Seven years ago, you wouldn't have picked quiet, unassuming Baby Spice as the Spice Girl likely to achieve the most enduring solo career.

Yet Emma Bunton's now the only one who has both a record deal and a strong chance of retaining it. She seems to understand that ex-Spice Girls shouldn't try to be edgy. While the others sprinted after passing bandwagons, Bunton stuck to the middle ground with downtempo dance-pop and drivetime AOR, never displaying the desperation that exudes from Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell. Free Me's classy retro pop is another smart move. The camp Carnaby Street romp of her last single, Maybe, is pure Austin Powers, and the rest of the album is a confection of easy listening strings and Spanish guitars. Zero 7's Henry Binns co-writes the breezy Breathing (Bunton is credited on every song) and the sole cover version is Astrud Gilberto's bossa-nova gem Crickets Sing for Anamaria. Quiet Spice wins again.