The Beat Surrender

I know i’ve got the benefit of hindsight in writing this review and a chance to reflect on other peoples reviews that have gone live before mine, but I also like to think i’ve got a balanced view without having an agenda behind it.

I’m disappointed to see that one of the best female voices we’ve produced in Britain in the last ten years is already facing a backlash, in fact it started before the album actually came out, which tells you just how subjective her critics have been. The laughable NME even went as far as to compare her to Leona Lewis (yes we know she came 2nd on the Welsh version of X-Factor, we don’t care) , suggesting an equal degree of talent and similar manufactured background, the fact that she has co-written these tracks and the album is good sets her apart, end of.

It’s something that this country has always done well though, we build up the young talent and then before it’s even had a chance to blossom, it’s shot down in flames and stamped upon until the confidence has gone and then it’s on to the next poor target.

Rockferry isn’t the all singing all dancing album that the title track and massive single Mercy suggested it could be, they are the two standout tracks, but it’s still a finely crafted modern soul album with admittedly a very heavy debt to the 60’s and in particular vocalists like Dusty Springfield. In fact it almost feels like a slightly wasted opportunity to make an absolute classic album, with those two songs to build on it really could have been an absolutely fantastic album.

Instead it’s good and it’s a promising debut, no more, no less. She has got years ahead of her to make the classic album and with that voice i’m pretty sure she will at some point. Stepping Stone, the brilliant Distant Dreamer with its echoes of Burt Bacharach and the soulful balladry of Warwick Avenue really do hit the mark. It’s on these that the songs sound personal to her and thats when she excels, on a couple of the tracks you do get the feeling that she’s going through the motions, but again her voice has enough radiance and strength to pull them off even then.

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