Charlotte Church has clocked up an excessive amount of media coverage over the last year. Sadly, none of this coverage has been about her latest album release, or a new music project she is embarking upon. It has all been about a relationship she has formed with a local Cardiff lad, who depending on the day of the week is a DJ/producer/general layabout. Why the media are so focused on rubbishing her is beyond me, and I said in my recent Daniel Bedingfield review, it infuriates me that our media love to build up new talent to the highest heights, and set expectations which are so hard to meet, and then take the greatest of pleasure watching them crash and burn. At the end of the day, Charlotte Church has an undoubted talent, but so do many other young singers.
'Prelude' is an 18 track greatest hits collection, featuring high points from her first four album releases, with the added bonus of some previously unreleased tracks, it was one that I was sure would be far too bland and uninteresting to hold my attention for more than a millisecond. You see, I like music to make the blood pump through my veins and get the adrenalin rushing around my body, and Charlotte Church and her opera have never ranked in my top 100 to do this! It is an amazing feat that at the tender age of 17, she has amassed enough material to provide us with a greatest hits compilation, and initially I thought that there would be half of the tracks which would be instantly recognisable, but the other half would probably be sub standard. Was I right? Let's see......
Not surprisingly, a firm favourite, and dependable track is the opener. 'Pie Jesu (From Requiem)' was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and is 3 and a half minutes of blissful tranquil music. This is the kind of music I have come to appreciate as I have become older, and although I still cannot bring myself to listen to opera as a rule, I think that this more mainstream approach is the reason Charlotte Church has gained the fan base that she has. The musical arrangement sits comfortably alongside the vocals adding the dreamy quality that works so well alongside the beautiful composition.
'My Lagan Love' is a track that was unknown to me before listening to this CD. The harp playing is divine on this track which leans more towards folk than the classical tracks that we have come to expect. It was a song which featured on her first album, and in a recent interview, she said that it is one of the tracks that she loves to perform on stage, and it is about love which Charlotte is now experiencing on a more adult level. 'In Trutina' is a short track in comparison to others on the album and is featured in Carmina Burana, which means that Charlotte is right back into the familiar territory of classical opera. Her voice seems to be lower on this track, and it does not work as well.
'Panis Angelicus' has a Celtic feel to it, and it is one of the only tracks where I felt that Charlotte's voice was overpowered by the music. Who has never heard of 'Amazing Grace'? Very few of you I bet, and this classical version is a very strong one which featured on her debut album. 'Just Wave Hello' is the Ford Global Anthem, and it is a track where the new maturity shows in Charlotte's voice, and it is a very big song which I am sure will sound even more impressive when it is performed on stage to an adoring crowd of fans, as there are sections of this song which are really uplifting.
'La Pastorella (Soirees Musicales)' is again a classical operatic piece. It has a real light and airy feel to it which compliments the very strong vocal performance. 'She Moved Through The Fair' is a beautiful Irish ballad. Every note soothes the senses and then uplifts them. I am starting to really get into this, and although my roots will always be in rock music, I think this is a natural alternative. Moving along to another world wide famous song with 'Ave Maria'. It is a song which converys so much emotion that you cannot fail to be touched by it.Here Charlotte's voice sounds like it belongs to a woman at least twice her age.
'Dream A Dream' is a duet with Billy Gilman who is also a soprano from what I can hear. The opening fifteen seconds of this track are so different from anything else on the album that the listener must be intrigued as to what will follow. The words are so amazing in the mood that they create. This track has definite roots in classical opera, but it also have a real up to date feel to it, and it is my favourite track on the CD, as it has everything, great lyrics, powerful vocals, and makes me feel uplifted each time I listen to it.
'The Flower Duet' is from the 'Enchantment' album, and is the track which is used on a building society (I think) advert on television at the moment. A magnificent performance, and it is a close runner up for best track on the album. 'Habanera' was composed by Bizet, and I have heard it before so I know that it is featured in a famous opera, although I am now going to have to find out which one it is. This track has a Mediterranean/Latin edge to it, and as it is such a well worn composition, Charlotte was never going to go wrong by including it here.
'The Prayer' is another duet, this time with an up and coming artist by the name of Josh Groban. In the present climate of a possible war, this is such an apt song, as it is all about wishing for a world that was full of peace instead of hate and conflict. This time last year, the film 'A Beautiful Mind' starring Russell Crowe was the talk of Tinseltown, and received a number of Academy Awards. Charlotte's track 'All Love Can Be' featured on the soundtrack to that film. It is a song which is about the kind of love that most people search for and never manage to get close to.
'It's The Heart That Matters Most' is the first of the brand new previously unreleased tracks. As the title suggests it is a love song, and a huge shift in mood and genre. This is the most mainstream ballad that I have heard Charlotte sing, and it is as close to pop music as you are going to find on this album, but for me there is too much of The Celine Dion school of ballads in this track.
'Tantum Ergo' by Gabriel Faure is firmly back into the classical pigeonhole where Charlotte has made her name, but has become increasingly vocal about the fact that it is not where she feels most comfortable anymore, and as if to prove that she is willing to take on challenges, she attempts the mammoth Paul Simon composition 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. Career suicide for many, but not for Charlotte. She reworks the track and the end result is a strong track which I enjoyed as much as the original, which happens to be one of my favourite tracks.
The final track on the CD is 'Sancta Maria' and it ends the album with a strong classical track about Mary. Not really my cup of tea, but I am so chilled and in another place mentally that nothing can spoil my buzz as they say. Many times I have heard Charlotte's voice described as angelic, and I have to agree that this is true. Her voice never seems strained and each note is produced perfectly and with an amazing clarity, and just when you think that she is attempting somthing too ambitious for her age and experience, she comes up trumps again and again. If, like me you have not experiences the music of Charlotte Church, then this is probably the best place to start.
The cover of the CD shows a more mature, and very pretty Charlotte Church. I hope that she experiments with many different types of music as she wishes, but then decides to return to what she is best at, and that is classical and folk orientated music. A big thumbs up from me.....and no I am not going soft...Foo Fighters still rock, but so does Charlotte!
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Outstanding
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Satisfactory
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