Supernature

1	Ooh La La 3:24
2	Lovely 2 C U 3:25
3	Ride a White Horse 4:41
4	You Never Know 3:27
5	Let It Take You 4:29
6	Fly Me Away 4:25
7	Slide In 4:17
8	Koko 3:23
9	Satin Chic 3:28
10	Time out from the World 4:47
11	Number 1 3:24
12	Beautiful Bonus Track 4:48

Barnes & Noble

Operating on the theory that everything old really can be new again, Alison Goldfrapp and her synth-toting partner, Will Gregory, drink deeply from the wellspring of classic late-'70s dance music -- imbibing equal amounts from the Giorgio Moroder-styled Eurodisco stream and the more churning post-punk tributary. The meltingly sexy "Let It Take You" falls squarely into the former category, its heartbeat rhythms all but demanding pelvic thrusts in response. "Fly Me Away," on the other hand, taps into the futuristic vein once mined by combos like Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark, what with its soaring melody and open-armed embrace of what might be lurking around the next corner. Supernature does offer a few digressions from Goldfrapp's usual modus operandi -- "Lovely 2 C U," as its title suggests, finds the duo tipping their collective chapeau in Prince's direction by piling on vintage-sounding organ and heavy-breathing harmonies -- but the disc is at its best when the pair stick to coloring between the lines. When they do, they manage to paint vivid pictures in both Day-Glo tones (the pulsing "Ride a White Horse") and gorgeous monochromes (the Air-like "Time Out from the World"). By disc's end, even nostalgia-phobes will be looking to do the time warp again. David Sprague

All Music Guide

It's something of a mystery why Mute Records waited until early 2006 to release Goldfrapp's third album, Supernature, in the U.S. After all, when it came out in the U.K. the previous summer, it made the duo into a bona fide chart success, to the point where the album's terrific lead single, "Ooh La La" -- on which Allison Goldfrapp channels Marc Bolan's dippy-cool vocals and lyrics over a shuffling, glam-tastic beat -- drew comparisons to former S Club 7 star Rachel Stevens' similarly glam-inspired hit "Some Girls." While Goldfrapp might balk at being called (or compared to) a pop act, it's undeniable that the duo has streamlined and simplified its sound since the baroque Felt Mountain days. It's also undeniable that Supernature is easily Goldfrapp's most accessible album. Coming across like the missing link between Black Cherry's sexy, sharp-edged dancefloor experiments and Felt Mountain's luxe soundscapes, Supernature sometimes combines the best elements from those two albums into something great, and at other times renders them into something surprisingly bland. Along with the aforementioned "Ooh La La," the upbeat tracks find Goldfrapp becoming the robo-glam-disco gods that Black Cherry suggested they might: the starkly catchy "Lovely 2 CU," the fabulously blasé "Ride a White Horse," and "Satin Chic," which could single-handedly make honky tonk pianos fashionable again, all use the duo's inherently theatrical style to very catchy, immediate ends. Interestingly, though, the sweeping ballads that used to be Goldfrapp's forte are the most uneven tracks on Supernature. It's not that tracks like "Time Out from the World" and "Koko" aren't pretty and ethereal enough, but they're just not that distinctive. Likewise, "Fly Me Away" is pleasant, but maybe a little too pleasant -- it almost sounds like it was commissioned for a travel commercial. However, "Let It Take You" shows that Goldfrapp can still craft gorgeous, weightless ballads, and "Number 1" nails the laid-back sexiness that many of the other slower songs attempt. It's surprisingly heartfelt, too -- is there a sweeter compliment than "you're my Saturday"? It would be unfair to say that Supernature's stripped-down pop is a dumbed-down version of what Goldfrapp has accomplished in the past, since it takes a certain kind of smarts to hone songs into instantly catchy essences like the album's best tracks. Yet, as delightfully stylish and immediate as Supernature is, it's still hard to escape the nagging feeling that Goldfrapp could make its ethereal sensuality and pop leanings into something even more compelling. [Supernature was released in the U.S. with the bonus track "Beautiful," which originally appeared on the U.K. Number 1 EP.] Heather Phares