Mr. Showbiz prolly works for Virgin

Spice by Spice Girls
	by Gary Graff

The hype surrounding Spice Girls is thicker than anything this side of the revived Star Wars trilogy [and they don't even have the naff 'new' effects!]. The winsome quintet is the latest British export said to be ready to conquer music charts the world over. Admittedly, Spice Girls have already logged impressive sales figures in their native Britain and Japan [everyone has impressive sales in Japan. Bis have impressive sales in Japan], and their first U.S. offering, "Wannabe", debuted at an impressive number 11 on the Billboard singles chart.
However, we've sniffed this scent before, and we're skeptical; but surprisingly, Spice Girls deliver. Oh, we won't mistake them for the Supremes, or Oasis, for that matter [or even, like, Vanilla Ice]. But rather than the frilly, disposable dance-pop we might have expected, the female vocal quintet's debut offers spirited, energetic fun and irresistible dance grooves that mix hip-hop conventions with lots of old-school R&B.
"Who Do You Think You Are?" and "Something Kinda Funny", for instance, would have fit comfortably on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack [this is not a compliment. The Bee Gees were the most shite disco groop in the world], while the single "Wannabe" fuses rap verses with lush and instantly catchy choruses [catchy to the point where you wanna kill yourself]. "Say You'll Be There" even appropriates a Stevie Wonder-style harmonica lick [or, as I refer to it, the Alanis-style crap harmonica].
But it's "Mama" that proves Spice Girls are more than singing pop heads ["Mama" is the album's worst song; yet I've seen several reviews praise it. Arrrgh!]; over a mix of acoustic guitar, strings, and street beats [street beats? On "Mama"? Which street was this? Sesame Street?], the group wonders melodically about how good a mother one of their friends will be [erm. What song was he listening to?]. A surprisingly heady entry on a surprisingly substantial album.

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