| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Janie |
Posted - 23/05/2008 : 19:03:13
http://www.examiner.com/x-344-SF-Music-Examiner~y2008m5d20-Hey-19-Adele-Arrives--Brit-soul-without-the-baggage
Hey 19: Adele Arrives -- Brit soul without the baggage
POSTED May 20, 1:16 PM
Amy Winehouse might be a flake but she's not a fluke. England seems to be teeming with soul-pop singers right now, and the current pretender to the late Dusty Springfield's throne is Adele, who sounds like a cross between Winehouse and Springfield with a touch of crackling Karen Dalton. What's not to love about that?
Born Adele Adkins in Tottenham, London, just 19 years before her debut CD, 19, was released in the UK on the XL Recordings label (and picked up by Columbia Records for release this summer in the U.S.), the latest of the single-moniker divas had already won the first Brit Awards Critics Choice prize even before the album came out in January.
The buzz owes oodles to her live performances on BBC TV shows, which of course fill an entire YouTube queue, and not a little to the fact that Adele's been exploiting the potential of a MySpace page since New Year's Eve 2004.
That she has the voice to back up the hype is immediately evident when she sings against only her own bass playing on 19's second song, "Best for Last." She negotiates serpentine melodies with the sinewy assuredness of a python, adding the kinds of subtle ornamentations only possible if the snake is also a bluesy jazz singer steeped in Etta James and Nina Simone.
Catch a glimpse of her riveting voice-and-acoustic-guitar performance of the CD opener "Daydreamer" on "Later ... with Jools Holland," listen to her gripping cover of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" or surrender to the powerfully Springfield-esquely orchestrated "Chasing Pavements" on her video-centric Web site, and you'll know why Adele's show at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco this Thursday night, May 22, should be the hottest ticket in town, right Bump?
Janie  x54 |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Sara |
Posted - 25/05/2008 : 00:44:30
Adele, Amy, and Duffy are all just okay to me (apart from I cannot stand Amy Winehouse's voice! ), they no way compare to Dusty, not even close.
Sara x
~Life is sh*t~ |
| Memphis |
Posted - 24/05/2008 : 10:28:23
Hi Carole
I agree it's a good album. It takes a few listens though. Chasing Pavements mis-represents Adele. She has a more acoustic sound which is refreshing to hear nowadays. I have her album on my Walkman but don't listen to it that much.
Eg White had something to do with Pavements. He also had something to do with James Morrison's addictive 'You Give Me Something' and Duffy's 'Rockferry' album including 'Mercy'. Producers are ruling right now.
Good luck to Adele. Music is such a cruel business nowadays. I hope all those new kids on the block do OK.
Memphis
Ever since we met you've had a hold on me. It's crazy but it's true... |
| Carole R. |
Posted - 24/05/2008 : 09:50:45
I disagree on this one.. Like Memphis I bought the album 19 because of 'Chasing Pavements.'
..and very unlike me with a new album, I listened to all the tracks.
At first I wasn't impressed, but I persevered,(an album always has a chance if its in my kitchen worktop cd player) 
However, I now abolutely love the album, I think Adele is extrememely talented and has a good future ahead of her.
My fave songs from the album are 'Melt My Heart To Stone' and the Bob Dylan penned 'Make You Feel My Love'..
Neither her style nor her voice resemble Dusty, in my opinion..but I like her.
Carole R xx |
| Memphis |
Posted - 24/05/2008 : 00:51:23
I agree with Brian.
'Chasing Pavements' made me stop still in Sainsbury's of all places. This track bugged me so much I had to buy the album (which I've now sold on). There are some clever songwriters and producers around right now. I'm almost sure 'Pavements' has strong inflections of 'Mr Dream Merchant' in the great chorus and that's what hooked me. I felt like I'd been fooled but it IS a great single.
I'm starting to hear Sandie Shaw and Lulu elsewhere with other new young women artists. Clever stuff but the promoters are really being unfair by promoting new talented youngsters as new Dustys (it's like Dusty has become a brand name - she's becoming truly iconic). It just will never happen. Let these new girls grow their own talent and have a bit of control just like Dusty did. Amy Winehouse is our best new and incomparable talent. She's a musical intellectual like Dusty and an original with a great voice. Estelle is good too. I haven't caught up with Duffy yet (she's the one that reminds me of Lulu).
Ever since we met you've had a hold on me. It's crazy but it's true... |
| Brian |
Posted - 23/05/2008 : 21:27:07
What a load of codswallop!
Adele is NOTHING like Dusty, and is way down the pecking order of British female singers.
Duffy and Amy have nothing to fear.
Brian. |
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