Victoria Beckham [CD]

Mrs Beckham completes the set of solo Spice Girls albums with her self-titled debut, Victoria Beckham. Leading off with the first single and meatiest song on the album "Not Such an Innocent Girl", the 12 tracks breeze through a number of different styles with varying degrees of success. You can hear Victoria's voice adapt to suit the song, not quite finding a style of her own but still sounding far better than many critics could have imagined. "A Mind of It's Own" is very pleasant, inoffensive pop where VB sounds little like former band mate Geri in a whisperey, half-sung, half-spoken kind of way. Another song where her voice and style morph into that of a different pop peer is on "I.O.U.", a sweet ballad which sounds a little like a find on the studio floor during Madonna's Ray of Light sessions. It's unlikely that Victoria will win any new fans with this effort as there are no songs to stand out and wrestle for attention but aside from over-using the dreaded vo-coder, it is easily a pleasant enough, inoffensive pop record. --Georgina Collins

I do like Victoria Beckham, I really do. She's glamourous, witty and endearing and her life is perfect tabloid-fodder, no-brain entertainment, but music isn't really her strong point is it? It's a shame because, as someone who has the obvious talent for working the publicity machine for maximum output, the name 'Victoria Beckham' conjures images more of designer labels and famous footballers than creativity and musical inspiration. This eponymously titled debut solo effort isn't really going to challenge that view much.

'Victoria Beckham' (the album that is) is a mish-mash affair of gushy sentiment and wishy-washy RnB. Whereas her fellow Spice's found a natural progression for their sounds (Emma with her pop sassiness, Mel B's urban rhythms and Mel C rocking out), Posh's long awaited debut pulls no surprises as formulaic, cringy pop. Tracks like the David-dedicated 'I.O.U' and sickly sweet 'Every Part Of Me' are heavy on the production and sentiment but low on true emotion and feeling. Apart from single 'Not Such An Innocent Girl' and catchy enough 'A Mind Of It's Own', there's little to say about the remainder of the filling without sounding unnecessarily cruel. It's already been proven that, despite the Spice Girls' phenomomal success in the past, solo album sales are difficult to achieve, so it's hard not to question why Victoria has bothered. She must have achieved more than she could have dreamed of already (David and Brooklyn can be very proud) but surely her talents would be better put to use in a career away from singing. Sorry Victoria. --Jacqueline Hodges

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