GIRLS ALOUD | Long Hot Summer

Available on:
x Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer (2005) CD-S, 12''
x Girls Aloud - Chemistry (2005) CD

Credits:
Written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Tim "Rolf" Larcombe, Shawn Lee, Lisa Cowling, Giselle Sommerville and Myra Boyle.
Published by Xenomania/ Warner Chappell Music Ltd.
Produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania.
Mixed by Jeremy Wheatley.
Keyboards and Programming: Tim "Rolf" Larcombe.
Keyboards: Brian Higgins.
Bass Guitar: Shawn Lee.

Single information:
"Long Hot Summer" was released as the lead single to Girls Aloud's third album Chemistry on 22 August 2005. The song notably broke the group's consecutive string of top five hits, peaking at #7 in the UK singles chart.

Notes:
"Long Hot Summer" was written by Xenomania when the team were in LA. Xenomania visited the Disney offices in LA and were asked to write a song that would feature in the Lindsay Lohan Herbie movie. This was the eventual result, although for various reasons, the track never made the movie.

In an interview with Music Week, Brian Higgins Brian Higgins expressed his disdain with the song, saying that "chasing the soundtrack [...] disrupted us creatively. It was making us miserable. Something had to come out and that was Long Hot Summer. It was made in a panic. It was a disaster record. I can't stand it".

REVIEWS:
x It is almost impossible to seperate this song from its video. On its own this piece takes a lotta listens to grow on you. And even after that, Long Hot Summer - which I'm sure is some kind of apocalyptic sex-reverance to global warming - has a "buh bah baaah" Banannarama-ism in its chorus that remains irritating.
The Girls' songwriters, Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper of Xenomania, suffer from the weaknesses of their strength - which is the courage to try something "pop-new" each time. The old in this case was the strong melodies and over-powering production of What Will the Neighbours Say. The new is a kind of Girl Band AOR/rock, with an edge of sexiness slipping back into teenie. In some ways it is a pleasant departure from previous Xenomaniarisms, though I am a tad disappointed with the form over content nature of this piece. Alexis Kirke

x "Long Hot Summer" was a misstep, fizzy and sparkling, but if pop can only be described as such, then it goes flat long before October rolled on. Not even the Betty Boo rapping could elevate it above a 7/10. Dom Passantino

x (...) a single always more likely to carry more weight in winter than in summer. It manages to parallel both "Wild Horses" and "Biology" in lyrical subject and musical construction respectively, and although the joyous major key - with that always irresistible two-chord glacier of ascending guitar to take us from the first to the second half of the chorus, like ice added to the Coke in an August Bank Holiday Brighton - might lead us to think this is the emotional inverse of Bananarama's "Cruel Summer," its subject matter could almost make it the prequel to "Cruel Summer". Marcello Carlin

x The thing about Girls Aloud is never knowing quite which way they�re going to fall�do they go for the jugular, or do they go for the sales figures? This was the problem with "Long Hot Summer"�it sounded like Girls Aloud doing what was expected of them in terms of sound, checking off the list of things that people had liked about their earlier records and coming up with something that sounded a bit like "Androgynous Girls" but without the swearing�not bad, but too telegraphed. William B. Swygart

x After it "flopped" at #7 (in a high sales week), actually, when the mid-weeks came out, people turned on this so hard, but I bet those people would probably give low scores to Grrr! It's Betty Boo! as well, so stuff 'em. Basically, this is Betty Boo goes big beat, a combination which is, if possible, even more pleasurable than it sounds, and while I can understand some people (I believe we call them Americans) being nonplussed about Brian Higgins' genius, then Miranda Cooper being the best pop lyricist on the planet for the time being (or until Jarvis Cocker writes something) is something that you can't even question. This is basically an endless stream of quotable, brilliant lines packed tightly together with very little regard for continuity or sense, a modus operandi that extends to the music, which is bold, balls-out, brazen and brassy, built upon buzz-sawing riffs, crisp drums and god, yes, a rap. A rap of the whitest variety, so deliciously half-assed that Deborah Harry is dying of jealousy somewhere. The flow is actually rather similar to that which we heard on those brilliant Mania songs (especially If You Need A Good Girl and Close), so it's no surprise to see Giselle Buchanan credited as a co-writer here. The final third of the song is basically begging to be meshed with Funkytown (preferably the Pseudo Echo version), the washing, woozy filtering underneath the chorus is fantastic and, gosh, unlike that overrated chestnut Love Machine, they actually bothered to write a really good chorus and yes, it doesn't say anything precisely, but it's all about the quotable notables, all about the rush of words assailing you at a rate you can barely cope with, so much so that you need repeated listens, it's all about the sharp beats and killer hooks and not caring what the neighbours say. Plus, the Goddess Of The Sideline, Miss Nicola Roberts, looks really nice in the video too, kind of like a Botticelli painting. Edward Oculicz

x Given that so little time has passed since their last outing, plus the fact that the formidable Xenomania production team remain at the helm, it's no surprise to find that the formula remains much the same. Coquettish, sugar-coated vocals, spangly pop synths with just enough beefiness to make dance music fans do a guilty double take, and the odd smattering of jangly Fifties guitars. For our money, still the best girl band around. Virgin.net

x "Long Hot Summer" is the best single of the year by such a very wide margin it isn't even funny. (...) this song is close to perfect in every regard. I read someone describing this as sort of a compacted Girls Aloud greatest hits, and I don't think there's a more accurate description really. It has the charming accessibility of "Love Machine", the spirited tambourine and spoken/sung outro bit of "No Good Advice", the bass groove of "Jump", a mid-song "rap" like in "Graffiti My Soul"...plus all the standard Xenomania swirling synths and guitar hooks. It's just this amazing amalgamation of so many of their best moments. Lyrically, they're on top form as usual, presenting a fucking highlight reel of catchphrases, graceful rhymes, and playful metaphors. As far as innuendo goes, it doesn't get much funnier or more tongue-in-cheek than "Baby, baby, watch the needle when you're headin' south!". PLUS, Xenomania have seemingly kicked back their achilles heel and written a chorus that not only stands up to the rest of the song, but may even be its selling point. I truly cannot express how fantastic I think this single is. A good barometer for evaluating A-rate singles is the tolerance (or lack thereof) you have for listening to other songs. Let's just say that in the past week I've lost count of the times I've thought to myself, "Why in God's name am I listening to this when I could be listening to "Long Hot Summer?", while frantically mashing the skip button. Shane

LINKS:
x video on YouTube
x Wikipedia page