Search - Theaudience, The Audience :: I Got the Wherewithal

Sporadically brilliant sampler of promising UK pop band

07/18/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This EP-sized sampler is the British "I Got the Wherewithal" single along with a grab-bag of B-sides. It showcases the songwriting prowess of since-departed Billy Reeves and the sultry vocal stylings of 19-year-old phenom Sophie Ellis-Bextor with arrangements less cluttered than on their import-only self-titled debut album. The title track is rich, slow and melodramatic, while "Ne Jamais Decu" has Sophie fetchingly crooning a French version of "A Pessimist is Never Disappointed" over a simple, if highly compressed and reverb-drenched acoustic guitar backing. "Penis Size and Cars" is a slinky, sarcastic number that could easily have sit aside any of their album tracks. "Ten Minutes..." (lasting just about that, helpfully) finds the band experimenting with dub with mixed results, while "The Beginning" strums endlessly in search of an elusive conclusion. "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" returns to Sophie-as-crooner, taking on the Stockard Channing role in "Grease" with her most confident-sounding vocal to date. Exactly *why* Mercury's US branch thought this was the best way to introduce the band to us Yanks is a secret former label head Danny Goldberg evidently took with him in the UniGram shuffle, but this remains an uneven if somewhat more creative (and far more affordable) portrait of this most-talented pop combo."