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Rating:
The international success of Miss KT Tunstall is thought-provoking.
Few British artists have received such recognition at their debut, while she, with just one album, the moderate (and nothing more) "Eye To The Telescope," made a big splash; six singles released, top ten in various countries (including Italy), more than four million copies sold in total (over a million in the U.S.A. - !!! -, a country traditionally distrustful of UK-made musicians due to vastly different musical cultures and trends).
The new album, titled "Drastic Fantastic," arrives just a year after the previous "KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza," and confirms Steve Osborne in the role of producer, as in the singer's two previous works. The "multicultural" singer (Chinese mother, Irish father).
Very often compared to Dido ("Dido? No!!! But she has a horrible voice!?" she exclaimed during an interview, only to retract later), it must be said that the influences and musical style are quite different from the "Life For Rent" singer-songwriter. KT, in fact, had made an impact at her debut mainly for a vague and intriguing folk attitude, which, alas, is almost completely lost in the new album. "Hold On," the lead single, throws dust in the eyes in this sense; the frenetic rhythm of the guitars and percussion is the usual of the "black horse and the cherry tree" (?), but it certainly does not fully represent the sounds of "Drastic Fantastic."
The music moves exclusively on rather bland and repetitive pop rock territories: listening to the first tracks of the album, "Little Favours" and "If Only," more than Dido, the "poppy" The Cranberries of the "Bury The Hatchet" era come to mind, or at least the latest solo O'Riordan. In "If Only" the inspiration is evident even on a vocal level. It goes better (and with more personality) with "White Bird," which shows good melodic sense and reasonable emotional depth. "Funnyman," on the other hand, is heavily (or rather, too much) influenced by Travis, a band with which Tunstall recently collaborated on the track "Under The Moonlight" (her resume also includes collaborations with Oi Va Voi and Annie Lennox). "Hopeless" is pure 90's britpop, and for the rest of the album, there is little to do; the waters do not stir, something decent can be heard in "Saving My Face" (probably the second release), but not much. Furthermore, KT focuses the slower and duller tracks towards the end of the album, barely saving herself with the somewhat engaging "Beauty Of Uncertainty."
It's a pity because, for some still unclear reason, Tunstall gives an impression of being an artist endowed with good yet unexpressed potential. Thus, she ends up being just one of the many bland ingredients in the pop stew of this early millennium.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Little Favours (03:09)
I slipped softly through
Your slim fingers
Leaving traces
I embrace this
feeling that lingers
All that lingers... that lingers
So take me far away!
And hold me close to your heart
And do me just this little favour
For I do, yes I do love you.
The silence, it's easy
so peacefully
Like the skin upon your body.
So take me far away!
And hold me close to your heart
And do me just this little favour
For I do, yes I do love you!
This little universe between us
so beautiful and colourful
I lean on now.
03 White Bird (03:13)
White bird with a black tail
Eyes dark and face so pale
Do you know what your future holds
Over your side of the road
White bird with a black tail
Look like an open sail
Made me look up from my shoes
To show me what you stand to lose
White bird White bird
With your face so pale
White bird White Bird
Where’d you get that tail
White Bird White Bird
With a black tail
White feathers dipped in tar
It’s hard to tell how old you are
Wondering how much you know
About all of us below
Half of you is heavenly
Showing off your purity
The rest you is from the street
Like a line where they both meet
White bird White bird
With your face so pale
White bird White Bird
Where’d you get that tail
White Bird White Bird
With a your face so pale
White Bird White Bird
With a black tail
04 Funnyman (02:56)
Locked inside your head
Do you realize the things you said never made sense?
We can sit here and laugh
But we don't know the half of it, in your defense
We've been talking a while
And it seems to me each time you smile,
Lights are coming on
But they don't burn too strong
And they won't stay for long
And then they're gone again
Funnyman, gotta plan to be something wonderful
Funnyman, listening to the world turning on itself
Tuning into a brand new universe
Funnyman, you'll never be anything else
Do you remember the night
When I had to play your angel, saving your soul?
Even though you were holding on tight
Part of you was taken by your demons below
And with no more to lose
You said you feel like a bruise on a beautiful body
And all the damage you do
It is so honest and true...I don't want to feel sorry for you
Funnyman, gotta plan to be something wonderful
Funnyman, listening to the world turning on itself
Tuning into a brand new universe
Funnyman, you'll never be anything else
05 Hold On (02:57)
Say you, to me you're a bird with an eye for anything shiny
Searching the land for a hero of a man
You say I need more than my fair share of attention
But I think you know that just isn't so
Oh underneath I felt the fire of a burning question
Tearing me apart right from the very start
And now I see that it don't take a trick of the light to excite me
So strong so long you'll see
Hold On to what you been given' lately
Hold on to what you know you've got
Hold on to what you been given' lately
Hold on cuz the world will turn if you're ready or not
Simplicity a heart of gold, an old head on young shoulders
Quiet and lovely becoming part of me
And now I see for my handfull of names and a thousand faces
One light burning fiercely
I was tired of January I was tired of June
I felt a change a comin'
Wooahh oh ohh tired of January tired of June
I felt a change a comin'
Wooahh oh ohh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh
I felt a change a comin'
I felt a change a comin'
Felt a change a comin' soooon woh oh ohhhh
Hold On to what you been given' lately
Hold on to what you know you've got
Hold on to what you been given' lately
Hold on cuz the world will turn if you're ready or not
Wooahh oh ohh
Hold On to what you been given' lately
Hold on to what you know you've got
Hold on to what you been given' lately
Hold on cuz the world will turn if you're ready or not
Oh yeah
Well the world will turn, if you're ready or not
WOAH HOHHHH
Yes the world will turn if you're ready or not!
10 Someday Soon (03:53)
Think it’s time to put myself away
Seek out a little silence
Close the door and sit a while
And walk a little
As I put my words away
The flow slows
See this penny in a stream
Picking it up is easy
Follow the shape of it
Jump in
Swallow it whole
Jump in
Even though I know my way around
Possibly there’s something new I’ve found
Holding on for finding solid ground
Someday Soon
I’m gonna turn myself into the grass
And I’ll grow
Take this space above my head
And live in it a little
Wear my feather headdress
Like an Indian chief
Gonna stretch out both my arms
I’m gonna test the temperature
Follow the taste of it
Jump in
Swallow it whole
Jump in
Even though I know my way around
Possibly there’s something new I’ve found
Holding on for finding solid ground
Someday Soon
11 Paper Aeroplane (03:18)
Well this stone that I have swallowed
Isn’t going down so well
And this road that I have followed
Is leading me to hell
And you said it didn’t matter
But I think you’re a liar
Is this one of your talents
That stokes the very
Fire that burns you
Each time you try to live
The earth will turn below you
The pressure is building
And something has to give
And when I build you a steeple
You say it’s incomplete
Cos you need the whole cathedral
To satisfy your need
You’re like a paper aeroplane
That never seems to land
Flying blind through anything
Straight into the
Hand that chokes you
Each time you try to live
The earth will turn below you
The pressure is building
And something has to give
Something has to give
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