Rating: 4/5
Review:
Good, but...
This is a perfectly decent follow-up album from Caro Emerald. She is a very good singer, that enjoyable fusion of swing and modern sounds is still there and some of the material here is good. People like me who found Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor such an original and joyous treat will certainly like it, but for me the terrific musical zing and zest which I loved in Deleted Scenes isn't quite there on this album.
Part of this is that Miss Emerald isn't really at all shocking here, but plays it pretty safe. The old sense of a bunch of really good musicians having a great time has been overlaid and dimmed by a much more expensive, corporate gloss. Sweeping strings and slicker, more impersonal production have largely driven out the immediacy of the terrific, gutsy brass section, for example, so the humorous twinkle of Dr Wannado, the irresistible swing of That Man and the infectious beat of Back It Up are harder to find here. Some of it is great, and there's a lovely light feel to songs like Completely, Pack Up The Louie and Liquid Lunch, but this is an album which seems to take itself far more seriously than Deleted Scenes, and for me it loses something as a result.
I don't want to carp; plenty of people will love this, and fair enough. I do like it - it's just that for me it lacks the real sparkle which made Deleted Scenes such a treat.
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