MUSIC REVIEW: Lily Allen Page 2

0702_music_allen200_2This ain't no gangsta rap, or even angsty rap. Alright, Still instead is all cheek, delightfully so, from a saucy Brit who knows how to put a genuine lilt in her melodies. In fact, having dissed her ex and her town in "Smile" and "LDN," Allen floats bubbly choruses that are the very definition of disarming.

Yet there's enough variety here to show that Allen is already maturing. Choruses become sweeping in "Friday Night" and "Shame for You." Allen's essential Britishness harks back to the music hall for "Alfie" and borrows some "Wild World" Cat-chiness for "Littlest Things." And the latter song even has her getting - waddayaknow! - sentimental: "Sometimes I find myself sittin' back and reminiscing / Especially when I have to watch other people kissing . . . / We'd spend the whole weekend lying in our own dirt / I was just so happy in your boxers and your T-shirt."

Allen has a big support group of producers, engineers, mixers, and instrumentalists (some of whom are her co-writers as well), and they blend together to create a sound that is always Lily-bright. The lowest bass notes aren't the richest I've heard, but the perky sonics pull you right into the rhythm. And when the backbeat gets vicious on "Knock 'Em Out," the undertow is deliciously overwhelming.

Or perhaps you'd like to mix Allen yourself? According to Capitol, the American version of Alright, Still is the first full-length CD in the U.S. to include u-myx software - so, try your hand. The American release also has two bonus tracks: the U.K. B-side "Nan You're a Window Shopper" and a rockier version of "Smile."

Another wonder of Allen is that, despite her big support group, she began as a self-made woman. The so-called Queen of MySpace started by posting demos on that Web site. But will she ultimately be a one-click wonder? Exotic Brit ladies tend to come and go, like Neneh Cherry. And possibly Ms. Dynamite. (I'm already worrying about M.I.A., who has personified her name for too long already.) Reports of a recent New York City gig said Allen was stiff. (Read: nervous?) All eyes will be on her when she travels to Austin, Texas, in March for a showcase at the South by Southwest Music Festival.

In the meantime, Lily Allen's debut is a blast, as both repartee and party. And when you consider that the best PYTs that America can muster are the likes of Britney - well, this Brit would rather put the knee in.

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