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Gwen Stefani returns with the second single and title track from her album The Sweet Escape. Well, it couldn’t be much worse than the godawful Wind It Up, could it?

Well, where Wind It Up was a complete audio disaster, The Sweet Escape has actually grown on me. Yes, I’ve even grown to enjoy Akon’s “Whheeeee-hoooo’s” and when there’s no-one else in the room, I sing along. Nothing to be ashamed of.

The song’s a return to form of sorts, an upbeat, bop-along pop tune, and the “Woo-hoo’s” that punctuate the chorus are initially annoying, but you’ll come to love them.

The video on the other hand is one of those pointless, Gwen-modelling-ridiculous-clothes affairs. Worse still, this bling fixation is going to her head and her initials are in gold everywhere you look in the video. For me, what this points to is Gwen heading toward the point of ego over substance. Or something like that. Whatever, media reports about the Sweet Escape album are not as glowing as Love Angel Music Baby, and I can’t help wondering if she’s more interested in posturing these days than creating memorable pop tracks as she did with No Doubt and on her first solo album….

Anyway, enjoy the video over on YouTube.

OK, OK, so I figured it was time to stop reviewing hot female artists (their music)and give the guys some attention. And so tonight I want to give a shout out to Kaiser Chiefs and their brilliant new single, Ruby, the first single from their second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob.

I’ve been admiring Kaiser Chiefs from afar since they came out, but really trying to avoid the hype. But they truly are national treasures.

On the positive side, Ruby is a perfect piece of British pop-rock (I almost said Britpop). Can I also rave for a moment about the guitar sound? Lovely, fuzzy distorted on the verses, leading to the inevitable Kaisers-style chorus.

On the slightly negative side, it doesn’t break much new ground, but isn’t that their magic formula? Should they be trying something different? Surely it’s too soon to be alienating the fans?

The video’s not bad, with the band performing in a desert (as you do) and little people building a little city around them. But does it remind anyone else of that Keane video where the camera is on tracks and circles round the band?

Well, when she’s not busy getting arrested (and resisting said arrest), Kelis can still churn out some fantastic music.

Never in a million years did I think the shouter singer of Caught Out There could do sensitive. But that’s exactly what she manages to achieve with Little Star. It’s a funky soulful collaboration with Cee-Lo. Funny, but the name Cee-Lo meant nothing to me, until I saw the video and recognised him instantly as ‘the big guy from Gnarls Barkley’.

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I must seem slightly fixated on Extreme: I’ve already reviewed their second and third albums on this blog. For the sake of completeness, this is my review of Extreme’s self-titled debut, released in 1989.

1989 at was the tail end of some major rock music releases, Def Leppard had released Hysteria, Bon Jovi’s New Jersey, Alice Cooper’s Trash and many other stadium-fillers had filled the rock charts. There was certainly a market for Extreme’s music, but in retrospect it may have got lost among the noise of the larger acts.

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There’s a lot I want to say about this album. Pornograffiti was a really influential album on me growing up and listening to rock music. Extreme were a fairly clean cut band in the genre, but they had raw energy in everything they did. I still remember the first time I saw the video for Decadence Dance and synergy between Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone.

Pornograffiti was first released back in 1990, before grunge killed hair metal in it’s tracks. Listening to the album sixteen years later (has it been that long?) I have a few problems with it that I overlooked back in the day.
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I caught the video for this Shakira/Beyonce collaboration for the first time today. Funnily enough, it’s hard to tell the difference between Shakira and Beyonce. It’s a bit like that sex scene in The Devil’s Advocate where the woman morphs between Keanu’s wife and his co-worker….

Anyhoo, you don’t pair up these particular singers without having one hell of a hot track to play, and Beautiful Liar is red hot! You’ve got a smouldering Eastern-influenced track which opens with one or the other panting some lyrics.

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After a prolonged absence from the UK pop charts, Avril Lavigne returns with a new single, Girlfriend, and a new album (The Best Damn Thing)in the pipeline.

Girlfriend’s a little bit too Daphne and Celeste for my tastes (remember them? Ooh stick you?). I suppose what I’m trying to say is that this is a kind of novelty song. It’s funny, and the video will make you smile. It’s also sassy and brattish, but not in the way Avril’s previous songs have been.

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The prospect of pure pop Girls Aloud ‘versus’ the more urban Sugababes was quite exciting in an eye candy alert kind of way. But the choice of Aerosmith and Run DMCs Walk This Way was ultimate sacrilige.

On their own, Girls Aloud and Sugababes are class acts and have both managed to pull off fantastic cover versions in the past.

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