Alison Moyet: the return of this isle’s ‘First lady’

The summer’s listening choice has been considerably widened by a sudden appearance of an album by Alison Moyet. Her comeback to a recording studio results in an astonishing disc, ‘Hometime’, breaking the 8-year-long silence; and she’s been missed much because vocals of her kind are not much heard outside the jazz world, anymore. Ms Moyet’s last disc was before the Spice Girls, nu-metal, rap-rock, ‘prêt á pop’, just about the time Kurt Cobain checked into the rock’s Valhalla…

Memories being overloaded with plenty of info-junk, a brief recap: Alison Moyet first found fame when she teamed up with electronic innovator, Vince Clarke, back in the early ‘80s for the chart-regular Yazoo. Enormous solo success followed on both sides of the Atlantic and by the time her last studio album ‘Essex’ was released in 1994, Alison’s total sales passed the 20 million mark. She then disappeared to have a family and live a quiet life; it shouldn’t be a surprise because this woman is renown for her stage-reluctance…

And yet, just before ‘Hometime’ she made her (acting) stage debut in the West End’s show ‘Chicago’, starring alongside the ex-Big Breaky’s babe, Denise Van Outen. Not having seen the musical during Moyet’s stint, I can imagine her singing everybody under the boards. There is no doubt that she is one of the UK’s most expressive and talented female vocalists, who handles any genre with such ease to dwarf the competition, if there is any.

‘Hometime’ is largely self-penned and produced by The Insects, known for their Emmy-award winning soundtrack work and collaborations with Goldfrapp and Massive Attack, who fashioned a strange hybrid of modern-cum-classic sounding album, an instant evergreen. There is jazz, soul, R&B, a bit of funk, a sprinkle of pop… Big orchestration compliments her voice, well – it is more like decorating around it as her vox-box can overwhelm a symphony orchestra. Just like the other ‘vocal-dames’: Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone, Aretha, Whitney…

There are too many gems here with the first single ‘Should I Feel That It’s Over’ being a good demo of what CD offers; personally I’d go for ‘If You Don’t Comeback To Me’, or a blood-flooding/roger-pumping ‘The Train I Ride’.

There are further 8 tracks to loosen yourself in the world of this ‘First Lady’ of British… (fill it in yourself)

8/10