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Album Review: Bananarama – Viva
“Viva” is the tenth studio album by Bananarama. It is scheduled to release by Fascination Records (Girls Aloud, The Saturdays) in September 14 2009 in the UK only. The album is Bananarama’s first studio album since the 2005 released Drama (it has been about 4 years).
First Impressions
With the upbeat sound of “Love Comes“, I do look forward to listening this album. But after listening to the album as a whole, the album sounds tired and not ‘fresh’. The popularity of syth music now(La Roux, LadyGaga, ) makes it seems like the perfect time for Bananarama to make their re-appearance and comeback as one of british girl group in direction competition with modern day girl bands. It’s just bad execution that killed this album.
Standout Tracks
- Love Comes
Lead single and album opener, the song was written by Bananarama members Sara and Keren and producer Ian Masterson. The pulsating syth makes this song so appealing. For an ear-gasm experience, listen the wideboys remix and the Ian Masterson’s Extended mix. It’s a flop even though there’s heavy promotion for this single. - Rapture
Not really ’standing out’ in a good sense, the girls mudered this song with a disco/syth-touch. I definitely prefer the hypnotic iiO original. Only Nadia Ali can rule this track. - Twisting
Has a middle-eastern flavour. The chorus is so dreamy, and the hooks are there. - Tell Me Tomorrow
Fits in the “Drama” era, but feels kinda muted. A very disco-y track. - The Runner
A cover of The Three Degrees song. Very Abba-ish. The 80s feel is literally splash over on this song. - Dum Dum Boy
Reminds me of Rihanna’s “Disturbia” with the “Dum Dum” hook. Sounds so similar.
Final Verdict
Even though they roped in Ian Masterson, who had worked with both Girls Aloud and Pet Shop Boys, the album sounds dated. Their previous album effort, “Drama” is definitely much better than this. Disco with a heavy bass beat. This album doesn’t match up especially with the overuse of syth, which makes it sounds like cyber-pop (and I thought auto-tune is annoying). The heavily photoshop-ped album cover is not really helping either.
This album scores a 2 out of 5.
I mostly disagree with your review of VIVA. Love Comes is a great piece of electro pop, and while maybe considered a “flop” sales-wise, it grazed the Top 40, did create buzz and all of the DJs I’ve spoken to have loved it. I play my own enhanced version of the Wideboys mix in the club.
You do pick many of my favorite tracks, TMT, The Runner, Twisting & Dum Dum Boy…but I love their version of Rapture….and from what I read, so does Nadia Ali.
I will agree that I think Ian Masterson’s production is a bit heavy at times and the use of auto tune over-used to create a synthetic vocal when I’d also like to hear the classic harmonized Bananarama vocals. However, I do like that they have stepped out and are using solo vocals more…a combination of the two might have offered more variety to long-time fans.
I just got the Ian Masterson extended version of Love Don’t Live Here and the Buzz Junkies remix of The Runner. Both are great. I especially love the Buzz Junkies mix.
Still, the album fares better than 2 out of 5. Oh, and the girls themselves prefer not to be over-airbrushed, as pretty as the cover photo is.