Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 08/09/2003
Label: BMG

Watching supposed pop 'bad boys' Triple 8 blunder around the CD:UK stage like choreographed plasterers doesn't half make you nostalgic for the glory days of 5ive. Back then, of course, you could be a boy band whose sole agenda was to bang out big, dumb party tunes, and you'd sell a truckload. Nowadays, post-'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', post-Girls Aloud, everything's a bit more sophisticated - hence Triple 8 sank without a trace.

Former 5ive pin-up Abs obviously had this all worked out before launching himself solo. 'Abstract Theory' has a sheen of smart and a lack of condescension that's rare in modern pop. Totally unpatronising - in direct contract to, say, the self-conscious witterings of yer Robbies and yer Geris - Abs is a surprisingly engaging semi-star. Even though he has that tired "yih man, to'ally, ya git me?" Tim Westwood-esque transatlantic accent. But then all East London kids talk like that now, don't they?

Which isn't to say that, like his 5ive work, 'Abstract Theory' doesn't contain its fair share of big dumb pop stormers. Well aware that his audience probably don't even remember 5ive, Abs' production team gleefully raid pop's past classics, reworking the Detroit Spinners' 'It's A Shame' (their reasoning: it's impossible to mess up that tune, which is true), 'Uptown Top Ranking', and - hilariously - the BBC cricket theme on 'Back To The Limbo'. The latter is indicative of this album: it should be f*cking stupid, but it actually just makes you laugh with Abs, rather than at him. (Although come December, when the summer's a distant memory, it probably will sound f*cking stupid.)

When he's crooning, Abs pitches himself somewhere between Timberlake and Craig David - no surprise there, really. But he comes into his own on the frankly brilliant 'Emotional', which stands out on the album like a sore thumb with large arrows pointing at it by dint of the fact it sounds like Tricky remixing the Sugababes. Yes, that's right, this is a bloody Abs album, and we're referencing Tricky. The lad drawls smokily over the top, and has you thinking how amazing a whole album of this kinda stuff would be - with more songs of this quality Abs really could square up to the big boys.

Sadly, the lukewarm response to his first three singles suggests Abs will probably be back on the dole this time next year. We say: great, leave the inane grinning and gurning to scumsters like Triple 8, get off BMG, get on an independent, and start making more downbeat sleaze-soul like 'Emotional'. That really would, as 5ive would have it, grab us by our biscuits.

    by Christian Ward