Elly Roberts reviews
Beverley Knight: Music City Soul
Distributed by
Parlophone
- May 2007
- Rating: 10/10+
Adopting old-skool Soul,
MBE Beverley (Anne) Knight’s Music City Soul is quite
breathtaking, as lead-in single No Man’s Land proved.
At long, long last, Knight has delivered an outstanding collection of mostly
Knight collaborations (including former Robbie Williams partner Guy Chambers)
and covers.
What makes this such a superb album is the strength of the songs as they
shine through at all levels and I was surprised it dropped from 18 to 36
(as of w/c 28 May) after only three weeks on chart. Unlike previous albums,
which I believe have sold her short, it’s worthy of much more attention and
longevity than its current chart position.
Pulling out all the stops in every department, particularly in the vocal
department, MCS is a contemporary-retro Soul classic, matching anything
new-kid-on-the-block Joss Stone has done to date.
Nice and easy, she opens with hot-blooded ballad Every Time You See Me Smile,
juiced-up by a hot brass section and classy backups. A cover of Banks/Parker’s
Ain’t That A Lot Of Love (also done by Simply Red in 1999), is
masterfully delivered as a dance number full of gusto and conviction.
After You is a delightful mid-tempo jaunt, nice harmonies and melodies
that precursors the hit No Man’s Land, her best single ever. Queen Of
Starting Over matches anything Aretha Franklin has ever done, with Knight’s
singing at its peak as the pain and empathy sweep the track away.
Dropping into gospel-soul template, Time Is On My Side is an easy
stroll for the West Midlander, and the same goes for Why Me etc, and
Tell Me I’m Wrong. Rock Steady is out of the seventies,
something the Staple Singers would have tackled, with wiry wah wah chord
riffs and swinging brass blasts – the catchy titled chorus will rip up
any concert stage she appears on. Christina Aguilera would have a field-day
with this one, but for now it’s the preserve of Ms Knight.
Uptight, a bonus track is the only weakness here, but Back To You,
a smoldering ballad restores the collection’s quality and class. With the
second After You being a radio edit, clearly this the next single, and
should do well, but Tina Turner-like dance blast Black Butta -
Knight/Chambers - a stomping romp, it has all the makings of a future
single surely - regular beat, catchy hooks, sumptuous brass textures and
rasping vocals.
One day, this will be seen as her definitive album that propelled her to
the status she has long deserved. Joss Stone has stolen her thunder for now,
but things are about to change. Mark my words.
The full list of tracks included are :
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
