Track Listing

1. Hypnotik
2. Lipstick
3. Fired Up
4. Knockdown
5. Superficial
6. Ting-A-Ling
7. Free
8. Everybody Wants to Change the World
9. Let It Go
10. Lil' Bit of Love
11. Turn It Up
12. Everywhere I Go
13. Voodoo [*]
14. Lipstick [Agent X Remix][*]
15. Knockdown [K Gee Heat Remix]
16. [CD-Rom Track]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52783 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Customer Reviews

Context is important
This is complicated. After all, this album really aught not be here. Well it aught to BE, .... just not here. As I write, it only available as a Japanese import. In fact it took me 3 attempts to get one (held up, lost etc). The real story may never emerge. For some unfathomable reason, Polydor chose not to release this in 2006 and handed over all rights in a walk-away deal in November that year. It stayed on the launch pad all through 2007, and still is not available in the UK, has had no mention in any of Alesha's publicity, So It remains a virtual secret. If you're reading this, the chances are, you're already a converts.

Firstly the new cover, PIIIIIIIINK! Out goes the original RnB sexy cover - Alesha drowning in her own tresses, in goes:- Power Ranger Barbie. This is officially a pop record. I think it is misjudged.

We fire up with the obligatory RnB skit - and introduction from a made up American celebrating Welwyn Garden City. Yeah, like HE'S washed his feet in the mighty river Lea!

"Hipnotik",
"Lipstick", and
"Fired up", all pop/RnB fast aggressive dance music give way to
"Knockdown", a happy, bouncy reggae track. I think its reggae. The drums are reggae. the off beat guitar is reggae. The bass is er.....Jewish (why not?). We don't mind playing with genres do we! More punchy dance with
"Superficial" bounces into dancehall in
"Ting-A-Ling". So we have a pattern emerging They could all be singles. Time to change the beat.
"Free" marks the half way point. and I'm reminded that old vinyl albums often put the strange track first up on the flip side. We go Indian/ Arabian but still uptempo. This is the closest to introspective that Alesha gets - including poetry. Still experimenting,
"Everyone wants to change the world" brings a vocal vibrato slightly reminiscent of Randy Crawford (seriously! think of Almaz) Not a bad place to be.
"A little bit of love" is the only blemish. Its older reggae in Aswad territory, but its just a little .... over cooked. There's always a danger to trying to make songs that MEAN something. The temptation is to cram too many words. The rhymes and scan are too clumsy at this pace.
"Everywhere I go" is real RnB but there's a rap just to confuse you! Another change of pace in "Voodoo" throws a bebop jazzy curve ball at you. Why was this not included earlier? Not that this is the best track on the album but its the warmest TONE. It cleans the pallet. It sort of falls off the album here.

So what was it? Manic party dancing with an unmistaken Jamaican heritage. Garage is left behind but the electronica is still there along with a few world music experiments thrown in. No obvious samples except in Knockdown (I don't know what it is). Props for originality.

Could it have be better? I like my bass lines phat and a kick drum that goes bowff! These go "Nurr" and "bot". There is a certain richness missing. I tried it on 2 stereos, an old gehto blaster an MP3 player and finally a pair old Senheisser headphones. Only then did it really breath. I put it on a graphic analyser. Its all there. It just sounds missing. It beats me! I'm tempted to get my 15" drivers out of the garage to see how it sounds on a low-down system.
There's another richness missing here. I only miss because I'm sure it exists. Alesha powers through like the energiser bunny. She works so hard as the party MC. Dance damm you dance. Where is the real Alesha? Where is the mellow introvert? Where is the loving soul for us to engage with? In the middle of this party couldn't she take a breather for herself, relax a moment, stand a little closer to the mic, and whisper how SHE feels? How can you love someone until you drown in their eyes?

Context:- I recently bought MJB's "What's the 411? (remix)", and didn't like it, but realised that I was judging it by 2008 standards. By 1993 standards, it's mind blowing.

So, if "All Fired up" had been released in 2006, where would it have fit in the scheme of things? In 2006 Alesha already had a toehold in the USA. In the UK, Dancehall was the riddem a' la mode, and this has the same roots. Against that, Amy Winehouse had yet to release "Frank", Jamelia's sales were disappointing, Mutya hadn't chirped, and none of he usual Xfactor mob were doing anything. The UK was hers for the taking and the post-gansta/ post-Beyonce slickness USA was open to offers from a familiar face.
With the right publicity it could have sat beside an MJB record or even a Kylie record and defiantly on top of Girls Aloud. What were Polidor thinking? Never mind. We won't find out until all the unauthorised biographies come out. Alesha's over it, life moves on, and hopefully, a new album in 2008/9.

With the right publicity it could have sat beside an MJB record or even a Kylie record and defiantly on top of Girls Aloud.

So overall: Buy this album because of the manic beats and its great in the car. Buy it because of what it should have been, and its rarity value and because you can say you did. Buy it so that when Alesha finally breaks big, you can sell the import at twice what it cost you. Buy a sub woofer.