200 km/h in the Wrong Lane - t.A.T.u.
The highlight of the album is ‘All the things she said’. It’s absolutely infectious as it is controversial.
The wait between sliding the CD into the player and being slightly distracted by the inlay card is for a good measure - you will not know what hits you when you listen to ‘Not gonna get us’ – Track number 1. Meanwhile, the asterisk at the end of the title directs my attention to a credit line – Produced by Trevor Horn – ex. Buggles (psst. Video killed the radio star). Renowned in music circles for his ability to work with samplers and mixers to produce intricately stitched records, Horn’s style within the album is a force too big to be ignored, even if it is just for 3 tracks. t.A.T.u - a.k.a. Lena and Yulia, teens from Russia, give the music a refreshing perspective. It’s pop – yes, but think again and you’d realize that it couldn’t get better than this. The album is mostly about the girls learning life beyond the realm of Russia. Something inside will tell you to browse through the lyrics and you’ll understand the appeal.
The highlight of the album is ‘All the things she said’. It’s absolutely infectious as it is controversial. The fact that this single has toppled some familiar names from the track lists doesn’t help.
The music video will be remembered for a long time. Even if the concept borders around soft-core sleaze. The Interscope hosted video stream has had 1.22 million hits! ‘All the things she said’ also hit platinum in Italy and Norway and has hot rotation in other parts of the world.
‘Show me love’, ’30 minutes’, and the cover of The Smiths’ ‘How soon is now’ are vibrant in their own smooth way. ‘Ya Shosla S Uma’ and ‘Nas Ne Dagoniat’ are the Russian versions of the first 2 tracks. You’ll appreciate the language and understand where the grunge comes from. ‘Malchik Gay’, ‘Clowns’ and ‘Stars’ fill up the rest of the album.
The CD also has ‘Behind the Scenes’ footage of the girls as well as the music video of their hottest single ‘All the things she said.’