| Product: |
Pictures - Katie Melua |
| Date: |
05.05.08 (139 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Some good tracks, unique voice
Disadvantages: Not as good as previous albums
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About Katie Melua
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Katie Melua is a Georgia-born singer songwriter, in 2003 while she was still studying at the Brit School of Performing Arts in Surrey, Katie was discovered at just 18. 4 years later, she is still going strong as is a huge household name having sold more than 7.5 million albums and in 2006 becoming the years best selling British female in the world. Katie's first album Piece by Piece was released in 2005. Katie has had several UK number one tracks, with many others being top 10. Katie was awarded the Golden Camera Award for International Pop Artist at the start of 2007 and Katie was presented with the Echo Award for International Female Artist in March 2007. In 2008, Katie plans to do a world tour.
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The Album
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Pictures is Katie Melua's third album and was released in October 2007 and didn't seem to get as much hype as Katie's previous albums such as Piece by Piece and Call Off The Search. Pictures was produced by Mike Batt and Vanessa Mae plays throughout some of the songs. There aren't really any similar songs on this album to Katie's previous ones. In Katie's previous albums, most of her songs have consisted of strange lyrics and there may still be instances when things just don't seem to make much sense at all in this new album too. Although Katie still has her trademark melting lullaby voice and sticks to her jazzy songs, non of the songs on this are particularly memorable as previously they have been. Pictures is a collection of timeless jazz influenced pop ballads ensuring Katie remains different and unique and doesn't fall into the standard chart category of the same sounding unemotional singers. Throughout all of Katie's songs that are full of emotion, something that is definately lacking in other singers of her time but there is still nothing as meaningful as songs from Piece by Piece. Katie has definately matured since she first began and in many songs she sounds older and genuinely soulful. Although only 23, Katie Melua makes music for adults and for the more sophisticated ear.
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The Songs
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1.Mary Pickford
A good opening song. Quite a slow song, where the guitar playing comes out over the singer. The only music is Katie playing her guitar and her singing, so it sounds more like a singer in a pub, but as it gets into it, a few background beats are added in, making it more catchy and fun and Katie gets more into the song. The song has some strange lyrics and is about a couple that got married and the marriage hasn't lasted. Overall an average song.
2.It's All In My Head
Again, starts off quite similar to Mary Pickford. A well structured song all round. A soft light voice from Katie at the beginning but then you start to feel Katie feeling the song more and her emotions coming out through her voice. I think this song has some good guitar solos as it gets more into it.
3.If The Light's Go Out
Katie gets into the song quite quickly here, it is much more upbeat than the previous two songs. A song she really seems to enjoy. This is probably the most mainstream and commercial sounding upbeat pop song on the album. On average quite an upbeat and fun song, but I do find Katie lingers on too long onto some words but I would say this is one of my favourite songs on the album.
4.What I Miss About You
A meaningful song, although it is a slow song, Katie's voice really shines through and is strong throughout. It is gentle with some great lyrics that if you listen closely are probably very meaningful to Katie herself.
5.Spellbound
The only song entirely written by Katie and is one of the most promising. A well structured song. Quite an upbeat song, but still quite relaxing. The chorus is strong and distinctly sticks out, where on some other songs, you can't work out what is the chorus. This is one of the songs that sticks in my head over alot of the others.
6.What It Say's On The Tin
Sounds more like Katie's older songs, especially with her style of voice in this and the soft jazzy tones throughout. This songs concentrates more on Katie's voice than the singing, with the quiet background sounds of violins, apart from in the middle where there is about 30 seconds of just the instruments having a solo.
7.Scary Films
I think this is one of my favourite tracks, theres a good beat to it and although it is still slow, it is faster than the other songs. Katie manages to sing about a wife murdering a husband with a knife and about horror films - but somehow unless you really listen it doesn't seem like she's singing about this. I enjoyed this song, but if you are a Katie Melua fan, you probably won't enjoy this and will just move onto the next song.
8.Perfect Circle
Again, this song seems a bit more like traditional Katie. Another good track on the album, with a subtle beat concentrating more on Katie's voice again.
9.Ghost Town
The beginning of this reminds me of reggae style music, I though we were going to go into "Red, Red Wine"! It seems like this is just to add interest to a boring song. The beat is constant through out the song and it seems Katie struggles a bit to sing with the music, as it doesn't seem like her usual style. Certainly one of the weaker songs on the album.
10.If I Were A Sailboat
I was quite shocked that out of all the songs on the album this is the one that Katie chose to release. Although Katie has a strong voice throughout, overall this is quite a boring song, I think Katie emphasies her voice in the wrong place in the chorus of the song.
11.Dirty Dice
There is definately a spanish theme throughout this song, it seems like a good song to dance to. It feels exotic and a salsa song. Futher in the song, it gets quite jazzy, when there is a solo from the instruments before Katie kicks back into it again. This probably has more background music than any of the other songs, adding to the excitment of this song.
12.In My Secret Life
Another strong song, it seems as you listen through the album, Katie's voice gets stronger and sounds more meaningful. After listening a few times, I got to really like this song. This definately sounds like the last song on the album, so much more effort has gone into it and Katie gets herself so into it. It's like when you go to a concert, the last song is always the best, as they want lasting impressions on you.
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Price & Availability
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Pictures can be purchased from Amazon.com for £11.48, from Amazon Marketplace from £5.49 and from Play.com for £8.95. It is available from all music stores, such as HMV etc and you will be looking to pay around £10 for it.
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My opinion
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Overall, for an individual artists album thesedays there are quite a few tracks on the album, which is comendible to Katie. If you expected this album to build on the two previous albums though and to be a showcase of catchy lyrics as traditional for Katie, you may be slightly disappointed. There are some different and still strange lyrics but nothing that is memorable like 'Nine Million Bicycles in Bejiing'. It isn't as good as her previous albums, alot of the songs on this are weaker and I wouldn't say any of the songs on this album are catchy and that you would particularly remember them. Saying that, if you are a big Katie Melua fan, I think you will still enjoy this album but yes, be a little dissappointed but is still something you would enjoy. If this had been the first album, it seems unlikely Katie Melua would now be a household name. I think this would be a good album to listen to when just relaxing after a hard days work, with a nice glass of wine. Alot of the songs are quite slow and soothing. I think it would also be good background music to have at a dinner party, but I don't feel this album is good enough to be anything but something like this. I would get bored listening to this in my car, where I have nothing else to do. Although the album is quite weak, I cannot deny that Katie is an amazing singer with a different and strong voice, but I think that has grown on people now and it's not so different anymore. Alot of the songs on the album concentrate more on Katie's voice rather than the music behind the song, but as Katie's voice is so strong, she passes this off as she doesn't need the music - her voice is all you need.
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