The Turn

Alison Moyet

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 8, 2008)
• Original Release Date: October 15, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: W14 MUSIC
• ASIN: B0019FOC4K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,336 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
British pop icon Alison Moyet returns with her first solo album in four years and a highly anticipated Yaz summer reunion tour. Critically acclaimed in the UK, The Turn will reintroduce her to this side of the pond at "her most fabulous" as noted by The Guardian.

Showcasing various influences from pop, jazz and blues, The Turn sees Moyet at her best and most self-assured. Her trademark, timeless vocals coupled with heartfelt and mature lyrics are poised to take her career to even greater heights. All eleven songs were co-written and produced by multi-instrumentalist and long time musical partner Peter Glenister (Terence Trent D'Arby, Bryan Ferry and Beth Gibbons or Portishead, among others.) Stand-out tracks include; the emotively strong "One More Time," the fun and upbeat "A Guy Like You" and "Anytime at All" which beautifully feature her soaring vocals. Three of the songs ("Smaller," the tango-flavored "Home," and "World Without End") were written for and performed in 2006 for a stage play, "Smaller," in which Moyet starred with Dawn French.

Moyet began her career as the vocalist for the duo Yaz, which catapulted her and partner Vince Clarke to stardom by reinventing the British dance music scene in 1982. In 1984 Alison went out on her own with Alf which garnered her first U.S. Top 40 single with "Invisible." Her subsequent releases- Raindancing (1987), Hoodoo (1991), Essex (1994), Hometime (2002) and Voice (2004)- amassed a variety of awards for Moyet including 3 BRIT Awards and a Grammy nomination. Now with The Turn, critics and fans alike are sure to agree with the UK's Evening Standard who declared the album "worthy of her fabulously expressive voice" with a 4 star review and The Sunday Times simply stated her album was "superb."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are they deaf?, January 23, 2008

By	J. Mostoller (Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's funny because a lot of the reviews I've read from American fans of Alison Moyet are completely writting this CD off as a bomb. I have to disagree 100% I think this is her most solid effort so far. There may not be any "Super Singles" here, but the album as a whole is brilliant. I think the other reviewers are a little deaf.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotional., February 22, 2008

By	unplug and listen - See all my reviews

Moyet, the 46-year-old singer who blazed to fame in the 1980s as the mighty alto voice of synth-soul duo Yazoo , has aged satisfying into the melodramatic balladeer she always promised to be.
"The Turn", Moyet's first collection of original recordings in five years, is a work of surprising variety and exceptional depth - drawn together by that voice and is destined to take her career to even greater heights.
It may showcase her extraordinary way with a lyric and a phrase, her innate understanding of restraint as a device every bit as powerful as an open-throated bellow.
Never before has Alison Moyet seemed as assured and at ease with her talents as on this CD.
This surely marks a new chapter in the career of an artist who has captivated us for 25 years, selling in excess of 20 million records and winning fervent support.
It is an album of songs (co-written with her guitarist Pete Glenister) which, for the first time since she fled Yazoo in 1983, are worthy of her fabulously expressive voice.
As soon as that familiar bluesy voice joins the solitary guitar in the opening bars of "One More Time", the listener knows that they are hearing something unique. And indeed there is an epic quality to this beautifully crafted album that comes in at just under 40 minutes. It's a journey from the soaring orchestration of "One More Time" all the way to the quiet heartbreaking simplicity of "Smaller".
Many of the songs here, like "Fire" with its oboes, ponderous guitars and even more ponderous chorus, have "importance" written across them in foot-high capital letters. It takes huge authority to carry such material off, but that's just what Moyet packs.
The fact that this is an artist who has sold more than 25 million albums and been consistently hailed as one of the greatest voices of her generation makes her very normal self-exasperation all the more likeable.
And, with her engaging rant about musical theatre and its naff Americanisms done, Moyet gets down to tell what the album is really about: melody, crafted song and the "voyeuristic analysis of adult emotion, not felt any less keenly but with the realisation that things won't defeat you".
She describes the songs on "The Turn" about friends, family and herself as "voyeuristic".
They deconstruct the hopes and disappointments of long-term relationships against melodies that reflect her eclectic influences - her French father's love of Jacques Brel, her mother's affection for classical music and torch songs, her brother's fondness for hippy singers, her own punk leanings.
Violins slink across semi-tones, oboes yearn in mature resignation, jerky acoustic guitars take a stance, and, above it all, Moyet's distinctive voice demands attention.
Three of the songs come from the stage show "Smaller", in which Moyet appeared with Dawn French. The rest of the album merely seems like it comes from a show, the first three songs in particular putting the listener through the emotional wringer.
You get the tumultuous torch song "One More Time", followed by the wonderfully-orchestrated Dusty Springfield-like anthem "Anytime At All" and, perhaps best of all, the theatrical "The Man In The Wings".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In my top 10, May 26, 2008

By	John T. Apps "Aussie Jack" (Hurstville, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am currently constructing my Top 10 favourite Albums and this is absolutely one of them. As another reviewer has said listen to this album a few times it will get under your skin. Best album yet from one the greatest vocalists of our time. Other albums appearing in my top 10 are Wrecking Ball - Emmylou Harris, A Kick Inside - Kate Bush, Tapestry - Carol King, Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris, The Red Shoe - Kate Bush, The Way We Were - Barbra Sreisand, Superman - Barbra Streisand, Hometime -Alison Moyet. Do yourself a favour pair this album with her DVD One Blue Voice its a knock out.