Elly Roberts reviews
Terri Walker: I Am
Distributed by
Dekkor Records
- Cat.no: DRCD014
- Released: May 2006
- Rating: 2/10
If Terri Walker seriously wants to get her career back on track, she’ll need to do better than this.
A few short years ago Walker was rated as the next
big thing - a very dangerous prediction. Once nominated for Mercury and MOBO
prizes, the Brit-Soul singer gets her new wares out on an independent
London label, having parted company with Universal.
If this is neuvo soul
21st century style, it lacks the principle ingredient – SOUL. This is more
like wine bar window-dressing for a 26 year-old who has a naturally sweet
voice, but the manufactured nature of the songs let her down: big style. It
lacks inspiration, conviction and direction at every level.
Low-fi smoochies
– Forever And A Day, soulless R&B – Addicted, (compounded by TY’s
non-sensical wanderings) make it dull to the point of distraction. Even
intro-single Alright With Me does nothing to lure you into the bigger
picture. There isn’t a really good song in sight, which according to her
credentials, is a big shame. Possible highlight is a pseudo-attempt at
jazz, on the 6 minutes plus of Imperative.
She’s quoted as saying, "I was working with everybody (Shanks & Bigfoot,
Young Disciples, Brand New Heavies) and I had a lot of attention, and people
knew I could sing, but nobody knew what I was about.. I didn’t even know. I
just knew I could sing and that was what I wanted to do.. there was such a
wide range of people and influences in my head; I knew I just wanted to do
something".
It’s not so much something: more like anything.
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
