Photo: wenn.com
Susan Boyle was the underdog of Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 where she completely stole our hearts with her powerful voice and interesting facial expressions. She’s since gone onto great success around the globe and her fourth album Standing Ovation, The Greatest Songs From The Stage is her newest release just in time for Christmas.
She was also the voice who bought the world to dead silence; even muzzling the grunts of the legend that is Mr Simon Cowell where she made everyone remember the old saying to never judge a book by its cover. Isn’t that sweet?
Well yes it is, but an album full of musical hits from the stage isn’t a concept that’s new or particularly groundbreaking. Although everyone knows Christmas is moneymaking season for artists and Susan isn’t the only culprit, so we’ll let her off.
Opening track ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow' showcases Susan at her very best; with light accompaniment she steals the song with her powerful vocals. Her voice is undeniably strong and still has the effect to silence any high-trousered wearing man, however perhaps it’s just a little too much? At times the wailing becomes quite unbearable and on this occasion it’s proven that less can definitely be more.
ABBA originally released ‘The Winner Takes It All’, and here Susan gives it her twist of classical winter magic. There’s no denying she’s come up trumps with this one, again proving she can belt out any song louder than the next person. ‘Memory’ is a much better reflection of Susan’s softer side, when closing your eyes you can almost imagine her turning into Katherine Jenkins. A bit of a scary thought, but none the less it’s the softer songs like this where you can hear the true emotion.
‘This Is The Moment’ featuring Donny Osmond helps to finalise the musical renditions with a duet that would fit perfectly on any West End stage. Just good old Christmas music you can imagine your Grandma getting embarrassingly drunk to, whilst losing her false teeth in the pudding.
This Christmas if you don’t mind a bit of whining and wailing and you can put up with renditions of musicals you’ve heard a million times over, then this album’s definitely for you.
