Overloaded (The Singles Collection) Sugababes

I could go on about how it's pathetic that they are down to one original member now, I could go on about how pathetic it is to wipe out all traces of Siobhan on this collection and I could moan about how pathetic it is that not ALL the singles are on this album (seriously would it have hurt to plonk New Year on at the very least - and really they could have stuck them all on, especially when one of the ones they've missed off - Follow Me Home - is one of the few singles Amelle was actually on) but really, that would be missing the point. I'm not here to judge what's missing after all but what's actually here. And what's here is, for the most part, very good indeed.

They have, to my mind at least, three classic pop singles. Overload was their debut single and would still cause a stir today if any new band released it; Hole In The Head was one of those "holy shit" moments coming after what I thought was a reasonably dull set of singles from their second album Angels With Dirty Faces; and Push The Button was one of those tunes that virutally EVERYONE liked. Yes, even those amongst you who laughed when I said before you'd even heard it that it was a classic.

Hold on though, I hear you say, but what about Freak Like Me and Round Round, to name but two? Well Freak is one of those songs that I just don't like (and the idea of mixing the two songs in it wasn't even their idea) and Round Round would fit comfortably in the "good but not neccessarily great" catergory along with the likes of Run For Cover, Stronger and Red Dress. I'm not saying those are bad songs, far from it, but they are a notch below the three classics I mentioned above.

The new tracks are probably in this group as well, even though both are written by the guys from Orson. Current single Easy is a bit dull, but kicks into life around the two minute mark which just about makes up for the first part. Better is the next single, Good To Be Gone, which had a kind of Depeche Mode feel to it in some respects. Whether or not it signifies the girls new direction as some have claimed is open to question (surely they'll have moved on to more new writers for the next album) but it's catchy.

As for the rest, well you know me and my pop ballads. Shape is as dull as you'd expect a Sting cover to be and Caught In A Moment and Too Lost In You are tailor-made Middle Of The Road FM movie tunes with only interest in the bottom line of how much money you can make by selling them off for use on Soundtracks.

Of course I can tell you will be itching for the obvious comparison with the recently reviewed Girls Aloud greatest hits compilation, and I'm not one to disappoint, even if you might be surprised by what I say.

Obviously I think that the GA collection has more classic moments. Only Hole In The Head and Overload come close to matching the ilk of Love Machine, Biology, Wake Me Up, No Good Advice, The Show and Something Kinda Ooh. But by the same token, the Sugababes collection doesn't have the multitude of poor cover versions that the GA effort has (I'll Stand By You, Jump, I Think We're Alone Now). Of the new tracks on display, well the afforementioned murdering of the Tiffany "classic" may be Girls Aloud's nadir, but neither of the two Sugababes new tracks come close to matching the brilliance of Money.

So really whilst I obviously would say that the Girls Aloud collection has the better individual songs, there is probably less "duff" on the Sugababes collection. But in any case, and self respecting pop-fan simply has to have both CD's in their collection anyway! (Even if either of the two covers reproduced here would have been better ;-D).