i've already written about this song before on discogs but it came into my consciousness again. also wanted to get out all my comments on this and the retrosoul boom that happened when amy winehouse hit big. the original version was part of it and with this song it was blatant that they were scouting for an clone.
apart from amy there was of course adele, duffy and gabriella cilmi and if anyone wanted something more geniune they could have gone for the sharon jones or nicole willis and even alice russell. or even go for candi staton & mavis staples since they still release records. but anyhow, in retrospect duffy had the biggest shot of taking the crown from amy but then came her second lp.
it then dawned on people that she wasn't the real mccoy and what they were actually hearing was a third rate lulu. adele wasn't the clear choice either to get the top spot either, at least in my mind and i thought duffy would have overtaken winehouse. but adele managed to do something with her first single of the second album that duffy failed miserably with.
fact is that "well, well, well" and "rolling in the deep" tried to do the same thing by giving a new twist with the sound, much like winehouse's "rehab". problem was that "well, well, well" was annoying and then people finally realised, "hangon, duffy was horrible". i try to not go out of my way to slant the popular on this blog but i didn't get the hype with her "rockferry" lp, so i am happy that duffy is out the race.
ms. cilmi sounded very much like winehouse but was a few years younger and probably didn't do any drugs so she was an a&r's or record label's wet dream. but she didn't last long with this sound and they did it for one record, the most notable song being her first single "sweet about me".
it felt sort of genuine and it had the northern soul or motown sound in it's peripheral but it wasn't a hit right from the getgo. i first heard about it through the truth & soul blog because they did a remix that i think outdid the original and should have been the de facto original. the song did get it's push when rexona used it for their adverts when they used the bridge to good use.
the version i'm highlighting is matthew herbert's remix and it was the second version of the song i heard and i fell in love. yes, i did wonder why herbert would even take on this as someone with his integrity usually don't. i think he felt the slight bluesy feeling of the song and knew he could do something wonderful with it.
he rides the melancholic feel to the fullest and builds up a great track with the piano motif. he builds the track around the vocal and accentuates the shifts in mood. herbert creates a really good piece of music and it holds up so well years after it was released. only thing i'm annoyed about is that the end part isn't long since i like what he does with the bass after the vocal have ended
buy here (7digital)
one final thing, talking about adele is pointless since everything have been said already but apart from releasing an great second album, i do believe the reason where she is right now is because the competition either caved or passed away.
No comments:
Post a Comment