Minnie Driver: no acting implicated

It was an artistic norm that a film star could also sing, dance, do comedy and tragedy, be an all-rounder with all the entertaining skills - until the early 1960s, or so: Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Elvis… The Beatles tried to follow the tradition but coming up with a plot for four characters, instead of a single idol, proved a tad too tricky and thus, a division on singer-actor-dancer… took hold.

Ever hence actors have aspired to prove themselves as musicians - from Lee Marvin and William Shatner to Keanu Reeves [anyone remember Dogstar?] and Russell Crowe… And, vice versa: Mick Jagger, Meatloaf, Sting and Bowie tried their hardest acting but each came up short due to too much of the pop baggage people simply couldn’t see beyond… There have been very few artists since who could forge respectable status in both categories and, alas, Jennifer Lopez is one of them [although not an Oscar-threatening actress] and Ice Cube.

Now, Minnie Driver enters the fray with ‘Everything I've Got in My Pocket’ where she’s put her best vocal chords forward on a solo debut album… She has a pleasant and mature singing voice that glides over adult-sized pop melodies, mellifluous songs with distant echoes of country, folk and jazz, soft, subtle, introspective… Recalling Cowboy Junkies, Sarah McLachan and a lighter Norah Jones at various times, she sounds very seductive in songs that are based on some very solid songwriting. Mainly mellow but a sanguine step.

Ms Driver looks almost better onstage than on the big screen and that may help in her attempt to prove that actors, who fancy testing their talent as singers, can cut it, actually. In the case of the 34-year-old acclaimed and award-winning English thespian best known for her roles in movies like ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ and ‘Good Will Hunting’, singing actually came first.

She began in London's jazz clubs as a teenager, before joining a band that landed a development deal with Island Records. It was the Massive Attack breakthrough period [more than a decade ago], and her outfit’s sound was a dreamy, sample-cool, jazzy-vibed music, nowadays better known as ‘chill-out choons’… Luckily for her, she recently confessed, the band had nothing released as it would have haunted her forever. [Universal, the current Island imprint owners, have the rights to these master tapes and may be tempted to make them available, depending on the success of this album.]

Had it not been for the runaway success of ‘Circle of Friends’, in which she starred opposite Chris O'Donnell, Driver's career might have taken a much different turn. Music making took a back seat for an extended period and it would took certain events in her life to occur for Minnie to turn back to music.

‘Everything I've Got in My Pocket’ presents Driver with 10 original songs and an impressive cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Hungry Heart’ that she’s turned into a slow-burning smoochie. The album‘s overall feel is strongly autobiographical: folky ‘Invisible Girl’ and the country-tinged ‘Fast As You Can’, the more pop-oriented ‘Wire’ and the gorgeous ballad ‘Home’, about having faith in the guiding power of love throughout one’s life. In fact, most themes are about being on both the happy and down side of love.

Minnie Driver’s had her attempt ignored - single ‘Everything I've Got in My Pocket’ entered/peaked at No. 34 - and blamed the failed pop single on lack of radio play. “If you’re not stripping off, and just want to perform, it’s hard,” she said. “That is why people like Britney and Pink.”

Ms Driver will certainly gain some more respect by supporting the Finn Brothers on British and Irish dates at the moment.

8/10