Album Reviews |

Sharleen Spiteri



Melody 5 ( 2008 )
It Was You / All The Times I Cried / Stop, I Don't Love You Anymore / Melody / I Wonder / I'm Going To Haunt You / Don't Keep Me Waiting / You Let Me Down / Where Did It Go Wrong / Day Tripping / Francoise / Web Link

Now famed more for almost defining musical naffness thanks to UK comedy The Office, Sharleen Spiteri, former recepient of ogling from Chris Evans and many, many record-sales at the height of britpop, has released her debut solo LP. Sadly, 'Texas' haven't officially split up yet, rather I believe they are waiting patiently to see if Sharleen has a big enough success on her hands to permanently go solo or not. Sharleen has been quoted as saying of 'Melody' then It's my dream Nancy and Lee Hazlewood record, but with Johnny Cash, Motown, Elvis, The Righteous Brothers, all these things thrown in. That's what it boils down to. My ultimate personal fantasy record. Naturally, it sounds bugger all like any of those mentioned acts. Rather it's an album with very current-soul production that sits alongside Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Adele and all those kind of new crop of female singers. It also doesn't sound a million miles removed from the hits of Texas, so fans can gleefully buy this thing and get, I suspect, quite a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Strings adorn too many of the songs here although quite successfully on album opener, 'It Was You'. The production and sound are both as authentic as Sharleen and co can realistically manage and her vocal is actually pleasing in not immediately sounding like Sharleen Spiteri. What I mean by that is she's indulged in a little vocal acting and comes across very well as a half-decent soul singer. 'You Let Me Down' slows the pace down but is let down by her vocals. She's no Dusty Springfield, she's not even an Amy Winehouse. 'You Let Me Down' is good in intention, taking on a soul-ballad feel but lets itself down by being absolutely generic and lacking soul. So, i've praised her efforts during one song, criticized them during another. That's about fair. The entire album is definitely musically accomplished but is that enough? Expect to hear lots of it on the radio in any event. You know, the thumping Motown-isms of 'Don't Keep me Waiting' is palpable for all to hear, so why not just buy yourself a Motown compilation instead?

Add A Comment?