The first time I listened to Adele's CD, I was totally unimpressed by the first few tracks, apart from the obvious hit single "Chasing Pavements". And then I hit track nine and everything changed. The only cover on the album, "Make you feel my love" is an absolute belter of a Bob Dylan song that various artists had already recorded. This version has just a brilliant piano accompaniment which, coupled with an undeniable great voice, makes just one marvellous piece of music. Then the final track maybe goes one better. For me, the best song Adele has composed, "Hometown Glory" has my new favourite piano introduction to another brilliant song.
It is only on these two tracks that Neil Cowley plays piano. And what a difference it makes. Classically trained and now with his trio touring jazz/chill out, Neil takes soul piano to a new level. On "Hometown Glory, the pause between the slow intro and main pulsating melody is absolutely exquisite. The other tracks on the CD are very different, but some are beginning to grow on me.
The same can be said for "Raising Sand". I do not possess a Led Zep album, so Robert Plant is new to me. I am not impressed at all by his vocals on this recording, however Alison is her usual wonderful self. And it is those tracks where she sings solo that do it for me. The instrumental backing is highly original and take some getting used to. On the fourth hearing, they are just beginning to make an impression. It is the fusion of the acoustic bass, and sometimes 6 string bass, with the other instruments that makes for such a distinctive sound.
Other recent new CD's include:
"Drastic Fantastic" by KT Tunstall - a good follow up to "Eye to the Telescope" .
"A Hundred Miles or More" by Alison Krauss - a collection of mainly rather dull old songs, only worth listening to for the vocals and the duet with John Waite on "Missing You"
"Kill to Get Crimson" by Mark Knopfler - can he get even more laid back? Good, though.
"Count to Ten" by Tina Dico - one of my female singer songwriters that I collect - this is good (five Stars for each of the five reviews on Amazon), even better than her best known album "In the Red".
2 comments:
Thought you might be interested in one of my favorite artists, AM. He is going on tour with Tina in Germany and just did a duet together of The Beatles "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from his album, Side By Side. He’s next to impossible to Google?? Blame it on his name... Ha. Check him out at www.amsounds.com or www.myspace.com/amsounds.
I was checking out this page because I am a new fan of Adele's and recently been getting into Tina Dico. Lynn--saw your post about AM...checked out his page and he sounds great! Currently looking up some of his music on iTunes, his Side by Side album is sounding beautiful. Thanks for the tip : )
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