In this day and age of "indie" bands selling to kids and having number ones left, right, and center, one could be forgiven for thinking that pop music in the form we saw for most of the mid 90's and early noughties is a thing of the past. Luckily, with this collection of singles Girls Aloud have reminded us of some of the most infectious and well crafted music of the last few years.
Having gone from being a band formed on American Idol forerunner Pop Stars: The Rivals and being derided in the music press as another sign of the death of "real" music by the likes of the NME to the darlings of the broadsheets, tabloids and music press. In three albums and fourteen singles they have become the pop artists that it's cool to like no matter what you listen to.
All of this comes as no shock when you listen to the music. The Sounds of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits starts with what comes across as the best start to any record - greatest hits or otherwise - of the year, a quick fire rat-a-tat of debut single "Sound of the Underground" followed by the electro-rockabilly tinged "Love Machine," "Biology" and finally the electro-clash sounding "No Good Advice." In four songs the album has already proved it's worth and anyone that doesn't find them moving along to the beats is either a cretin or lacks a love of dance floor fillers.
And there lies the strength of the band, not only do they have the looks needed to appeal in this image obsessed world but with the help of master pop producers Xenomania, who have produced/co-written every song on this album, they have created some of the best up-tempo pop music of the decade so far. It's not just Girls Aloud that come out of this deal well, as Xenomania's other work proves, it's not easy to use the same formula with everyone, a veritable list of who's who of British pop has tried and failed to use the Girls Aloud formula of working with Xenomania to create a hodgepodge of identikit electro pop this year, none of whom have come close to the heights of "Something Kinda Ooooh."
Sadly the band have always let themselves down, as every pop band does, with their lackluster and unnecessary glut of ballads. Turgid, slow and uninspired these songs have always been the weak point in the Girls Aloud arsenal and whilst they try to sneak the likes of "I'll Stand by You" and "Life Got Cold" in between the more up tempo songs such as the brilliant take of The Pointer Sisters "Jump" they still drag and leave the listener itching for the skip button.
The Sounds of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits is the only one of a glut of Christmas inspired greatest hits packages that I would truly recommend. Filled with exactly what you want for any Christmas party or New Years bash - great songs to dance to in a rather embarrassingly drunken way.
