Utter bliss!
T. Kavanagh | Ireland | 09/06/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Alison Moyet is a singer and songwriter of rare talent and has graced several genres in her career to date. Using her voice almost as an instrument, Alison adds real warmth to three Yaz tracks. Velvety smooth on the Vince Clarke-penned pop gem 'Only You' and her own compostion, 'Nobody's Diary'. Zesty and feisty on 'Situation', a song she co-wrote. I can't think of another singer who could humanise eletronic music in quite the same way. Comparing Alison with, say, Annie Lennox is like comparing velvet with glass.The middle section of the album covers Alison's first two solo albums ('Alf' and 'Raindancing'). Commercially, this was her heyday and, in the UK, she was feted as the best pop singer around and rightly ruled the UK charts. Artistically, her best work was yet to come and the 90's singles really show the woman off. Her refusal to compromise may have slowed her chart performances a bit but the quality is most definitely there. Listen to 'It Won't Be Long', 'Ode To Boy', 'Falling'.... Gritty, powerhouse vocals over genuinely intelligent lyrics. None of your two-bit Morrissette angst here. We're talking color, verve and imagination. The gorgeous ache of her own composition, 'This House'... The real-world romance of 'Wishing You Were Here'.... Then the campy Broadway disco of 'Whispering Your Name'.... The power in her guitar-led version of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' will lift your soul. I'm telling you, this is great stuff!What ever you do, make sure you get this special edition with the 11-track live CD. Subtitled 'No Overdubs', this bonus collection showcases a REAL singer who can pull an audience along with her no matter what. The sheer beauty of 'Dorothy' and the earthiness of 'Getting Into Something' really deliver the goods. Moyet also takes a smattering of cover versions and makes them utterly her own: the smokey late-night jazz of 'Love Letters'... The down-home blues of 'Chain of Fools'... And listen to how she commandeers 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do', wiping the floor with the 'Grease' original.The great news is that a new album is scheduled for release in January 2001. Hopefully its success will prompt the re-release of her two finest albums to date, 'Hoodoo' and 'Essex'. This 2CD set should tide you over nicely until then."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1