Songs For You, Truths For Me

Product Details

So he's the acoustic-troubadour-James that isn't James Blunt. He's the other one--the one that looks a little like Chris Martin from a distance and who with those two vague affiliations was surely always pre-destined to sell an awful lot of records, even if he was equally condemned to relative anonymity by turning up too late to claim credit for his own image. And if he failed on debut album Undiscovered to distinguish himself all that much from The Other James, particularly with fluid lighter-waving singles "You Give Me Something" and "Wonderful World", then follow-up album Songs for You, Truths for Me is out to redress that. The underlying soul heritage that served as a reference point on Undiscovered but never really pushed to the fore is much more prominent, seen especially as the album blasts opens with groaning, piano-spanking, brass-heavy, Hammond-tinged "The Only Night", something like The Counting Crows do The Commitments, with unmistakable similarities to Aretha Franklin and George Michael's 1987 blockbuster hit "I Knew You Were Waiting". It's the kind of thing you can imagine him winning a Brit Award with, probably with a collaborative performance to boot. "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You" takes those influences to the lounge, "Precious Love" is Otis Redding via Ray LaMontagne, and the Nelly Furtado-featuring "Broken Strings" is a breezy, stirring pop song. Even when he falls back on his debut's established strengths, this is a more than adequate showcase for his powerful voice. --James Berry