Spirit (Deluxe Edition/+DVD) - Leona Lewis

...record her debut album Spirit. Spirit was released in the United Kingdom in November 2007. The album did really well and reached number one in several countries , including the United Kingdom , America , Australia and Germany. A couple of months later , it is announced that Leona will re-release Spirit with a couple of new songs. This is the album that I will now review.

When I heard that Leona Lewis was releasing a 'newer' version ...
...borrow it.

Spirit : The Deluxe Edition was released in the United Kingdom on 17th November 2008. There are nineteen tracks on the album (five songs more than on the original CD). The added singles include : 'Forgive Me' , ' Misses Glasses' , ',Run' ,'Forgiveness' and 'You Bring Me Down'. I will now give a description of some of the tracks on the album. (For those of you who would like to know more about the original 'Spirit' album ... more

I''m sure you've heard of the name Leona Lewis (if you havn't , I can only imagine that you have been stranded on a desert island with no access to the music charts , television or the internet). If this is the case then I will tell you exactly who this Leona Lewis is.

Leona Louise Lewis was born on April 3rd 1985 in Hackney , London to parents Joe and Maria. She has two brothers , one older and one younger than her. Leona auditioned for the British talent show The X Factor in 2006 , which she went on to win. After The X Factor , she 'vanished' for a about ten months , to record her debut album Spirit. Spirit was released in the United Kingdom in November 2007. The album did really well and reached number one in several countries , including the United Kingdom , America , Australia and Germany. A couple of months later , it is announced that Leona will re-release Spirit with a couple of new songs. This is the album that I will now review.

When I heard that Leona Lewis was releasing a 'newer' version of her number one album Spirit , I was curious. I already had a copy of the original version and was very pleased with it. My immediate thought when I heard about the 'deluxe' version was : 'what an easy way to make money out of the fans'. I decided , as much as I love Leona , I wasn't going to put more money into her pocket by purchasing something I already had with only one or two changes. So when my friend (who is also a massive fan of Leona) told me she had recently bought this album , I was desperate to know what all the fuss was about without parting with my hard earned cash , and so I asked her if I could borrow it.

Spirit : The Deluxe Edition was released in the United Kingdom on 17th November 2008. There are nineteen tracks on the album (five songs more than on the original CD). The added singles include : 'Forgive Me' , ' Misses Glasses' , ',Run' ,'Forgiveness' and 'You Bring Me Down'. I will now give a description of some of the tracks on the album. (For those of you who would like to know more about the original 'Spirit' album , please check out my review on this CD)

* Bleeding Love *
This was Leona's second single and first single from this album. The single was received very well by the public and stayed at number one in the UK singles chart for several weeks! It's like an upbeat ballad if you get what I mean. I like this song , however no offence to Leona , I think her vocals sound a bit "moany" on this track. I give this song an 8/10

* Better In Time *
This is one of my favourite songs on the album. It has a strong beat along with the sound of the piano. This song is great for those who have just split up with their boyfriend/girlfriend.

* Footprints in the sand *
This is a beautiful ballad. Leona sings along well with the simple chords of a piano. Her voice is rich and powerful. Drums come in on the chorus. It's the type of song you can just sit down and relax to. There is a choir in the background , which sounds great with Leona. The song is quite emotional.

* Take A Bow *
Beginning reminds me slightly of Destiny's Child Survivor. This song has a strong beat. It has some high notes in it that Leona manages to reaches no problem. The song slows down on the third chorus and the beat sounds quieter and then the song speeds up again.

* I will Be *
Starts off with Leona singing along to a piano. Drums come in on the second verse. The third chorus reminds me of a kelly Clarkson song.

* Homeless *
I think this song is similar to Christina Aguilera's "Hurt" due to the piano and orchestral music. You could imagine Leona sitting down by a piano singing this. There is something emotional about this song. It's a simple yet effective tune.

* Run *
This is a cover version of Snow Patrols Run. I loved the original version and so when I heard Leona was going to do a version , I was a bit worried that she'd ruin the success of the original , although now I absolutely love this dramatic version , and now listening to the original sounds 'boring' now. This song is extremely emotional to listen to. I find the first verse takes a while to 'get going' but as the song goes on , it gets better and better , I love the dramatic ending it has.

* Forgive Me *
This is a bouncy upbeat track. It's nice to hear Leona with a 'lively track instead of the usual emotional ballads she sends us. The chorus is incredibly catchy. The lyrics don't seem like something Leona would say 'If his love don't past the test / I gotta get it from somewhere else!'. A great song!

* Forgiveness *
This songs sounds a lot like a Christina Aguilera song. She even sounds like her a bit in some places. This song is too repetitive for my liking.

* You Bring Me Down *
I love this song before. It's so catchy and full of attitude. I think this song really sounds Leona's voice.

* Misses Glasses *
Not really a fan of this song, I don't feel it reaches it's peak.

This Version also includes a DVD featuring the music videos to
Bleeding Love - UK Version
Bleeding Love - US Version
Better In Time
Footprints In The Sand
Forgive Me
A Moment Like This
Forgive Me - Making The Video

* My Overall Opinion *

First of all , I think Spirit is one of the best albums out there at the moment. The album contains a mixture of ballads and songs you can dance to. It's an album you can listen to when getting ready for a night out , for chilling out , or to have playing along in the car. Her vocals are rich and powerful ; She is just amazing to listen to , and to think that she is so young. She is like a younger Whitney Houston. This album is great for people of all ages , up-beat tracks for teens and a few ballads for adults ; there's something for everyone on here.I give this album 9/10. Us Britons should be proud of our 'Very Own Whitney Houston'. She's beautiful , talented and most probably very rich by now after the number of albums she has sold.

I loved the original Spirit album, however when I found out that the newer version included all of the songs from the original with only five new tracks , I was quite disappointed. Two of the 'new' songs were singles (run and forgive me) and so really , there isn't any 'suprises' ,because the buyer will most probably have already heard the songs before, As for the other three songs , apart from , 'You Bring Me Down' , I can't say I'm impressed with the other two songs. I'm sure they were just added as fillers , just so there was an excuse to re-release the album , which in my opinion is poor.

The album does include a DVD which includes Leona's music videos to her singles as well as the making-of her single 'forgive me'. I wasn't impressed with this feature , because it's nothing new , and not like I've not seen the videos before , because I have. I can switch on the music channels and watch her videos and if they're not on the television , I can simply watch them on you tube.com for free. As for the making of forgive me , I have already seen it on the television , and again if I wanted to see it , could easily watch it on you tube. By buying this album , you are paying for something you can have for free anyway.

Unless you desperately need this album to complete your collection , I wouldn't buy this if you already have the original version. I think you'd be much better off buying the original album and then buying the 'forgive me' and 'run' singles. As for the videos included , you can watch them on you tube.com
However if you don't have the original album , then this is a great buy , well worth your money. If I had bought this CD and didn't own the original then I would think it was excellent value , but because I already own the original , I can see that this is a trick of the record company's trying to get us to pay double the price for something most fans will probably already have! Not impressed!

Thanks For Reading 

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