Texas: The Hush : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Few second lives in pop are as dramatic as the one currently being lived by Texas, a Glasgow band that most Americans have either never heard of or forgotten. First noted ten years ago for the rootsy rock of "I Don't Want a Lover," the group, led by vocal powerhouse Sharleen Spiteri and New Wave survivor Johnny McElhone (ex-Altered Images and Hipsway), faded away until its 1997 comeback, White on Blonde, became one of the biggest U.K. and European hits of the decade. That album's moody, modernized R&B never happened here, but the time is right for The Hush -- imagine a Scottish Diana Ross smoldering over swanky beats that fall somewhere between Britney Spears and Portishead, Eurythmics and Lisa Stansfield. Natural singles like the typically sensual "In Our Lifetime" bounce with sophisticated yet mad-catchy hooks that are at once classic and utterly of the moment. It's all sleek art and hot pop -- what could be more 1999? (RS 814)

BARRY WALTERS