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CD REVIEW

Gabriella Cilmi Lessons To Be Learned

Known for her recent chart hit Sweet About Me in June 2008 and her current hit Save The Lies; both on this her first album, Gabriella Cilmi (pronounced “Chill Me”) is certainly living up to all the hype surrounding this release.First, let’s dispense with some of what your hearing and reading,This album is to be filed under Pop Music, and yes the girl is only sixteen as you may have seen on your PC or TV and as you’ve heard, got a big and at times jazzy soulful voice, but on listening to this CD I think we should try to forget the Amy, Duffy and even Anastacia comparisons. As for references to Girls Aloud this comes about through association with Xenomania who are, wait for it, a group of very talented people including Miranda Cooper to name just one. Put together by an equally talented Brian Higgins, a producer and writer who has written and produced albums and tracks for some of the biggest names. And I mean huge names in music, all through his Xenomania production group, Girls Aloud being just being one along with Miranda Cooper who he has co-written for.So lets recognize we have a great production team working on this CD but without Gabriella……….although as a kinda footnote I do recall Brian Higgins was involved in reviving the career for Cher in the late nineties with a smash hit with the lady singing with a distorted voice I do (Believe)The Album starts with the current single SAVE THE LIES a chart bound uptempo Tune and a worthy follow up to the second track SWEET ABOUT ME and what must be a pleasing start to fans.Tracks three SANCTUARY slows the pace with a bluesy jazzy vibe feel which nearly all the slower tacks tend to have. Tracks five, six and seven a trio of up-tempo pop tunes which should keep fans bouncing at the live concerts AWKWARD GAME and SAFER tracks eight and nine seem a strange mix at this time after the previous three tracks, AWKWARD GAME a gritty bluesy tune which Gabriella certainly does the business putting over then there’s SAFER A “pop ballad” Track ten CIGARETTES AND LIES sounds as if Gabriella is having a lot of fun with this up tempo bluesy tune which leads into TERRIFYING with Gabriella right out front in a sort of rock chick mode.SIT IN THE BLUES no prizes to what genre this is but the girl can sing it so why not.The final tune on the CD is a jingle jangly straight forward cover of Martha and the Muffins ECHO BEACH which can’t fail to leave you on a high.Forget the hype this is a very good Album with a good variety of tunes, Gabriella is an awesome talent from rock chick to gusty blues. Just listen and except it as it is. It will be interesting to see where Gabriella goes but that’s for the future this is now and this CD is going to get many more plays.

James — Hey Ma Review by Victor DCR

After a seven year gap the Manchester Veterans do not fail to deliver with this their tenth Album regardless of some of the initial press.

Most folk will remember them for tunes like COME HOME and SIT DOWN.

Over the years James has become for has me a band that was wise to included in a play list and even wiser to have on hand to lift a Disco Party Nite and fill the floor.

This album is everything and more than previous albums,

What ever these guys were doing before their “reformation” in 2007 hasn’t harmed one bit as it sounds as if they have been playing forever which is probably down to the tunes of Booth, Gott and Glennie, the skilled musicians, hard work and playing as a band should play, together!

This album brings together again the same line-up that appeared on their 1990s album Gold Mother their most successful UK album to date.

As Jason from Dunoon mentioned band member Andy Diagram’s unique style on the trumpet certainly rates up there with the best (check out waterfall) and with Tim Booth never singing better and taking his lyrics to a higher level Hey Ma to me is their best album yet. Stand out tracks BUBBLES, HEY MA, WATERFALL and OH MY HEART as anthemic as any of their previous anthems (awesome drums by the way)

Sharleen Spiteri - Melody

Best known for fronting the multi platinum selling guitar band TEXAS Glaswegian favourite Sharleen has released her first Solo Album. Eagerly awaited by fans the album has received good reviews in the press and more than generous reviews from her many fans. To create a new sound Sharleen has reverted to an almost retro sound of the 1960s and 70s which she does very well.
The opening song IT WAS YOU, a collaboration with Bernard Butler and David McAlmont just lacks the hand claps to put it in the Motown snake pit with the Funk Brothers; and the final cord finish could well be the starting cord for a Lee Hazlewood produced Nancy Sinatra 45 disc. This pace keeps up through track two the current single ALL THE TIMES I CRIED and track three STOP, I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE before briefly slowing the pace to get your breath back with the haunting title track MELODY. With more than a passing nod to sixties French Chanson Serge Gainsbourg and the even later Frederic Chopin absolute magic.
The next track I WONDER picks up the pace a shade as does track six I’M GOING TO HAUNT YOU, although this in its self is not a bad track, it has a nice hypnotic tune, it did immediately remind me of Jonathon Richmans Egyptian Raggae and dare I say, sand dancing, but hey, just knowing about these things tells you, what do I know about anything and I do like it. With the opening lines “Pull up out the front you see the club glow, See him there at the door then you say hello.” track seven DON’T KEEP ME WAITING sounds as if it was born in the Brill building to be sung by a live sixties girlie group with a lot of R&B and like all the upbeat tunes on this CD far superior than a lot of original recently “discovered” tunes of a certain northern influence.
DON’T LET ME DOWN track eight is a ballad, a nice sixties word to describe a slow tune with a good MELODY, this girl has never had a problem singing the slow ones but never has she sang with such conviction, some call it soul.
The surging horns that open track nine WHERE DID IT GO WRONG bring on a reality check that this is a new recording but the lush strings that come in two thirds through the first verse add even more confusion and I wonder, if I could forget all those years listening to Texas for a short while I might hear this CD the way SHARLEEN wants it to be heard.
The standard only gets better and with track ten DAY TRIPPING I am now starting to feel comfortable with this new sound so much so I’m looking forward to listening to it again, especially to take in the lyrics that I have only partially enjoyed having been distracted by analyzing the sound.
Next to last track FRANCOISE, a simple beautiful song without the musical accompaniment of previous tracks which only adds to the simplicity and the awareness of something precious. The final track WHEN DID YOU LEAVE HEAVEN is exactly what you have now come to expect but still surprises that it is so good. No sooner are all the body parts swinging in unison its all over, leaving you to check the track time just in case the silence is actually a long break.
Sharleen Spiteri deserves whatever it is that inspired her to make this album, I think it will be a lot of different things to a lot of different people. If you like up tempo tunes, surging horns and clacking percussion that make body parts move in unison, lush strings that appear from nowhere and the occasional slow song that makes you feel sad but happy you heard it, then you can experience all that anytime you want by acquiring a copy of this, the first solo album from Sharleen Spiteri MELODY, I’ m just going to listen to it again and enjoy!