Elly Roberts reviews
Katie Melua: Piece By Piece
Distributed by
Dramatico Records
- Cat.no: DRAMCD0007
- Released: September 2005
- Rating: 4/10
Piece By Piece is pretty much a predictable follow-up to her successful debut Call Off The Search.
There's very little evidence of things moving forward for the Georgian beauty.
Mentor ex-Womble Mike Batt is overseeing matters once again, so the lazy
formula continues, providing few opportunities for Melua to truly represent
herself throughout the whole album.
Four tracks penned by Melua herself (tracks 3, 6, 11, 12), four by Batt
(1, 2, 7, 9), one Batt/Melua collaboration (4) with the remainder
by other writers.
Single Nine Million Bicycles (out September 19), is a floaty ballad by Batt,
containing Irish overtones, and I'm not sure it's the best choice as an
album taster. Halfway Up The Hindu Kush might have been better choice, as
it's a much stronger track.
Blues In The Night is a half-hearted effort at the genre, with her
lightweight vocals doing little to give it meaning, though there's
impressive Blues-harp by former Manfred Mann frontman Paul Jones.
Tracks 6 and 7 are wishy washy non-events, followed thankfully by a cover of
Canned Heat's On The Road Again, which is quite decent.
Thank You Stars (Batt) is the best of the lot, and ought to be her next
single - this could actually be a massive hit. She sings this one straight
from that beautiful heart.
Penultimate track I Cried For You is a real tear-jerker of
a torch song, as she reaches deep to convey the aching emotion.
Radio 2 will have a field-day with the single and album, which will
guarantee some kind of success.
There are however, some delightful moments of sheer beauty - particularly on
Thank You Stars. There should have been a lot more moments like this to make
it a great album.
Verdict - one for the girls.
Weblink:
Katie Melua.com
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.
