The Sugababes Discography Rate

londonrain

londonrain

Staff member
beyoncésweave said:
I mean, I agree, but that's sorta what happens in every rate. Often, even long time fans aren't familiar with B-sides compared to the singles, which is a huge stumbling block for the SugaB-sides most of which aren't instant and take more time than a last minute scoring frenzy to appreciate. Out of 111 songs, the fact that a B-side went as far as the Top 45 is quite something.
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There are plenty of songs in this rate ("Like The Weather" being a good example) that I'd never paid attention to before this rate, and definitely a few ("Spiral" and the One Touch B-sides) that I'd never heard before, and I managed fine - so it still irritates me that it happened here. (Seriously, how did the One Touch B-sides go so early?!)

Mind you, all this didn't save poor "Girls"...
 
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beyoncésweave

beyoncésweave

Hmmph.


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Sunday Rain
Score: 7.538
Highest: 10/10 x 12 (@CorgiCorgiCorgi, @Terminus, @Aester, @Jam, @ssa, @acl @Solenciennes, @Voodoo, @Island, @marie_05, @LE0Night, @Runawaywithme)
Lowest: 0/10 x 1 (@Blayke)
My score: 8/10
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So, if something had to go from Catfights, this definitely should not be it when there are worse songs (e.g. “You On A Good Day”) waiting in the wings. But we’re getting to the business end of things, and expect the twinges to become stings.

This is such a layered, gorgeously constructed showstopper. Part of Catfights’ remit was to do a girlband album in the Motown+Philly Soul style, but update that sound to be contemporary as well. The obvious directions in such a project are to go down the bombastic route, which the album does to a more or less satisfying degree with its singles. More important, however, are what composes the body with the midtempos and the ballads. “Sunday Rain” is a damn fine example of just how right they got the whole project. It’s a sultry, slinking brass number that capitalises on the retro sound without relying on it completely, with a watertight narrative and soaring vocals.

The song feints listeners by beginning with a piano, harmonies and strings before introducing that strutting instrumental which goes onto hold the song together. The verses are brilliant, showcasing the vocal heights 3.0 had ascended to; Amelle’s raspy tone perfect for the distress of the narrative, and Keisha’s rather forceful one signifying the taking of control. When the adlibs start to crackle in the background of the latter verse, the song just starts to come alive. The chorus has this great back and forth quality which the lyrics emphasise with the tale of a relationship resigned to perpetual mutual hurt. Even a purely instrumental middle-eight doesn’t detract from the song, as it’s used to build up the strings to their utmost to lead into a final chorus which is a flurry of strings and Keishalibs exploding everywhere.The really satisfying flavour of the songwriting is in painting the fatalism of being stuck in a resigned way within a doomed but unending relationship.

The whole effect is wholly cinematic. Such a blustering, wind-in-the-face-as-strangers-hustle-past-you vision brought to life. Perfect fodder not only for Bond films, but your run of the mill haute romantic dramas.

mrdonut (7.5) confirms for all of us that it is “indeed perfect for playing on a rainy Sunday.”PCDPG (7) thinks they are listening but it appears they haven’t heard, “A bit over the top in sounding retro. It tries to hard to sound classic.” P'NutButter (8) decided that this was a good point to develop a hearing impairment, “Brilliant but the melody is kinda stunted due to the poor vocals.” Sis, it’s like one of their best vocal performances? Chanex (8) finally nails it, “How did I ever forget about this Winehousian heartbreaker? Well to be honest I probably won't be listening to it often but it's undeniably worthy of an 8 right?” Yes hunny! Filler (8) relays everyone’s collective surprise at Catfights’ stellar quality, “Every random track here is operating on a far grander scale than the album sandwiched between Change and Sweet 7 deserves. You're doing alright when a song like this could probably be considered filler.” Yep, I mean, you toss out the few pieces of fluff and disregard the clear opuses and there’s still a substantial 7-8 track body in between that is just good.

Like when Rory followed up sweet, beautiful Jess (oh my lord, so beautiful) with white trash Logan in Gilmore Girls, londonrain (5.5) disappoints me deeply by settling for mediocrity, sputtering “I see where this is going but it leaves me a bit cold.” DJHazey (5) once again recoils from anything remotely complex, “It just kind of ends up raining on the parade. Beautifully executed, just not really what I'm looking for.” Honey they can’t give you Disney basic bops everyday, mkay?

And here we have sweet, messy Blayke (0) whose has one of his inexplicable hate swings, “I am going to get slaughtered by the PJ queens for this. I absolutely hate this song. It has been dead to me since 2008. When it comes on shuffle, no matter what I’m doing, I skip the song. No thank you. I conveniently know the words though.” If Blayke had given this the average score for it (7.5~) it would have gone up by one to #41; anything higher and it would have leapt into the Top 40, sigh.

Meanwhile, CasuallyCrazed (6.5) wants more D-R-A-M-A, “Written as a massive torch anthem, but none of them are quite camp or dramatic enough to pull it off. Keisha comes closest with those growling ad-libs.” Honestly, I find Keisha the least camp out of them on this. Constantino (9) meanwhile finds them plenty campy enough to pull out the lighter, “YAS! C’mon melodrama! Give me that string section that I love, girls! *Detox lighter gif*

Ironheade (9) busts out his stan card and removes several bull clips from his wig for good measure, “Going from Motown to Philly, are we? Turns out, the Babes are even BETTER at that! It gets off to a bold start with its smoky saloon strings and spacious 6/8 rhythm, stark horns punctuating the mix with a warning of danger, the perfect backdrop for the girls' burnt-out deliveries (a trick that Amelle takes full advantage of). Then it explodes into the awesome chorus. Big and brassy and dramatic and WONDERFUL, Keisha at her absolute vocal best leading from the front with aplomb, and the searing yet distant electric guitars adding a real tension and poignancy to the arrangement. I love the way the strings are allowed to carry the instrumental melody for the extended bridge and let things breathe. You know what? This might be the best retro-moment from a girl group ever. Yeah. Better than “The Promise”.” Actually the best retro-moment from a girl group ever would be this little number, but I'll let you be cute.

Some of you felt that this could’ve been a Bond theme, which, I can’t disagree with. Mod-in-training Solenciennes (10) deems it the “The Bond song that never was. The cooing at the beginning and the atmospheric scene setting by Amelle seguing into Heidi are particular highlights for me. They would have really deserved something as major as a film soundtrack with this album I think, it always felt quite cinematic to me and while I don’t think this would have worked as a single off its own merits, it would have probably worked as a soundtrack accompaniment.” kal (9) is also here for this in widescreen, “Another highly cinematic, dramatic ballad. This is 3.0’s Bond theme that never was.” Rewind to just one elimination ago when kal was claiming “Like The Weather” was the Sugababes’ Bond theme that never was. So what is the truth?

Runawaywithme (10) makes a bit of a left-field comparison but makes it werk, “This is like “Ace Reject” 2.0 and for me is just as much as draw dropping, drop everything, gloriously overdramatic moment, whereas “Reject” had a great slow minimal production that made it work this one turns up the massive motown drama and I just live for it, the whole dark cinematic all or nothing moment of this song just sweeps me up and I just love everything about it, the tears, bad boys, dysfunctional relesonships and crashing drums are everything I love, just yes.” acl (10) has seen the light, “See 'Unbreakable Heart' (> "Amelle sounds heartfelt and Keisha serves VOCALS all over this that can scalp ANYONE. If I had a few 11s I could easily throw one at this cause the vocals and production are just so fucking epic. That this was never performed live is a travesty."] + some on form excellent Heidi. Vocally the best 3.0 ever sounded.” Finally ssa (10) claims that “I want my Sugababes mellow and wintery”. They’re quite good like that, huh?

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Elysium

Elysium

beyoncésweave said:
So, if something had to go from Catfights, this definitely should not be it when there are worse songs (e.g. “You On A Good Day”)
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Sunday Rain deserved higher though, it's a nice track.

Now, my dream top 10 would have be 40% Godfights, but what I THINK will go T10 is (no particular order)

Ace Reject
Flatline
Freak Like Me
Hole In The Head
Overload
Push The Button
Red Dress
Round Round
Run For Cover
Too Lost In You
 
tOMMYp3

tOMMYp3

Amazed Crapfights still has so much left, I liked the album when it was released, but hasn't aged well for me. Emotionless and samey tracks. Too Lost In You would've got my 11, so I hope that makes the top 5 on the rate.
 
londonrain

londonrain

Staff member
AllSixSugababes said:
So either Blue or Never Gonna Dance Again. Hope its Blue as its a b-side quality as opposed to NGDA being a single quality
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I would prefer it to be Blue (although I don't think either song was single quality).

Seems about right for Angels - the best songs are definitely the singles, but what brilliant singles they were. We could well end up with 2 or 3 Angels songs in the top 5, and I'd be fine with that.
 
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