2000 A1: Same Old Brand New You

I'm guessing that if a latter day Bontempi home organ had a pre-set rhythm titled 'Britney Spears Robopop' then the resulting sound would be very similar to 'Same Old Brand New You'. Part of it anyway; A1's second number one is a style grab bag that lurches from some opening Queen-like melodrama into a shifting pop beat that tries its damndest to build to a pay off chorus a la Ms Spears' signature tunes. That's the idea anyway, but instead 'Same Old Brand New You' bungles the momentum at every turn by picking the dead end of a wrong note or a wrong key, making for a jumble sale stall of mis-matched items which, although are set out as nicely as they can, have precious little utility either individually or as a whole. In fact, the battering clang this empty vessel makes as it struggles to latch onto some unity actually hurts my ears in a way that makes me nostalgic for Spandau Ballet. So not good then.