''Between the Sheets'' is the debut and only studio album by British girl group The 411. It was released by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

on 22 November 2004 in the United Kingdom. ''Between the Sheets'' was supported by three successful singles, including " On My Knees" featuring

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

, " Dumb" and " Teardrops". However, upon release the album failed to match the success of its singles. It charted outside of the UK top 40 and spent just three weeks on the chart, resulting in the group being dropped by Sony.

Critical reception

Kitty Empire from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' found that "the 411's debut album offers up a further array of songs that are either too bland or not quite right. Third single " Teardrops" pivots on the same

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...

riff that Portishead lifted, but as atmospheric as it is, it remains a secondhand idea. ''Between the Sheets'' isn't dreadful, but it sounds like an opportunity missed. With the Sugababes sick of the sight of each other, they could have cleaned up."

Track listing

Notes * signifies additional producer * signifies original producer Sample credits *"On My Knees" contains a sample from "Ain't My Style," performed by

Main ingredient The Main Ingredient was an American soul and R&B group best known for their 1972 hit song "Everybody Plays the Fool". Early history The group was formed in Harlem, New York City in 1964 as a trio called the Poets, composed of lead singer Dona ...

, written by Ed Townsend: *"Teardrops" contains a sample from "Danube Incident," performed by

Lalo Schiffrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...

. *"Jumpin" contains a sample from "Feel Like Jumping," written by Clement Dadd and Marcia Griffin with additional lyrics by Matt Rowe.

Charts

References

2004 debut albums Contemporary R&B albums by English artists Sony Music albums {{2000s-R&B-album-stub