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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pop goes the Fox! Sophomore effort is brill!, November 4, 2003
Comparing Samantha Fox's sophomore release to her debut is like comparing almond whirl to raspberry ripple ice cream-two totally different flavours. The majority of the tracks was produced by Steve Lovell and Steve Power, and with the exception of two tracks, showed Foxy moving more towards a pure pop direction, ditching the rebellious slamming rock-keyboards from Touch Me in the dustbin.Yet there's a final bow at the latter style, from the second single, "I Surrender (To The Spirit Of The Night)", whose guitars and keyboards, thumping drums, and rhythm mimic "Touch Me". I can imagine that this or the "Touch me" song were candidates for Foxy's breakout single and "I Surrender" lost the coin toss. There's still a lot of energy in this number though. "I Promise You" demonstrates Foxy's shift to really skippy bubblegum pop and not necessarily the S-A-W type, although she does dip her toe in that on one song. Lovell and Power's production is just as infectious and the chorus has a tempo and intensity to match. Then comes "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too), her second big hit in the US--where she dips her toe in the 80's hip-hop of Full Force, who helped out Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. She would do some more of this in I Wanna Have Some Fun. "True Devotion" sports the same synths and haunting atmospheric sounds as the Cars' "Drive", and I often compare the two. There's a cogent comparison in this line: "Yesterday's dreams like old magazines/they lie beside the bed." She can handle ballads well enough, with the limited depth of her voice. Whether one will like her slowed down version of the Stones' "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", with backing soulful vocals and some grinding guitars and funky synths will depend on if one is a Stones fan first. I like the original better, but I can handle Foxy's one as well. Now Britney's version...that's something else, but let's leave that note unopened. "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" has Foxy opening a pack of Stock-Aitken-Waterman's bubblegum, and she blows Bananarama-sized bubbles with it, not as big as "Venus", more like "I Heard A Rumour." Thanks to "If Music Be The Food Of Love", I've referred to the Bard as Willie The Shake in this playful song that injects well-known quotes from Shakie's plays. The Bard would probably be clawing at the inside of his coffin hearing "To be or not to be/it doesn't matter much to me (that's right)/Wherefore art thou my Romeo/the only boy I want to know (he's mine)." Well, tear away, Willie. "That Sensation" also produced by Lovell/Power, is another three figure BPM dance tune like its sister track "I Promise You." Kylie would've done this as well, but sans the guitar. The sobriety of broken dreams and hopes is portrayed in the dark gloomy "West End Girl"-style pop of "Dream City." "Is it the world that wants an audition?/Is it the world that wants a job?/Lean on a corner called ambition/Wait for whatever comes along" I also sense the aura of the high unemployment of Thatcherite England. Yes, "One night in Dream City/it's unkind, it's unreal." Another haunting ballad, "The Best Is Yet To Come", which aptly describes her next album...(but not the fourth one). Again, drinking one's worries and dancing to music from the stereo seems to reflect the hardships of Thatcher's Britain. It's just funny how it pops up in songs like these. Even better than "True Devotion", this one. Giving Foxy coordinates to Galaxy Bubblegum was a choice move, although it probably alienated her early fans, who warped away from her. Yet the UK Top Five "Naughty Girls" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" shows that was far from the case, as she probably gained a new audience. This outdoes Touch Me as she easily acquits herself on the new material. The next album would be even better!
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