Back to Bedlam [ENHANCED] [EXPLICIT LYRICS] [IMPORT]

James Blunt

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 12, 2004)
• Original Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Format: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics, Import
• Label: Wea/Atlantic
• ASIN: B0006L5RT2
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #132,450 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As a piece of propaganda, James Blunt’s album Back to Bedlam does more for changing the face of the British Army than a series of television adverts ever could. Swapping a rifle for a guitar, the former cavalryman’s ballad-heavy debut is a clearly aiming to win the battle for the public’s hearts and minds. The U.K. success of singles like "You’re Beautiful" and "No Bravery" (inspired by his time stationed in Bosnia) are both heartfelt and sensitive, the latter packing an additional emotional punch beyond the typical lovelorn ballads of his contemporaries like Damien Rice. But Blunt also sings with conviction about matters of the heart, and that’s the territory that most of Back to Bedlam visits, with songs of loss like "Goodbye My Lover", "So Long Jimmy" and "Billy". And throughout, the arrangements remain understated yet effective, thanks to the input of such heavyweight producers and songwriters like Linda Perry and Guy Chambers. All of which prove that there’s a lot of depth to this modern, musical hero. --Robert Burrow

Product Description
Debut album through Atlantic/Custard, recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Tom Rothcock (Beck, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy), Back To Bedlam takes the listener through heartfelt songs of unattainable romances, lost loves and friend's failures before climaxing with James' first-hand experience of war. 2004.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You've got a friend in James, July 6, 2005

By	Amanda Richards "Modest to the extreme" (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This album is not something you'd expect from a guy who studied engineering, was a part of the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, rode horseback for the Queen and watched over the Queen Mother as she lay in state. Colorful background aside, it's hard to imagine his reedy falsetto warbling through the streets of Serb villages or recording music in his landlady's bathroom, but that's exactly the way it happened for James Blunt.

His voice takes a little getting used to, but the track "Goodbye My Lover" brings to mind Supertramp's "Goodbye Stranger" from the Breakfast in America album. Most of the other tracks display a lot of raw emotion. Drawing from personal experience, he sings of love, heartbreak, pain, relationships and unattainable romance.

The first single "High" asks:

"Will you be my shoulder when I'm grey and older?
Promise me tomorrow starts with you"

Other prime tracks are "Wisemen" the second hit single; "You're Beautiful" about a love that can never be (watch out for the single, totally unexpected expletive); and "So Long Jimmy" and "Billy" which up the tempo just a tad.

As the emotionally charged track "Cry" begins:

"I have seen peace, I have seen pain,
Resting on the shoulders of your name.
Do you see the truth through all their lies?
Do you see the world through troubled eyes?
And if you want to talk about it anymore,
Lie here on the floor and cry on my shoulder.
I'm a friend."

After you listen to this album, you'll feel you have a friend in James.


Amanda Richards, July 6, 2005

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An American Perspective..., July 25, 2005

By	JR Pinto (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I discovered James Blunt a few days ago during my morning commute. A DJ at WPLJ in New York had just returned from a trip to Europe and couldn't stop raving about the single "You're Beautiful." Coincidentally, Blunt happened to be in New York at the time and - even though his record hadn't been officially released in America yet - invited him onto the program to perform a set. On the strength of that performance, I went out and purchased the import album.

Blunt - who has a colorful past in the Royal Armed Forces - may be a great, emerging singer-songwriter. His debut album is mature and tuneful, with deftly written lyrics. It is unusual to have a pop-song make reference to Dorian Grey nowadays, but Blunt pulls it off. Now, I am hearing "You're Beautiful" on mainstream American stations, so I can only assume his popularity will continue to rise.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Beautiful, September 8, 2005

By	jk_luedtke33 (Frankfort, MI) - See all my reviews

I haven't listened to a CD more since Jagged Little Pill. Through a friend of a friend, the name James Blunt was dropped in the conversation so I decided to buy the CD, having heard it was great.

That person was wrong. This CD is fantastic! It is so incredibly heartfelt. I listen to this CD over and over and over, and it being only about 40 minutes long, that's not hard to do. The shortness in length is my only complaint.

The songs "You're Beautiful" and "Good-Bye My Lover" actually gave me chills when I listened to them the first half a dozen times, and the feeling has diminished only slightly after hearing them countless times by now.

I can't say enough for James Blunt as an artist. His lyrics are wonderful and actually meaningful, which is a rarity indeed in today's music business. His voice is rather high, but now I don't even think twice about it when I hear him sing, it takes only a short while to get used to.

I don't think a CD can ever come more highly recommended.