This is the type of CD you need to put on to accompany your lazy Sunday afternoon just chilling out and watching the world go by as you sip on home-made lemonade.
The two disk compilation has jumped on the bandwagon of chilled out, acoustic guitar led music which seems to be taking over the airwaves recently. Consequently here you have two disks packed full of singer/songwriter tunes to while away your days to.
Not something I’d really recommend to stick on whilst you’re getting ready for a night on the tiles thanks to its laid-back sound, unless you’re just about to head for a few sophisticated glasses of wine.
This doesn’t mean the it’s not a great sing-along-CD though, as Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah on CD1 always gets me humming along to, as it just manages to make you feel strangely patriotic and grateful to be alive; maybe that’s just me, but I’ve always loved this song!
The we move onto the classic Cannonball by Damian Rice, another one of my all-time favourites, granted he did seem to be a one-hit wonder with this song, but nevertheless it really is wonderful and just seeks to enhance the quality of this easy-listening album.
CD1 seems to encompass the more modern artists and outings from James Blunt and Will Young pick up the tempo whilst the only real ‘party’ song is found on CD2 in the form on Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl, and that’s only because it’s played in every Reflex bar across the country!
On disk two we are met my more ‘classic’ songs by people such as Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel and Eva Cassidy, basically the original singer/song writing greats, but again, nothing really grabs you and makes you want to get up and embrace the world, it just seems to be a CD of background music.
I wouldn’t suggest investing in this is you’ve just broken up with someone and don’t want to spend a couple of hours crying your heart out to the romantic melodies housed within these two disks, neither is this the CD for party animals who want to get their groove on before going on a wild night out, although it could do nicely as some ambient background music if you come home with an extra body!
On the other hand, if you want a CD to help the lazy hours pass on a slow-moving Sunday then this is definitely the CD for you, think bare feet, freshly cut grass, strawberries and a picnic blanket; so all in all a very competent compilation of the singer/song writing greats, spanning across many decades.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison