STYLE: MOR / Soft Pop RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 115170-18103 LABEL: Independent FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Doug Holland
Kelly is a singer/songwriter and environmental activist originating from Australia and now based in New York. She played at the 2005 World Peace Concert in India which had a television audience of about one billion. This is the latest of a number of albums released over the years and the 12 tracks (45 minutes) are an interesting mixture of styles and themes. A number of the songs reveal her care-for-the-environment roots while others are more straightforward worship or testimony songs. Add to these the "Irish Wedding Blessing" and a country version of "Amazing Grace" and you have something surprising and out of the ordinary. The mood across the collection is largely gentle (mainly folk in feel, with some Celtic influences), led as the majority of tracks are by an acoustic guitar (the upbeat numbers are the least strong in the collection, with the orchestration needing to be more committed to really carry them off), and the haunting quality of Newton-Wordsworth's excellent singing voice and the intelligent us of harmonies add to this. A criticism? The link between her faith and her environmental work is not made clear, at least not on this album.
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