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Jason Maloney reviews
No Angel (UK Edition)
Arista/Cheeky 
- Track listing :
1. Here With Me
2. Hunter
3. Don’t Think Of Me
4. My Lover’s Gone
5. All You Want
6. Thankyou
7. Honestly OK
8. Slide
9. Isobel
10. I’m No Angel
11. My Life
12. Take My Hand (Bonus Track) - Enhanced Video section:
1. Here With Me
2. Thankyou
The special UK-only edition of this CD has only just been released, but this album dates back almost two years… it was released in America during the early summer of 1999, where it has been a slow-burning success to the tune of 1 million copies sold.
Three months ago, before Eminem took one of her songs – Thank You – and used it as the basis for his chart-topping single Stan, about an obsessed fan, few people in Britain knew who Dido was. They might have heard her by several means, but putting a name to the voice (or songs) would have proven difficult. Now, of course, Dido is the name on most people’s lips, with No Angel currently enjoying a UK Top 10 residency.
The original version of No Angel was issued in Britian last October, and was effectively the same CD as the US release. 250,000 of these have already been bought in the UK, but the arrival of this new, enhanced disc with unique artwork and video CD-ROM material has propelled it to the top of the charts.
Anyway, enough of the statistics. What is it about this English/Irish singer-songwriter that has so captured everyone’s attention? The Eminem connection no doubt helped to raise her profile, but she was already doing very nicely across the pond before that. That same song (Thank You) was actually first used in the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow hit film Sliding Doors, while Here With Me has received useful exposure as the theme for the popular teen sci-fi series Roswell (formerly Roswell High).
Prior to launching her solo career, Dido was featured on the albums by her brother Rollo‘s band Faithless. The Hem Of His Garment, from their 2nd album Sunday 8PM, thrust Dido centre-stage, and highlighted her gently evocative voice that falls somewhere between Sarah McLachlan and Beth Orton. (DVDfever Ed: Here With Me reminds me a great deal of Judie Tzuke‘s Stay With Me Till Dawn).
Dido’s musical style is equally reminiscent of others, and while the 12 songs on No Angel are uniformly excellent, there is no real identity to the sound… as yet. A splash of Portishead here, a helping of The Corrs there, as well as the previously-mentioned McLachlan and Orton similarities.
The lyrics are personal, often candid, in typically singer-songwriter fashion. Dido doesn’t resort to affecting a seductively sweet vocal style, her voice is subtly alluring in a more natural manner, with a slightly yelping rasp at times which brings to mind The Cranberries‘ Dolores O’Riordan. She is as likely to appeal to women as she is to men, projecting a strong-but-sensitive persona that’s both accessible and dignified. This probably helped her cause in America, where such virtues are rewarded.
The new and the original album covers.
Standouts on the album are the debut UK single Here With Me – a towering, dramatic slice of ambient rock (if such a thing exists) that just gets better with every listen – and of course Thank You, also likely to see the light of day as a single in its own right sometime soon.
Elsewhere, a darker side of Dido is revealed on Isobel, I’m No Angel and the stoic noir-ballad My Life. These feature towards the end of the CD, and it’s common belief that the second half of No Angel is stronger than the first. It might well be, for Don’t Think Of Me and All You Want are commercial, but comparatively undistinguished soft-rock anthems, while Hunter and My Lover’s Gone are moody, yet slightly one-dimensional when set alongside the complex delights of later tracks on the album.
Timing is all in the music business. Dido has come to prominence during a period of notable mediocrity, with cyncially-marketed drivel for pre-teens suffocating the UK charts more comprehensively than ever. Also, January is traditionally one of the “easiest” months of the year for breaking an act, when the post-Christmas market is especially keen to lap up some fresh sounds and new names. In 2000, it was Moby and his all-conquering Play album. This year, on current evidence, it looks like being Dido.
There are many positive things about this personable, attractive and talented artist, and the way she is shunting the pop pap to the sidelines, even briefly, is one of them. No Angel might not be the most radical album of this, or any other, year… but it’s one of the most promising. And the best.
Review copyright © Jason Maloney, 2001. E-mail Jason Maloney
Check out Jason’s homepage: The Slipstream.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.