Sugababes : Releases >>

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Catfights and Spotlights >>

The sixth chapter in the life of Britain’s most indefatigable all-girl pop group finds Heidi, Keisha and Amelle facing a new generation of female pop competition. The question: to take on modern soul songstresses like Duffy and Adele at their own game, or turn up the glitz and war it out from the dancefloor? Catfights and Spotlights hedges its bets, which is to say it does a bit of everything. Luckily, it does it mostly well: the opening “Girls”, a horn-led pop-soul number is mostly shallow and unconvincing, but “Sunday Rain” is a tear-stained, vintage-flavoured torch song with husky vocals and rolling piano, and a handful of songs penned by Britney/Robyn songwriter Klas Ahlund are smart and original. “You on a Good Day”, in particular, stands out, a stomping Northern Soul number dealing with the predicaments of a dundering partner: “That’s you on a good day/Disaster is always just a beat away/But I’m sticking with you anyway”. The album highlight, however, comes with “Side Chick”, fluttering R&B from the perspective of the girl that won’t be shared, fatalistic about the prospects of getting her man, but too in love not to try. --Louis Pattison

Overloaded: The Singles Collection >>

It's been a slightly tumultuous but hugely successful ride to the top for UK superstars The Sugababes. They've lost not one, but two band members since forming in 1998, but have nonetheless achieved three Brit Awards, an ESKA, a slew of chart hits (including four number ones), four well-received LPs and - more recently - an inclusion in the Guinness Book Of Records for 'Best Female Act Of The Century'. Overloaded, their fifth official album, is a Greatest Hits package, bringing together most of their main singles so far. Beginning with their Richard X produced hit "Freak Like Me" (their first number one), the album profiles most of their hits, including all their most addictive moments - such as "Hole In The Head", "Round, Round" and "Push The Button" - but excluding more lukewarm releases like "New Year", "Soul Sound", "Angels With Dirty Faces" and "Follow Me Home". There's some new material too, notably "Easy", the band's lascivious collaboration with Californian rock band Orson, and the catchy "Good To Be Gone", which is slated to be the second single from the album. --Danny McKenna

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Girls [CD1] >>

Sugababes - Overloaded [2006] >>

One Touch >>

The Sugababes' outstanding debut album, One Touch, shines through like a beacon in the morass of bland, indistinguishable girl-group pap that is being released with alarming frequency at the end of the 20th century. "Overload"--one of the finest singles of 2000--was a surprise hit for the young band, and proof that while record companies may spend millions marketing their "next big things", inevitably the good will out. The Sugababes are a girl group of the old school, invoking a sound and attitude reminiscent of the Shangri-Las or the Ronettes, striking the perfect balance between attitude and innocence--the same qualities that made the All Saints' debut album so impressive. Of course, "Overload" is here, and it's still their best song. And the second half of the album is a bit patchy. But tracks like the catchy "Soul Sound", the funky "One Foot In" and the ballad "Look At Me" all provide ample proof that One Touch is an altogether impressive debut. --Robert Burrow

Three >>

The lyrics "It's about the music, not about the face" hardly represent a breakthrough in political pop theorising. But when the Sugababes sing them on "Whatever Makes You Happy" (the second track on Three, a rather literal title for the group's third album), it's difficult to suspend one's incredulity. After all, while multi-racial dolly mixtures Mutya Buena, Heidi Range and Keisha Buchanan hardly resemble abominable gargolyes, their relatively indignant demeanour (coupled with the lingering durability of classic hits like "Freak Like Me" and "Overload") has been welcomed as an antidote to the abidingly glossy transience of banal girlie pop.

Frankly, the Sugababes are better at making music (with a little cowriting assistance from a coterie of professionals) than pulling faces and "keeping it street". This album, therefore, could have been fatally undermined by getting too dangerous ("Nasty Ghetto" is all hammy, bluesy, back-street melodrama copenned with Linda Perry from 4 Non Blondes) or by such lapses into working-class ingratiation as "Don't wanna spend my time in the VIP / Gotta meet someone who doesn't need publicity". However, the electronic ska of "Hole in the Head", the soothing balladry of "Caught in the Moment" (reminiscent of Neneh Cherry at her most chilled) or the insistent drum loops, ominously squawking melodica and dervish groove of "Situation's Heavy" are powerful enough to sway any cynic while the cheeky R&B of "Buster" (nightclub lothario atttempts to entice some less-than-gullible filly into a cab and back to his pad for the proverbial cappuccino) amuses no end. They'll be back for a fourth album, which is more than can be said for many of their peers. --Kevin Maidment

Taller in More Ways >>

Angels With Dirty Faces >>

The story of the Sugababes is a tale which might sound more appropriate to a band of leather-faced rock dinosaurs yet Angels With Dirty Faces is only the second album in their short career. Since dazzling the world with their anthem "Overload"; their first album flopped, they were dropped by their label, a founder member left and just when you thought they would give up, along comes Heidi Range and suddenly they get two consecutive number one singles. "Freak Like Me" was born of a Girls on Top bootleg of Gary Numan & Adina Howard which needed the "babes" attitude to crack the top 40. Second single "Round Round" is more like it; cowritten by the band, it has a far less distinctive sample and grooves like a Motown pop hit with a latter day R&B edge. If their debut One Touch was driven by 1960s R&B, Angels… is more in tune with today's R&B scene as on "Blue", a really bright, upbeat chorus blended with a dark and dirty verse. "Virgin Sexy" and "Supernatural" show a very mature Sugababes in a funk-rock superstyle which creeps menacingly like US divas En Vogue but sign-of-the-times lyrics like "I'm virgin sexy, if you want me just text me" remind us that they're a lot younger than they actually sound. On the whole, Angels… is far more accomplished than their debut. They have now successfully bridged all age gaps making their music so-called intelligent enough to reach the older people yet still fresh, dynamic and instant enough for a younger market. If you were to group them in the bracket of chart pop acts like S Club, Britney, Blue et al, The Sugababes are in a league of their own with a consistent album rather than a short string of sugar-soaked singles… it's hard to believe they are all the same age as or younger than Gareth Gates. --David Trueman