Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Read My Lips

THE REVIEW

Gregg Alexander was one of the potentially most extraordinary figures of the '90s. When the first album of his New Radicals was released in 1998, everyone shouted miracle and hailed Alexander as the savior who could take pop-rock in a less commercial and more intelligent direction. It's a shame that the beautiful Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too was not only the first but also the last album of the New Radicals: their non-self-destructive trajectory self-destructed within a couple of (gorgeous) singles. Since then, Alexander hasn't disappeared from the music scene, but has reinvented himself as a songwriter: he writes for many artists, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, one of the world's best exponents of quality pop music (because "pop" means "popular," not "populated").

Sophie's first album came out in 2001 and is titled Read My Lips. It's a highly enjoyable collection of mostly soft-electronic music that works wonderfully not just because there are simply beautiful songs, but above all because these tracks are sung by the extraordinarily tuned and refined voice of the London singer: after collaborating with the rock band theaudience and serving as a vocalist for the Venetian DJ Spiller, Ellis-Bextor is now dedicating herself to pop and succeeding brilliantly in her mission. The tracks have prestigious signatures: besides the mentioned Alexander, there's also Moby and Alex James, the bassist and electronic soul of Blur. The songs work very well: there are no huge standouts, but the album doesn't feel like ambient music either, thanks to the smart arrangements, and moreover, the singles Take Me Home (a cover of Cher), Murder on the Dancefloor (the most successful European song of 2002), and Get Over You are excellent examples of how it's possible to write pop and quality songs together. Lastly, it's necessary to say a few words about the visual aspect of the album: the cover art (consistently respected for the singles as well) is stunning, and the black & white + gray + red combination recurs in the booklet where you can admire even more the breath-taking beauty of the singer, a rare alchemy of geometric and sweet lines together; the cover of the single Murder on the Dancefloor is Stendhal Syndrome-inducing, probably the most beautiful ever made.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is part of that group of artists (mostly women) who, after an initial massive success, have over time lost global popularity but maintained a slice of faithful fans who are now enjoying their idols' artistic growth in few-but-good numbers: Sophie's third album, Trip the Light Fantastic (???) is an anthem to the best pop possible, and it sold decently only in Great Britain. The fans of various Britneys, Christinas, and their clones don't know what they're missing.