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Product Description
Review
Emeli Sandé’s aptly-named solo debut single Heaven was arguably the finest British pop song released in 2011. The Scottish singer-songwriter’s seraphic vocal swoops and producer Shahid ‘Naughty Boy’ Khan’s reassuring old-school breakbeats were warmly received by listeners, while a striking similarity to Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy can rarely hurt a song’s success.
Considering Heaven, which opens Our Version of Events, and the fact Sandé has written for everyone from Alicia Keys and Leona Lewis to Tinie Tempah, Sugababes and even Susan Boyle, it's perhaps reasonable to expect the most consistently great pop album since Girls Aloud’s Out of Control. Although this doesn’t arrive, we do have a charming and occasionally moving record full of care and polish, effort and grace.
"I can’t buy your love, don’t even want to try / Sometimes the truth won’t make you happy," sings Sandé on My Kind of Love, amid filtered pianos and surprisingly understated gospel chants. Lovely stuff, but it would have been a more compelling listen if the track was ludicrous and overblown, like the brilliant George Michael and Mary J. Blige cover of Stevie Wonder’s As.
Previous single Daddy is better. There’s a dose of believably bad male behaviour: "But friends keep telling you what he did last night / How many girls he kissed, how many he liked." Fittingly, the brooding mood created by a trip-hop beat and dramatic strings is reminiscent of another man famously lacking caution in his relationships: James Bond. On this evidence, expect Sandé to soundtrack a 007 movie within the next five years with the help of former grime man Khan.
A change of tone towards slow folk for Breaking the Law brings forth the album’s best lines: "Point it out, I’m gonna steal it / I will break in late at night, shake up how you’re feeling." Metaphorical though Sandé’s lyrics are, they retain a heartfelt truth, and it’s easy to imagine her peering round a corner at last summer’s protests and riots jotting notes feverishly.
Lifetime has a reference to books being burned and statues falling, while Hope includes the line, "I hope we can fix all that we burn". Barely a year after the Arab Spring, is it too much to hope for a politically-conscious pop star? One who can write brilliant songs and get fans thinking about something other than their broken hearts and rampant libidos?
The album ends with a version of Read All About It, the number one song she performed with Professor Green – whatever her motivation for including it here, neither Sandé’s talent nor ambition are in question. It seems unlikely she’ll make another album as restrained as this one, but it will be interesting to see whether she embraces a bolder sound, develops her own big ideas or, perhaps, delivers a captivating combination of the two.
--Lou Thomas
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CD Description
Debut album from the BRIT Awards' 2012 Critic's Choice Award winner Emeli Sandé, Our Version of Events includes the Scottish singer-songwriter's hits "Heaven" and "Daddy".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply stunning!,
This review is from: Our Version of Events (Audio CD)
Emeli Sande first came to my attention with her single "Heaven," not a bad effort but it was actually "Next to Me" that prompted me to listen to the MP3 samples of all the album tracks and boy am I glad it did! I only had to preview the first four tracks and then I suddenly found myself at the order completed screen and had pre-ordered the CD!Track 5, "Clown" has to be my favourite on the album, and definitely makes my all time favourites list. The vocals are stripped back, raw and stunning - Emeli has a tremendous range and a crystal clear quality to her voice that creates a very emotional experience for the listener. The song almost moved me to tears - it is a heartbreakingly honest, haunting and emotional song and is truly beautiful. Other standout tracks for me are "My Kind of Love," "Where I Sleep" and "River." If I can find four noteworthy tracks on an album I consider it a good buy - in this case, there isn't a single track I don't like. Emeli is quite simply a class act - my only concern is that with setting the bar so high with her debut solo album is whether she can follow it up. In my eyes, she certainly has the talent!
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent debut from a major new talent,
By
This review is from: Our Version of Events (Audio CD)
This is a fantastic record, signalling a fresh, new emerging talent. Emeli Sandé has a great voice, great song writing abilities and a striking look. Couple that with her intelligent and grounded Aberdonian personality and wide ranging contacts in the music business coming out of her track record of writing songs for other people and you have an apparently sure-fire recipe for success.You will have heard and noticed some of the singles released, but I first became properly aware of her from her appearance on Jools Holland, where she did a stripped down version of 'heaven'. I liked the breakbeats /trip-hop version which is the opening track on the album, but when you hear it taken down to an acoustic level you really appreciate the raw talent. To that extent the comparisons with Adele are inevitable (given that Adele now sets the bench mark and did a similarly impressive live take of someone like you on the same show, and not least because Emeli's first name happens to be Adele!) This is a record varied in style. There are some excellent pop songs with full pop production, as well as slower more acoustic numbers. Her great voice and gift for melody are the linking threads, but some may find that range of styles detracts - sometimes this feels more of a showcase than a coherent album. But what a showcase! Subject matter for songs tends towards love: lost, found and yearned for. The lyrics however are often fresh and intelligent, and on occasion ('river') seem to transcend the human towards religious overtones (well that's my take anyway). In summary, this is a great debut which will have wide appeal. Highly recommended.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Album of the Year,
By Elf Leader (Cambridge England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Our Version of Events (Audio CD)
This album is amazing, I have not stopped listening to it since Monday, her voice is amazing and some of the lyrics almost made me cry. It has ballads and dance tracks mixed together perfectly, I cannot understand how anyone could rate this less than 5/5
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