Gospel Spirit, The - Loretta Lynn

Advantages: Some lovely songs, Leona has a great voice
Disadvantages: Full of ballads, no up-tempo numbers

...Unbelievably, it has been a whole year since the voice that is Leona Lewis came to our attention courtesy of Simon Cowell's reality TV show, The X Factor. For me, Leona didn't really stand out until the Boot-camp stages, where I realised that the girl really could sing. Her first few live shows were amazing, and Leona cruised to the final, trampling all over runner up Ray Quinn. After winning the show, Leona shot to number one with her debut single, and then seemed to disappear into oblivion after that. She resurfaced again around October of 2007, announcing that her debut album was about to make its way onto our shelves, together with a new single. So 10 months later....was Spirit worth the wait? Sadly, the cover didn't stand out as anything amazing, just a facial shot of Leona, which sort of reminds me of the cover of Britney Spears... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Elvis Presley singing some wonderful music
Disadvantages: The tracks have been released and re-released many times over the years

...People often recall Elvis Presley as the early rock 'n' roller in the mid-1950s, or the less rocking star of some (sometimes) decidedly dodgy movies from the 1960s, or as the Las Vegas singer of the 1970s. One style of music which straddles all of these time periods though is gospel. Elvis was always a great lover of gospel music, and often spent hours singing this type of music with his backing singers in his own private time. Elvis' record company, BMG, have spent the last 29 years (since his death) repackaging his recorded material, and still release many CDs each year, collecting together already released material and unreleased material from the archives (this unreleased music is often distributed through their specialist Elvis label FTD - short for 'Follow That Dream' which was the title of one of Elvis' movies from the 1960s... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: This gospel group are outstanding!!
Disadvantages: None

...The Sounds of Blackness, was created in 1971, as a traditional American Gospel choir, but their reputation for contempary gospel has made them a popular group to which many a main stream artist would like to work with. The group is made up of a 50 strong talented vocalists, with the lead artist (Anne Nesby) holding the choir in good esteem. I first stumbled across the Sounds of Blackness on the radio when I heard their singles "Optimistic" and "Pressure (Part 2)". I loved it so much that I rang the radio station to ask for the name of the album. The album was worth every penny. The music is so uplifting and inspiring and touches and celebrates the different genres of African, Jazz and Gospel music. The artistes celebrate the origins of black music as well as it's influences on the world music scene.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful