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GREATEST HITS (SORT OF) DONE RIGHT - NYE Blowout!

Sophie Ellis Bextor

Now of course, the delightful Soph has only had two albums out so unless she is following the career path of Samantha Mumba or Billie Piper, she probably won't release a greatest hits just yet! However, after a spectacular and successful debut album, Sophie's second album sadly didn't perform as well and was cruelly abandoned by the record company (though her pregnancy may have had something to do with it?) It's called the Liberty X factor - put out an entirely decent album then only release two singles from it. Those popstars rejects have been coasting on the success of their debut for 5 years now! For her third album, Sophie and the record company will need to market it correctly for her to re-establish herself in the world of pop...

Her first album - Read My Lips - was an effortless lesson in breezy, cool, electro-pop. From the dance smash Groovejet to first single proper Take Me Home, the bar was set. Pop had gone classy and the cheesy (but brilliant) era of Steps, S Club et al was coming to an end. The anthemic Murder On The Dancefloor still has the gays stamping their foots on a saturday night (and once v drunk and waiting for the bar, I leaned across and mouthed the words to the barman at the part in the video where Sophie "confides" the lyrics to the judge. I've never been able to live down the shame). Then something weird happened. Despite 3 top five singles, there was a 7 month wait til the next single and that wasn't even on the album. Why Lover wasn't radio remixed and released in the meantime remains a mystery to me! Get Over You and Music Gets The Best Of Me were both great songs but to me, I couldn't work out whether the record company had lost faith in her songs on the album, or Sophie was eager to get something new out. And while she riding the "special edition" album success, she totally should have released Is It Any Wonder, a totally delightful swoony ballad at Christmas. And heck someone should have a hit with a decent song with that title (Zing keane!)

Shoot From The Hip wasn't quite the triumph of the debut, but was certainly a great album. Turning to the 80s for inspiration way before it was fashionable, the lead off two singles were instantly catchy and quite delightful, yet suffered what is now known as the "rachel stevens/jamelia" effect - quality pop debuting somewhere around no. 10. Then nothing - radio ready tracks like Nowhere Without You and Antoher Day were left languishing. And how about an Ep of covers - one way or another, lets get physical and yes sir i can boogie were sublime exercises in reinterpreting pop history.

Luckily her new single Catch You is a funky slice of electro pop that hopefully will debut higher than ten and lead to an album full of hits...

THE SINGLES

Groovejet
Take Me Home
Murder On The Dancefloor
Lover
Get Over You
Music Gets The Best Of Me
Is It Any Wonder?
Mixed Up World
I Won't Change You
Nowhere Without You
Another Day
Yes Sir I Can Boogie

Posted by Paul 10:13 PM  

2 Comments:

  1. xolondon said...
    Catch You sounds like Blondie! Love it.
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