Search - Girls Aloud :: Out of Control

Out of Control was one of the best albums of 2008

K. Murphy | Michigan | 05/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Girls Aloud have become one of the most successful girl groups in UK history. They have had a record breaking 20 consecutive Top Ten hits. Xenomania produced and critically acclaimed, Girls Aloud's music is pop perfection.



Now out with their fifth studio album and sixth overall, Out of Control has been the group's best charting studio album reaching #1. Like the girl's last album, Tangled Up, their material has matured to create a brilliant mix of mid-tempo ballads, decade influenced beats, electro flare, and more. But lets get down to it with a track by track:



"The Promise" - The first single off the record, a #1 UK hit song, a and BRIT Award winner. One of the best tracks on the album. a 60s inspired tune that has great vocals. Very catchy chorus! Best Lyric: I've had about as much as I can take of fallin'. (The way Nadine sings it is beautiful).



"The Loving Kind" - Their second single, this is a Pet Shop Boys and Xenomania produced number. It's a mid-tempo soft song that is still danceable. For me it was a grower, but after a few listens I've really become a fan of it. Best Lyric: I'd do anything, sing songs that lovers sing.



"Rolling Back Rivers In Time" - A really well sung track that is probably the least danceable on the CD, but it is more of a beautiful relaxing sound to just sit and listen to. Nadine really opens this song up well. Cute lyrics beats, smooth lyrics and great vocals really make this track. Best Lyric: (It's really just a big beautiful blend).



"Love Is The Key" - This track has been best described as a "sixties-style pop strut". It's a really fun song that I can't help but bounce around to. Great lyrics and styling make this one of the standout tracks from the album. And the chorus is excellent. The girls definitely tried something new with this tune, and it worked! Best Lyric: Not the kinda to catch my eye, Now we're picking out the tiles and curtains, Never thought you'd be the lucky guy, Now it's the only thing I know for certain...



"Turn To Stone" - An 80s electro-synth pop that is killed by a terrible repetitious sleeper of a chorus. A major contendor for worst song the album. Best Lyric: Well the opener by Nicola is quite pleasant.



"Untouchable" - Their third and final single. The album's big danceable ballad that builds up wonderfully. Amazing lyrics that are beautifully sung. Nicola really opens the song well. One of the greatest songs on the album and is a prime example of how Xenomania and the Girls produce some of pops greatest works. When Nadine sings the climax in the song, wow. Best Lyric(s): (From the songs tremendous climax) Without any meaning, We're just skin and bone, Like beautiful robots dancing alone (and) And I know a heart shouldn't beat so hard



"Fix Me Up" - A sultry, sassy, fun song you can't help but sing to while you (all sexy-like) dance and strut around the joint kind of track. This is the album's little sexed up tune that is soo well done. Best Lyric: Oh its too hard to pick!! The opener really hooks you in.



"Love Is Pain" - Another electro-synth pop track that is mostly killed by its mundane chorus. There just wasn't any energy in the track. While it is an improvement (compared to "Turn To Stone") What saved it, slightly, was the intriguing opener and its repetition throughout the song. Best Lyric: What you are, What you see, It don't matter to me, It don't matter to me, What you know, What you need, It don't matter to me, Just be faithful to me



"Miss You Bow Wow" - This track is hands down the most irresistible to dance to. It's so hard to describe my love for this song while still being coherent. Musicomh.com says it best: "could well be the most exhilarating song of the year, being almost ridiculously danceable, having a gloriously soaring chorus and some surreal lyrics". Check it out! Best Lyric: I remember living the dream, Twenty minutes in the hotel bar, Then I slip into your girlfriend's jeans, And I remember said "Baby, hold tight", Twenty hours in the twilight zone, The only lovers in the world that night



"Revolution In The Head" - This track has an amazing beat that is undeniably deserving a good dance about. Great opening! Fun and very catchy lyrics! Nadine's little pseudo-rapping, god I love it. Best Lyric: I really wanna, But then again I feel I'm feeling cold, You're telling me mañana, Let's call it a night



"Live In The Country" - A drum and bass track about moving to the country and all of the wonderful benefits it has. This track has an unusual subject matter for a pop song, but never the less the Girls turn this into one of the albums highlights. An extremely catchy chorus and amazing lyrics make their desire to live in the country fun. Best Lyric: Ooooh, ooooh yeah, There's got to be a better way, Ooooh, and I don't care, I know that when I live in the country...



"We Wanna Party" - A rocked out cover track that really doesn't live up to Girls Aloud standards. Not a strong ender for the album, but all-in-all it's not the worst track ever... just no where near the best. Best Lyric: Not really any... at all.



`Out of Control' is not their best, but is an amazing inventive pop album. Loaded with brilliant lyrics, openers, choruses, and vocals. Though there are some below GA standard tracks (i.e. Turn To Stone, We Wanna Party, and Love Is Pain) it's the one of the better pop albums this year.



MUST LISTEN: The Promise, The Loving Kind, Rolling Back Rivers In Time, Love Is The Key, Untouchable, Miss You Bow Wow, Revolution In The Head, and Live In The Country!"

QUITE POSSIBLY...the girls' best album yet

Larry Davis | NYC/Long Island, NY | 08/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Out of all 5 studio albums (plus 1 greatest hits and singles boxset), "Out Of Control", Girls Aloud's most recent studio album from late 2008, could be their best...then again, picking their best album is tough because they're all great. See, Girls Aloud is not your typical girlgroup who puts out some killer singles and the rest of their albums consist of filler, and they're deemed a guilty pleasure.



Nope, not Girls Aloud!! Honestly, they are a 21st century Shangri-La's or Ronettes, equally loved by pop fans and rock & roll/alternative music fans and critics. There's ART to their records, to their original, exciting take on pop music, and the girls are very involved with the writing, arranging and craft. The music is quite diverse, incorporating sophisticated British pop, dangerous rock & roll, exciting dance music, even dancehall reggae and other forms, plus they have excellent taste in cover tunes, AND they actually sing live, not lip-synch, unlike many US pop-oriented girlgroups. And the way they actually sing their songs is unique, intricately arranging their songs, each girl singing a line or part in the song and coming together on the choruses...they don't have 1 lead singer and they rest in the background, unlike most girlgroups. And, how many girlgroups can you name who were covered by Arctic Monkeys and inspired Franz Ferdinand to want to work with their production team?? Didn't think so. Plus they sound even better than they look, and their looks are modelesque-stunning.



Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand...Girls Aloud's "Out Of Control". On this 12-track stunner, they incorporate sounds of 60s pop to wonderful effect, along with their electronic touches and more...here goes:



1- "The Promise", a #1 single in the UK, their 4th, and it sounds like a 60s Burt Bacharach song Swing Out Sister would do...love it.



2- "The Loving Kind", their collabo with the Pet Shop Boys, and it's killer pretty & sounds like a song they would do, and it was originally going to be on their current album, "Yes", but they weren't feeling it as much, so Xenomania gave it to Girls Aloud.



3- "Rolling Back The Rivers In Time"...lovely, harmonious, well-written pop song...didn't like it as much at first, but it seriously grew on me.



4- "Love Is The Key"...shoulda been a single, period. Killer, Nancy Sinatra-influenced 60s pop strutter, and even features a harmonica solo at the end by one JOHNNY MARR, guitarist with the Smiths and Electronic, a Britpop legend on a GA song...like a seal of approval. And as for the lyrics, which are fun, it's not "tiles & curtains", it's "TOWELS & curtains"...just sayin'.



5- "Turn To Stone"...LOVE this song...has a cool electronic, 80s feel, a bit Kylie-ish on the chorus...sorry that one reviewer didn't care for it and found the chorus snoozy...to each their own, I find it sublime.



6- "Untouchable"...BIG TIME SUBLIME...I could listen to this song on repeat for hours and not get sick of it, it's so gorgeous...and the 6 minutes plus running time feels like 30 seconds, like you're on a floating pillow or something...and I LOVE the video.



7- "Fix Me Up"...at first it was a skip-over for me, but it grew on me a lot...it's like GA's take on funky R&B, but it actually works and it's a fun song...still, if I had to pick a song to skip over, it would be this one, and even more so, following right after the sublime "Untouchable", like a crash down to earth...I still like it, but it's just not a highlight of the album for me...it would sound better next to another song really.



8- "Love Is Pain"...for some reason, melodically, it sounds like "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang...ya know, that funny, juvenile song "You & Me, we ain't nothing but mammals, so lets do it like they do it on the Discovery Channel"...which is a good thing, as that song and this one have a great melody in an electronic arrangement, along the lines of "Turn To Stone" but more aggressive...like it a lot.



9- "Miss You Bow Wow"...catchy catchy catchy fun fun fun...and silly & hilarious too...like the "999 get a doctor" lines too...and it holds up as a killer pop tune, 60s in flavor, one of their best moments...shoulda been a single.



10- "Revolution In The Head"...Girls Aloud's take on dancehall reggae, and it works...just not as well as the better songs on the record, like "Untouchable"...I still like it but don't love it.



11- "Live In The Country"...complete with fun animal noises, it's a better song than it first seems, and the chorus stays with you...although, in a way, it should have been a country song.



12- BONUS TRACK "We Wanna Party"...their second cover of a song off Lene from AQUA's lone solo album from 2003, "Play With Me"...the other one is "Here We Go"...both those songs were the only 2 produced and written by/with Xenomania, and as that album tanked, Brian/Miranda/etc probably wanted to salvage those songs by giving them to their most successful clients, Girls Aloud, instead of have them die unnoticed in obscurity...OK, here's the thing..."Here We Go" was perfect in both versions...it's just a great song, period, and no one could damage it, espesh not our Girls...as for "We Wanna Party", Lene's version was just OK and the song was a little on the weak side...the Girls tossed it around, beat it up, molded it into shape, and basically did what they could with it...they DID improve it, but the song is still just OK, it's a better version, it is likable, but should have been a B-side, not an album closer.



Overall...out of 10, I'd give the album an 8.5 to a 9...it's one of their best albums, if not their best one yet...a couple of weaker spots, but most great albums have weaker spots to give the album ebb & flow, otherwise...if it was all highlights, it would wear out it's welcome more quickly, and those spots give the album more character...so there we go.



Looking forward to the Girls' next album, end of 2010, after their little hiatus.



Part 2...just got the deluxe edition, and honestly, you need both versions for all the pics, BUT this deluxe has full lyrics, lots more OTHER pics of the girls, and the key part, a second CD featuring interviews and commentary...it's cool, 1 track, 29 minutes long plus change...and features demo versions of the songs as a work in progress...the girls comment on it all, and it's a fun listen, not a onetime listen...I like how it's Sara who says those who bought the regular album already, hardcore fans as she calls us, who wants a collector's item, this is it. They comment on their fave songs on the album, The Smiths' Johnny Marr on "Love Is The Key", the Pet Shop Boys on "The Loving Kind", and while doing this interview, they haven't seen the album yet, and as it's presented to them, they let out a collective scream of excitement. I love their accents and it's nice to hear who's who.



Overall, great record, their best one yet, but this package is a real treat and limited, so if you're a fan, get this edition, or both for all the pictures."

GA's growing up and "Out of Control"!!

B. Wade | NY, USA | 02/08/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Girls Aloud's 6th Studio album shows they aren't those baby faced girls who won that show back in 2002. They are growing and it's sounds great!

1.)The Promise-Very good song but frankly(IMO)not nearly as good as all the hype surounding it suggests. I can understand why it was the single though.

2.)The Loving Kind- Great electro-pop, midtempo track. Nicola's pleading "I'd do anything" sounds heartbreaking and sincere.

3.)Rolling Back The Rivers In Time- A nice song but sounds a little filler-ish to me.

4.)Love Is The Key- One of the best on OCC(IMO)very 60's sounding(slightly remisant of"Waiting" on Chemistry) great harmonica solo as well.

5.)Turn To Stone- I loved this when I first heard it but now I've kind of fallen out of love with it. Very good icy pop song though.

6.)Untouchable-GA's over 6 minute long opus is indeed great. A little boring in some spots(IMO) but great and very well done. Nadine's solo at the end is a gem.

7.)Fix Me Up- I love this song! many feel it was chessy or out of place but I strongly dissagree. I feel after the drama of Untouchable this very funky flirty song is much needed.

8.)Love Is Pain- A little like "Close to love" on Tangled up in a way but very very good song.

9.)Miss You(Bow Wow)-One of my least favorite songs on OCC very silly to me but still well done job by the girls.

10.)Revolution In The Head-#1 song on OCC(IMO)GA repeats the funky, reggae sound from Control Of the Knife on Tangled Up but even better! It has a message telling Gen.Y to get up and DO something instead of play more Rock Band"Revolution in the head don't count for nothing" plus Nadine's little rapping is GOLD!

11.)Live In The Country- Most people HATE this song and you will hear why. It is (IMO) the worst song on OCC. From the bland lyrics to the awful animal sound effects this just has NO written all over it.

12.)We Wanna Party- A much better way to close out the album( and slightly redeem from l.i.t.c.) Not a gem but a good song.

Overall listening to the first record and this shows how far in the right direction GA has come from girls to women, and how much more they have to accomplish."