New Music 2013 - Part 23 - Karima Francis - Black

I received this in the post yesterday and I couldn't wait to give it a thorough listen or three. The word is that I'm liking it very much indeed.
It seems so long ago that I reviewed Karima Francis's first album 'The Author'. It was back in 2009; it was good and so, if maybe less original, was the follow-up 'The Remedy' in 2012. Beneath the surface lay a major career set back. Not very many would have the strength of character to overcome a rejection like that.

Four years later her third album 'Black' is the result of a successful crowd-funding venture. Karima is supported by an excellent band, the members of which apparently coalesced out of nowhere in the matter of a very few days by dint of good fortune and quick thinking on the part of Karima to get them on-board. It is a record just how the tight unit wanted it to sound, working free from outside interference.

Karima Francis - Black:

• Black
• City Walls
• H.W.T.M.C.
• Believe In Love
• Regrets
• It's Alright Now
• Shout
• Remember Me
• Waves
• Perfect Dream
• Blue Moon

I can find no official release date as yet. 140dB Records is managing this release. What I really want to do now is see Karima and the band play live!

The first UK album chart of 2007...

Five years ago it would have been dominated by US music, and while these things change this would have been quite unthinkable even a year ago...

These are the top-selling albums of the first full week of of 2007:

5: The Fratellis - Costello Music
4: Take That - Beautiful World
3: Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
2: James Morrison - Undiscovered
1: Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

The diversity is perhaps unremarkable - two indie pop/rock bands, a revived 1990s 'boy band' and two very different solo artists, one male and one female - but the fact that all of them are British acts certainly is.
What is more Amy Winehouse has finally reached the top of the album chart, three months after Back To Black was released, despite being both as mad as a box of frogs and also twice mentioned (1) (2) in this blog! She is a real star, and a natural performer, who just happens to be able to sing like no one else - see her live and you will know exactly what I mean.

Amy, Amy, Amy!

It is Halloween and, perhaps appropriately, Amy Winehouse is Back To Black...

The album is out and it is amazingly good - as all top music reviewers have been saying - but what is it about this album that makes it so different to Frank in 2003? Yes it is slightly more polished, and it is certainly more consistent in style (but see below) and perhaps also better produced, but is it really such as a big departure from Frank?
I think not, and I'm rather pleased too. Frank was critically praised, nominated for a '2004 Brit Award' and even won her an 'Ivor Novello Award' for songwriting in 2004. It was regarded then as something slightly off the mainstream, and it didn't sell in vast quantities (though enough to have recently gone 'platinum' in the UK!), but the concept had much promise. Island Records clearly agreed and didn't attempt to fix anything that wasn't broken. In fact it seems they allowed the fixing of the few things that were, mostly by interfering less and in particular by not meddling with the album's production. This appears to have been a big issue with Frank and she claims that, although she loves to perform the tracks from it, she can't stand listening to the album. Having heard Amy perform live I can believe that; Back To Black sounds much more authentic and this may also account for it's consistency.

There is I suspect also a bit of duplicity involved. Popular taste has been moving in the direction of her music, indeed live music in general, in the intervening time and both the label and the magazine reviewers have responded accordingly:

The Voice of 2007. There's none better. - MOJO and Contender for 'Album of the Year' - NME.

That all seemed fairly obvious to me three years ago, hence my post last week that included my review of Frank from 2003, but what do I know? I feel vindicated as I have just had a look on amazon.co.uk to see how 'Back To Black' is selling.

Even I was shocked and stunned - Back To Black is currently #1 in Music! Here she is looking quite normal.