REVIEW : Viva

It's been quite a long time between drinks for Keren and Sara from iconic pop outfit Bananarama - their last album 'Drama' was released a startling four years ago. But following the UK release of 'Love Comes', the first single from this new album, which only managed to make it to No.44, despite the girls' poptastic new home Fascination Records. The album 'Viva' debuted at No.87, casting doubt on future single releases from this album.
Under the watchful eye of pop producer extraordinaire Ian Masterson, the girls pop their way through a collection of eleven songs, a mixture of originals and covers.
The album kicks off with the first single 'Love Comes', a fully synthesized dance-fuelled celebration of pop that remains incredibly true to the girls' signature sound. The album version's about 50 seconds too long for our liking.
Second track 'Love Don't Live Here' is another stomping dance/pop number, with a nice little opera-tinged bridge around the three minute mark. It's about 50 seconds longer than 'Love Comes' and doesn't feel nearly as long, though it could still have done with a slight edit.
'Rapture' marks the first cover on the album. It's the track Iio had a club hit with back in 2002. We actually didn't think it needed updating, and as such, we feel the original is still the superior version.
The tempo comes down a notch on 'Seventeen', a bouncy pop number on which the girls sing about being with a person who makes them feel like they were 'Seventeen', while 'Twisting' sounds a little more interesting, due to some darker vocals and the subtle use of a vocoder.
'Tell Me Tomorrow' ups the tempo again, but is run of the mill pop - nothing really jumps out at us.
Three Degrees cover version 'The Runner', co-penned by the legendary Giorgio Moroder, stands out 'cause it's a brilliant track with a great melody and good groove, no matter what you do with it. It's hard to murder Moroder.
'Extraordinary' is a bit dated, 'Dum Dum Boy' is more formulaic pop and well... that basically sums 'Viva' up for us - rather formulaic and dated. Ian Masterson did much better with Sheena Easton's album 'Fabulous' - and that was nine years ago. Pop's moved on since then - or perhaps it's our tastes have matured.