Gossip – Music For Men

In the eyes of the general public (e.g. Radio 1 listeners), Music For Men is the second album from Gossip, the follow-up to Standing In The Way Of Control. In the eyes of the handful of fans that liked them before they got wrung through an all-encompassing Skins, Jo Whiley, NME PR machine and churned out as a trendy band making a don’t-give-a-fuck statement, this is actually their fourth album.Personally, I fall into the first category ”“ damn work place democracy and Radio 1 being the station of choice in the office. But strangely enough, after having Standing In The Way Of Control rammed down our throats to a point of utter saturation, I don’t feel a burning desire to dig out their previous efforts.Musically, Music For Men is more of the same ”“ the album cover alone means guaranteed air time, (it’s actually their drummer, Hannah Blilie) as once again Beth Ditto is making, like, a really valid intelligent point about men, women and cream cakes. Interestingly, the album credits do list all the band members as ‘lyricist’ and ‘composer’, but I’d certainly be hard-pressed to tell you even how many other members of Gossip actually exist, let alone how much they contribute to the tracks.Ultimately that’s what Gossip seem to have become ”“ they’re no longer seen as a band, but merely as the mouth piece of Ms Ditto. Any merit their music has is almost completely overshadowed with this week’s picture of her out with Kate Moss, and whilst music should be about making statements, these days what’s reported about her in The Sun seems to be far more important than what she’s saying on Music For Men.That’s not to say that this album doesn’t carry the usual Gossip spiel though, and, in true Gossip style, it ain’t subtle. As Ditto sings on ‘Heavy Cross’ it’s a ‘cruel cruel world’, but one can’t help but thinking if she just kept quiet and got on with the task at hand, it might not be quite so bad.The lyrics for ‘Love Long Distance’ read more like a rnb track by music channel fodder rather than the musings of an intelligent woman of the world ”“ “I’ve had it with your antics, your childish games baby/ I call your number twice but it rang and rang”, and also a rather bizarre nod to ‘I Heard It On The Grapevine’ ”“ “I heard it on the bass line not much longer would you be mine, baby”. Other lyrical themes centre around woman-scornery, relationships, and a light smattering of general partying.Musically, there’s not a huge amount of progression from Standing In The Way Of Control, although the band seemed to have moved more towards a more dance feel rather than their previous punk influences. But it’s still their trademark cymbal-heavy, synth-laden, rave/disco-inspired, sound, which, no matter what you think of them, will fill up those dancefloors. They excel most at the up-beat tracks, particularly ‘Spare Me From The Mold’ and ‘8th Wonder’Â where it’s not really about the lyrics at all, just the repertoire of shapes you can pull. There’s still lots of grunts, hu-hu-huhs and woah-woah-woahing from Beth Ditto, and at times she’s doing little more than shouting.Fans and followers of Gossip and Beth Ditto won’t be disappointed with this album. It’s more of what they’ve been lapping up, and no doubt it’ll be on heavy rotation on the Radio 1 playlist. But it does nothing to convince anyone else that Ditto is worth listening to. 52% Gossip on MySpace