GIRLS ALOUD | Love Machine

Available on:
x Girls Aloud - What Will The Neighbours Say? (2004) CD
x Girls Aloud - Love Machine (2004) CD-S, 7'' picture disc

Credits:
Written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Tim Powell, Nick Coler, Myra Boyle, Shawn Lee.
Published by Xenomania/ Warner Chapell.
Produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania.
Mixed by Tim Powell & Matt Tait at Metropolis.
Keyboards: Brian Higgins and Tim Powell.
Programmed by Brian Higgins, Tim Powell and Nick Coler.
Guitars: Nick Coler and Shawn Lee.
Drums: Stuart Wilkinson and Shawn Lee.

Single information:
"Love Machine" was the second single released from Girls Aloud's second album What Will The Neighbours Say?, in 13th September, 2004. It was their first single on the UK download chart.
Peak position: #2 on the UK Singles Chart.

Notes:
An early demo of "Love Machine" was included on the Popjustice compilation album Popjustice: 100% Solid Pop Music and later on an official Girls Aloud singles boxset; this version was sung by Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle and Sarah Harding and features radically different lyrics from the released versions, even excluding the phrase "Love Machine".

Some of the 'Love Machine' lyrics came about through a process Xenomania employ, which is to sing 'nonsense lyrics' over a backing track - eventually the nonsense lyrics evolve into more meaningful songwords.

The backing track, semi-inspired by The Smiths, is the work of Xenomania musicians Nick Coler and Tim Powell.

In an interview with the Times Online where Girls Aloud describe the recording process with Xenomania, Sarah Harding added the following about "Love Machine": "That one took a long time for us to get our heads around".

Arctic Monkeys have covered "Love Machine". In an interview with the Times Online, Girls Aloud said they prefer that cover to their own original version.

REVIEWS:
x Eskimos, tigers and living in two tribes. (...) Once again Girls Aloud come back with the unexpected. A new style and sound shows why they are an exiting pop band. 'Love Machine' mixes together touches of ska, 60s style guitar riffs with the Girls distinctive brand of futuristic pop.I Like Music x We should have known right from the twang of the opening riff that "Love Machine" was going to be the brightest diamond in a year loaded with UK pop gems. With less BPM but more spunk than its preceding single, "The Show", "Love Machine" is a near 3-minute and half demonstration in pop perfection. As if the shuffling skiffle beat (!!!), the nimble wordplay and the sass meter being turned up a notch ("We're gift wrapped kitty cats/We're only turning into tigers when we gotta fight back") weren't enough, the chorus explodes with a sugary burst of purring harmonies, cymbal riding and WTF lyrics, ("I need a squeeze a day/Instead of this negligee/What will the neighbours say?"), giving us one of the best and most joy inducing musical moments of 2004. We should have known better. We should have known that they were more than just love machines feeding our pop fantasy. Midnite Vulture

x Sonically it has a lot in common with the current early rock and roll era influenced pop of today, it was a song that looked to the Rolling Stones in a time when only crap indie groups did, now everyone's doing it. And lyrically it's one of their cleverest and fully realised and pretty much set their lyrical identity to this very day. Self effacing odes about girls who think they know what they want but don't know what they really want and then struggle to try and get it even if they don't know what it is.
Love Machine was where all this came together of which Chemistry with it's similar sixties vibe and lyrical themes was born out of. passionoia

x (...) the Girls' most playful single to date; indeed, the adjective 'rambunctious' is eminently suitable to describe it, which is a good thing in itself. What we got here: maniacally chunky guitar, a 50s skiffle beat, lyrics which are both utter nonsense, completely bonkers, and sheer pop perfection. A Frankie Goes To Hollywood reference in the second line! "We're gift-wrapped kitty-cats!" "Let's go, Eskimo!" "Loving me is as easy as pie!" (That one's from Nicola, brilliantly.) All of that even before we've hit the first chorus, which babbles insanely about fantasies and negligees as the tempo is upped even further. In the second verse, they order "Mr Prehistoric" to "make his wheel". Er, right.
The chorus is only repeated twice, though the extended outro which replaces the usual repeat-chorus-to-fade ("Oh! A little education! Oh! To give you motivation!") is a thing of wonder indeed; this leaves you unsated, though to be honest you could play Love Machine on loop thirty times in a row and you still wouldn't have got enough of it. Alex Macpherson

x The best part has to be that glamor style bridge where the beat cuts out and Nadine stands tall in a classic alone on the disco floor moment backed by a bizarre bubbling chirping noise and a gently plucked guitar. Or no, maybe the genius is in the "tag, you're it" tradeoff of all those delightfully memorable one-liners. "We're gift wrapped kitty cats. We're only turning into tigers when we gotta fight back. / Let's go, Eskimo! Out into the blue!" I haven't had this much fun with the lyrics of a pop song since, well, ever.* And let's not forget about the long overdue return of sixties style bass. Heck, when you add in the teamwork vocals and handclaps, this almost sounds like some modern day Motown update...an entirely good thing! "Love Machine" is cute, expressive, and yes even a little silly. Many pop artists, including Xenomania, have recently followed the trend of emphasizing style over all else, and while I'm as appreciative of interesting sonics and ATTITUDE as the next guy, it's always nice to see the pendulum swing slightly back towards fun every now and then. Shane

x Following up the pristine electro pop of The Show with a guitar-twanging hoedown of a track like this was always going to cause a few grunts of bewilderment. If the phrases "high energy" and "insanely catchy" make you break out into a cold sweat, then Love Machine's bouncy drums, perky guitars and ditsy lyrics will probably cause a seizure. That said, it sounds so unlike anything else in the charts right now that you simply have to commend the songwriters for pushing the girls into new territories, proving once again that they're still one of the most exciting bands in pop right now. Virgin.net