Do Girls Aloud actually NEED to release a new album?

What's this, a new(?) Kate Bush album or just the Futureheads cover.

Also, Nadine's ballad at the end is fab.

I keep forgetting that I want the Shaznay, my Annie album still hasn't arrived, and there's Girls Aloud, Destiny's Child and Eminem to come in the next few weeks. As well as picking up Teedra Moses, Christina Milian, Stina Nordenstam, Tom Waits, Nancy Sinatra and oh god hundreds more from the past year...

The Twista album is ace, too.

He gets it. Although, technically, Schizophrenic and In The Zone are this year's Justified and Stripped (with better songs and live performances).

Other GA downloaders should now start weighing in.

Tasty is better than Schizophrenic! Although yes, JC is this year's Justin. (Although an argument could be made for Usher.)

"We Changed Everything" or "Dueling Egos: Dizzee Rascal vs Girls Aloud"?

"Graffiti My Soul" may just be the third best song they've ever done. (If they ever top the amazing 1-2 punch of "No Good Advice"/"Some Kind of Miracle" I will be thrilled). It really is crazy bonkers nuts in the best way.

"Hear Me Out" is quite a wobbly, endearing ballad as far as such things go.

I did get the JC record though, which is indeed excellent.

Really, she makes the others look bad.

It is ace but Lene's pice de resistance is co-writing "No Good advice".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/tubesocks/123.jpg

Reminds me of
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/tubesocks/charliesangels10.jpg & http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/tubesocks/voltron.gif

Alone we are nothing, together we are an unstoppable force for good!

'Wake Me Up' is the best non-single i've heard so far (halfway through 1st listen).

ok 'deadlines & diets' is actually quite good. I expected to have to skip the slow ones.

Plus, 'Real Life'... isn't really very good, is it?

It is pretty much perfect. The sequencing is odd - "I'll Stand By You" between "Love Machine" and "Jump", wtf, also the two ballads to close it make for a very muted ending which on first listen is a bit of a let-down. However. They're REALLY GOOD - especially Nicola's solo one, she sounds so sweet and vulnerable! Taking the whole 'girl singing into her hairbrush to herself' trope to its logical conclusion, ie it actually sound like it was recorded in her bedroom. "Big Brother" is so big and maximalist, I'd say that a remix from someone like Armand Van Helden would make it the best thing ever were it not for the fact that they have totally pre-empted that - no remix could make it better.

Cis and I were talking about how Sound Of The Underground epitomised a certain type of small-town mindset: the teenage girl gang hanging around on street corners, bored out of their skulls with provincial life and provincial boys, longing to escape. And What Will The Neighbours Say? is the sound of those girls five years on, career girls in the big bad city and loving it, supremely confident and sassy but not yet world-weary. "Thank Me Daddy" may thus well be the key song on the album.

(nb Cis was the one who thought of this theory)

(xpost NO, does that mean "Graffiti My Soul" is being re-recorded with less fisting references? and surely it is too late as the kids have had 1 1/2 months to be corrupted so far?)

1. Life Got Cold
2. The Show?
3. Love Machine?

(I have not seen I'll Stand By You!)

B...b..but the TRENCHCOAT!

Greg have you heard the Lene version of "Here We Go"? It was on her album in the 03, it's big and brassy.

"Real Life" is going to make a lot more sense when hot weather rolls around y'all.

(I haven't seen it either, I don't think! I mean, I have a pretty strong memory of it coming up on The Hits but like when I think back it's pretty undeniable that there are only three of them in the video and they're all bloinde and singing an Atomic Kitten track).

The trenchcoat is amazing! I once wrote a girl a letter that was actually an annotated issue of 'I <3 Pop' magazine, the bit about Life Got Cold like overspilled the page.

I haven't heard the Lene! Is it even better?

You must hear the Lene album, it is like a collection of Girls Aloud demos! I still haven't decided who does "Here We Go" better though: I think the Girls win on the verses, but Lene bellows the chorus better.

Another classic moment in the Love Machine video - the bit where, as they're teetering into the club, Cheryl gets distracted by a band member and the other Girls have to drag her away.

Right, the reason this thread makes me slightly sad (as well as very happy) is that I DON'T HAVE MUSIC VIDEO TELEVISION ANY MORE. I have been bereft of it since October. This is a total nostalgia trip for the days when I'd spend like half a day flicking between TMF, The Hits and MTV Base non-stop. So... I haven't seen the Ciara vid :(

The top she's wearing on her album cover is awesome, though.

Jesus, even I don't like my taste in music anymore!

every single Girls Aloud ballad ever has a way of insinuating itself into your soul without you noticing (while you're being stunned by the full-on assault of the other songs).

I was playing "Smackdown vs Raw" on the PS2 whilst listening to the album, and Ric Flair's pre-figure four strut was timed in synch to "Jump", so that gets points as well.