by GeniustoBurn

Created on: October 08, 2010   Last Updated: October 09, 2010

In 2006, I was eagerly awaiting Christina's latest offering, having become such a fan in her "Stripped" days. I was thrilled to find it was a double album - with each CD having its own distinct flavour. The first CD is full of the funky, strong sound that Christina has developed over the years, while the 2nd is more experimental, with retro sounds.

Of course, being Christina there is an intro and an outro. As the album begins, she informs us she is going "Back to basics" (a familiar theme, I guess, as the last album was "Stripped") and throughout the album she reminds us of the golden years of music. On "Back in the day" she warms to her theme, namechecking the virtuosos who "paved the way" and inspired her style. As you may have guessed, these include Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Minnie Ripperton and many, many more.

I know some people find this kind of "listing your heroes" irritating - and it seems to happen more and more often these days - but for all the thirteen year olds who buy this album and have never heard of Etta James, isn't this kind of a cool way to let them know that the world is bigger than "Pussycat Dolls. Rihanna. Lily Allen"?!

Christina goes back to her Catholic roots with a couple of the tracks here - the fantastically upbeat "Makes Me Wanna Pray" (I think she's mostly talking about her husband, rather than Jesus, but hey, she crosses herself when whe performs this one) and the sultry, sexy "Mercy on Me" in which she deplores her lack of discipline and the way she's treated the poor chap she's left "in fragments." You know what, though? She doesn't sound that sorry about it. Both songs would do wonders for the Church of England if they were to introduce them as part of the worship repertoire.

Another standard of the modern album is the "Ha ha, you thought I'd fail without you but I've got pots of money" song. At least Christina makes hers a good track, and the initials "F.U.S.S." conveniently spell a word.

"Ain't No Other Man" was overplayed on the radio - I normally skip it when I listen to this album - but there is no doubt about it, it's a stomping good song and deserves its dancefloor filler reputation. The same goes for "Candyman" - a ridiculously retro confection of horns, backing singers and cutesy vocal arrangements. The lyrics may be a little dirtier than those of the 1950s (or maybe not... I hear there were some pretty raunchy double meanings in songs for as far back as you'd care to remember ) but it's all done tongue

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