Back To Bedlam - James Blunt

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great vocals, great musicians .
Disadvantages:	Not everyone enjoys his music .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This album review I have been wanting to do for awhile but I have struggled to write the final opinion on it, I've now practised with other albums I have in my collection so here it is.

Who is James Blunt?

James Blunt is a singer songwriter, who served in the British Army for 4 years of his life. He came out of the army and within 6 months he had signed a record deal.

In 2004, this album was released in the UK and his single You're Beautiful shocked everyone, and became one of the biggest selling singles of all time. This song was around for weeks and months and enjoyed by most people.

James has a very high falsetto voice, which for some if the downfall for James, he's not everyone's taste and a lot of people slander him and his voice, however the same amout of people love him and his voice. I myself think, well you should read the review to find out what I think:

The Album- Track List

Track 1- High

This is a great start to a great album. Like I said in the title of this review, you do either hate this man's voice and him or love his voice and him.

This is a very good opening track. It shows off his voice magically and the lyrics are very nice as well. It's a very upbeat song which talks about his hometown and the landscape. The guitar sounds amazing as do the drums alongside James's amazing and strong voice. James is very well known for having a very high falsetto voice, which goes into why you either hate him or love him.

I love his music and his voice, and think it's perfect for the songs he writes.

This track sets off the tone for the rest of the album, it's not the best track on the album, but it is certainly memorable. A very good powerful track, sung amazingly by James Blunt. A great addition to the album.

Memorable Lyrics: "Will you be my shoulder, when I'm gray and older, promise me tomorrow starts with you"

Rating: 8/10 (A beautiful song, which really shows of James' voice amazingly well)

Track 2- You're Beautiful

This track is James' most famous to date, it wasn't the first off the album to be released but it's the one where people took notice. This track was in the number one spot for just over 5 weeks and it's such a beautiful song.

The song is about James seeing an ex in the subway and she's with another man and realises that he'll never be with her. This song is very romantic and pulls at all the right strings and you can really see why it made him so famous.

Blunt sings along with just an acoustic guitar and it works perfectly against his voice. Such an amazing bit of music. This song is very emotional as the lyrics are so open and so honest, which is why I love James Blunt.

His lyrics are perfect, he puts every ounce of emotion he has into them.

This whole album when I listen to it always brings me back to going down to France on a bus on my birthday with all of my friends and I had this song on repeat.

I brought the album a day before, just because of this song. It's a beautiful song, and what makes it has to be Blunt's amazing lyrics and of course his powerful and emotion filled voice. This song is very over played though and I know a lot of people got sick of it after a while, I myself didn't.

Memorable Lyrics: "My life is brilliant.My love is pure.I saw an angel.Of that I'm sure.She smiled at me on the subway.She was with another man.But I won't lose no sleep on that,'Cause I've got a plan.You're beautiful. You're beautiful.You're beautiful, it's true.I saw your face in a crowded place,And I don't know what to do,'Cause I'll never be with you."

Rating: 10/10 (One of the strongest tracks on the album, the song is the reason this album managed to sell millions and rightfully so)

Track 3- Wiseman

I always find myself singing along to this one, a very catchy tune. His voice and the drums/guitar go so well together. James Blunt is very powerful in this song and it all fits together perfectly, musically it's beautiful, the people who play the instruments are amazing and they manage to accentuate James Blunt's voice not over power him.

This is a great feat. The lyrics in this track are very poignant and powerful and it makes it defiantly one of the best tracks on the album.

A very powerful song, which will have you singing along for days. A great addition to the album and it flows really well and fits perfectly after You're Beautiful. Amazing production.

Memorable Lyrics: "Look whose alone now, it's not me, it's not me, got to ask yourself the question, where are you now?"

Rating: 8/10 (A beautiful and catchy tune filled with some very powerful lyrics)

Track 4- Goodbye My Lover

I'm very sorry for the rating, but this song is my favourite of all time. So amazing. James Blunt has really outdone himself here. The instruments used is just his amazing falsetto voice and a piano. A very simple song, but it's so powerful and so beautiful, I could listen to it for days.

The verse is very slow and he's singing along with the piano and then it gets to the bridge which gets a bit faster, these are my favourite lyrics here as well, the chorus goes slow again and really just makes the song so powerful and so amazing. The song is so emotional and so personal, James Blunt puts everything into it. It almost gives you goosebumps when you listen to it, the piano just adds to the emotion.

His voice is just amazing and this song is just so well put together that it deserves the rate I have given it. He seems to put his heart and soul into this song which is also why I've given it such a high rate, the most beautiful track on the album, his voice is very high in this song, but it works so well and brings more emotion to the song. There is a little addition of the violin, as well which just gives it that extra echo and the goosebumps come a lot more.

There is one thing I don't like, for the video they hired the most emotionless and awful actress in the world. Any one remember Mischa Barton aka Marissa from the OC. She was just as bad in the video, but who cares, the song is still amazing. Some of the best lyrics on the whole album are in one 20 second piece of music. See below. This song means a lot to me, I could listen to it for days, but if I'm in a depressed mood, it can reduce me to tears.

Memorable Lyrics: "You've touched my heart, You've touched my soul, You've changed my life and all my goals, Love is blind, That I knew it, my heart was blinded by, I've kissed your lips and held your head, shared your dreams and shared your bed, I know you well, I know your smell, I've been addicted to you"

Rating 11/10 (I know it's a stupid rate, but this is what I feel this song deserves. You're Beautiful is an amazing track on the album and deserves 10/10 but this track is so much better, and so more powerful so I had to give it higher)

Track 5- Tears & Rain

One of the weaker ones on the album, especially compared to the first four tracks, however Blunt's voice is very powerful in this one. Instrumentally the track is very powerful and works so well with Blunt's voice which is very powerful. The lyrics are amazing as well, and work so well with his voice, an amazing track, but not in the same calibre as you're Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover.

Memorable Lyrics: "guess it's time I run far, far away; find comfort in pain,All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray.I've heard what they say, but I'm not here for trouble.It's more than just words: it's just tears and rain."

Rating: 7/10 (A very nice track, not the best on the album, but not the weakest)

Track 6- Out Of My Mind

The start to this sounds, like a load of lights being turned on. Very powerful start. One of the best on the album, his voice is so powerful. The vocals on this album work so well with the lyrics and he delivers them amazingly.

I'm not too keen on the chorus, I love the verse and that is what makes the track, however the chorus is unforgettable and nothing special. The guitar is used brilliantly with this track and so are the drums. The drum beat really makes the verse what it is, a brilliantly and memorable part of the song. Very powerful and very lyrically and vocally brilliant.

Memorable Lyrics: "Judging by the look on the organ-grinder,He'll judge me by the fact that my face don't fit.It's touching that the monkey sits on my shoulder.He's waiting for the day when he gets me,But I don't need no alibi - I'm a puppet on a string.I just need this stage to be seen.We all need a pantomime to remind us what is real.Hold my eye and know what it means."

Rating: 8/10 (A amazing track, not the best, but still very powerful)

Track 7- So Long Jimmy

In this track he's saying goodbye to someone, the beat is great in this track, but I don't think it's the most powerful track on the album vocally or instrumentally.

I think it's probably the weakest on the album so far, a great track, but I usually skip this one, or don't pay much attention to it. It's a nice track, but the lyrics aren't as amazing as other tracks and there's no real emotional feeling behind his voice, he sounds like he's just there to sing and that's it.

He doesn't put as much soul behind it as he does Goodbye My Lover. A nice track however and a good addition to the album.

Memorable Lyrics: "I'm just so relieved that it's over.We were hanging out going nowhere,Digging how the guitar goes,In a song that no one knows.Did you burn that bridge yourself,Or did the voodoo magic help?"

Rating: 6/10 (Probably the weakest on the album, not the best lyrics, vocals or instrumentals)

Track 8- Billy

One of the most memorable and emotional tracks on the album. This is more of a story kind of album, it's not about James, it's about a guy called Billy who cheats on his girl and he's now left alone with nothing.

The lyrics are great and the track is very upbeat and memorable track. One of the ones you will remember off the album, it's a very funky beat and his voice is very powerful, rising above the instruments and delivering the lyrics with every ounce of emotion he has in him. A brilliant track and one you should check out.

Memorable Lyrics: "Tomorrow comes. Sorrow becomes his soul mate. The damage is done. The prodigal son is too late. Old doors are closed but he's always open, To relive time in his mind. Oh Billy."

Rating: 8/10 (Another strong track from James, beautiful vocals and instruments)

Track 9- Cry

This track is about many things, loyalty and friendship mainly. Such a beautiful track and Blunt manages to squeeze every ounce of emotion he can into every lyric.

Probably the most emotion filled song behind Goodbye My Lover. This song is very poignant as it's about friends and how you use friends to cry onto. A very powerful track with some amazing and emotion filled lyrics.

The instrumental parts in the song are just as amazing as the lyrics and his voice, they add to the song and manage to bring goosebumps to your skin. A beautiful track, and I don't think any one can help but not adore this track, it's such a powerful song for all of us, as it is about friendship and how we always end up crying on their shoulders.

This is a unique track as the album is about relationships and as are a lot of tracks out there at the moment, you don't see many about friendships and this is a great and added difference to that. Amazing.

Memorable Lyrics: "I have seen peace. I have seen pain,Resting on the shoulders of your name.Do you see the truth through all their lies?
Do you see the world through troubled eyes?And if you want to talk about it anymore,Lie here on the floor and cry on my shoulder,I'm a friend."

Rating: 9/10 (A beautiful track, very powerful and emotional)

Track 10- No Bravery

My second favourite track on the time. Everyone knows a little about James Blunt, he was a solider in Kosovo and none of the tracks so far have really shown what it must have been like, like I expected. However I was shocked when I heard this track. Probably even rivalling Goodbye My Lover in my favourite track of the album. Not quite there though.

Blunt is very powerful in this track, it's a very dark song, as he is talking about war and the people that are suffering with war, death and destruction. The piano at the start just shows you how moving and emotional it's going to be. I think vocally this is his best, and lyrically just behind Goodbye My Lover. Such a beautiful and moving track.

This is the final song in a long line of powerful and moving tracks, but this is the epitomy of James Blunt, powerful, strong vocals, brilliant production, and amazing use of instruments as well. Most of the song is just James and a piano, however in the background you here base drums and even symbols at points. What did make it less appealing was James didn't write this track on his own, this is why I've given it the low rate, because you would have thought this song at least he would have written as it was his experience. The only bad thing I have to say about the song is that.

This is the song you really feel chills from as it is musically brilliant, his voice is showered with pain and emotion and in every syllable he delivers you can hear this. Despite the fact it's co-written you can really feel James' input behind it. A beautiful track, very emotional and chilling.

Memorable Lyrics: "There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.
Old men kneel to accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate.
Says, he has been here.
And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness."

Rating: 10/10 (One of the best on the album, so powerful, so emotional, so beautifully put together. A brilliant piece of music and a joy to listen to)

My Opinion

I know recently I've done quite a few music reviews and this is because of this album. I've had this review written for a while, but have never been able to write the opinion for it for some reason. I've always re-read it and deleted it, so I decided to go through all of my other CD's, learn my way around writing music reviews and see what people want, see why they may not be as well rated, this is why I usually ask a few members what I could do to make it better so I can make a brilliant album review at the end. I'm now running out of CD's so I thought I'd finally post this one.

This album can be explained in one word and one word only, impressive. 10 tracks and none of them make you want to tear your hair out, none of them feel out of place, none of them feel like filler tracks. There are only 10 tracks on the album, which is a lot less than what I've been reviewing lately, a lot of the albums I review are at least over 15 tracks, however you don't feel like you've lost anything from there being quite a small number of tracks.

I usually have the album on when I have to tidy my room, so usually once a month (lol) and it's such an easy listening album that you can have the whole album on, there are no horrible tracks, all tracks are sung powerful by James and each track has some great musicians playing along which just add to the amazing tracks and never deter your ears away from James, they just add to the song.

The production of the songs is the important part of this album in my opinion, I know James didn't write all of the songs, but he still co-wrote them. This album came out around the end of 2004, but I didn't buy the album until the next year in July but it has been in and out of my CD player ever since. It's such an emotional album which is so well put together, they seem to know where the tracks needed to be acoustic and which tracks were better preformed with lots of instruments.

Some of the songs, especially my favourite Goodbye My Lover & You're Beautiful have been overplayed and this is why a lot of people are either against the album as I think at one point, we were all like, if we hear You're Beautiful once more, we'll call up the radio station and complain. It's a song that's gorgeous to listen to, but if you hear it over and over again, it does get quite annoying.

Some of what this album is obviously about is James's past relationships, however he manages to change the songs and not just make them about his relationships, especially in the last two songs.
In cry it's about friendships which is very important to us, but is not as common for singers to sing about as relationships. James managed to pull this off amazingly and produced a beautiful piece of music, which is very effective.

No Bravery however is taken from his time serving as a soldier in the British Army and without a doubt it's one of the most powerful songs on the album. The lyrics, co written by James mean a lot and make you sit up and listen. Only a very good artist and lyricist can do this, and James is both.

This is James's first album, however not his last. He has recently produced his second album All The Lost Souls which isn't even in my collection. I borrowed it from a friend and was greatly disappointing. The lyrics weren't as good, as weren't the vocal prefomance from himself. This was a great shame as this album, Back To Bedlam is just pure brilliance. There are no songs that are painful to listen to, all of them have everything a good album should have.

A pretty fantastic album and well worth buying.

The Voice

James has a very unique voice, one that you'll always know it's him singing a song. His voice will not appeal to everyone, his voice was actually crowned the most annoying voice of the year or something as I heard him say in an interview somewhere, however I love it. It's so beautiful and goes so well with each song he writes.

Especially the last track, he manages to put so much emotion behind it, his voice if possible get's better and more powerful and more emotion filled and works so well with the song. Brilliant.

The Music

This album uses a range of instruments, from piano on his slower pieces which bring out James's voice the best in my opinion, it gives the song a goosebump feel to the song, and really works alongside his voice. Especially in Goodbye My Lover. Beautiful.

He also uses guitar and drums a lot, which works very well especially in the more upbeat numbers fantastic.

Should You Buy The Album

Like I said in the album, a lot of people will not like James's voice or his music, however there are people who will adore this album. I would recommend buying the album wholeheartedly, his second album All The Lost Souls wasn't that brilliant, but this album is amazing.

Check out some of the links below on youtube to see if he's for you.

Anything Else?

Buy this album, if you haven't already. Please rate and comment, I love reading them. This work is my own, and no one else's.

Kirsty ©

Youtube Links

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1hK-xWNhxYA : Goodbye My Lover
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fox-ja7YDSw : You're Beautiful
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=udueUcYtUhw : No Bravery