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Review: 'MELUA, KATIE'
'In Winter'   

-  Label: 'BMG'
-  Genre: 'Pop' -  Release Date: '14th October 2016'

Our Rating:
Katie Melua's mellifluous voice has already won her a sizable fan base doubtlessly drawn from lovers of easy listening female artists like Eva Cassidy and Norah Jones.

Having left the Soviet Union at the tender age of nine, she subsequently survived a six album collaboration with Mike Batt, a man destined to be forever identified as the creator of The Wombles; kids TV characters turned hit makers of which nightmares are made.

Melua was the best selling UK female artist two years running in 2004 and 2005 and has sung for the Queen and Nelson Mandela. Her rise to platinum selling fame was kick-started after Terry Wogan aired her early songs on his Radio 2 show.

For her 7th studio album, Melua has gone solo although she is far from alone since she has recruited a 24-strong Gori Women's Choir from her homeland of Georgia to keep her company.

It is not overtly billed as a Christmas album although the festive flavor is unmistakable, not least with a respectful cover version of Joni Mitchell's River (It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees....") and a rendition of O Holy Night.

Mercifully, there is nothing as 'pass the sick bag' awful as the schmaltzy Nine Million Bicycles although a tacky shopping song A Time To Buy veers dangerously towards similar levels of mushiness.

The album opens with a brief but sprightly choral version of The Little Swallow rendered in Ukrainian. Similar a cappella arrangements grace Cradle Song and most expansively of all on the soothing All Night Vigil - Nunc Dimitttis(The Song of Simeon). The latter is the fifth movement from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers which was sung at the Russian composer's funeral.

The choir serve as a delicate accompaniment to Melua's angelic voice and the combination is used most effectively on Perfect World, If You Are So Beautiful (Tu Ase Turpa Ikavi) and, best of all, on the gorgeously gooey Dreams On Fire which contains the lines "I don't need the world to be content, All I'll ever need is you".

Such romanticism strives to melt the iciest of hearts and tap unashamedly into the season of good will.

The cynic in me is tempted to dismiss such soppiness out of hand but I confess that there are plenty of guilty pleasures to be had on these songs of joy and peace.




Katie Melua's website
  author: Martin Raybould

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MELUA, KATIE - In Winter