Rating: 5/5
Review:
An outstanding album
This is simply great.
I have loved Emily Barker's work for several years now and this is one
of her very best albums, I think. I
expected it to be good but I was still taken by surprise at just how good it
is.
Emily Barker is a really classy songwriter. Here, she covers a real variety of themes
from love/lust in songs like the title track, a tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharp
(Sister Goodbye), the plight of refugees making the dangerous journey across
the Mediterranean (Over My Shoulder), a truly lovely break-up song (No. 5
Hurricane) and so on. Every one is a gem of sharp, incisive lyric
writing, lovely melody and fabulous arrangement. There is a soulful, sometimes really funky
feel to the album which is a new sound for Barker, and she does it really well,
with an absolutely cracking band and her own vocals and instrumental work. Try the full-on funk of Sunrise
or the astonishing solo vocal of Precious Memories and you'll see what I mean. It's a pleasure from start to finish.
I don't often gush like this over an album, but I genuinely
think Sweet Kind Of Blue is exceptional.
Emily Barker is a class act all round; she has already won prestigious
awards for her songs (including a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello Award) and deserves
to be far more widely known and appreciated.
This is an exceptional piece of work from a very fine writer and
performer and I can recommend it very warmly indeed.
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