Kelis Was Here - Kelis

I've always liked Kelis. I remember going without food at University in order to buy her debut album (although I did still have Asda's trusy 9p noodles to give me sustinance) and even on the much-panned Wanderland (which never got a US release) there was much to enjoy.

So really what I am trying to say is that the thought of a new Kelis album excites me; or at least it does until I see that it has about 437 tracks on it. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration, but come on, it has 18 tracks on it, and Aguilera only managed 22 on a two-disc set!

First impressions are thus; there is nothing on the album which will replicate the success of Milkshake, the album seems to be a mis-mash of contrasting styles and it's at least 6 or 7 tracks too long.

Lucky then that the great tracks are indeed just that...great. Bossy is a grower, which slinks into your brain, whislt Blindfold Me is effortlessly the kind of sexy track that Justin Timberlake would have loved to have at his disposal for his latest effort. The Max Martin track (yes, THE Max Martin) I Don't Think So is a wonderful slice of urban pop which could be a huge hit, and unashamedly aims to be one. Then there are the likes of Handful and Trilogy which effectively defy catergorisation.

Sadly there is just a little too much genre-hopping for comfort and, more importantly, some of it misses the mark. Despite the fact that Kelis, vocally, has never sounded better the album is perhaps too adventurous and tries to fit too much into one album; you can't help feeling that a bit of quality control wouldn't have gone amiss.

Still in these days of MP3 players, and burning CD's this need not be an insurmountable problem. A few tweaks here and there and you can probably put together a good album. As it stands however, overall you can't help but feel slightly disappointed. Still, a patchy Kelis record is still throws up more than enough highlights to keep us all going.