I eagerly anticipated the release of James Morrison’s sophomore album “Songs for You, Truths for Me” on September 30, 2008 after falling in love with this British tenor’s sound and music on his debut album “Undiscovered”. (Not to worry Sting, you’ll always be number one.) I’ve been listening to it for several weeks now almost exclusively. I wasn’t head over heels in love with this new album as much as Morrison’s “Undiscovered” at first pass, but as I’ve continued to listen it has grown on me, and I do like it very much.
The best songs from this new album are front-loaded, and I find myself immediately falling all over again for Morrison’s soulful voice from the beginning through the fourth track “Please Don’t Stop The Rain”, which is by far my favorite song of the whole album. Track two “Save Yourself” is my second favorite song, and track one “The Only Night” and track three “You Make It Real” are exceptional songs as well, highlighting his unique voice, style, and beautiful songwriting abilities. But then track five “Broken Strings” completely destroys the ascension to greatness with a mismatched duet with Nelly Furtado. The second I hear Furtado’s voice, I feel the unstoppable urge to hit skip, and I hate when that happens. I think a duet with someone more soulful like Joss Stone would have been fabulous with Morrison’s voice, but not Furtado. Luckily after skipping that song, track six “Nothing Ever Hurt Like You” gets back in the Morrison groove full force and the album peaks here with his powerful soul-searching vocals. It’s all slightly downhill after that, and the final six songs are average (but enjoyable) in my opinion, but nothing stellar like the first half of the album.
James Morrison is undoubtedly a very talented young man, I really love his voice and style. His singing is beautifully different, but not polished or forced. I like that raw, real quality he conveys with his singing. And I’m always a sucker for music that adds piano prominently in the instrumental mix (like David Gray or Coldplay, also favorites of mine). If you’re not familiar with James Morrison and his music, check out the following videos for a few of my favorite songs or listen to the audio player here for a nice sampling of songs from the new album. Morrison’s “Undiscovered” is one of my favorite albums to play from beginning to end without skipping any songs whatsoever, a rare occurrence for me generally. The title song “Undiscovered” just blows me away; I adore that song. “Call The Police” is my second favorite song on “Undiscovered” and Morrison’s edgiest attempt at hard rock, I like how he just belts out the vocals here. But there are many, many other fantastic musical gems on the album, like the beautifully sad “The Pieces Don’t Fit Any More”, “You Give Me Something”, “Under The Influence”, “Wonderful World” and “This Boy”. See, I think the whole album is fantastic and should just list all the songs! If you like “Undiscovered”, then take a listen to the new “Songs for You, Truths for Me”. You’ll find some great songs there too, but not quite of the same magnitude or quantity as his debut album in my opinion. The second album is always hard for new artists who take off with their debut, and James Morrison has done a fine job of it. I look forward to hearing much more from him in the future; he’s building a solid brick foundation for the House of James Morrison.
Favorite song from “Songs for You, Truths for Me”: “Please Don’t Stop the Rain” live version
Favorite song from “Undiscovered”: title track “Undiscovered”
Second favorite song from “Undiscovered”: “Call The Police”
