James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
It would take a fool or someone feeling especially lucky to bet heavily against 19, Adele’s breakthrough album, featuring the chart-storming ‘Chasing Pavements’, remaining her defining moment as far as Joe Bloggs is concerned. But amongst her fans, I would not be in the least surprised if in years to come, the not particularly originally titled 21, written two years later, is remembered as a far superior album and a stalwart feature of her live shows.
As a record, not only does it feature a few excellent individual songs, it is a very well-crafted piece of work collectively; chopping and changing between groovy soul numbers, piano ballads and sing-along plod-pop, a flowing eleven song collection that keeps you interested from the building opening acoustics of lead single ‘Rolling In The Deep’, to the sad piano arpeggios that draw ‘Someone Like You’ to a close fifty-odd minutes later.
It is rumoured that 21 is something of a Nashville-influenced record, stemming from hours of listening to the tour bus’ radio while touring the American south while preliminary writing was taking place. With this in mind, I suppose you can hear it, but to those who liked 19, fret not: Adele hasn’t suddenly developed a Tennessee twang or added a slide guitar to the mix. If my voluminous nose doesn’t deceive me, I think I smell a PR guy trying to woo a few listeners more fond of the classic notion of a singer-songwriter. To be frank though, it matters little whether Tim McGraw, or Duke William of Normandy for that matter had an influence on this album; it sounds pretty dang good regardless.
It is undeniably the quality and scope of Adele’s song writing that makes this album good, but it is her vocal prowess that escalates it to the upper echelons of her particular genre. It’s ear-baffling how, mid-syllable she can switch from a Tina Turner-esque bark to an angelic, almost ultrasonic falsetto that even BRIT School classmate Leona Lewis can’t top. You can hear this best on the track ‘Set Fire To The Rain’, for me the album’s highlight and a surprise if it isn’t released as a single. It’s a pity that she doesn’t make use of this skill a little more often; there are a few songs where her signature quivering mid-range becomes a little tiring once you know what her vocal chords are indeed capable of, and there is a sense that some above average songs could be made to sound like masterpieces with just a couple of tweaks. But let’s face it, who am I to gripe? A chain smoker complaining that Pavarotti wasn’t quite on form that day?
Adele has delivered the goods. End of story.
Like this? Try Robbie Williams, Intensive Care; Lissie, Why You Runnin’; Amy MacDonald, A Curious Thing.
21 - Out Now - ★★★★☆
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