Album Review: Girls Aloud - Out of Control (4/5)

Seemingly disposable pop acts rarely make it this far. Even the greats of the last 10 years really only had a few good years in them each. Spice Girls, Steps, Blue, Atomic Kitten and All Saints quit after 3 albums; S Club 7 after 4. Only Sugababes--with their 6 albums and Westlife with their (gulp) 8--can lay claim to having had a longer continuous career than Girls Aloud, who this month deliver Out of Control, their fifth studio album, and first to top the UK albums chart.

Remarkably, they've yet to show any signs of getting stale. If anything, the group gets more interesting with each album. What Will the Neighbors Say? was their first Xenomania-produced album and bolder than their debut. Chemistry was a pulse-pounding workout of a pop album (with a few dud ballads). Tangled Up, their best yet, was a mix of such hard-edged pop and more restrained numbers like "Call the Shots." That great single appears to be the template for much of Out of Control, which largely steers away from the hyper-kinetic stuff sound embodied on tracks like "Biology," "Love Machine" or "Sexy (No No No)," to something a little more restrained, but still definitely upbeat. Like Tangled Up, Out of Control is also thankfully ballad free and has a decent diversity of sounds both very contemporary and retro.

"The Promise," the group's first #1 hit in 4 years, may be the most delightful single Girls Aloud have ever recorded. This track eschews their usual edgy electronic sound for something softer--a breezy, soulful throwback to '60s girlgroup. Horns, strings, synths, tambourines, and the girls blend together into a seamless mix. Mining the '60s is perhaps the biggest pop cliche of the last 2 years, but here it's done so well as to negate any potential scorn for jumping on this bandwagon. And then there's that most wonderfully satisfying of all pop cliches--the last act key change....Ah.

The rest of the album proceeds along more traditional GA territory--modern electro pop, although it has a darker, less frothy mood than previous albums. The Pet Shop Boys show up as guest co-writers on "The Loving Kind," a warm pop number bathed in rich synthesizer chords. Despite being produced by Xenomania--as all their songs are--it still has that evident PSB touch. "Rolling Back the Rivers in Time" is a pleasant mid-tempo number, awash in guitar and keyboards.

With "Love Is the Key" they get into something a bit harder. It starts with chanting monks, but quickly kicks into a hard-driving tempo heavy with guitar and spoken-word verses. "Turn to Stone" is fairly traditional territory for GA--clearer beats with electronic melody. It has a trance-like chorus of airy vocals and synth effects. "Untouchable" has a light guitar melody not unlike what graced Kylie's "Love at First Sight," building from a quiet opening to a clubby Eurobeat. At almost 7 minutes, its surprisingly long, but works quite well. "Fix Me Up" has a funky '70s strut, but is probably my least favorite track so far, suffering from a curious lack of melody.

"Love Is Pain" has an intense '80s presence, owing to its sharp synthesizers. It's got a rather dark melody, like something borrowed from Depeche Mode. The very upbeat "Miss You Bow Wow" is a frenetic mix of guitar, keyboards bordering on a video game-like quality and rapid-fire vocals. This track is the most like something from Chemistry. "Revolution in the Head" is a odd one--hand claps, synth effects, acoustic guitar strums, and not much melody.

"Live in the Country," which uses a drum n' bass beat with heavy synth melody, is the highlight of the album's second half, complete with closing farm animal sounds. "We Wanna Party" though is a rather by-the-numbers closer. Probably could have been cut.

If it's not as good as last year's Tangled Up, it comes pretty close. The first half is especially enjoyable, with an interesting mix of upbeat but gentler (for this group anyway) pop songs, any of which could be future singles. Out of Control is experimental as any Girls Aloud album should be, even if not all the experiments work as well this time.

Best: The Promise, Love Is the Key, The Loving Kind, Rolling Back the Rivers in Time, Untouchable, Turn to Stone, Live in the Country