Alison Moyet- Voice (2004) VBR

Alison Moyet- Voice

Year 2004

Tracks

1. Windmills of Your Mind
2. The Man I Love
3. Almost Blue
4. Je Crois Entendre Encore
5. What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?
6. God Give Me Strength
7. The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies-o!
8. Dido's Lament: When I Am Laid In Earth
9. La Chanson des Vieux Amants
10. Cry Me A River
11. Bye Bye Blackbird


There is, undeniably, a ripe contemporary market flush with youngsters peddling variations on easy listening, swing and even opera. However, Voice--Alison Moyet's new covers album of jazz, lounge and romantic opera spanning Bacharach to LeGrand, Jacques Brel to Henry Purcell--stands apart from all that with a detached air of solemn academic nous. Working with a small classical orchestra (arrangements courtesy of film score Oscar winner and former Art Of Noise honcho Anne Dudley) Moyet performs some time-honoured standards ( a sleepy Gershwin's 'The Man I Love', a distinctly unjolly 'Bye Bye Blackbird') with distinction but, rather sensibly, eschews animative Rat Pack brio in favour of crestfallen introspection. Any album, therefore, where the happiest song is 'Cry Me A River' and where the liveliest song is a traditional folk ballad addressing ethnic cleansing in 17th Century Scotland can hardly be expected to put smiles on the faces of young children. Voice is probably easier to admire than to love. However, for Moyet, this has been a callisthenic exercise in self-improvement and there's no denying that her version of 'Almost Blue' betters the recent efforts of Mrs Costello or that her solid performances of Bizet and Purcell warrant favourable comparisons to Bowie's dalliances with the works of Brecht and Weill.
Following on from the success of her Brit nominated album Hometime (2002), Alison Moyet releases Voice. Produced and arranged by Academy Award winner Anne Dudley, this album is certain to become an all-time classic. It is a collection of songs by other composers – a radical diversion for Moyet who has chosen in this instance to concentrate on her instrument alone. The album includes standards such as "The Man I Love", "Cry Me a River" and Michel Legrand's "Windmills of Your Mind". Voice further showcases Moyet's tone and phrasing, her eclectic tastes, and above all--her voice at its best.