Amy Winehouse - Our Day Will Come
Though she may have passed away over the summer well ahead of the Christmas period – no tasteless jokes about Christmas and sherry, please – the ghost of releases yet to come is here with this cut from an album of unreleased tracks, guaranteed to keep her family’s coffers full. But is this release from a mish-mash of demos and never before heard tracks good? Well this cover of the 1963 Ruby & The Romantics track is very much typical Amy Winehouse in the musical blues style and she’s certainly on top form. If you’re a fan of her tunes you’ll find much to enjoy here, and it’s a very good version of the song and musically much stronger than the original, though tinged with a little sadness that her day will not be coming. (8/10)
Beyonce - Love On Top
With a song title as ripe for innuendo as her dodgily titled album ‘B-Day’, Beyonce is back with this soulful song that echoes the Motown of the 1980s. While she has certainly nailed the style and her voice is great her Mariah Carey-style warbling is off-putting and the key changes make it sound like the end of the record is going to end with her exploding or at least only becoming audible to dogs. Undeniably catchy in parts it suffers at the start from disjointed words compared to the music and quickly becomes boring with the repetitive chorus. Plus when she goes ‘Stop’ the voice in the back of my head repeatedly demands I shout ‘Hammer Time’. It’s certainly not a bad track but not a particularly strong first cut from her, cough, imaginatively titled fourth album ‘4’. (6.5/10)
Katy Perry - The One That Got Away
Continuing a strong sequence of singles, this cut from her ‘Teenage Dream’ album drops the pop of TGIF to bring a sad ballad about the one that got away. No, not a fish. With very emotive lyrics and a simple, but haunting musical track, it’s powerfully sung by Katy Perry and can easily bring a tear to your eye. It’s a subject matter that’s been covered in many songs but it’s not been often done as well it has here. Plus, if you can, check out the video it complements the track very well and also features some impressive aging and youthing (is that a word?) of Perry. (8.5/10)
Matt Cardle – Starlight
The opening track from the X-Factor winner’s debut album, ‘Starlight’ continues the run of good singles after his Gary Barlow-written ‘Run For Your Life’. Refreshingly for a product of the manufacturing television show it’s co-written by Cardle. Though I would love to roll out some disparaging comments at the track because of where he has come from, it’s actually a very good track that, like the snap-titled Muse track, is very bombastic with some quick-witted guitar, touching lyrics and a top vocal delivery from Cardle. It would be easy to pull it apart because of the X-Factor but to give him his credit it’s a really good track with the power of U2 and the lyrical prowess, but none of the sombreness, of Snow Patrol or Coldplay. (8/10)
OneRepublic- Christmas Without You
OneRepublic jump on the Christmas bandwagon with this seasonal release. If you’re expecting a happy, bouncy Xmas tune then you’re best going back to the annual favourites. Even Coldplay made their song slightly happier than this. Rolling out the odd cliché at the start, it’s a tale of lost love at this time of year but, unlike Katy Perry’s similarly themed song, it doesn’t have quite the same feel. They may throw some sleigh bells onto the track and as a ballad it’s quite serviceable, but there’s little festive magic to be found.
If you’re feeling a bit down this December then I’d avoid this. Not a bad track from the band but it gets a little too maudlin and meandering for my liking. (5.5/10)
Sunday 4 December 2011
This Week’s Single Releases
Posted on 08:12 by Unknown
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