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Elly Roberts reviews
Beehive Records
- Released: October 2008
- Rating: 10/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Voice of the Beehive returns .theme thing.
Girls get your nail varnish out. Guys get your winkle pickers on and forgetsad Amy.
Get stuck into the real thing The High Priestess of Hairspray or Neasden QueenOf Soul Mari Wilson who bounces back with 10 sparkly retro-infused pop classics.With a title like Emotional Glamour, youd expect it to be all furand no knickers. Not so.
The airwaves have been deprived of Wilsons magical touch of pop for too long.This album evolved from her stage concept show The Love Thing currently being developed.As always, songs are a combination of melody, infectiousness, and emotional strainco-written with long-time creative side-kick Adrian York.
Long before Winehouse and Allen found their 60s mojo, Wilson was embellishingthe halcyon days of universal pop. Things aint changed much, though the pairhave masterfully brought 21st century twists to their writing. Both have astrong and genuine feel for the period, reflected in their production skillsand finely honed ears.
Amongst a bit of melancholy, there are some whopping dollops of joy which beginswith a huge nod to Phil Spector-ish styled groove Have You Got What It Takes.Your feet are tapping the beat before you know it, and the doo woos set yousinging too to 60s dance The Swim. Theres a similar dance beat to The It Girl,a song that refers to a certain model cum pop wannabe. The Loneliest Road couldbe an Abba song, it isnt of course, though you cant help feeling hit musicalMama Mias had some influence, nevertheless its a great song. Killing Time isthe tale of a suspicious wife, who spots an unfamiliar number on the phone bill,while waiting for her squeeze to return her futile endless calls.
Then the sunnysaccharine pop returns with harmony fuelled Hits And Misses, aided by plenty ofLa La Las. The twist I mentioned earlier is found on a virtually discofiedOnly Human, which if remixed, could be a monster, though its great as it is,whereas Movin In is a tender ballad with a Spector production once more.If youre looking for a power ballad, then look no further than more wall ofsound stylings a la Ronettes Me And My Baby.
Right For You has shades of Latino swings and mood with some dazzlingly sharpproduction by Wilson and York. If any tracks sums the direct 60s influence of thisalbum is the whopping string and brass arrangement of the (1947) hit by CubanOsvaldo Farres, Quizas, Quizas, Quizas Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps to you andI, with Wilson bringing it bang up to date.
If youre going to make a comeback, this is the way to do it.
File under: Sumptuously delicious.
Weblinks:mariwilson.co.uk /myspace/com.mariwilson
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Have You Got What It Takes
2. The It Girl
3. The Loneliest Road
4. Killing Time
5. Hits And Misses
6. Only Human
7. Movin In
8. Me And My Baby
9. Right For You
10. Forever YoungView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.