Review Summary: Will Young goes dance, but in a good way.
Will Young started out as the first Idols-winner from the UK. After the first, very commercial release From Now On containing the best sold single from the first decade in the UK (Evergreen), Will decided to do what he liked best. And so he released two albums (Friday’s Child and Keep On), that were as far away from his debut album as he possibly could, which received good reviews. By 2008 he released Let It Go, which got great reviews comparing this album to the likes of George Michael’s Older and the Pet Shop Boys Behaviour. The album contained very personal songs of a lost love, all wrapped in very downbeat instrumentation. In 2009 he released a first Greatest Hits, which gave a good overview of his career and included two new songs.
And then he announced that he would go dance, with the help of Richard X. I was worried when I heard this announcement. I did like all the albums after From Now On, but wasn’t too sure about this new approach. I thought Will would release an album like Take That’s Progress, which got great reviews in the press but did do nothing for me. Thankfully my worries didn’t come true.
Will delivered a 13-piece album with great songs that do contain dance influences, but which never distract from the songs themselves. He starts off with the first single Jealousy, a great mid-tempo love. The album than builds up to the magnificent Outsider, a short song in which he puts his soul out for everyone to see. The rest of the album works great as well with the exception of Hearts On Fire, which doesn’t seem to go anywhere. When I saw the song live it worked much better, so it must be something about the production that is lacking somewhere.
This is the first album in which Will sings almost entirely falsetto. So that could be a big turn-off for some, but I think he pulls it of fantastic. All I can say is that the albums is a must listen in my opinion.
Song worth (based on an average MP3 price of €1.00):
Fair (€0.50): Hearts On Fire
Good (€1.00): Lie Next To Me, Runaway, Losing Myself, Happy Now, Good Things
Great (€1.50): Come On, I Just Want A Lover, Silent Valentine, Personal Thunder, Safe From Harm
Excellent (€2.00): Jealousy, Outsider
My album value: €15.50
Combined value of individual songs (iTunes): €12.87
iTunes album price: €9.99
