Zeena Gulzar: Do I

• Cat.no: SYN80CDA
• Released: October 2005
• Rating: 6/10

Intensive Care went straight in at number one, knocking the Prodigy’s hits to number two.

Twenty-six-year-old Nottingham beauty Zeena Gulzar looks like someone outof All Saints. Initially, from track one; you also think she sounds likeone. That’s too simplistic a comparison. After a series of setbacks two yearsago, she finally gets her chance at stardom.

Daughter of a Pakistani father and mother with an Irish background, itlooks as though she could hold her own in the cluttered world ofpop-princesses who veer towards Euro-disco and slushy balladeering – withone exception – she can sing.

It’s a lightweight voice which adapts easily as she attempts to steal Kylie’scrown, though that’ll take some doing. Her nearest rival could be SophieEllis- Bextor in terms of styling and audio chicness.

Both dance – For All The Seasons and Kylie dead-ringer I Wanna FallIn Love With You (some great hooks there) and slowies Falling For Youare immaculately delivered with a superb production team behind her at BenRobbin’s Wimbledon studio.

The overall feel is upbeat and very stylish. Her neatly packed voice is pure,but lacks distinction and character. She does make a fist of it on theacoustic Falling For You, and there’s a cool Ibiza remix of Movin.

Selected tracks should be picked up by most radio stations both here andmainland Europe. Gulzar is in a competitive niche, and with some luck shecould make it.

Low point: horrific karaoke-style Together We Are Beautiful, whichdestroys the original beauty by one hit wonder Fern Kinney in 1980.

Plus point– ubiquitous contemporary pop at its best, with a dash ofsophistication.

Drawback – doesn’t write her own songs.

Chambers and Williams worked well together, releasing some half decentsongs. Here the dire songwriting lacks imagination, charm and charisma. Overthe 12 tracks he’s clearly hit an age crisis, his 30th birthday struckwhile making I.C. There’s an ironic reflection to the lyrical context as heleaves behind his laddish 20s, though his supposed musical nod the ‘1980sdoesn’t genuinely surface. Several tracks come across as laboured – RandomActs, Trouble With Me, Advertising Space are loaded with double meanings, asare others.

If Tripping, a pseudo-reggae ditty called “a mini-gangster opera” let himdown, then there’s little chance of any future number one singles.

Best of the aveargeness – a Rolling Stones sound-alike A Place To Crash anda tuneful Please Don’t Die.

Phase two of his career isn’t off to a good start.