1. Not Gonna Get Us
2. All The Things She Said
3. Show Me Love
4. 30 Minutes
5. How Soon Is Now?
6. Clowns (Can You See Me Now?)
7. Malchik Gay
8. Stars
9. Ya Shosla S Uma
10. Nas Ne Dagoniat
11. Show Me Love (Extended Mix)
12. 30 Minutes (Remix)
Over the past 12 months, t.A.T.u.
- a pair of nubile Russian teenagers, Julia and Lena - have systematically
conquered the pop charts across mainland Europe. The rest of the world is next
on their agenda, and on the evidence of 200Km/h In The Wrong Lane there
is little to stop them.
This international debut is an expanded re-issue of the mini-album released
in their homeland during 2001, with the lyrics now sung primarily in English
and a handful of extra tracks added (native-tongue originals of two songs,
plus remixes of two others).
As modern pop coninues to blur the boundaries between music and pornograhy,
t.A.T.u. could be seen as the next logical step... their image and videos
focus heavily on lesbian tendencies while also playing on several male
fantasy cliches. All The Things She Said, the first UK single, features a
video with the girls dressed in school uniforms, passionately kissing in the
rain. It borders on soft-porn, but - possible outrage at such openly
homosexual behaviour by young teenagers in a pop video notwithstanding - it
actually works, and certainly avoids the nasty taste of all that aggressive
humping by Aguilera et al.
Part of the reason t.A.T.u don't offend as much as they might do is down to
the music itself, which is dynamic without being threatening. Trevor Horn, no
less, oversees the project, and once again applies his studio fairydust to
create an accessible brand of brooding European technopop. He co-writes as
well as produces much of the record, and given that he was responsible for
arguably the greatest single ever made about gay sex - Frankie Goes To
Hollywood's Relax - Horn is ideally suited to working with t.A.T.u.,
providing real substance to these songs.
The opening brace of tracks come on like The Chemical Brothers or The
Prodigy, a full-on aural assault with plenty of excitement, and tunes which
don't expose the girls' limited vocal abilities or occasional problems with
enunciating the English language.
30 Minutes is a stately ballad in the Roxette mould, and destined to be a
future smash, while a cover of The Smiths' seminal anthem to angst - How Soon
Is Now? - is surprisingly effective, fitting in perfectly with the album's
lyrical themes.
Whether t.A.T.u. are built to last is debatable. This is manufactured pop
after all, however enticing the final product, and the "are they or aren't
they?" interest concerning the girls' sexuality can only maintain interest
for so long.
The only blip on an otherwise excellent album is Malchik Gay, blighted by a
very annoying melody and a truly horrid, chipmunk-like vocal treatment. The
rest of 200km/h In The Wrong Lane shows how contrived teen pop needn't be a
bad thing, recalling the days when the genre was still approached with daring
and panache rather than a safety-first arrogance.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
