RAW TALENT WORTH SHARING (Back To Bedlam - James Blunt)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	Back To Bedlam - James Blunt
Date:	21/09/05 (537 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: NEW AND EXCITING

Disadvantages: NONE AT ALL

In order to tell you how astounded I was listening to this album and my astonishment at the versatility of James Blunt as a musician, I really feel it necessary to tell you a little background about the artist himself because without it, there are too many question marks left in a listeners head about who this guy is and where the musical wizardry is coming from.

James Blunt is a relatively new name in the music market; although unlike many new artists impressed me with the quality of tracks right through the whole album and made me look further.His voice is raw and could be likened to a Phil Collins type voice, but much wilder, as if more convinced of his songs message, and although many have heard vague renderings of the lead track on this album (or at least the most commercial), being "You're Beautiful"; this only acted for me as a temptation to listen to more of his songs.

I suppose that "You're Beautiful" brings out feelings of true sentiment in all of us about love that will never be, and that surge of feeling inside that you feel when seeing a stranger and knowing that they could have figured in our lives, although the odds are stacked against it ever happening. What I liked about this song was not only the melody which is gentle sentimentality at its best, but I liked the way in which James makes the most of his situation in that it is the moment that is the precious memory that lasts rather than any kind of relationship between himself and the object of his affection. Its a song that brings out all the familiarity of situations within a person's life that are easy to relate to at any age past puberty.

His success with this song was what pulled me into wanting to hear more from what seems a young man, with the enigma of older experience than his age would merit. This is what made me look further into who the artist was because I needed to know what kind of past leads an artist to this kind of perfection of expression and almost overnight success.

James Blunt's life was amost devoid of music through his younger life, being brought up in a military family with a father who disapproved of music and dismissed it as folly, and it was only by reading this that I could understand in many ways the instant success of a voice that has almost been stifled from youth, and one that has many years of disappointment and diversity to catch up on. The enthusiasm and professionalism of this artist so impressed me that I had to delve further into his past to see where the guy was coming from, because the picture that the songs on this album portray to me are ones of maturity beyond his age, and it is almost as if he has stored all this up waiting for the moment to release it all at the same time on one album, and he certainly has unleashed a professional voice with professional backing that caresses the soul with its sincerity.

One track that I listened to on this album was about war. As a child I was taught to appreciate classical music by closing my eyes and conjuring up a picture from the music itself, and for the first time in a very long wait, this artist managed to succeed to paint pictures within my head that were real and vivid. He sings about war in his track "No Bravery" and the hopelessness and despair that the song conjures up made me think of Kosovo. I could not understand why this particularly brought this country to mind but it did, and I was amazed at how accurate the picture was when I accessed the website of James Blunt and found that he had indeed served in Kosova. It was astounding that I knew even though there had been no mention of country within the song, and considering that there are many troubled areas of the world I could have chosen as the roots of the song:

Music sometimes has the gift of being able to caress and wash over the listener, making them feel the sincerity in the words. Not many achieve this throughout a whole album, although James Blunt's work was worth the wait and perhaps what adds to it is that stifling of music through his youth, and the build up of emotions that needed to escape into song: "Cry" is not just a song about crying. It is a song about feeling safe, about having a friendship so strong and steadfast that it enables a soul to cry from the gut and be embraced by words, and perhaps even cradled in the security of the sincerity shown in the song. I cried many times whilst listening to this song, although they were tears that had been stifled too long, whilst no other artist helped me to release them like James Blunt did, healthy tears that needed crying, rather than self pitying tears evoked by singers like Leonard Cohen.

The professionalism of his backing musicians brought to mind in places groups like "Stonehenge" and "Enigma". I was impressed with the consistency of quality that comes through on every single track, each evoking different pictures, though each so valid in its own way. This guy is good. From hopelessness to belief, from the boy next door to the man at war, James Blunts voice comes over in this album as totally sincere, with songs like "So Long Jimmy" taking me back to my British roots, right through a spectrum of emotion and making me yearn for the next album. The album is complete in its own right though the emotions that it evoked within me make me convinced that I shall be buying this guys next album.

Every track has its own merits and sincerity and the future of James Blunt if he keeps his albums in this framework of truth, free expression, and originality is pretty much secured as listeners with sentimental emotions will take the ride with him from love to rejection, from friendship to the hopelessness of war and feel they have found a friend that understands, just as I did.

The album is available from Amazon.com and my copy is the imported one, prices ranging from as little as ten pounds which to me spells amazing value.

Am I hooked ?

100 per cent.

Summary: A CD not to miss