Cleo Laine - Woman To Woman

Styles: Vocal 
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:00
Size: 143,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:54)  1. Come In From The Rain
(4:17)  2. Inside A Silent Tear
(3:22)  3. My Favorite Year
(4:15)  4. I Love You Truly
(2:29)  5. Since You've Asked
(4:51)  6. I'll Never Smile Again
(3:52)  7. Both Sides Now
(3:40)  8. In The Days Of Our Love
(4:58)  9. Fine And Mellow
(4:42) 10. Willow Weep For Me
(4:59) 11. Close Your Eyes
(3:57) 12. Grand Reunion
(3:21) 13. Secret Feeling
(2:37) 14. Your Eyes Speak To Me
(4:37) 15. It's All In My Hands

Cleo Laine became well-known through her frequent appearances on UK TV during the 1960's, occupying those musical interludes that used to feature in variety shows like Morcambe & Wise, or chatshows like Parkinson. Being married to well-known jazz composer Johnny Dankworth has probably assisted her career no end, for she never seemed to me to be especially notable as a singer  for whilst she is in possession of a good voice, it seems rather undisciplined, as demonstrated on this album. Cleo Laine has a rich voice, and a substantial range, but she deploys it in a rather peculiar way. When singing in the middle of her range, her voice has a husky character more talking than singing  then as she moves off-centre it becomes louder and more tremulous. So at the very top of her range she shrieks, and at the very bottom she booms, and because things in the middle are a bit flat, she tends to leap across the gap from high to low notes, thus making songs sound er, like I say ... peculiar.

This singing 'technique' might well be the source of her appeal I suppose, but every song she sings reflects these characteristics, with the result that her vocals alternate between blending in nicely with her accompaniment, to suddenly lunging out at you, and in the case of this album anyway, it creates the impression that she might be singing along to headphones rather than with a live backing band. The accompaniment on this album is consistently accomplished and well-arranged, but Laine charging in and out of the mix is distracting, it's a pity she can't 'settle'. What's more, she seems to be singing in a different key to the band at times, which sounds most odd, and reinforces the impression that the vocals were recorded independently of the backing. So all in all, one can't help wondering whether such musical outings by Cleo Laine are little indulgences from her famous husband - opportunities for her to lay down recordings of whatever songs take her whim, in this case an arbitrary selection of songs composed by women, from "I Love You Truly" (made famous by Al Bowlly way back in the 1930's), through to more recent offerings like "Grand Reunion" by Melissa Manchester. So from here, Cleo Laine CDs look like vanity projects really - little treats from hubby to his wife. Fair enough ... s'pose. http://www.alltime-records.com/01-albums-0000/0000475.php#bluemoon_rev

Woman To Woman

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