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From the moment the swaggering Ooh La La begins its slow-building throb from the speakers until the moment the hushed, stunned Black Cherry staggers to its tear-stained denouement, Singles offers a master-class in how to write pop songs as alluring and adventurous in their sonic texture as they are addictive melodically. Alison Goldfrapp’s greatest achievement hasn’t been her power and range, which she has often concealed, but her willingness to surrender her voice to the needs of the songs she and Will Gregory so lovingly assembled. She’s the anti-Aguilera, enemy of X Factor showboaters everywhere.
On one of their biggest hits, the stately synth prowl of Number 1, Goldfrapp barely breaks a vocal sweat, restraining herself to a seductive, low-key purr throughout. It’s only in the dying seconds of Utopia, a song that is somehow both sinister and almost unbearably beautiful, that she finally unleashes an operatic wail so electrifying it paralyses the listener. Elsewhere, on the ravishing fusion of Moroder disco, glam strut and snarling electronica that is Strict Machine, Goldfrapp is all gasps, gulps and sexual ecstasy, while on Rocket she goes for the pop jugular, slamming home the monster "wo-oh-oh" chorus with glorious nonchalance.
It’s perhaps inevitable that a singles collection smoothes out the awkward edges and perversity that made Goldfrapp vastly more intriguing than their rivals, and which have profoundly influenced our best new pop stars, from Lady Gaga to Robyn. Only the buzz-saw synths that carry the lurching Train along and the shredding electronic howls that shatter Lovely Head’s narcotic sleepiness remind us of how deliciously odd they could be. If the lovely but meandering new songs Yellow Halo and Melancholy Sky are anything to go by, it’s an oddity that Goldfrapp may have left behind anyway.
Still, even minor criticisms of this collection seem not just churlish but flat-out ungrateful. Fourteen songs that veer between the perfect and the merely outstanding, The Singles is proof that Goldfrapp have been the most versatile and most consistently, glitteringly brilliant pop band of our new millennium.
--Jaime Gill
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Customer Reviews
The glam-rock of T-Rex is a dominant influence that comes to mind in songs like 'Ooh La La', 'Number 1' and 'Strict Machine', except that Goldfrapp's production also incorporates a sleek disco thud and bursts of measured synth (including the euphoric crescendo in 'Number 1'). Exceptions include 'A&E', a great acoustic track that stands out with its yearning simplicity and 'Black Cherry' that bathes in classical strings, a drum-machine tick and longing vocals.
This is a fantastic showcase for the group's pop sensibilities and I heartily recommend it.
But what this cd does do is show us the versatility and vibrancy that Goldfrapp have consistently given from ambienmt chill out to thumping post disco and glam rock right down to acoustic melancholy and 80's euphoria there is something for everyone and a reminder that Goldfrapp are much underrated but nothing if not inspired and briliant.
It is a great collection of their greatest hits. Read more
this singles collection is good but it only includes the radio friendly 7" mixes. Read more
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