Many a great pop ship has been sunk by the desire to be taken more seriously as an artist. It's a horrible thing to witness: your favourite band that banged out monster hit after ridiculously sexy monster hit starts to change before your eyes.
Out go great hair, massive trousers and sky-scraping tunes; in come sombre suits, ill-conceived song-writing collaborations and concept albums about just how hard it is having really great hair and massive trousers. Make no mistake, when the symptoms of wanting to be taken more seriously as an artist start to show, a duet with Elton John is just around the corner.
It is with some relief then, that we reveal that for all their recent mutterings about playing all their own instruments and writing their own material, a1 sound absolutely nothing at all like serious artists on 'No More'.
Instead, and with one eye on the American market no doubt, what this does sound like is *N Sync's 'Bye, Bye, Bye' only with better hair and, yes, much bigger trousers. Fantastic, then, and hopefully Number One for weeks.
Andrew Wagstaff
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