No Angel (UK Edition) [ECD] - Dido

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	A wonderful album .
Disadvantages:	None .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The music business by it's very nature is a very fickle business, for everyone who gets their lucky break there are thousands of similarly talented artists that don't make it big. Much has been written about how Dido made it due to a lucky break at the hands of Eminem. With talent that oozes throw out this CD we perhaps owe a debt of gratitude to Eminem. No Angel was 18 months old when it finally got the acclaim it so rightly deserved by topping the album charts in February 2001

It's hard to really say which musical genre you would slot Dido into, some say folk, but it's not your archetype folk music sound, others would say pop, but again it's not a typical pop sound. My thought is a bit of a cop out it's Dido, it sounds like Dido and she's stamped her mark all over this album, not just by being a stunning singer but also proving she's not just another pretty face, who can sing. Dido is not another mass marketed pretty girl who's had a lucky break, she shows that this is HER album and not some record producers churned out album. Dido co wrote all the tracks on No Angel.

When you think of Dido, you do tend to think of melancholic chill out music. If you compare No Angel to her second album Life for Rent then No Angel is definitely a bit more up beat, but only just. With a similar theme of break up's, discovering yourself, realization and starting over the two albums do have alot in common. If I'm honest and had to pick a favourite then I would have to go with Life for Rent, but that is more for personal associations than for the content of either album as they are both truly great albums in their own right.

***Here with Me***

Here with Me draws you into the album, with it's transfixing synthesizer opener. With a rather upbeat sound that belies the poignancy of the lyrics, you feel Dido's pain as she tells all of wanting someone so badly that "I can’t breath Until you are resting here with me…” if you've ever wanted someone you can't have then you probably can relate to this song. When all you want is that person you'll do as Dido says " I can not be until you are resting here beside me....."

If you read the lyrics closely it suddenly hits you that this is not about a long term relationship breaking up, it's about a one night stand, but you get the impression that the one left behind in the still warm bed wanted so much more than a one night stand. That they'd hoped and prayed that just maybe the person they wanted so badly would not sneak out of their life at dawn leaving them feeling so empty and used, but yearning for their touch again. You feel the heart ache and despair when she wonders why she's still there not daring to move incase it spoils the memory of what was. Friends can not be called as she knows what they will say and she doesn't want that reality check just yet.

"Oh I am what I am,
I'll do what I want, but I can't hide
I won't go, I won't sleep,
I can't breathe, until you're resting here with me
I won't leave, I can't hide,
I cannot be, until you're resting here with me....

***Hunter***

Opening with a more upbeat sound than the proceeding track we soon find out that Dido is in a relationship that she'd rather not be in. Perhaps a wee bit scared to make the break from the man who so obviously put her on a pedestal. You get the impression very strongly that she wants him to end it with lines like "If you were a king up there on your throne, would you be wise enough to let me go?" She wants to find the inner strength to leave but it's that indecisive time she wants her freedom but you also get the impression she wants to have her freedom without hurting anyone least of all herself. Her very behavior of sneaking into the house hoping that he'll be asleep shows you that she wants out that as in her words "For the crown you placed on my head is getting heavy now" you are left with the feeling that if this track had carried on she would have found the strength to end it all, to find her freedom to take on the whole world alone again and become the hunter again.

"I want to be a hunter again
want to see the world alone again
to take a chance on life again
so let me go."

***Don't think of me***

Dido at perhaps her most soulful best. On first listening you get the impression that this is a song mourning a lost love tinged in places with regret for what has been lost "So you're with her and not with me, I hope she's pretty" As the track proceeds you get the definite hint of jealousy "Oh how lovely it must be when you see her sweet smile.... When she lies in your warm arms."

Very subtly this track changes with the simple line "I know she spreads sweet honey....In fact your best friend I heard spent last night with her". With this line you suddenly get the true meaning of this track. It's not about wanting a lost lover back, it's about pointing out that the man who dumped her has just made a big mistake. That the woman he is now with is going to mess him about. Dido points out many times don't think of me. When you first heard that you get the impression that she wants him to think of her, she wants him back but suddenly it hits you she's saying: Don't think of me, as in don't you dare think I'm having you back. Don't think of me as your stop gap, don't think of me as the person you can come running back to. "And it's too late and it's too bad, don't think of me." With this line she's telling him none to subtly that she's moved on and doesn't want him in her life any more. If you were to describe this song in four words then it would have to be: I told you so.

"When you see her sweet smile baby
Don't think of me
When she lays in your warm arms
Don't think of me"

***My Lover's Gone***

With a simple musical backing track, Dido sounds almost Enya like in the opening lines of this track. Perhaps not a track to listen to if you've recently lost someone you really care for. Dido charts the course of losing someone form the reality of waking up to find him gone to the gut wrenching fact that she wants him back so badly it hurts and finally the realization that he is not coming back that no longer will she feel his kiss on her lips, that he has moved on and that's what she most do now. As I said previously not one to dwell on if you've just lost someone you really care about.

"My lover's gone
no earthly ships will ever bring him home again
bring him home again"

***All You Want***

Have you ever wanted to scream at someone: I'm the best thing that has ever happened to you so wake up and realize that?That I'm not going any where without a fight? Dido in All You Want does it slightly more subtly, but that's the essence of this track. You can the feeling that she's willing to forgive her lover "it's been three years, one night apart, but in that night you tore my heart. If only you'd slept alone....." Dido is willing to forgive, not wanting to lose her lover, to even sacrifice her self respect and take him back. With lines like "Oh if you'd come home, I'll let you know that all you want and all you need is sitting here...." You can feel her pain as she realizes the one person she needs and wants is slipping away from her. Perhaps a more suitable title would have been is All I want.... Add a very simplistic instrumental and you have one stunning track tinged with regret, fear and longing.

"Oh if you'd come home,
I'd let you know that
All you want
Is right here in this room
All you want
And all you need
Is sitting here with you
All you want....."

***Thank You***

Finally the tempo becomes more upbeat and the contents a celebration of love and unlike the proceeding tracks not a lament to lose love. With it's catchy and familiar opener you immediately warm to this track. At first you do wonder if it's going to be another morose look at lost love with lines like: My teas gone cold, I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all...But very quickly you realize that Dido is singing about a love that is true, that is staying the course. Perhaps in it's first flushes, since she can think of nothing else but her lover, getting throw the day after a late night is easy as all she has to do is think of him.

"I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life......"

***Honestly Ok***

You know how someone says are you ok? And even if your not you reply Yeah I'm ok/fine. With honestly ok you get the distinct impression that Dido has just been asked that question and suddenly finds herself pouring out the fact she's far from ok in fact in places she sounds like a woman on the edge but has the honesty to actually not hide it from someone any more.It's not what is actually being said but what is implied that makes you think. A song tinged with if's, but's and only's. Not the easiest of tracks to listen to.

"I just want to feel safe in my own skin
I just want to be happy again
I just want to feel deep in my own world
but I'm so lonely I don't even want to be with myself anymore"

***Slide***

We've all made mistakes in life perhaps some have been bigger than others. With Slide Dido is cast in the role of friend who's trying to help another face up to the fact she's made a mistake and that we all make mistakes but life goes on.I" Slide on first listening gives you the impression it's her friends mistakes we are listening about but then you realize that Dido is pointing out her own mistakes in order to help a friend In a way to show that we all F*** up sometimes "It's all right to make mistakes you're only Human.Inside everybody's hiding something" Dido does as we have all probably done to help a friend from hurting points out that life goes on that we have to move on. Not the best track on the CD but not one I automatically hit the forward button on either.

"It's all right to make mistakes
you're only human
Inside everybody's hiding something"

***Isobel***

You know when you just try to work out what a song is about but fail? Isobel doesn't have complicated lyrics, what is does have is rather simplistic lyrics with perhaps hidden meanings. Isobel appears to be a song for a friend who has either disappeared or has committed suicide. Dido tell of events that lead you to suspect that something is a miss: "I Thought It Was Strange,When Your Car Was Found,By The Tree In Ennis,Where We Used To Hang Around" That life has so obviously been hard for Isobel :"Oh It's Been Such Hell,I Wish You Well" you get the distinct impression that Isobel has perhaps killed herself and this is what Dido suspects, but has not had her fears confirmed as yet.

"Dear Isobel
I hope you're well and what you've done is right
Oh it's been such hell
I wish you well and hope your safe tonight"

***I'm No Angel***

In I'm No Angel, you get the distinct impression that Dido is trying to tell someone she cares for them deeply but she can't change and importantly won't change, even if it means that they will maybe break up time and time again. Dido points out that you'll just have to take me as you find me and don't try to change me as it won't do any good.

"If you tell me that I can't, I will, I will, I'll try all night
and if I say I'm coming home, I'll probably be out all night"

***My Life***

My life looks at the realsation when you just know you can survive on your own and don't need the person you are with any more, that they had their chance and they blew it. with a simple backing track this is a very poignant look at the fact that as an individual we need to finally be true to ourselves.

"Oh the world has sat
in the palm of your hand
not that you'd see
and I'm tired and bored
of waiting for you
and all those things
you never do"

The CD also has a bonus track and two video tracks.

Dido might not be to everyone taste, but you can not help but admire the talent she has. No Angel is by no means a unique album in it's content, as Dido relies heavily on the usual love gone wrong that is used by countless other snger/song writers, but what is perhaps unique is her take of the subject. Even after 5 years this album sounds as fresh and unique as it did back in 1999 when it was first released.