Album: Sheila Ferguson

A New Kind of Medicine, D-GROUP

Amazingly, the press release for this omits to mention I'm a Celebrity... at all. Sheila herself, being a feisty trouper, isn't so shy: "Sometimes you can believe your own press, and you might think you're on a fantasy island, but you might be out in the jungle," she muses in "A New Sonnet to Love", one of a couple of spoken "Interludes" on this comeback album. In this one, Sheila pays tribute to the Philly soul genius Kenny Gamble for instilling in her a belief that she didn't have to sound like Dionne or Aretha, while in "Please Don't Take", she reflects upon a dissatisfying affair - "He was an interesting man, not quite Ike Turner, if you know what I'm talking about, people" - and, more gossip-consciously, explains how she didn't sleep with Prince Charles because she didn't want to become just another notch on his bedpost. The album is a decent funk-soul collection, with Sheila sounding like all of Sister Sledge at once on the title track, one of several expertly simulating the Chic sound, a

Amazingly, the press release for this omits to mention I'm a Celebrity... at all. Sheila herself, being a feisty trouper, isn't so shy: "Sometimes you can believe your own press, and you might think you're on a fantasy island, but you might be out in the jungle," she muses in "A New Sonnet to Love", one of a couple of spoken "Interludes" on this comeback album. In this one, Sheila pays tribute to the Philly soul genius Kenny Gamble for instilling in her a belief that she didn't have to sound like Dionne or Aretha, while in "Please Don't Take", she reflects upon a dissatisfying affair - "He was an interesting man, not quite Ike Turner, if you know what I'm talking about, people" - and, more gossip-consciously, explains how she didn't sleep with Prince Charles because she didn't want to become just another notch on his bedpost. The album is a decent funk-soul collection, with Sheila sounding like all of Sister Sledge at once on the title track, one of several expertly simulating the Chic sound, and keeping her pink constituency happy with the Hi-NRG stepper "Love You Can't Deny" and Gloria Gaynor-esque "Don't Think About It". Best is the opener "Danger", whose stalking beat, spooky strings and industrial noises sound like Portishead fronted by a diva. Rather better than you'd expect.