0 This Time Please Someone Come And Rescue Me

Rihanna burst onto the scene last summer with the ubiquitous club hit, "Pon de Replay". After that, none of her singles caught fire and it looked as if you would to the one hit wonder wing of the Hall of Fame. Luckily she didn't give up because with a little help from Soft Cell she looks like she will pull off the rare feat of have the summer anthem in consecutive. But the question is, will the album, A GIRL LIKE ME, fall into obscurity much like here debut did as everyone seemed to download the hit single as opposed to the whole album?

To keep that from happening, her record company even withheld "S.O.S." from the major downloading services in hopes that people would buy the album instead of the single when it came out. And surprisingly A GIRL LIKE ME isn't absolutely horrible. The album eases you with the 80's influenced smash hit and I wonder if the "Tainted Love" sample isn't the only 80's thing about that song and the lyrics I'll be you "Take on me, take me on" are based on uber-80's anthems by A-Ha (she even says the band's name in the song). The next song, "Kisses Don't Lie", even has an 80's touch with The Clash lyrics asking "Should I stay or should I go?" That is followed by the strong, piano and strings based "Unfaithful" a song about, you guessed it, being unfaithful. And even when the song goes over the top when she suggests, to keep him from hurting, to "take a gun and put it to his head" it just makes it that much more entertaining, although sadly she decides she "don't wanna be a murderer." Oh well.

But the album quickly goes into some clich'es from there with "We Ride". Personally I rather have my girls sugar and spice and the such and not hear her say "When we ride we ride, it's 'til the day we die." I really don't want my girl (another 80's reference alert) going down in a blaze of glory. Have we leaned nothing from When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong? This get back on track with the slow reggae jam "Dem Haters" with help with some dude named Dwane Husbands. Sean Paul shows up later "Break it Off", which is better than anything on his latest effort unfortunately the beat isn't that good.

Everything else on the album is pretty much hit or miss, the acoustic guitar in "Final Goodbye" sounds like something Dan Fogelberg, which actually isn't a bad thing. "P.S. (I'm Still Not Over You)" is as cheesy as the title would suggest. The album caps off with a remix of the failed single off Rihanna's last album, "If It's Lovin' That You" want with a beat stolen from another rap song that I can't quite pinpoint no matter how long I play the song and and a rap from Cory Gunz who may or may not be related to Peter Gunz who was last scene being sued by Steely Dan for lifting there hook for the great "Uptown Baby". So think twice before Download "S.O.S." and maybe give the whole album a chance.

SONG TO DOWNLOAD - S.O.S. (you think I was going to suggest something else?)

A GIRL LIKE ME gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.