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Ed Harcourt certainly has a grasp of atmospherics, and he's steeped -- some would say marinated -- in his influences. There are some really marvelous tracks here. "Something in My Eye," which is lush with trumpet and strings, has an evocative tune and a vocal in a languid stupor. "Beneath the Heart of Darkness," has a great lead in and some ear catching lyrics: "spluttering like an army of artillery sporadically firing." The ending veers into the experimental, with a hurricane of noisy static before a calm resolution. "Wind Through the Trees," sounds like the forlorn hand of Erik Satie skittering its way across a piano, with the dreamy refrain "You can't run from me/cos I'm the wind through the trees." Beautiful. Other tracks warranting further ear time are "These Crimson Tears," with its cello and muted trumpet, wafting after hours from some jazz club alleyway; and "Apple of My Eye," which has a mock Motown/spiritual vibe, with handclaps and a much beefier vocal than on the earlier Maplewood EP. What remains is less noteworthy, and the penultimate track, "Shanghai," comes with an awful, possibly ironic, guitar break, and sounds like a Buggles reject. A baffling puzzler given what preceded it, making one wonder about the allegedly vast back catalog, and whisper the words "quality control." This artist contains multitudes, and it looks like the gifted ones are in the ascendant. Follow his upward trajectory. ~ Mark Joseph, All Music Guide
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There You'll Be Faith Hill |
| Faith Hill is one of those country stars who enjoys massive popularity in America, with a career stretched over 16 years spawning 11 number ones, but have stuggled to expand it beyond her country's boundaries. "There you'll be", a wishy washy, epic ballad of the "memories of lost love" kind, was penned by the one and only Diane Warren and rejected by Celine Dion. Released in 2001 as the theme soundtrack from the movie "Pearl Harbour"; it reached number three in our charts and became Faith Hill's only UK top ten hit. And now, thanks to -yep, you guessed it- the ever growing power of television, is a surprise re-entry in our singles chart's top ten. Amy Connelly, one of this season's X factor contestants, chose it for a rendition that, apparently, brought jury Cheryl Cole to tears and triggered a downloading frenzy for the original among the popular show's viewers. Expect a greatest hits package released promptly, which could become one of this Christmas unexpected winners. | |
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