Sophie Ellis-Bextor is currently being heavily promoted as Genuinely Posh Spice, a haughty English rose with an impeccably indie pedigree (she used to sing with theaudience) who now wants to be a proper pop star. Unfortunately, while she certainly looks the part, the material on her debut solo album only rarely does justice to her distinctive upper-crust voice. A mixture of 70s disco pop and moody 80s electronica, Read My Lips is certainly a polished package but most of the songs sound laboured and plod where they should swing. For now the verdict on Sophie Elllis-Bextor must be that the substance is still some way off the image.
