James Blunt
All The Lost Souls

THE REVIEW

Like it or not, "You're Beautiful" has been (in terms of radio play and sales) one of the biggest pop hits of the last twenty years.

 The gentleman who sang it on the radio and TV a couple of years ago is named James Blunt. He is a singer-songwriter by profession and is twenty-seven years old. His debut album, from which the aforementioned song was taken, sold something like twelve and a half million copies worldwide and produced three other successful hits like "High," "Goodbye My Lover," and "Wisemen" (besides "No Bravery," released as a single only in France).

James is a former armored reconnaissance officer of the British Household Cavalry who served in Kosovo (he led thirty thousand troops in Pristina as the first officer); he also drew inspiration for the sounds and style of his pieces from this experience. Absolutely nothing original, let's be clear, but it must be said that his distinctive voice and the very personal view of his compositions make him immediately recognizable and appreciable; in essence, he offers an effective mix of pop-rock with folk overtones, favoring compositions with a sentimental and nostalgic bent. Certainly nothing cheerful, but the guy knows what he's doing, and with the new album "All The Lost Souls" (i.e., a case of "the title says it all"...) he hits the charts for the second time.

 But what about the quality of the tracks, you ask? It's easy to say: we're essentially at the level of the first work, with a few fewer "flashes of genius" (or luck, depending on how you see it...), but a bit more cohesion and, above all, courage (not much, though).

"1973", surprisingly (for Blunt's average) lively and smooth, is a good start ("Simona/You're getting older" is already a must, with related mockery of the presenter of "Quelli Che..." during Blunt's guest appearance a few weeks ago), and it is the only vaguely lively track in the entire work along with "I'll Take Everything", nicely decisive with its sudden piano touches, and "Give Me Some Love", with classically British pop stylings. For the rest, we are faced with a record predominantly of typical Blunt ballads, above all the lovely "Same Mistake", which lingers in the vicinity of Coldplay's "The Scientist," even replicating its typical "uh-uh-uh uh uh uh" chorus, although here it is distributed throughout the track (and not just at the end).

In some places, James even dares, as in the strange "I Really Want You", perhaps the most interesting track on the album, where the Anglo-Saxon singer-songwriter lays his voice over a rhythmic base defined by a muffled but insistent acoustic guitar, plus delicate and alternating piano touches. It almost seems like a piece produced by Nigel Godrich, but obviously, it is not. Tracks like "One Of The Brightest Stars", "Carry You Home", "Shine On", and "Annie" don't give any particular jolts, whereas "I Can't Hear The Music" energetically closes the album.

 "All The Lost Souls" is a perfectly average work, which does not explain the worldwide chart breakthrough of the English singer-songwriter but neither buries him at the level of any Jesse McCartney (ugh!).

 It would be interesting to discover what good James can offer by daring a little more. Thanking him, meanwhile, for not boring us with a new "You're Beautiful."