Chemistry: a little thread

I know what you're thinking, you've been thinking about MY BUTT

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Tisch

Tisch

Spare potatoes
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Jun 11, 2010
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Can we discuss?

First point: the absolute GENIUS of calling your lead single Biology and its parent album CHEMISTRY :disco:

Next: The way the first half especially is absolutely packed with singles. I feel like after WWTNS they potentially could have fallen into has-been uncool territory quite easily, but actually the record buying public was really quite receptive to some actually very decent music!

Timing absolutely worked here as this was the height of Xenomania's hold on pop and hell does it show! Models! Biology! Wild Horses! (Whole Lotta History), Long Hot Summer! Swingin' London Town! GA and X were such a good fit and this album really feels like two puzzle pieces fitting together just perfectly.

I *think* Biology is my favourite GA single despite it being an -ish forgotten (by myself included). It's got that typical euphoric Xenomania big chorus which feels like it sits perfectly alongside the verses which are equally animated. I.e. the chorus doesn't feel like the main part of the song. It's so interesting

All in all I feel a bit sad the singles were what they were. They went for a safe choice in the boring See the Day cover (boring as in, they didn't bother making it their own when the other songs on the album were SO UNIQUELY THEM), when there was so much on there that didn't get to *cough* see the day :eyes:

I think I'd have gone

1. Biology
(1a. *Fart out one of those lazy Christmas covers if they really had to, like I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day)
2. Wild Horses
3. Long Hot Summer OR Watch Me Go if they were feeling brave enough to release an absolute SLUT anthem :disco:
4. Models



09 Intro
09 Models
11 Biology
10 Wild Horses
05 See the Day
10 Watch Me Go
07 Waiting
08 Whole Lotta History
09 Long Hot Summer
09 Swingin' London Town
05 It's Magic
06 No Regrets
08 Racey Lacey
 
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I love it. I think Whole Lotta History is their best ballad. Besides the singles, Wild Horses is a highlight.
 
Wild Horses is perhaps their big lost single for me… SPECTACULAR
 
I was listening to this out walking yesterday and I know it's not a popular opinion and therefore terrible, but it's my least favourite of theirs despite still being very, very good.

I think it's for two reasons - it's consistent but maybe fewer highs (as in, 9s and 10s) for me personally and another one is...this may sound odd, but I feel a lot of the tracks play on that Love Machine sound, for obvious reasons maybe after its success, but...it's not exactly my go to Xenomania style of choice.

There's a reason It's Magic is my second third favourite here, and not just because of Nicola

Also they were VERY lucky to turn it around after Long Hot Summer and the infamous tanning accident pile up
 
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But saying that...

06 Intro
08 Models
10 Biology
09 Wild Horses
08 See the Day (I like it!)
09 Watch Me Go
07 Waiting
10 Whole Lotta History (I forget how good this is)
08 Long Hot Summer
09 Swingin' London Town
09 It's Magic
08 No Regrets
07 Racey Lacey

So maybe NOT least favourite after all. They just never made a bad album
 
Not releasing Not Tonight Santa and having Count the Days also on the main album as a round 2 Chrimbo sleigh/slayage was a huge mistake.

So tempting to give almost everything 10s.

10 Intro
10 Models
10 Biology
10 Wild Horses
05 See the Day
10 Watch Me Go
09 Waiting
10 Whole Lotta History
07 Long Hot Summer
11 Swingin' London Town
11 It's Magic
04 No Regrets
07 Racey Lacey

Intro and Models are a sarcasm-crazy 1-2 punch that set up what comes next with almost wry minimalism as, well, just you wait obviously. What would be peaks for others is merely a warm up to get us ready for the Northen Soul take-off that comes next.

Biology is anything but natural, but the kitchen sink clink and clatter is such a high that it was worth ignoring all their contemporaries right there frankly. And I adore the moody b-side Nobody But You. 2005's 4th quarter was one of the strongest in pop history.

See The Day is a stale miss-fire and we were denied the bullet of Not Tonight Santa, which would have given them their evergreen holiday song to pull a Mariah with.

Wild Horses is Wake Me Up's care less snooze button. Sarah is in fine form here. When she's shiver-delivering "did I miss my cue?" you realise just how well Xenomania got them.

Waiting staggers into the club and is a bit of a Love Machine clone, but I never liked that one and here we have the career-classic six pack line.

Whole Lotta History is the moment they got their Atomic Kitten swatting strategy correct. And it's possibly the one song where I don't wish bagel-breathing Kimba had been sent out to Starbucks.

Long Hot Summer just lacks that spark even if the punch of Nadine being Nadine does do the job in part.

The cocaine-crazy Swingin' London Town and It's Magic occupy the most spellbinding space in planet pop and could be a galaxy of forever - what a display and one that could actually have continued had they just gone the whole hog and covered Moonbaby (strewth is that one of the best songs I've ever heard - I wonder if Dannii ever heard it) and if Kitsch Bitch Kool went straight to video it was certainly a blockbuster (*clunk*).

The rest don't smear and smudge the lines of what shouldn't work and what does, but Racey did get some mileage for me when I convinced myself it was about Dannii Minogue (lord knows what I was thinking (and lord knows that undulating, granulating grinding hips lyric is a good point in it wherein the guitars crash back into action)). The ballad is just not worth thinking about.
 
I missed out the Nadine's reggae-burlesque of Watch Me Go. And early Control the Knife, this is another one where lyrically the allocation was exquisitely absurd and innuendo-laden (back to CTK, I'm now thinking of the shudder of Cheryl and her kiss and the tell line).
 
For my shame, I don't know if I've ever played this album through.
 
Raining On Mary said:
I was listening to this out walking yesterday and I know it's not a popular opinion and therefore terrible, but it's my least favourite of theirs despite still being very, very good.

I think it's for two reasons - it's consistent but maybe fewer highs (as in, 9s and 10s) for me personally and another one is...this may sound odd, but I feel a lot of the tracks play on that Love Machine sound, for obvious reasons maybe after its success, but...it's not exactly my go to Xenomania style of choice.

There's a reason It's Magic is my second third favourite here, and not just because of Nicola

Also they were VERY lucky to turn it around after Long Hot Summer and the infamous tanning accident pile up
Click to expand...

Overall, I agree with a lot of this.

1. Out of Control
2. Tangled Up
3. What Will The Neighbours Say
4. Chemistry
5. Sound of the Underground
 
This is probably my second favourite album, the only weak links for me are See The Day and Long Hot Summer. I remember buying this the day it came out and listening to it thinking how groundbreaking it was especially for a girl band. It lacks the sheer highs of Tangled Up but overall it is so consistent. I stuck it on this morning and god I miss them :(

09 Intro (Would love a full version of this)
10 Models
10 Biology
10 Wild Horses
02 See the Day
10 Watch Me Go
08 Waiting
10 Whole Lotta History (Hello? Did you call me? :()
06 Long Hot Summer
10 Swingin' London Town
10 It's Magic
07 No Regrets
07 Racey Lacey
 
See for me this is when it felt like they were directionless and treading water. None of the four singles made the top three, which for them was rather disappointing, and the album only made #11 (albeit with high sales) and only just passed 300k. Moving from a single like Biology to then See The Day like seven weeks later just felt like damage control, but done in an ill advised way. Nothing seemed to really stick in this era and it felt like the end was nearing. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

The album itself is a solid 8/10 but it is rather cold and calculated compare to WWTNS which seemed much more genuine in its quirkiness. Some songs here feel forced to be unique and in that GA/Xenomania style.
 
Their best album, IF you yank See The Day off the tracklisting. It’s such a boring sore thumb.
 
I need to do a deep dive - I guess I never did because I feel GA are so familiar, but it’s only really the latter two albums I know inside out.

But I know I rinsed this out - sure there are a few wobbles but I feel this isn’t their best but it’s the most quintessentially GA album.

Also I remember feeling VERY strongly for some reason that the accompanying Christmas disc should’ve been called Christmastry
 
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Unpopular opinion, and sure I'll be DRAGGED for this - but for my personal taste I don't enjoy Chemistry at all.
It sounds like Girls Aloud singing an Austin Powers soundtrack or something to me. I HATE the retro sounds, the occasionally affected singing and I'll never get over Long Hot Summer being the lead - it's really just not a very good song in my opinion.

As a fan I was quite happy that they seemed to fast forward through this album campaign and era :D

I don't think it's a BAD album however - objectively it's obviously very good, I just don't want to listen to it :D
 
Since we’re doing unpopular opinions Biology never did anything for me and this album is patchy.:)
 
Despite my comments I quite like it :D

06 Intro
08 Models
08 Biology
08 Wild Horses
07 See the Day
08 Watch Me Go
08 Waiting
10 Whole Lotta History
09 Long Hot Summer
08 Swingin' London Town
05 It's Magic
04 No Regrets
05 Racey Lacey
 
'Racey Lacey' is absolute gash. Absolutely their worst recording. I'd take any of their knocked-out covers over that.
 
2005 was a really good year for me music wise. Saint Etienne, Goldfrapp, Madonna, Rachel Stevens, Kate Bush and Girls Aloud all delivered the goods in 2005.
 
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Devil said:
Moving from a single like Biology to then See The Day like seven weeks later just felt like damage control, but done in an ill advised way. Nothing seemed to really stick in this era and it felt like the end was nearing. Thankfully, it wasn’t.
Click to expand...

I disagree with the first part of this- See The Day was the inevitable Christmas single. They were always going to throw a ballad out at Christmas, no matter how Biology did. The rubbish thing was that See The Day really wasn’t worthy.

However, I agree with the second. I’ve said it elsewhere- Something Kinda Ooh totally changed their fortunes. It would have been “Greatest Hits” and done but that being a proper hit sent the GH skywards and their stock likewise. You only have to look at the difference in budget between the Chemistry/ GH campaign to Tangled Up. The Sexy? No! No! No! video being the obvious case in point.
 
And I love Long Hot Summer. It’s great! But I agree it was more of the same as what came from WWTNS.
 
'Long Hot Summer' was supposed to feature as a stand-alone single that was originally submitted to be a part of the soundtrack to a reboot of the Disney Herbie "The Love Bug" series focusing on a Volkswagen Beetle car called 'Herbie' who has a mind of his own - hence the garage setting for the video. It ultimately wasn't included and was tagged on to the next album i.e. 'Chemistry'.
 
Yeah I love Long Hot Summer but a lead single it is not. Biology feels like the lead anyway.
 
Sheena said:
I disagree with the first part of this- See The Day was the inevitable Christmas single. They were always going to throw a ballad out at Christmas, no matter how Biology did. The rubbish thing was that See The Day really wasn’t worthy.

However, I agree with the second. I’ve said it elsewhere- Something Kinda Ooh totally changed their fortunes. It would have been “Greatest Hits” and done but that being a proper hit sent the GH skywards and their stock likewise. You only have to look at the difference in budget between the Chemistry/ GH campaign to Tangled Up. The Sexy? No! No! No! video being the obvious case in point.
Click to expand...

Yeah you probably have a point and it was always the plan. It just felt like they should have been above ‘must do a ballad cover’ at Xmas by this point, and then the gap between the two singles was so tiny even for those days (I think like 8 weeks) that they ended up deleting Biology despite it being a genuine hit with a healthy chart run. It sort of felt like they had one foot in the ‘we believe in GA and their Xenomania sound’ camp and the other in ‘we must do what every generic UK pop act does release wise’ and by being half assed either side it just didn’t work, as far as connecting with the general public.
 
I'd quite forgotten just how much I love this album (and this song in particular) until this thread today.

 
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