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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost a Pop Masterpiece, April 25, 2007
This review is from: Life in Mono (Audio CD)
Its really ironic that the most 'untalented' of the Spice Girls bunch would consistently provide us with such good material into the 2000s. Her last album "Free Me" was a classic that still finds plays on my Ipod.
1. If you love 1960s 'girl-group' melodies, you will love this.
2. If you like film-noir, and the soundtracks to the James Bond and Austin Powers series, you will love this.
3. If you like very poppy verse-chorus-verse, you will love this
4. If you're into Bossa Nova, Brazilian beach pop, and a little bit of reggae, you will adore this.
At its best, this sounds like a lost soundtrack to some 1960s French masterpiece by Truffaut. Very "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" but with a lot more zest and pep. You really have to get it and find out what I'm talking about.
The only downside is that the opening track is the weakest here, so many people may be put off. Do get this and discover a fabulous artist you may have neglected until now just because of her "Spice Girls" tag.
To sum up, Emma is a million times more accomplished and a real artist when compared to the remaining Spice Girls. This one album is better than all the others' solo releases combined. Seriously.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Next Chapter, March 27, 2007
This review is from: Life in Mono (Audio CD)
Life In Mono continues in the same vein as Free Me... sort of.
While there are a few tracks with that same sun-drenched bossa nova sound (Mischevious, He Loves Me Not), this is not Free Me II, but the next chapter of Emma's journey. The album opens with a lovely ballad, "All I Need To Know"- gutsy move! Next, the title track is a cover of a song by the group Mono. Where the original was like a dark music box tune, here it's been reworked like a James Bond theme (Anyone else think Ms. Bunton should REALLY do a Bond theme?).
The standouts are "I Wasn't Looking (When I Found Love)" and "Take Me To Another Town", both with catchy melodies and lush cinematic orchestrations. On "Undressing You", and especially the bonus track "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps", Emma shows she can convincingly go from sweetie to seductress in a heartbeat.
As wonderful as Free Me was, Life In Mono is a more mature affair. This is music for grown-ups, for lounging around on lazy Sundays or sultry late nights. Once again, Emma has proved her talent. She has found music that suites her voice perfectly, and she delivers it with sensuality and class- a rarity in today's popular music.
It remains to be seen if this album will be released stateside as Free Me was, and if it will be sucessfully pitched to the American market, which might too easily mistake it for "Easy Listening", which it most certainly is not. Let's keep our fingers crossed. We need more music like this.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A SERIOUS POST-SPICE MASTERPIECE, March 15, 2007
This review is from: Life in Mono (Audio CD)
I can only echo what the other reviewers have said: this release is a masterpiece. Everything about it - I am in awe of this recording and cannot stop playing it. What a voice! What delivery! What production! THANK YOU EMMA!
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