McFly: 'Lies'

McFly's decision to give away their recent radio: ACTIVE album with the Mail On Sunday ended up diverting attention from the band's music. While debate raged as to whether the newspaper's blue rinse readership was an appropriate target audience for the cheeky pop quartet, many failed to notice the band had released what was arguably their most accomplished and enjoyable album to date.

'Lies', the first single to be taken from the deluxe version of radio:ACTIVE, demonstrates the group's new-found fascination with the darker edges of pop. Written about a "a real b***h" of a girl", the lyrics aren't as biting as that soundbite suggests, but they at least stray away from the bubblegum niceties of old. Meanwhile, the track's sleazy brass and laid-back funk is a welcome change from their usual surf guitars and polished melodies. But whether this is enough to expand McFly's fanbase beyond teenage girls and the G-A-Y faithful - and that was the aim of the Mail on Sunday deal, after all - remains to be seen.


> Click here for our review of radio:ACTIVE