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Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
@Maxximum23Clark
5:35 PM 29th December 2021
arts

Album Review: Katie Melua - Acoustic Album No.8

 
Katie Melua - Acoustic Album no.8 (BMG Records) Catalogue number 538751522
3 Stars

Joy (Acoustic); English Manner (Acoustic); Leaving the Mountain (Acoustic); Voices in the Night (Acoustic); Maybe I dreamt it (Feat. Simon Goff) (Acoustic); Heading Home (Acoustic); Your longing is gone (Acoustic); Airtime (Acoustic); Remind me to forget (Feat. Simon Goff) (Acoustic); No better magic (Acoustic); A love like that (Acoustic).

Georgian-British singer songwriter, Katie Melua, is one of Britain’s most successful musical artists. I have always found her music quite autumnal in sound. That opinion is further cemented on this new album of a collection of acoustic re-workings of her acclaimed 2020 release Album No.8.

The original version of the album was released during the pandemic when she was unable to tour, instead she released acoustic versions of the songs on line, usually joined by her brother Zurab who takes on the producer role for the first time.

The album sounds like an intimate live recording with the first single to be released from the album, Remind Me To Forget featuring violinist Simon Goff, who gives the song a warmth that was absent previously, now adding a cinematic feel to the song.

Goff appears again on Maybe I Dreamt It adding a subtle variation to the original version.

Some of the changes from the original songs are more drastic as on A Love Like That though on the whole her many fans will enjoy these distilled versions which has given them a new lease of life.

Seductive and elegant, it is hard not to be drawn in with this soothing album.