Angels with Dirty Faces is the second studio album by British girl group Sugababes. It was released by Island Records in the UK on 26 August 2002 and in most European territories by September 2002. The album marked the band's debut on the Island label following their split with London Records in 2001 and was their first regular release to be recorded under the second line-up, including new member Heidi Range, who replaced founding member Siobhán Donaghy.
Shortly after the release of the final single from the band's debut album, One Touch, group member and co-founder Siobhán Donaghy left because of personal differences within the band. She was officially[clarification needed] replaced by new member, Heidi Range during 2001. After being dropped by their former label, London Records, the band began to search for a new record label. Having already started writing material for the band's second studio album, they eventually signed with Island Records.
Promotion
"Freak like Me", which samples Gary Numan's "Are 'Friends' Electric?", was the first released single and entered the UK Singles Chart at number one. "Round Round", produced by Xenomania, was the second released single and also debuted on the UK chart at number one. The third single released was a double A-side release of "Stronger" and "Angels with Dirty Faces", which reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The last single, "Shape", which samples Sting's single "Shape of My Heart", was the only one from the album not to achieve a position in the top ten of the UK Singles Chart; it entered at number eleven. The song, however, did reach the top ten in Poland (number one), Ireland (number nine) and the Netherlands (number ten).
AllMusic editor Andy Kellman called Angels with Dirty Faces "one of the best pop albums of 2002" and "an assured and durable follow-up to 2001's formative One Touch." He described the album as a "thoroughly convincing amalgamation of the artists they've been weaned on [...] with a strong foothold in contemporary trends [...] At no point during the remainder of the first half does the album lose steam [and] apart from a couple bum moments during the second half of the album this is a pop album that offers much more depth and excitement beyond the singles."[1]Yahoo! Music's Andy described the album as a "far darker set than One Touch [...] All in all a more focussed second album, even if it comes at a price. We've lost some of the debutante Sugababes' fun and experimentation but Angels With Dirty Faces will be a much bigger hit. Good work girls."[5]
NME critic Alex Needham found that "about half" of Angels with Dirty Faces "lives up to the promise of [its] two brilliant [lead] singles." While he was critical with "Shape" and other "bog-standard R&B" songs on the album, he also cited it a "triumph."[4] Less impressed, Alexis Petridis from The Guardian, wrote that "the album frequently sounds as if the Sugababes were unprepared for "Freak Like Me"'s success and had no idea what to do next." He felt that Angels with Dirty Faces is exactly what you would expect: one great single propping up a dull album, written by committee, devoid of emotion or spark. Despite the slang and scowling, there is nothing new here, nothing to deliver Britain from the clutches of Will, Gareth and Liberty X. The search for the credible pop act trudges grimly on."
Chart performance
Angels with Dirty Faces served as a commercial breakthrough for the group, and majorly outperformed their previous album One Touch (2000).[6] It debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and remained within the top 100 for forty weeks.[7] It was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 26 August 2002 and has since reached 3× Platinum in the United Kingdom.[8] By August 2020, it had sold 929,000 units, domestically.[6] Almost a month after the album's UK release, Angels with Dirty Faces was also released across Europe and in New Zealand, where it gained considerable success. The album received a Platinum Europe Award by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in recognition of European sales in excess of one million copies.[9]
"Round Round" contains a sample from "Tango Forte" by German production team Dublex Inc., which itself is based around an unaccredited sample of "Whatever Lola Wants", performed by Les Baxter.[10]
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