(Interscope)
Throughout the scope of history, what has Russia really given the world? A few great novels and a healthy dose of nuclear paranoia. But what about the post-Communist era? Tetris, Anna Kournikova and that's about it. That is, until t.A.T.u. burst onto the pop scene in 2001, becoming the first Eastern European band to sell one million records.
t.A.T.u.'s popularity no doubt relies heavily on the fact that the band is comprised of two 17-year-old girls who tend to make out onstage, but their English-language debut album, 200 Km/h in the Wrong Lane, features well-crafted pop songs that assure an upcoming omnipresence by these girls from Moscow.
As a touchstone, they have the same so-busy-that-it's-good European dance-pop sound as Kylie Minogue, but a bit more hyper, more frantic, more self-righteous--in other words, more 17-year-old. Instead of singing about love at first sight, t.A.T.u demands, \Show me love, show me love/ Give me all that I want,"" and the backing tracks usually complement this youthful impetuousness with massive swells and chord changes. The desperate crescendos of Not Gonna Get Us--chorus: ""Not gonna get us/ Now, now I love you""--brim with rebellious energy and almost certainly will be the soundtrack to an intense movie chase scene in the coming months, probably starring Jet Li.
The press releases tout the fact that both members of t.A.T.u are classically trained pianists, too, but neither wrote any of the songs or the lyrics, so it doesn't really matter. It's hard to tell if the lyrics, written by teams of Russian hitmakers, are meant to sound like teenage poetry or are just a result of poor English.
Lines like ""Carousels in the sky/ That we shape with our eyes/ Under shade silhouettes/ Casting shade crying rain,"" from the plaintive ballad ""30 Minutes,"" don't really make any sense, but they do evoke the sense of teenage longing that permeates the album.
This sense of the overwrought makes this a great record for those who take themselves too seriously--namely, teenagers and Europeans--and an enjoyable diversion for everyone else.
And speaking of humorless, 200 Km/h features a beautifully executed cover of the Smiths' ""How Soon Is Now?""
Other extras include the video for ""All the Things She Said,"" which features the pair in schoolgirl outfits kissing in the rain, and the Russian versions of several of the album's best songs.
