Spice Girls
Spiceworld (Virgin) (star) (star)
“Spiceworld,” the follow-up to the Spice Girls’ 10-month-old, 5-million-selling debut, affirms that 1) individually, Baby, Ginger, Scary, Sporty and Posh Spice can’t sing, but collectively they can carry a tune; 2) contrary to their tough, feminist posturing, the quintet delivers mildly empowering, strictly PG-rated lyrics; and 3) the Girls continue to follow the breezy pop formula established by “Wannabe,” their first U.S. single and the centerpiece of a future K-Tel compilation. Within the first few bars, each insidiously catchy song on “Spiceworld” slides into a well-worn genre niche carved out by the same sets of producers who worked on the debut. There are jangly, by-the-numbers versions of salsa, Motown, house, Philly soul, even bubblegum industrial-rock (“Move Over”) and homages to Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” (“Viva Forever”) and the Andrews Sisters (“Their Lady Is a Vamp”). Though the Spice Girls’ marketing team would have us believe they’re a threat to the social order, their brand of fun couldn’t be more harmless.
