It’s right there; on the cover, the spine, or illuminating from your iPod screen. But it’s hard to corroborate it in your mind. London singer-songwriter Adele’s debut album is titled 19, referencing her age, and there are hints it’s true--its themes are almost exclusively concerned with young love’s highs and (mostly) lows and there’s a clipped estuary English tide-mark to her voice, allying her with the fresh-faced modern female songwriting guard; Lily Allen, Kate Nash, et al. But the sheer weight of her maturity--vocally, emotionally and in overall poise—really reduces that all to circumstantial evidence. Adele is carrying something much bigger here, you can’t help but be consumed by it on "Daydreamer" with it’s jazzy tip-toeing guitar and elastic vocal range and "Hometown Glory" with its deep, lonely piano serving as a bed for the raw emotional undressing that takes place above it. Draw a line between timeless, powerful singers like Ella Fitzgerald and the modern standard of Amy Winehouse; Adele balances and pirouettes confidently along that tightrope. Winehouse particularly informs the likes of "Cold Shoulder" and double-bass heavy "Best for Last", and that’s not an alignment that’s ever going to be easy to realise credibly. Needless to say, she does, with ease. On future classic "Chasing Pavements" she also gives a nonsensical phrase a handful of heart in lieu of meaning and when you can pull that off convincingly you know you’re in possession of something special. Who dares to dream what bigger numbers could bring. --James Berry
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
All Comparisons are False Having now heard her album, to compare her to Lily Allen is a travesty. Adele is far better, her smooth voice and song writing skill for starters... And whilst we're on the subject of comparisons, there's only one similarity to Amy Winehouse - and that is I love both of their albums, when my expectations were low. Daydreamer: A chilled, melodic start to her debut album, but on first listen you kinda want to skip it to speed up your new listening experience. This is definitely one of those tracks... more info
Nice voice but cheer up!! I don't deny that this young girl has a nice voice, albeit not the greatest, but I cannot listen to this album the whole way through. I loved Chasing Pavements, but despite some OK tracks nothing else stands out, and it could all have been so much better. First and foremost, it's so depressing. I've tried a few times but I find it hard to listen to the whole album without either falling asleep or wanting to cut my wrists. Also, as I said she has a nice voice, but it might be even nicer if I could understand... more info
Tremendous! Wow, well I thought superb, she is only nineteen - big future here.......Vocals on "Hometown" really moved me. A superb debut.
Not too bad but nothing to get excited about. While I have to say this is quite an entertaining album especially the strangely upbeat "Chasing pavements" and the rather quirky "Tired" This album is really one of a long line of "Next big thing" "Ella Fitzgerald" etc etc...... First off she sounds nothing like Ella Fitzgerald and is about as distant from the great soul singers as you can get. While Amy Winehouse for example may be able to carry it off (To an extent) the whole "modern soul" Adel really just doesn't cut it. Now I am not saying that is... more info
