Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beverley Knight the finest voice of her generation, 29 April 2007
After a decade of successful contemporary Soul/RnB album's Beverley Knight gets back to the classic old school soul sound. If the likes of Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye are your 'thang' then this album is for you. Each track was recorded live, instead of layered, to keep that classic soul sound. Produced by Mark Nevers and featuring session musicians who have worked with legends like Al green and Elvis Presley. Also featuring, The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood (a huge fan of Ms Knight) on three tracks: 'Every Time You See Me Smile', 'Black Butta' and 'Ain't That A Lot Of Love'.
With fabulous song arrangements from the great piano groove on Ain't That A Lot Of Love to the catchy brass riffs on Queen Of Starting Over this album is guaranteed to get your toes `a' tapping.
The songs range from heart rending ballads like No Man's Land and After You thro' to get up n jump about floor fillers like Black Butta and a blistering cover of The Stones Time Is On My Side.
This is THE album to get you through the summer of 2007 with a smile on your face and a groove in your step.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just go out and buy it, 9 Jun 2007
Beverley Knight has always been well above the average, and she has 3 excellent albums to her name, which have always hinted at the real Soul voice that she has, rather than putting it out there in all its glory.
So what a pleasure it is to discover that she has approached her latest project by gathering some real musicians around her and using production which harks back to the golden age of Soul. Some of this stuff seems instantly familiar, although there are only "Rock Steady" and "Time Is On My Side" are covers of well known songs, and that is a tribute to all involved.
After a couple of hearings you'll find yourself singing along (if you're prone to that, like I am!!) and I would pick out "No Man's Land" and "After You" and "Queen of Starting Over" as my favourites. Having said that, this is an album which rewards listening to as a whole.
Beverley Knight has called this Music City Soul - it is indeed Soul, and a simply great album.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So much better now she's doing proper music, 15 Jun 2007
I'll admit, the Beverley Knight of the 90s largely passed me by. She was an R&B artist - admittedly a cut above most of her genre colleagues talent-wise - but R&B, or rather the production-line pap that calls itself R&B these days, tends to leave me cold. Old school soul, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. Since switching focus, Ms Knight has been a bit of a revelation. Her talent as a singer has never been in doubt, but now at last she is performing music that really does her justice. Gorgeous first single No Man's Land is no fluke, although neither is it indicative of the rest of this mainly upbeat, feelgood album. There is not a duff track in sight as our Bev sings her heart out on songs that have soul to spare.
The album is a nice balance of well-chosen and perfectly executed cover versions (two), original songs written by other people (three), and songs co-written by Beverley herself (all the rest), showing that she has songwriting talent to go with that fine voice. She has turned again to former collaborators, four of the songs being written with Martin Brammer (remember The Kane Gang, 80s children?), and two with former Robbie Williams puppeteer Guy Chambers. As before, the Chambers contributions are two of the rockier tracks - Black Butta and Saviour. Let's hope they don't meet with the same tiresome inverse snobbery from urban radio stations as their predecessor, the excellent Come As You Are.
There have been criticisms that the album is less than glowing with originality. It is true that After You, written by Leeson & Vale (the duo behind Charles & Eddie's Would I Lie To You, amongst others) sometimes strays a little close to Al Green's Let's Stay Together, while the start of Black Butta will conjure up nightmarish visions of Tina Turner's thighs hoving into view as their owner prepares to belt out Nutbush City Limits. What such criticisms miss however is that it's the instantly familiar feel of the songs that is one of the album's big strengths. The other, of course, is Beverley's voice. Along with the likes of the rather scarier Amy Winehouse, Beverley Knight is doing her bit to bring back old school soul to the masses. A classy album from a classy singer.
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