From Metro.co.uk

 

Ten years ago, when she was teen vocalist with indie also-rans theaudience, Sophie Ellis-Bextor sang If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It? Judging by her third solo album, now is the right time.

 

She's hardly old, but she has blossomed into a brighter kind of pop diva. Ellis-Bextor has selected savvy sidekicks for this glitterball journey. Writing credits include Xenomania, Fred Schneider (The B52's) and Cathy Dennis, who lends a Kylie-styled sparkle; while backing vocals come from The Feeling's Dan Gillespie, who's also her husband's bandmate.

 

Her distinctively aloof voice packs an adrenalin rush when it counts – as on racy recent hit Catch You, which supports the rule that stalking songs are generally brilliant (ie The Police; Blondie). Admittedly, she occasionally backs into a radio-friendly safety zone; Today The Sun's On Us won't set pulses racing.

 

But dancefloor anthems dominate this album, and at best – including the hi-NRG throb of China Heart and the persuasive Only One – Ellis-Bextor sounds decadently divine.

 

:D! Really good review.

 

 

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From The Times Online:

 

The old joke about the Jewish-American princess, the orgasm and the nailfile springs to mind as you listen to Sophie Ellis-Bextor swooning gamely, if half-heartedly, through her third album of listless Europop. Much of the time, she conveys the impression that merely turning up punctually at the studio is her version of suffering for her art. But nobody approaches an Ellis-Bextor CD expecting her to tear cathartic, visceral torch songs from her chest; she excels, instead, at mooching, camp-as-Christmas foot-tappers (Catch You, Love Is Here, If You Go) on which she keeps her powder perfectly dry. She may never drop the nailfile, then, but aloofness has always been part of SE-B’s strange appeal.

 

2 Stars.

 

2 out of 5 is harsh but the review isnt actually that bad.

 

 

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From The Guardian Online:

 

In one of the similes of the year, the BBC website describes Ellis-Bextor's voice as "part silk cushion, part scorched lizard" - a comparison that brings to mind Björk rather than a pleasant bit of disco-posh. On her third album, she again works the bored-princess trick: crisply enunciated vocals tripping off her tongue in a way that both fascinates and repels. Is it possible to have so much thrumming rhythm action going on in each track, yet sound so detached? She excels herself on the delicious single Me and My Imagination, her disengaged presence helping (along with a walloping melody and frantic violins) to push the song to ecstatic heights. New York City Lights is another perfect balancing of aloofness and hedonism, packaged in reverb and hiss, and a Latin rhythm is at the core of New Flame, a neon delight that would have won Eurovision for us, had Ellis-Bextor been in Helsinki. Next year, eh?

 

3 Out Of 5.

 

Not bad ^_^

 

 

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Best of all...From Manchester Evening News:

 

With Rachael Stevens' music career in neutral and Kylie in the recording studio, pop music needs a female star capable of shaking up the charts. Sophie Ellis-Bexter haters often criticise her looks (why?) and forget to appreciate that fact that she makes perfect singles and above average albums.

 

The aloof, sometimes distant voice and perfectly clipped vowels really suits the current single, the disco flavoured 'Me And My Imagination'.

 

Likewise the sublime Blondie sound of first hit, 'Catch You' is as immediate as music can ever be.

 

Not quite mashed but almost, the differing sounds of Xenomania, Cathy Dennis and Fred (B52s) Schneider all adds up to a great album; the effect is one of a cheesy party in your living room - pineapple sticks optional!

 

There is something quite refreshing about the half sung/half spoken vocals; she is almost too posh to push the words out. This works a treat on the electronic treat that is 'New York City Lights'.

 

Guiding you across the dance floor without murdering one track, Sophie clearly enjoys 'fessing up' via the power of dance. By the time you get to the wonderful 'Supersonic' - even cynics will be doing a 'Tony Manero.'

 

This pacey and fun album gives you a 'Saturday Night Fever' any day of the week.

 

4 Out of 5.

 

:D

Edited May 22, 200718 yr by Jark

Its great :wub: 2 out of 5 though bast*rds :lol:

From POPJOURNALISM.CA

 

British pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor took almost four years to follow up her sophomore release Shoot from the Hip, but it was time well spent as Trip the Light Fantastic is even better than its predecessor.

As inferred from the title, Ellis-Bextor spends most of the record in the dance-pop arena. It's a match with her distinctive voice, which retains a mannered Brit accent, as she fitfully preens and pouts to great affect throughout Trip the Light Fantastic.

 

Whether she's out stalking (the first single "Catch You"), playing hard to get ("Me and My Imagination") or lamenting that one "Can't Have it All," Ellis-Bextor brings a posh sophistication to the standard love-and-relationship themes explored on Fantastic.

 

Mostly it's a consistently great affair, but once the album loses its disco ball glitter production (a sound that peaks with the brilliant "China Heart") and begins to favour blander pop-rock balladry (like in "The Distance Between Us” and "What We Have Started") does Fantastic ever become dull. But despite some valleys, overall, Trip the Light Fantastic is one of the year's best pop records.

 

4 out of 5 stars

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ent..._universal.html

 

Great pop albums are few and far between, but after a three year break there were great hopes from the new album from the poshest girl in pop – Sophie Ellis Bextor.

 

With her indie days well and truly behind her, the much maligned Sophie has always been totally happy to embrace her new twinkly world. What album could you name that ends with a grotesquely camp, yet sassy, homage to 50s sci-fi courtesy of the B52s? In fact it’s difficult to expect anything but glistening disco-pop from an album with a title such as Trip The Light Fantastic almost screaming out AMAZING in sparkly, flashing pink letters.

 

 

While “Catch You” gave us a grittier Sophie, and the sprightly “Me & My Imagination” recalled days of "Read My Lips" Sophie, disco is the overriding sound here. Reminiscent of Pet Shop Boys, the staccato “New York City Lights” and the hip shaking “If I Can’t Dance” transport us to a world where the glitter ball never stops spinning. But if you thought they weren’t pushing pop to outrageous limits enough, “China Heart” is literally one of the most ridiculous songs we have ever heard. Pulsating with synths Giorgio Moroder would be proud of, it reminds you of “I Feel Love” coupled with a dark, futuristic overtone.

 

 

And while you may expect tracks from pop royalty such as Xenomania and Hannah Robinson to stand out, it’s actually the two very different songs contributed by Dan Gillespie-Sells of The Feeling that soar high above the rest. Accomplished at writing the perfect feel-good hit for his own band, Dan’s lite-reggae “Only One” and the uplifting “Love Is Here” leave us with the feeling that Sophie’s “China Heart” might be warming, and that despite the fact that we’ve no doubt they were written together over a Royal Doulton pot of tea, Sophie was actually having fun while singing them. The radio friendly “Love Is Here” even has a trademark Feeling guitar solo and has summer hit written all over it.

 

 

Whether there is room for such a manicured, glossy pop star in the musical landscape of 2007 is a different matter. Sophie’s certainly made the pop record she wants to, and if it all sounds a tad 2002 then so be it. Good luck to her.