- Music
- 04 Apr 01
However hard it might have been for mar dhea credible bands like Nirvana, The Stone Roses, The Verve and Kula Shaker to follow-up successful breakthrough or debut albums, it must be ten times harder for a ‘mere’ Pop act supposedly created out of nothing by a combination of faceless stylists and studio technicians.
However hard it might have been for mar dhea credible bands like Nirvana, The Stone Roses, The Verve and Kula Shaker to follow-up successful breakthrough or debut albums, it must be ten times harder for a ‘mere’ Pop act supposedly created out of nothing by a combination of faceless stylists and studio technicians.
Still, I’d put serious money down that you won’t hear B*Witched bitching about how they never intended the eponymous first record to shift over three million copies, how they ‘just wanted to make music for themselves’ and ‘if anyone else liked it that was a bonus’.
B*Witched were up for stardom once they started and were well prepared to put in the work, the kind of graft and commitment which would make most slack-jawed, guitar-scraping sulkers recoil in horror. Three of the singles on their debut – ‘C’est La Vie’, ‘Rollercoaster’ and ‘Blame It On The Weatherman’ – were outstanding slices of Pure Pop and regardless of who wrote what, B*Witched smeared their collective personality all over those tracks – the only thing that matters when you’re playing this particular game. For Awake & Breathe they’ve stretched their scope somewhat and, while not completely ditching the kiddie-centric catchiness which characterised their first foray, have bravely attempted to grow up musically. Unfortunately they don’t quite pull it off.