Island Records (label)
12 July 2010 (released)
30 August 2010
Lucinda Bell is not short of experience having toured and recorded with the Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright, Annie Lennox and Missy Elliott. She even survived a radio show with Fearne Cotton. Those experiences may explain the assurance and confidence that Ms Belle displays on her debut album.
The title track opens and immediately you’re sucked into the Belle Orchestra world. A sparse infectious beat, with touches of piano, guitar and various other instruments lobbed in. This is followed by Dodo Blues; a laid back bluesy number.
Keep on Looking – a duet - has a distinct Latin cafe ambience. Rose Marie & Bobby McGee is the story of a couple of bank robbers and the song is suitably boisterous. Northern Lights is little more than Ms Belle and her harp and is exquisite.
Unlucky in Love and These Broken Things are pleasant enough but drift past leaving little impression. More interesting is Jimmy Choo’s with the harp taking the lead. I’ll Get By and Right Here round off the album and have a much more contemporary MOR feel about them. In fact they probably wouldn’t be out of place on a Barry Manilow album, and that’s not intended to be derogatory.
Apart from the last two tracks the album is ostensibly, classic blues and jazz and at times has an oddly funereal ambience to it. Lucinda Belle’s excellent and versatile voice is very much to the fore - maybe overly so - in the mix. Also there is a tendency to over-egg and some of the songs sound cluttered, and over-produced.
However, those are relatively minor quibbles and all in all this is a solid album from an exciting artist who isn’t afraid to take risks and work outside of her comfort zone. That bodes very well for the future.
