tim F:

I was the first person on ILM to start a thread on Girls Aloud and apart from Julie Burchill I was also the first writer to speak well of them in print.

If you look through my various blogs you will find plenty of approval for Girls Aloud.

Indeed my piece on Chemistry was the one which Petridish allegedly showed to the rgoup while interviewing them for GQ a few years ago. Although he did so and referred to my piece with malice in mind it was nevertheless extremely flattering to know that he thought so much (as in "so frequently") of my work.

After that, however, I fear that hubris set in; Tangled Up comprised a dozen middle eights in search of a song and "The Promise" - not to mention the Lene cover version, a whole five years after they covered "Here We Go" from the same album (indeed with an identical backing track) - suggests desperation and dissoluteness and I think they need to find new producers and writers fairly urgently since Xenomania have demonstrably run their course.

Yeah I figured I must be forgetting at least pro-Chemistry stuff. My memory is dominated by an excellent assassination of "The Show" that I disagreed with but still really like.

completely off-topic, but mark e: any chance of re-uploading the third part of Strictly Kev's Output mix from yr blog?

that'll teach me to ignore a thread .. bear with me john, i'll get you sorted out.

Listening to this now.

It's astonishing.

Well, it's not bad.

Ok, it has its moments.

Come on, it's better than Sugababes' effort.

Nichola has learned to scrub up well.

That's about all I have to say.

Ah yes, the new Sugababes effort which HMV has instructed all its store managers not to display anywhere near the front for various record label/price discount disagreement reasons (see also the new Kaiser Chiefs).

The title is terrible - Catfights And Spotlights, an IT'S OVER title if ever I saw one - and the music is averagely dull rather than offensively bad but even so, Danity Kane seem to be running away with the title best girl group at the moment.

Still the upcoming Grace, Beyonce and Britney albums are all very fine from what I've heard of them so far so that's reassuring.

danity kane are no more :(

PCDs are the best (and also most successful) girl group around by miiiiiles though, overlong albums notwithstanding, and if you really think anything girls aloud or sugababes have done in recent memory is the equal of 'i hate this part' or 'love the way you love me' or 'hush hush' or 'when i grow up', i pity you and your cloth ears

Is that new PCD album any good then?

(I know you said before that DK sort of did it better but wondered if you had second thoughts)

not really as an album, but it's the kind of cd where i'll increasingly get absolutely hooked on its best cuts, which all sound much more amazing in isolation. listening all the way through, 'i hate this part' didn't particularly stand out, but once i started listening to it as a single it suddenly hit so hard, and i couldn't stop listening - nicole's tour de force vox, the way the cliches of the lyrics ("driving slow through the snow on 5th avenue") make them more evocative and moving, the extra vibrating bass in the second verse...it is absolutely my song of the moment. 'hush hush' and 'love the way you love me' are almost as good, too.

ie i'd prob give the album three stars, but i'd give at least five of its tracks five stars, and it's the five-star moments i'm interested in (plus who knows what charms the tracks i haven't got into will reveal if they're released as singles?)

soz if i'm not being articulate i'm in a cafe and should be ~working~

Got to say I agree there's a clutch of great tracks on that PCDs album.

Looking forward to Beyonce too.

Haven't Danity Kane just lost a member or something?

Lex i'm glad you love "I Hate This Part" - I think it's awesome! I know what you mean about often only clicking with songs when they become singles. I think I sometimes purposely avoid buying albums from stars/groups like PCD precisely because of that. I was glad that, say, "Buttons" was introduced to me as a single and a club track rather than as an album track.

...back to Girls Aloud for a moment. I'm listening to those leaked 30 seconds clips Popjustice is trying
to discourage people from listening to right now. They're all over the place, but some of the tracks sound very
promising (and most of the rest like leftovers from the Cilmi). There's no Biology of course, but people
should stop expecting that. My favs so far:

The Promise, The Loving Kind, Rolling Back the Rivers, Turn 2 Stone, Love Is Pain, Live In The Country...

it's going to be a good (not earth shattering) album.

Sorry, life's too short and money's too tight for "not earth shattering."

"There's no Biology of course" - so Girls Aloud should stop expecting my money. That's how it works, chap.

'call the shots' isn't that good. barely a year removed from it i can't even remember any of its lyrics. 'sexy no no no' isn't that good either. they are def the best tracks on tangled up though!

I like the intro to "Sexy No No No" and they could really have taken it out from there but instead they ruin it by going into this awful Tom Jones thing.

I'm not even going to bother listening to this.

x-post

I guess that may be the problem, I barely listen to lyrics - the tune was immense however.

Tom Jones? Well I'm speechless! Maybe it's the lyrics again.

i can like a song w/out paying attention to its lyrics (like i did with 'call the shots') but for me to really love it, it needs to at least have some resonant lines

Call The Shots chorus lyrics are pretty easy to remember - I've not even heard it that many times, but don't care much about their (usually rubbish) lyrics either way

according to discogs The Promise is only the second GA single to be released on 7" (after 'Wake Me Up' - both picture discs) and there hasn't been a 12" since 'No Good Advice' (which leads to point below)

i think Xenomania miss(ed) a big trick by not getting some remixes done (worked for Kylie) and always doing this Tony Lamezma (always big gay 'hard' house no?) crap

still want nice extended dreamy dubs of several GA songs (esp. It's Magic)

+++++

if i thought an act's lyrics were consistently rubbish i think i'd stop caring about them pretty swiftly, no matter what they sounded like! so really it could be any words in whatever order and you wouldn't mind? i think that's really weird.

No but if lyrics sound nothingy and largely devoid of connotations ("just cos you're raising the bet and call the shots on me") its very easy to just ignore them, as opposed to when they're actively bad ("Booty look softer than a McDonalds hamburger bun") when it's impossible.

I had to actually Google the Call The Shots lyrics which shows how little I've actually listened to them.

i wouldn't listen to awful music with excellent lyrics

By Tom Jones I meant the music; on "Sexy No No No" it sounds like one of his wretched attempts to Rock Out.

But "The Promise" must boast (if that's the right word; if I'd written these "lyrics" I'd keep very quiet about them) some of the laziest lyrics of any number one. "Walking Primrose" FUCK OFF

"Walking primrose" otm

I know the word around here that "The Promise" is some sort of aiming at 'maturity' thing (I guess I see this, strings and all), but has anyone else noticed that every one of its verses is a different part? It's ABCBDBEB. I know it's not as radical a construction as "Biology" but it's pretty unusual nonetheless, no?

I'm finding it hard, actually, to think of another song that does this.

(The other thing with the "walking primrose" part is that it's quite a good bit, melodically--so why does she repeat the same exact line twice in a row? Why not put ANYTHING else in a second line to not make it sound so lazy?)

"body look softer than a mcdonald's hamburger bun" is a great lyric u hater

what's the terrible "my aladdin's lamp is down" line on 'the promise'? it doesn't make any sense, it's just word salad

Oh God, that's another terrible one.

The irony is Sarah's "Here I am" just before the dreaded Walking Primrose is the only time on the record that any of them sound remotely alive or interested.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w77/celebdogwatch/girlsaloud2-1.jpg

I'm pretty sure Primrose is the one on the left, with Nadine.

As a song it's all over the place, glued together with Blu-Tak. OK the hook stays in the head but then so did Culture Club's "War War Ees Stoo-Peed." And I still can't remember how any of the verses go without reminding myself, except the first one which is bloody Tom Jones again ("It's Not Unusual").

Aha, so it's a DOG!

(much like the record cont p 94)

it's really overproduced too, absolutely slathered and suffocated at every turn...overdone strings, unnecessary trumpet, just too much of everything except songcraft. i don't think the chorus is even that hooky, i can just about recall it but it's not a huge accomplishment to make something as rudimentary as "promise is made promise is made promise is made" vaguely memorable.

I think the reason I remember it is because it reminds me of the theme to Blankety Blank.

I totally don't get the hate this album is getting, TBH. OK I haven't really paid much attention to the lyrics (but I never really did in the past either). But, come on, Girls Aloud have been hit and miss from day 1 and there are as many (Id say even more) awful/boring tracks on the first two albums than on this one. And Tangled up wasn't really bad either: "Call The Shots", "Black Jacks", "Girl Overboard", "Damn" were all good to great. Granted, there's a sense that Xenomania are starting to feel a little predictable and safe. But damn, there are some good tunes in here.

No room for "buts" at a time of global recession. Predictable and safe = doesn't get £10 of my money.

Marcello if you mention one more time that you're not going to buy this album, I'm hitting suggest ban.

If certain posters keep posting the same posts, they'll get the same reply until they get the message.

Not even lead review in the Grauniad today; three stars from Caroline Sullivan while Petridish busies himself with exciting hot new Razorlight platter.

if i thought an act's lyrics were consistently rubbish i think i'd stop caring about them pretty swiftly, no matter what they sounded like! so really it could be any words in whatever order and you wouldn't mind? i think that's really weird.

I guess my philosophy is if I wanted some words I'd read a book, or even watch a film. To me music is music not words - they could be singing 'la la la' for all I care - in my world everything sounds like Stereolab. ^_^

Probably over half the music I listen to is instrumental anyway - or features looped phrases - which possibly explains a lot. It's possibly a bit of a "muso" way of listening to music too, which comes from deconstructing others work to study how it works so I can copy the best ideas in my own music.

You still have to admit, however, that "I remember living the dream/Twenty minutes in a hotel bar/Then I slip into your girlfriend's jeans" is so lame Gavin Campbell's doing an appeal on BBC1 on Sunday afternoon just before Songs of Praise.

Razorlight CD probably more of an event than the GA album tbh.

What song is that lyric from?

It is pretty bad. But then almost every lyric ever looks rubbish in text.

For example, one of my favourite tracks at the moment (not current but only discovered it recently)

Round Two - New Day

Hurt by someone,
heart is beating bad.

Need the love,
need the love,
the love that we had.

I don’t nowhere to begin,
in the state that I’m in.

Don’t let me suffer,
dont let me suffer,
in the suffering.

Noooonoooo.

Feels like a twenty four hour sleep,
ease my mind,
dream,
your love is deep.

Baby don’t you know,
I don’t want you to go.

Don’t wanna shout about it,
shout about it.

Where did we go wrong tell me,
for the love that we had was so strong.

Give me your love,
give me your love,
and tell me, tell me that you need it.

Nobody else than to be yourself,
understands what makes you feel fine.

Can you feel it in me,
this is where I wanne be now.
I want you, you know
this is true.
In my heart,
I want your love for all time.

Don’t wanna shout about it,
shout abotut it.

to know,
Where did we go wrong?
For the love that we had was so strong.

Don’t wanna shout about it,
shout abuot it.

to know,
where did we go wrong, tell me.
For the love that we had was so strong.

Open your eyes and you will see,
that this was meant to be.

There ain’t nothing standing in our way,
we got a new day.
There ain’t nothing standing in our way,
we got a new day

oooh

------------

Looks pretty trite, right?

The point is, the music for that GA song is arguably worse than the lyric (it's from the infamous "Miss You Bow Wow").

They all sounded very dull on the new album, I do agree. At least the single had a bit of a tune to it though.

But I'll give Danity Kane a try and talk about it later.

Just listened to 'Miss you Bow Bow' to remind me whichone it was. It's not great overall but it's one of the better ones on the album for sure, the chorus is the weakest bit, but the lyrics don’t really stand out as much worse than the usual GA style to my ears/mind. The last minute or so is fantastic - and would be ideal for a long dub mix as suggested upthread, but there's no lyrics in that bit, so make of that what you will, it actually sounds like a completely different song.

I've never liked Girls Aloud for their professionalism, hence why I'm so obsessed with Nicola. I don't want polished songs, I want them clattering down Chippy Alley at 3am and smelling of Babycham and regret.

IT'S OVER

I must applaud GA, however, for the astonishing hidden 28-minute track on their new album, "Revelations Of The Absolute (Prequel)," in which their extended, bloodcurdling collective atonal screams invite favourable comparison with Diamanda Galas and skilfully alternate with whispered readings from John O'Hara's Appointment In Samarra accompanied only by the dessicated bleats emanating from guest dictaphone player THF Drenching. Much of this piece's incredible intensity must also be ascribed to a host of other guest musicians, including Han Bennink (chainsaw), Christian Fennesz (amplified sopranino knitting needles) and David S Ware (contrabass piccolo). The whole resolves in a strangely reassuring pianissimo finale in which Nicola's unstable intonations of sundry apocrypha from the notes of Aphra Behn as George Crumb's 12-string saucepan tolls its regretful bong in the distance.

I hope no-one reads that to Cheryl....!

I've never liked Girls Aloud for their professionalism, hence why I'm so obsessed with Nicola. I don't want polished songs, I want them clattering down Chippy Alley at 3am and smelling of Babycham and regret.

― mike t-diva, Friday, 31 October 2008 14:43 (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol poor people

Just listened to it, finally. Love is the Key is my favorite, Miss You Bow Wow and Live in the Country are good too. Fix Me Up would have been better as a Sugababes track. GA just can't sell it.

I have only listened to Out of Control once so I need to give it another listen or so before, but I miss the old Girls Aloud :(

It gets better the more that you listen to it. Nothing really grabbed me at first (except maybe the "When my demons hit I dial 999, saying get a doctor" bit in "Miss You Bow Wow"), but now I like most of the album and love "Love is the Key," "Rolling Back the Rivers in Time," and the aforementioned "Miss You Bow Wow."

I do wish it weren't such a mid-tempo affair. I wanted a "Something Kind of Ooh" or "Wake Me Up" on this album.

The ITV show on Saturday was abysmal. Ill conceived, badly directed and hearts clearly not in it.

saw bits of it and then turned it off.

Out of Control certainly has its moments tho.

I watched it drunk, so cannot judge - but I enjoyed the PSB song, which I hadn't heard before. (Aha, so someone else in the UK remembers "Not The Loving Kind" by The Twins, an Italo-influenced German import from 1983 which briefly tickled the lower reaches of the Record Mirror Hi-NRG chart...)

Did I mention that 10 days ago I won two tickets to see AND MEET Girls Aloud at the O2 next May?

Blimey, i hadn't heard of The Twins before!

The Promise has grown on me so much.

If you meet Cheryl, do tell her that I send my regards and I've forgiven her for calling me a "fookin' nutter."

Did I mention that 10 days ago I won two tickets to see AND MEET Girls Aloud at the O2 next May?

spill the beans charlie, did this happen ?

i like this album.