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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pop Girl Band Albums Aren't Meant To Be This Good!, April 1, 2004
The Sugababes are undoubtedly Britain's greatest female pop group since the Spice Girls. These three sexy sassy ladies are always ahead of the game and just storm through the charts whipping up a frenzy and displaying such a cool attitude that is rivalled by no others. The Sugababes first arrived on the scene in 2000 with their debut album "One Touch" which spawned the massive hit singles "Overload," "New Year" and "Run For Cover." The band's future was put in jeopardy when the red head member Siobhan Donaghy left in 2001. Only two girls were left in the band - Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena. Then towards the end of 2001 the blonde bombshell Heidi Range joined the band, and in early 2002 they released "Freak Like Me," which became a massive UK No.1 single. This was followed up by the album "Angels With Dirty Faces" and the massive No.1 single "Round Round." The girls continued their success with a mammoth UK tour and the hit singles "Stronger" and "Shape." The 'Babes were now the hottest chicks on the block, and have maintained this personality for years now. In 2003 the girls returned with their third album "Three." It debuted at No.3 in the UK charts and is easily their best album to date. On this album the girls equally divide their vocal contributions and fuse pop, rock, indie and dance to make easily one of 2003's finest efforts. Three opens with the album's first single, "Hole In The Head," which was a massive UK No.1 back in October 2003. The catchy beat and man-hating lyrics became a firm favourite in club across the nation and gave the girls their third UK No.1 single. "Whatever Makes You Happy" is a loud and brash pop anthem that talks of fame and fortune in a money-hungry society, whilst the superb "Caught In A Moment" is the album's first ballad. With emotional violins and soothing vocals, it's one of the best songs on offer here. The lyrics are superb, too, especially for a girl band, like, "Your stare swallows me in, and I can hardly breathe. I feel it's dangerous, could be deadly. Somehow I'm willing to do the things you want. Take me in your arms, spoon feed my heart." Many people dislike "Situation's Heavy," but it's one of my personal favourites, especially for the opening sounds; a mixture of swirling heavenly beats. The vocal arrangement is catchy and the lyrics are though-provoking - classic Sugababes. "Million Different Ways" is a rather average track, but it's still pretty damn good. I think it starts off really cheap and tinny, but soon evolves into a rich and developed piece. "Twisted" is probably the most simple song on the album, with a simple beat and uptempo sunny lyrics. "We Could Have It All" is the album's only real dud, but it's still listenable whilst the superb "Conversation's Over" makes for one of the best middle of the road tracks that the band have every produced. The third single "In The Middle" is a fantastic flurry of dance beats and eccentric horns that collide with the girls' ultra-cool and attitude-laden vocals and lyrics. The verses are so catchy and the bridge before the first chorus about boys and girls is simply groove-tastic! "Too Lost In You" is hands down the best ballad the Sugababes have ever sung, and with lyrics by the ballad legend Diane Warren, it's not hard to see why! Taken from the British blockbuster film Love Actually, the song features some awesome lyrics and an incredible bridge section where the violins take your breath away. It was the second single to be taken from the album in December 2003. "Nasty Ghetto" simply sways like an elephant in a jungle with underground beats and primal funk! The girls deliver a fantastic message on this song, with an awesome sense of female power that dominates and controls a would-be relationship. "Buster" is a similar song to its predecessor, yet makes less of an impact. The girls sing of a guy who wants to get with them, but they're having none of it! These foxy ladies know how to work it, and when you get in their way, watch out man! It's a female power anthem, in a similar vein to Christina's "Can't Hold Us Down." The second to last track on the album is "Sometimes" which is an average ballad - a bit filler for my liking. The album finally closes with "Maya," a superb and emotional ballad about a friend who died. I usually ignore all songs towards the end of albums by pop bands because they're usually filler, but this sure isn't! The lyrics are very professional for a supposed pop band and the beat is soft and heavenly. OVERALL GRADE: 9/10 America basically has no idea who the Sugababes are because they haven't really gone over there and promoted their material, but I'm sure they'd be a big success if they did! The Sugababes are Britain's top girl group, and I can see them maintaining this reputation because they have longevity. They're not some annoying novelty act that will wash away by this time next year. The only thing that's going to stop this band carrying on is a break-up once they've made their millions, have inflated egos and want to try solo careers. They could succeed in this, but I think they have too much talent and genius to do that just yet. Buy Three now, it's a fantastic album.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three Time Lucky, November 8, 2003
With the unimaginatively titled Three, Sugababes practically cemented their undisputed position as one, if not the best, female pop group to have emerged in recent times. While One Touch didnt shine beyond the excellent debut Overload and Run For Cover, Angels with Dirty Faces brought the girls (with replacement) to greater heights.
On Three, the gals covered such diverse ground as pop, funk, dance, R&B and rock without risking sounding confused. While the Destiny Child girls bad mouthed their bad men with angry words, the Babes always do it in style and recognizing the power within. First single Hole In The Head is a don't-play-with-me attitude type of song that plays against a riveting dancebeat that gets anyione on the dancefloor in no time. The girls shine on other songs such as the funky Whatever Makes YOu Happy, Million Different Ways and Nasty Ghetto (Linda Perry co-written track). All these without the need for a rapper chorus.
What really shines here is the ease the gals approach their ballads. When I first glanced and saw the Diane Warren-penned track Too Lost In You, I was disappointed but it turns out that the gals handled the track with unasumming ease and without the typical scream-your-lungs-out kind of rendition (read: Celine Dion). In fact, the song was "rock-trify" with the electric guitar midway through. The final two songs are also deserving of mention. Sometimes and Maya (Guy Sigsworth - Bjork, Lamb, mandalay and Madonna collaborator) are two of the finest tracks on the album.
One wonders why this band was not promoted in the USA in place of trashy and generic R&B/rap music in the US. They do not know what they miss.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Album From a Fan!, April 4, 2004
I've been a big fan of the girls since their first album came out in the UK and I stumbled upon them on the TOTP website (I'm from Canada). Since then I've scrambled to collect rare tracks and their albums and recently got my hands on the aptly titled 3 - as it is their 3rd album and there are 3 members. Keisha and Mutya re-affirm their posistion as the original members of the group (3rd member Siobahn left after album #1 and was replaced by Heidi) by singing a lot of hte lead vocals with the exception of "Sometimes" but nevertheless this album brings the girls toa new level with another album of catchy and varied styles of music.The album starts off with "Hole in the Head", which was also their first single off the CD and a UK #1, an awesome boy-bashing track that is really fun to dance to, you won't be able to resist feeling the rhythm of this one. "Whatever Makes You Happy" is probably the most poppy song on the cd, and one of the most multi-layered as there is about a million things going on sound effects wise. Not bad but a bit cheesy... "Freak Like Me" is actually the first single of the girls last album, "Angels with Dirty Faces". An awesome song if you've never heard it with a cool Gary Numan sample. "Situation's Heavy" is a mixture between post-modern jazz and the popular sound of British two-step/garage. A very different sound for the group and for most popular artists to try out. "Million Different Ways" starts off by jumpin onto that whole India-inspired music trend but progresses into its mid-tempo pop song that has Hindi-inspired undertones. V.slick sounding! "Stronger" is another track from the last album, and a nice ballad although I personally liked "Shape" better. It is a song about being made stronger after a breakup with a good message for listeners. "Twisted" Is one of my fave songs as it channels a bit of the classic American hip hop vibe with an amazingly catchy beat. A really different sound compared to everything else on the album, a lot simpler in terms of layering for sure. "Conversation's Over"...this song is a bit hard to rate because on one hand its not particularly unique as a pop song (Think All Saints/Appleton) but it is different for the group to try out. Either way the chorus and harmonies are really pure on this one. "In The Middle" was the girls third single, and I think it was a bit of a cop out based on its catchiness...the lyrics are pretty weak but the song itself is amazingly worthy of club playage. "Too Lost In You" is at first a bit of a disappointing track, and the girls second single (and worst release off the album so far chart-wise). However they are each given a chance to shine vocally and eventually the song grows on you, as you might, like i did, find yourself mindlessly singing the words whenever you hear it. "Nasty Ghetto" is a love it or hate it song. Its a bit hip hop and a bit dance music, a good track to dance to...rather grind to. "Round Round" is from the second album as well and definitely one of the catchiest songs from the previous release, I believe it was another number one for them. "Sometimes" is Heidi's song where she sings the majority of the lead vocals throughout in a sorta jazzy-old tyme ballad. A nice song and a good chance to let Heidi shine. Finally we finish off with "Maya" which barely seems to feature Heidi at all. Regardless it is one of my fave songs on the album as its so incredibly different, beautiful and peaceful. I believe it was written for one of the other two girls' sisters and is definitely a standout. The thing that really struck me about this album is that hte girls successfully tried out a number of styles, even moreso then their previous effort, yet still sound fantastic on every track with out the need of guest vocalists or super flashy videos. If you ever hear them live the girls really are talented especially given their age, and hopefully will keep it together to make more progress in North America where they deserve some more attention. If you are looking for a release by a good girl group (since they are few and very far between) be sure to pick up this album as well as the other Sugababes cd's! Great for parties, chilling, or just singing along to, this album will surely be placed in my fave music category along with the rest of the Sugababes releases.
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