There has, of late anyway, seemed to have been a change in the public perception of wee Charlotte Church. The endless promotional campaign for her debut pop record has revealed an immensely likeable, surprisingly down-to-earth girl who genuinely doesn’t seem to give a flying wotsit as to what people think of her, no matter how extreme the provocation.
Whether or not this new enthusiasm for all things Charlotte will extend to her musical face-lift is a different matter.
Yet is Tissues And Issues really that awful? Far from it, actually. Not that you’d know it from the first couple of tracks (including the ham fisted ‘Crazy Chick’ single), which simply try too hard to show the nation’s former sweetheart in her new, raunchy light and end up sounding as sexy as a wet hallibut.
Once such scene-setting has been dispensed with, however, Tissues And Issues manages to set out its stall as a decent pop record.
Indeed, the next three tracks – ‘Moodswings’, ‘Show A Little Faith’, ‘Finding My Own Way’ – are all excellent, the kind of stuff that you might expect from Sugababes at their best and an indication that this just might be a pleasant surprise.
One listen to the clichéd dance of ‘Let’s Be Alone’, however, shatters the mood and the album never really recovers.
Church has a fine voice for this sort of thing but the record is unable to settle on where to place it. This, probably, is a result of the revolving-door writing policy that sees her teaming up with Guy Chambers, Gary Barlow, Rob Davies, Marcella Detroit and even, apparently, Boy George.
The much talked about lyrical content offers few surprises but several nice moments of self awareness, even if some of the imagery is a touch clumsy.
Yet blessed with a strong finishing flourish, Tissues And Issues offers five fine tracks out of 12 – a pretty decent strike rate these days.
Most won’t like to admit it but this is a much better record than many, more lauded efforts you’ll hear this year.