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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. A Night Like This |
| 2. Skybound |
| 3. Better (Album Version) |
| 4. Tell Her Today |
| 5. Miracle |
| 6. The Last Shot |
| 7. Tragic |
| 8. Half A Man |
| 9. Icarus Wings |
| 10. Light Me Up |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Anyone that heard British singer/songwriter Tom Baxter’s superb 2004 debut album Feather and Stone, will have marked him down as a consummate talent and inevitable chart-botherer. But while Baxter’s obvious skills garnered a heap of critical reviews, he somehow failed to penetrate the mainstream. The same fate seems unlikely to befall Skybound, Baxter’s sophomore effort and an album that more than makes good on his early promises. Combining his soulful, mesmerising voice with understated guitar and piano work and some deft songwriting, Skybound is more a ‘concept’ album than its predecessor, in that it loosely charts the journey from boy to man. As before Baxter fuses elements of jazz and blues with compelling results, adding rhythmic double bass and orchestral accompaniments that create a mellifluous and sophisticated aura. There are some affecting Spanish touches too, such as the Andalucian flourishes on the title track and the flamenco undertones of "Tell Her Today". While the ballads here--"Better" for example-–can tend towards the schmaltzy, Baxter balances these moments with darker material like the fabulously moody, tempo-changing "Icarus Wings". It’s a solid second album that, just like the first, has "bright future" written all over it. --Danny McKenna
Review
He's not one to hide his feelings away, is Tom Baxter. A singer/songwriter from the school of writing lyrics so emotionally raw you can see the blood in them, Baxter returns with his second album, a mash of chill-out, soul and latin sounds that lifts itself above the morass.
Shelf stackers are likely to bundle him in with the more sanitised James Blunt, but a comparison to Scott Matthews would be more appropriate, with a soulful, passionate voice that sometimes brings to mind Elvis Costello or Randy Newman, when clogged with emotions.
Latin influence has clearly come to play in creating Skybound, giving the album a softly energetic feel. It's nothing too out of the ordinary, but it marks Baxter out from the rest of those regaling us with tales of emotional woe. The lovely ''Icarus Wings'' and ''Tell Her Today''both use the latin influence best, with the rhythms pushing the music along, and giving the tracks an air of urgency.
Baxter injects an element of blackness with ''Half A Man'', with lyrics so painful they can only have been created in the lonely, sleepless early hours of the morning. Lines like 'aware that with every heart of gold, there retains its currency/ so if you believe love's cause is free, you can call me a fool to call it robbery/ but I only know that once I was whole and now there's half of me', form a nice counter balance to the joyful enthusiasm for love heard earlier in the album.
It is the happy, happy, joy, joy elements that let the album down slightly. "Miracle feels" a teeny bit trite, with a lovely sentiment that is just a bit too familiar. And after ten tracks devoted solely to the joys and trials of love, you do feel that a new subject matter might be a good idea for the next disc.
Skybound is not an album that will tempt the trendy young masses, but with any justice will draw in a crowd of loyal fans. For something mellow, meaningful, and not too MOR you could do far, far worse than this generally lovely album. --Helen Groom
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Baxter back in fine form!,
By
This review is from: Skybound (Audio CD)
after a 3 year hiatus owing to record company problems and that dificult 2nd album syndrome Tom Baxter's new opus is finally with us.The album opens with a solid, double-bass laden track "On a night like this" which confirms the Baxter voice retains all it's wonders,next up is the title track "Skybound" which features some very fine instrumentation and orchestration but never quite lights the touch paper for me,third in is "Better" a beautifully simple lovesong which should be gracing the airwaves for many months and will have them singing along at the concerts,"Tell her today" picks up the pace starting out as an up tempo love song again featuring some exquisite Spanish Guitar (a constant motif throughout) before careering into a Desperate Housewives influenced headlong finish,"Miracle" is another splendidly crafted lovesong not as immediately rewarding as "Better" but more captivating after repeated listening,to these ears "The last shot" is the low point of the album,the over repetitive chorus is responsible for the only disappointment on the entire album and a long one it is at over 6mins 30 secs,"Tragic" gets us back on track a song similar in style and sentiment to Deacon Blue's finest moment and nicely sets us up for the zenith of this album,"Half a man" is the finest song Tom has performed to this date starting out as a haunting reminiscence of a tempestuous affair which has left him almost emasculated before we realise that he desires the humiliation to continue and we share the madness before the song finishes up like a sick lullaby,a magnificent song,the folowing track "Icarus Wings" is just as good, a stunning vocal in unison with that guitar guide us to a Spanish Flamenco finale which will have you stamping your heels and clapping your hands,i am loath to introduce the Buckley comparisons however they are pretty valid on these two songs and that is no bad thing,"You light me up" brings the album to a close on what sounds like a positive personal note for Tom but i find it a weak song,i can almost hear Will Young or someone of his ilk performing it and selling millions but unfortunately not for me,all told "Skybound" is a worthy successor to the excellent "Feather and Stone" and in the two stand out tracks Tom's writing has reached previously unattained heights,i've recently been to Tom's gig in Dublin and the live arena certainly adds another dimension to these songs so i would advise you to get along to a show to really experience the brilliance of Tom Baxter
p.s. love to Vashti
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning,
By HazyPea (West Midlands) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Skybound (Audio CD)
I too have had a limited edition for a couple of months - i don't think its ever been taken out of the CD player - simply a beautiful album - I loved Feather and Stone but this is by far a much better album. This band should get the recognition that they fully deserve on the basis of this album alone.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
By mimi poulain (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Skybound (Audio CD)
I have listened to this album so many times now that it is strange to think that it is still so new. I loved Feather and Stone but Skybound is such a treat - you can sink into it - it is wrap around warm and beautiful. I really do recommend this album it is really wonderful.
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