Corinne Bailey Rae

Corinne Bailey Rae is an English singer and songwriter.

Corinne Bailey Rae - The Album

With 'Like A Star'

When soul music is at its finest, a great vocalist can take you along on a journey into their sadness, loneliness, joy, and passion. When mixing that voice with horns, harmonies, and a bluesy Hammond organ, that same music can seamlessly travel across decades. Many new artists claim to accomplish that feat, but few are sincerely ageless and timeless: Corinne Bailey Rae has those qualities in spades. Rae--a newcomer out of Leeds, UK, with a gospel choir history--has created a self-titled CD that occasionally evokes the feeling of a '70s Bill Withers classic, while bringing inflections of Zero 7 and Alicia Keys to her grooves as well. Straight from track one, "Like a Star" displays a restrained soulfulness that shows her strengths through a whisper soft melody. Other standout cuts include the breakup-ache of "Till It Happens To You" and "Choux Pastry Heart," which discloses her jazz-affected timing and the level of powerful songwriting that she is capable of at her very best. In a day and age where a good voice alone can provide you with a golden ticket, it is refreshing to see that Rae has not only written or cowritten every song on her debut, she also contributes guitar, bass, keys, and percussion to the tracks. Her songs have some room to mature, but as a new recording artist in her mid-20s, so does she. Soul lovers, pass the word: this is one impressive debut.

Corinne Bailey Rae

Amazon Price: $10.97 (as of 01/09/2009)

1. Like A Star
2. Enchantment
3. Cput Your Records
4. Till It Hapens To You.
5. Trouble Sleeping
6. Call Me When You Get This
7. Choux Pastry Heart
8. Breathless
9. I'd Like To
10. Butterfly
11. Seasons Change

I never, ever, fall for the most commercial song on a CD. I generally go for one of the hidden gems, the one that doesn't shine in the public domain of TV appearances and videos. This is not the case with this CD. From the moment I first heard it, I couldn't get "Put Your Records On" out of my head. To this day, I don't know why; the lyrical strings in many of the other songs are far more to my liking, but somehow the funny lightness of this song sticks to me, and I often find myself humming it during the day....

"Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.
You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow."

THE BEST OF THE REST

"Like a Star" -- Lyrical, languid, lovely
"Till It Happens To You" -- A quintessential breakup song
"Call Me When You Get This" -- playful and sexy, a message to a lover:

"Baby, if you're still awake,
Call me when you get this.
I've got all this poetry now, I didn't know then.
I kept inside. Guess I had never seen anything beautiful
Till I first saw you asleep at night."

"Trouble Sleeping" -- a bluesy classic; the horns on this song are memorable

A couple of songs carry out the theme, but I'm less fond of them: "Breathless" , "Enchantment" and "Choux Pastry Heart". The material at the end of the CD is less comprehensive and "listenable" than the first 2/3.

All in all, Bailey Rae demonstrates that everything old is new again - but she deserves to be compared only to herself and not some of the unique ladies that came before her. I hope that this early success is followed by continued success as an artist and songwriter.

If you haven't heard this CD, it is highly recommended!
- L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States)

Corinne Bailey Rae at a Glance

Corinne Bailey Rae (born Corinne Jacqueline Bailey on 26 February 1979) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist who released her eponymous debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006.

Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2006. She became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one. Rae was nominated for Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards, and has won two MOBO Awards.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article