The Pussycat Dolls - PCD (Japan SHM-CD) (2005)

The Pussycat Dolls make a blockbuster debut beginning with the #1 club and radio single, 'Don't Cha'. With contributions from Will.I.Am, Timbaland and Rich Harrison with production by Ron Fair the 6-member group of vocalists and dancers enter the marketplace with a stellar compilation of songs! Universal. 2005.

Roll your eyes or--worse--invoke the Spice Girls all you want: Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like any one of the members of this revolving collective? Dissing the Pussycat Dolls is like denying you want a peek at the Victoria's Secret runway show--a foolhardy stance nobody's going to believe anyway. Never mind, for a moment, the semi-lewd pleasures of the disc's visuals (midriffs galore!): the pop on parade by this gang of writhers and eyelash-batters isn't bad. Nicole Scherzinger, a former member of the failed prefab teen pop act Eden's Crush, brings it with determination and carefully distributed shots of sweetness. More important, she gets high-wattage help. Busta Rhymes, Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am, and Timbaland all step in to dress up the Dolls' sound, and the songwriters' and producers behind PCD clearly know how to sexify a disc without sinking it into the gutter. What's best about the Dolls' debut, though, is its shamelessness. This is manufactured friskiness that doesn't take itself seriously; these girls don't want a Grammy, they only want to pounce. --Tammy La Gorce