Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 11/12/06
Label: Universal

The Spice Girls were the most important pop act of the last decade for many reasons, but perhaps principally because they were such an odd and glorious fusion of personalities and musical styles. Little wonder that none of the five has had anything like the same impact solo, since each inherited just a small sliver of what made them great. Geri took the discoball camp, Mel C the rocky, raw attitude, Mel B the R&B instincts and Posh? Well, she took the pointless, mind-numbing fame.

Emma "don't call me Baby" Bunton, on the other hand, plumped for the playfully retro aspect of The Spice Girls, the side seen on the Motown strut of "Stop" or the wistful dreaminess of "Viva Forever". On the basis of "Life In Mono" - a rather lovely record and quite possibly the last Spice-related release which anyone in the world barring immediate family members even vaguely cares about - she chose wisely. Like its charming predecessor "Free Me", "Life In Mono" comes wrapped-up in a vogueish '60s French pop gleam, all sugary harmonies, luscious strings and crafty Bacharach style arrangements.

The first thing that stands out is what good taste Bunton has, in marked contrast to her ex-group mates. Charlotte Gainsbourgh recently enlisted Air and Jarvis Cocker in her attempt to produce something very similar, but the result was neither as convincing or consistent as this. Bunton has assembled a bewildering array of songwriters and producers, yet created something that holds together remarkably well, from the playful, insistent "Take Me To Another Town" to the slinky bossanova of "I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays".

At its best, this sounds like the soundtrack to '60s footage of Brigitte Bardot strutting around St Tropez in a miniskirt. The second notable thing is just how restrained it all is. Just hear the delightfully low-key, melancholic opener "All I Need To Know", sung prettily and softly, or the teasing, string-soaked "Undressing You". The ten tracks of "Life In Mono" favour subtlety and atmosphere over sledgehammer choruses, a problem for radio controllers but a reward for the patient listener.

Of course, record companies are far more interested in radio controllers than listeners, patient or not, which presumably explains the tacked on bonus tracks, including painfully obvious covers of "Downtown" and "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps". Neither are oddities that needed rescuing from pop history. It's a failure of nerve and a shame, since it spoils what until then is, despite its high sugar content, a genuinely rewarding and well crafted pleasure.

    by Jaime Gill