Lily Allen - Alright Still > Reviews > Beautiful Inside And Out

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	A unique musical style in un - unique times
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have been a little annoyed of late with the music scene, lots of crap rap and R & B trash dominates our charts; and I'm convinced a large proportion of the buying population are buying to keep in with some clique. From this abominable pile of trash comes Lily Allen peddling merrily away on her bike. At first the prospect of the annoying Keith Allen's daughter singing turned me cold, I had visions of a singing Chav concerned with take away's and booze. However a fleeting glimpse of Lily on Channel Fours Transmission (music show) changed that view.
Lily Allen is a beautiful breezy change from the current music scene, and in ways a opportunity to return to the musical styling's of the 80's.

Track Listings

Smile
'Knock Em Out
LDN (London)
Everything's Just Wonderful
Not Big
Friday Night
Shame For You
Littlest Things
Take What You Take
Friend Of Mine
Alfie

Listening to Lily Allen I am reminded of Eastenders, I'm sure familiar viewers of the show will remember the 80's pop and reggae sounds coming from Winston's music stall. While Lily Allen has a style all of her own you cannot help but draw comparisons on both Madness and UB40. Even Lily's most sombre tracks have a fantastic and vibrant charm about them. There is certainly a strong Jamaican feel to her music, a popular sound I associate strongly with London in the early 80's.

The wonder of Lily Allen is that you don't need to keep listening to her music to try and understand the "hidden" statement inside. Lily Allen sings what she means there is no need for analysis. Better still she sings about things that we can relate too, we have all had times when we feel betrayed by a love one and get a buzz of joy when we discover something a bit grotty has happened to them this is the focus of her first released song from the album Smile.
LDN or London is a great summer sounding song sampling classic 60's and 70's Caribbean sounds; with this song Lily tells you about the wonders of London, but hidden in these beautiful images as a nasty truth moment. A view I share is that when the sun is up ands the weather is great there can be nothing nicer than being in London, the mix of sounds and cultures are more unique than any other British city.
Littlest Things focuses on all those quirky little things you always remember about the first days of dating someone new, most importantly it asks if things once more settled can return to those first days. A lovely touch about this track is the wonderful opening that tricks you into believing your going to hear another song.
Not Big is as it sounds a knock at peoples shortcomings in more than one department, if you get my drift!

I could sit and diagnose the elements of each song, but I'll be destroying the real beauty of Lily Allen's music and that's in your own personal self discovery of her work. Needless to say I highly applaud Lily Allen she is a fantastic breath of fresh air, a totally inspirational artist and one that still has her feet planted firmly on the ground. Better still this album has no filler tracks each one stands up alone and has the ability to receive individual release.

As if a testament to my statement Lily Allen has a myspace page which she visits and updates herself regularly and if you send her a message she will most certainly reply within a timeframe (don't expect an immediate response) Lily makes a point of answering as many legitimate messages as possible.

Lily Allen - Alright Still is available from Amazon priced just £7.99 and is possibly one of my best musical purchases in many years.