Category: Singers
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Boyzone: Thank You and Goodnight
Boyzone have managed to exist for 25 years without troubling the Review Corner sound system, but we guess fans will love this. Thank You and Goodnight is a collection of new songs, with collaborations guaranteed to get them lots of airplay and bring in new fans. Ed Sheeran, who was still in nappies when BZ…
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The Overtones: The Overtones
All we can do with this is say it’s out: it is what it is. We’re guessing the target audience is older women, the inclusion of Rockin’ Robin, a hit in either 1958 (original version) or ‘72 (Michael Jackson) indicating a more mature audience. The sleeve notes write that the music is aimed at people…
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Cilla with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
We have to confess that we didn’t spot this was with the Royal Liverpool Phil — we slapped it on and played it a few times, but Black’s 60s hits sound a little cheesy (see below), so the new orchestral arrangements didn’t initially sound out of place. Black was a singer first and foremost, and…
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Karine Polwart: Laws of Motion
Folk singer Polwart doesn’t need to sing or play instruments to sound good — as she proves on I Burn But I Am Not Consumed, she can talk mellifluously; it’s almost a disappointment when she starts to sing. I Burn But I Am Not Consumed is a good start to the album. In the opening…
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Josh Taerk: Beautiful Tragedy
Taerk comes across as a performer who’s massive in his home country (Canada in his case) and is trying to crack the UK, but he’s not; this new album is his third and he’s yet to break through. It’ll be unbelievable if he doesn’t: he writes instantly appealing, melodic pop/rock tunes that will appeal to…
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Josh Groban: Bridges
Groban is a proper singer; his voice has been called a tenor by some and a baritone by others (G2 to B4, lower than the tenor range on the low end, and above the baritone range, on the high end), and on his rise to fame, he depped for a poorly Andrea Bocelli at the…
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Engelbert Humperdinck: Warmest Christmas Wishes
Hump’s first Christmas album in almost 40 years (since A Merry Christmas With Engelbert Humperdinck, but you knew that) is so sweet it’ll make the brandy butter taste as bitter as the tears of Bambi’s mother. His last album The Man I Want to Be was pretty good (it’s Engelbert Humperdinck, we’ll never play it…
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Jorja Smith: Lost and Found
While Anne-Marie goes for the formulaic and makes a fun album, Smith shows how the grown-ups do it. The 20-year-old singer has a smooth, soulful voice and blends soul and trip-hop on her debut album in a way that’s both retro and modern. She reminds us of one of our guilty pleasures, Deniece Williams, the…
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Judith Owen: RedisCOVERed
We had Owen’s last album and have a fuzzy affection for her: we don’t play it much, but it’s quality music and she’s got a good voice. If you want easy listening standards jazz/blues, she’s yer woman. This one had us turning in disbelief to track eight .. . Smoke On The Water. Yes, Ms…
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Military Wives Choir: Remember
It’s probably an act of sedition to criticise this, not that we want to. It’s a commemoration of the end of WWI, and opens with The Poppy Red, inspired by the poem We Shall Keep The Faith (“Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields / Sleep sweet — to rise anew! / We caught the…
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