Superchick - Beauty From Pain 1.1

Reviewed by Gareth Paul Taylor

A revamp of last year's original 'Beauty From Pain' CD with Superchick expanding their tent pegs by signing to Columbia Records earlier this year - a well-deserved move as even a cursory listen to this CD will reveal. "Stories" is gone, replaced by two tracks - "One Girl Revolution (Battle Mix)" originally from 2001's 'Karaoke Superstars' and the specially-recorded "Stand In The Rain". The former is an astute addition, the opening neo-'70s feel with scratch guitar (Dee-lite anyone?!) underpinning the clever self-referencing lyric:- "The super doesn't stand for model, but that doesn't mean I'm plain/If all you see is how I look, you miss the superchick within/And I christen you Titanic, underestimate and swim." Then it launches into the remix's trademark heavy rock feel of the band. The new track equally teases us by sandwiching more heavy riffs in between the gentle ballad feel opening and closing the song. The genius and skill of the band is the way they effortlessly stride between fresh pop and a heavy feel, sister vocalists Tricia and Melissa Brock being backed by the solid wall of sound from the boys in the band. A wonderful CD which hopefully will make a dent in the mainstream.