Customer Reviews

Spirit (Deluxe Edition) (Incl. Bonus Tracks and Bonus DVD) (PAL Version)

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This is a strong debut album from X-Factor winner Leona Lewis, the only potential problems being a surfeit of ballads, and a large dose of overexposure. The British born singer/songwriter is of Guyanese/Welsh parentage, and was no stranger to performing before catching the eye of Simon Cowell, who moved heaven, earth and Clive Davis to ensure that this album had all the backing it needed.

Even before the album was released, she already had a hit single with her version of the Kelly Clarkson song "A Moment Like This", which can be found as a bonus on the UK version of the album. Please note that the track listing for the UK Version is different to the US and Canadian releases. The songs "Forgive Me" (produced by Akon) and "Misses Glass" on this version take the place of "Homeless" (a slow R&B ballad) and "The Best You Never Had" (a slightly faster ballad).

Songs of interest are "Bleeding Love", the first single from the album; "Better in Time", the second single (pop/R&B) which reminds me of Alicia Keys "No One"; "I Will Be", a cover of the Avril Lavigne song; "Yesterday", a pop/R&B track where she sounds like Mariah Carey; "Take A Bow", a radio-friendly R&B track; and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", a cover of the Roberta Flack hit written by Ewan MacColl. Lewis also co-wrote the songs "Whatever It Takes", a mid-tempo R&B track, and "Here I Am", a pop ballad.

Special mention should be made of the powerful and emotional ballad "Footprints in the Sand" inspired by the famous poem by Mary Stevenson, which ends:

The Lord replied
"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
Is when I carried you."

Undoubtedly talented, strikingly photogenic, and with a lovely voice, it seems a bit early for all the comparisons to Mariah Carey and early Whitney Houston, but I do believe that we'll be hearing a lot more from Leona Lewis.



Amanda Richards, May 8, 2008

Leona Lewis has arrived, her cd Spirit has made it to the US for all to hear. She has a voice ,between Mariah and Toni Braxton all in one. What a gem to own. Tracks: Bleeding Love, Better In time, I Will Be, I'm You, Forgive Me, Misses Glass, Angel, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Yesterday, Whatever It Takes, Take A Bow, UK bonus : Footprints In The Sand and Here I am .
Im dedicating the songs Bleeding Love, I Will Be to my husband, To my special friend for life the songs Better In Time, Yesterday. To my lord and savior above Footprints In the Sand for guiding me through the good and bad times, thank you for always being there for me. Thanks Leona for the magic and sincere faith in your music. You are a star already for the world.

Leona Lewis has become the first British female solo artist to top single and album US pop chart in 21 years.
The 22-year-old singer from Hackney has landed the Billboard Hot 100 chart Number One with her ballad "Bleeding Love".
The Americans have gone mad for this Mariah Carey-inspired ballad fest. All she needs to do is smile sweetly while she rakes in the dollars.
The last British female solo artist to do the same was Kim Wilde in 1987, with her cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On".
It's also the first time in 27 years that a British female artist has debuted at Number One in the US Top 100 Single Chart.
That feat was last achieved in 1981 by Sheena Easton with "Morning Train "(Nine To Five).
The last British woman to top the US album chart was Sade with "Promise" in 1986.
Leona Lewis is the quiet girl with a big voice who conquered the 2006 British "X Factor" ( equivalent of Amerivcan Idol), singing her way to glory with a spectacular set of lungs and endearing herself to the voting public with her sweet personality.
She stormed to number one British chart last Christmas with the winning X Factor single handed to her by the show's producers.
Lewis sings her heart out through stories of loves lost and conquered, with allusions to already established octave-vaulting female divas - Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson and Christina Aguilera - audible in every warble.
She has the technical chops to pull off the imitation.
Tills ringing in their ears, Simon Cowell and Clive Davis have duly stuffed her debut album with songs which sound like offcuts from those other divas' repertoires - rent-a-gospel-choir here, the pretence of some tough R&B attitude there; "inspirational" lyrics and key changes preferred.
The result is an album of almost clockwork perfection - containing enough hits to keep her on the radio till next Christmas ("Better in Time" and "Whatever it Takes" are both as classy as the majestic "Bleeding Love"). But in the end they were able to craft only a bland, glossy pop album, strong on mid-tempo balladry and spiralling vocal gyrations, but short on hooks, innovation and personality.
"Bleeding Love" is the highlight of the album, a superb single that could almost be a sequel to Houston's 1987 classic "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".
.."Spirit pays quivering lip service to ideas of beauty and talent and 'specialness', but is ultimately too manufactured even to be great manufactured pop. If Lewis is looking for the greatest love of all - public adoration - she will have to do better than this".Times.
Hard to love, hard to hate - but the whole world will buy it.
It's a testament, this, to Simon Cowell's business nous that he resisted a rushed covers album and instead enlisted powerful US music mogul Clive Davis to attract a bevy of America's most successful songwriters to pen a tune for the attractive British young lady.
Leona's success is assured and her talent plain to see, but her musical credibility is still hanging in the balance. Hopefully her second and third albums, which will surely follow, will not be an imitation of former success stories but an example of 21st century pop finery.

You Keep Me Hangin' on
The Very Best of Kim Wilde
Sheena Easton - Greatest Hits
The Ultimate Petula Clark
Promise
Whitney

I'm really happy to see that this CD has finally been released in the US. This is an exciting time for Leona Lewis. She hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 recently - the first UK female artiste to do it in over 20 years and only the fourth to do it ever. She relinquished the spot to Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" last week but to my surprise, I just heard on the news - BBC News 24, no less - that she's taken it back and that this album is #1 on the Billboard Top 200 as well, making her the first UK artiste to debut at the top US album spot ever! I expected her to do well in the US with this product but I honestly never dreamed she'd do THIS well!

I originally reviewed the album back in December last year, when it was released on Amazon on (no longer available) UK import. I definitely feel the review merits a repost here. This is the original (slightly edited) review as it appeared in December 2007:

"The 2006 "X Factor" winner's debut album is barely out of the blocks and it's already a record breaker. ("X Factor" is the UK version of "American Idol"). It sold over 375,000 copies in its first week, beating the record previously set by the Arctic Monkeys by about 12,000. That might not sound much in an American context but in this country, that's huge potatoes. You go, honey.

Her follow-up single "Bleeding Heart" has also now stood at the top of the UK singles charts for an impressive five weeks. The lead single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" was released last year when she won "X Factor" and that was at the top of the charts for what seemed like ages as well. Simon Cowell and Clive Davis definitely seem to know what they're doing.

Judging by the number of absolute belters on offer here, she's clearly got her eyes on Mariah's fan base (I would've said Mariah and Whitney but I guess we all know why I didn't) and I say good luck to her. I don't usually go for albums put out by talent show winners ("American Idol" 'loser' Chris Daughtry's was the first I ever bought and this is only my second) but I've always thought Leona was a special talent right from the first moment I saw her on the show. Every performance she gave was diamond, in my opinion. Vocally, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston are in a class of their own but it's not totally ridiculous to compare Leona to them, as she demonstrated when she performed some of their hits on the show.

Thankfully, the album isn't the usual collection of dreadful covers. The Clarkson song is (of course) on this UK version of the album but isn't likely to appear on the US version when it finally gets released. Only one other sneaks in and while I would've loved it to be "Summertime" - the version she delivered on "X Factor" still gives me shivers anytime I watch it on YouTube - she's gone for the Roberta Flack classic "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and to give her the credit she's due, she owns the song. Treading the line carefully between r&b and pop, the album is a bit samey in places but if breathless diva is your thing, this one is definitely for you.

There are only four real stand out numbers here (with "Take A Bow" likely to be the track labelled 'best on album') but with people like Walter Afanasieff Dallas Austin, Jam & Lewis, Soulshock & Carlin, Salaam Remi and Ne-Yo involved, Spirit is going to be huge, especially in that lucrative yet elusive American market the album is so obviously aimed at. The sooner it gets a proper (and reasonably priced) release there, the better. Leona is young, she's pretty and she oozes a natural sweetness and charm. As Simon Cowell might say, "I think people will like her."

But most importantly, she has a voice to kill for. As long as she doesn't end up becoming another self-important diva and as long as she eventually ditches the über producers and gets to be herself, this is one lady who is going to go far. She's definitely one to look out for; definitely one worth checking out."

I don't know why a lot of CDs of British artists are always released later in the United States, but obviously this deluxe edition of Leona Lewis' Spirit is released late for a reason.

For the DVD, the US version contains one more music video "Run" and a live performance of "I Will Be" that are not included in the international version, for the release of the international version is earlier than that of the "Run" video. Nevertheless, "The Making of the Video Forgive Me" is not available in the US version, but as this is a music product, I guess more music videos are better.

For the CD, they used the original revised US track list for the standard part, but they changed "Better in Time" and "Footprints in the Sand" into single mixes. Both of the single mixes are quite different from the album versions. For example, in "Better in Time", the piano intro was extended, and the main melody only came in for the chorus, while in the album version, the main melody came in as soon as Lewis started to sing. The difference of the versions of "Footprints in the Sand" is even more evident. Among the four bonus tracks, three of them are unique compared with the international version. "Myself", which is a duet between Lewis and Novel, is exclusive in this US release; "Run", which is an album version in the international release, is also a single mix in the US release; "Bleeding Love (Remix)", which is originally an iTune bonus track for the first US edition, is finally available as a shorter version on physical CDs.

Deluxe Editions of CDs are always about making money, but this CD has six different tracks compared with the original US release, besides it came with a DVD. In addition, as I'm a buyer from China, who's now studying in the US, my copy of the first edition is the international version, which means it does not even have "Misses Glass" and the single "Forgive Me". Therefore, if you like Leona Lewis, buying this new edition is not so bad a choice.

Bleeding Love is a great song. The rest of the album lacks any kind of direction. If Simon is going to try and sell Leona as the next Mariah, then this debut should have been better. I didn't hear any notes or songs that a dozen other singers could have done as well, if not better.

This lovely girl has talent. But, for heavens sake, let her out of the box. Those green eyes and one great single will be the height of her career if she doesn't break away from Simon and get a life.

Good luck Leona. We are all rooting for you!

There's really not much to say about this album. Leona Lewis is a very talented singer. Much more so than a lot of the female artists that are out there. Sadly, this album comes up short of her potential. "Bleeding Love" is a great song, but a rarity in the album as it's the only song that evokes any kind of feeling. The rest of the album shows great vocal prowess, but the songs are bland and uninspired. It's like the producers took her voice and built empty, generic songs around it. It's music simply for the sake of making a record. I suppose this is how some great singles are made, but an album needs something more.

I'll keep my eye on Ms. Lewis because she can definitely get very far. This album just doesn't do it for me.

I'm not bashing this girl at all, but Spirit - in my opinion - could've been better had it been chock full of better material as a whole rather than a handful of good tunes and tepid, by-the-numbers Hip Hop-inspired pop filling up the remainder. That's not detracting from Leona Lewis herself, who is undoubtedly a great and extremely talented singer (albeit devoid of much personality, but that's part of her appeal and marketability). I do think "Bleeding Love" is a decent song, and one of the album's highlights, however I think it could do with a better, catchier chorus besides simply "Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love"; repetition is good, and few lyrics during can be acceptable, especially during a chorus (Britney Spears' "Gimme More" became an international smash hit simply using the words "Gimme gimme more" over and over again), but although Lewis delivers a marvelous, lightly-sung vocal, there seems to be something missing here that would give it a magical finish. Other standouts include "I Will Be," which is somewhat cheesy but one of the best moments here, both production-wise as well as performance, and even the few upbeat tracks (the synth-driven "Whatever It Take" and "Take a Bow"), despite sounding somewhat bland in terms of originality (Lewis sells better as an amazing vocalist on ballads, not by-the-numbers Hip Hop beats). Despite its flaws, Spirit does showcase its artist's brilliant vocals, which seems to be the main selling point here; with a few better songs, I think Spirit could've lived up to Lewis herself.

Look out world, Leona Lewis is here to steal some of the thunder from Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Leona was the winner of the UK show X Factor in 2006 and great things are expected of her.

Stunning model looks; check.
An assembly of top songwriters and producers; check.
A BIG voice; double check!

Lead-off single "Bleeding love" is a catchy upbeat song with violins, organ, and soaring vocals which has already topped the US and UK singles chart (and was the UK's biggest selling single of 2007).

As expected, the album is ballad heavy. Other standouts are "Take a bow" (no, not the Madonna hit, but a synth string filled ballad), "I will be" (a stunning cover of an Avril Lavigne song), the R&B ballad "I'm you" (nice Spanish guitars, harps and skittery beats and great harmonies), and a tender rendering of "The first time ever I saw your face".

"Yesterday" sounds like something from Mariah's repertoire, right from the breathy falsetto, down to the beats, while she sounds very much like Whitney on the gospel tinged (thanks to the choir) "Whatever it takes", and on the bouncy pop "Forgive me". In fact, the latter wouldn't go amiss on either of Whitney's first 2 albums.

I caught the episode of X Factor where she sang the Jackson 5's "I'll be there" and she seems a very likeable person. I felt she should win and was glad she did. However, a large chunk of the album sounds like Leona was made to really study Whitney and Mariah's debuts and is really nothing (musically) special.

No doubt Leona is a fantastic singer and this album will sell millions, it's calculated to, (the album just debuted in the US at #1, making her the first British female since Sade in 1986 to achieve that feat), but one has the feeling that a few albums down the line, she'll finally get to release something that really reflects who she is, and she'll be saying then how this album wasn't really her.

I previewed the album and I've seen her on the various talk shows: GMA, Oprah and Jimmy Kimmel. She has a good live performance. Leona has a beautiful voice, but "SHE REMINDS ME OF MARIAH". Leona's music doesn't include the rap lyrics yet, but down the road she'll succumb like all the other top female artist. When I think of a debut artist who took your breath away, Toni Braxton, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera come to mind. Her vocal sound does not stand out. I think over time she'll develop her style. It's a good debut album, all of the hot producers and songwriters they could find have put their thumbprint on it. As for her being labeled an R&B artist-not so much! This album is pure pop-sicle.