Music Feature

MUSIC

BIG VOICES Women on top? BARRY BEGG reviews a sudden rush of album releases from female solo artists

KATIE MELUA COLLECTION

It might seem a shocking conceit for Melua to be pushing out a 2-disc 17-track compilation quite so early in her career. Aged just 23, she’s only released three albums previously. Few doubt her talent, but how many more times do fans need to hear ‘The Closest Thing to Crazy’ before they go quite mad? So it’s possibly just as well that ‘Collection’ is beefed up with a superb live DVD, recorded earlier this year in Rotterdam, plus three brand new songs: ‘Two Bare Feet’, ‘Toy Collection’ and ‘Somewhere In The Same Hotel’.

Released: 24th October 08 Label: Dramatico

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MUSIC

BETTE MIDLER

EVA CASSIDY

Thirty-five years and upwards of twenty albums into an extraordinary show-business career, the divine one seems a victim of her own success. The fans who still snap up her albums crave greatest hits rather than new material. So this follow-up to ‘Experience the Divine’ dutifully focusses on her Las Vegas standards such as ‘This Ole House’, ‘Tenderly’ and ‘Cool Yule’. However, she has sneaked one previously unreleased track into the compilation: ‘Something Your Heart’s Been Telling Me.’

This is a compelling collection of previously unreleased recordings by the late, great Eva Cassidy, who died in 1996. And the twelve tracks are as vocally arresting as anything on her celebrated ‘Songbird’ album. There are covers of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Won’t Be Long’ and Dolly Parton’s ‘Coat of Many Colours’ along with original material by Cassidy. The stunning ‘Early One Morning,’ originally recorded back in 1987, closes this deeply emotive reminder of a magical voice.

Released: 29th September 2008 Label: Rhino Entertainment

Released: 26th August 2008 Label: Blix Street Records

JACKPOT! THE BEST BETTE

SOMEWHERE

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

This is the third studio album from former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams, but the first solo outing for which she totally ditches her gospel roots for a contemporary R&B style. Hence the title. ‘Hello Heartbeat’ is definitely a pop song with a subtle techno beat, and ‘We Break the Dawn’ is a bass-heavy dance number that might have you dancing round the livingroom. Michelle’s vocal skills are certainly impressive.

Maybe this is the album which will finally allow her to emerge from the shadow of Beyonce Knowles to become a superstar solo artist.

The mood is sentimental on this collection of a dozen newly recorded ballads featuring Olivia Newton-John and her musical friends (including Sir Cliff Richard, Barry Gibb and Delta Goodrem) and the piano-led ‘Everything love Is’ only stops half-an-inch short of utter schmaltz thanks to Jimmy Barnes’s gravelly voice. What’s missing, of course, is John Travolta. For none of these duets has the raw sexual energy unleashed on ‘You’re The One That I Want’. That said, it’s all in a good cause; royalties are benefiting the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre.

Released: 7th October 2008 Label: Sony BMG

Released: 2 September 08 Label: EMI

UNEXPECTED

A CELEBRATION IN SONG

100 SCOTTISHWOMAN MAGAZINE

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