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BUY THE CD
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During my month’s visit to the Netherlands, I spent a lot of time watching MTV Europe (most of the time, that and Blossom where the only things on the hotel TV). Right from the beginning, British singer Sophie Ellis Bextor’s song, “Murder on the Dancefloor” caught my attention. Maybe it was that I was intrigued by Sophie’s sparkly green eye shadow. Or maybe it was that the video reminded me of the movie, Strictly Ballroom. Or maybe it was just that the song was that darn good. Its disco beat always made me want to get up and dance, and the song was so catchy that I couldn’t get it out of my head.
Throughout the course of the month, I suppose I got somewhat addicted to “Murder on the Dancefloor,” and I dreaded going back to a country where the song didn’t exist. So as my husband and I were buying our last-minute souvenirs and Dutch cheese at the Amsterdam airport, we also picked up a copy of the album, Read My Lips. We’ve been transferring it from living room to office to car CD player ever since.
Read My Lips is refreshingly different -- yet comfortably familiar. It’s not full of hard-core angst like so many albums these days (not that I don’t enjoy my share of angst-ridden music), and it’s not Britney or Christina, either. Sophie’s strong-yet-sweet voice works just as perfectly with smooth, sultry tunes as it does with dancier, poppier stuff (and a little of everything in between). She even does a great cover of an old Cher song, “Take Me Home.”
There’s something very 80s about this album. Sometimes it’s the simplicity of the songs -- they’re simple, but they’re catchy. Sometimes it’s the synthesizers and drum machines (which are especially evident in “Everything Falls Into Place”). And sometimes it’s just a few seconds of deja vu (my husband has decided that the intro to “Sparkle” sounds like old Depeche Mode).
Read My Lips is a great mix of something old and something new -- and Sophie Ellis Bextor is definitely one of my new favorites. I’m eagerly awaiting the day when I see her and her sparkly green eye shadow show up on MTV here in the States.
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