IMELDA MAY - LIFE. LOVE. FLESH. BLOOD

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1. Call Me   2. Black Tears   3. Should've Been You   4. Sixth Sense   5. Human   6. How Bad Can A Good Girl Be   7. Bad Habit   8. Levitate   9. When It's My Time   10. Leave Me Lonely   11. The Girl I Used To Be   12. The Longing   13. Flesh And Blood   14. Game Changer   15. Love And Fear

Decca / 5729629

A lot was said and written even before this record was released: new look, changes in the band, different style...

Now that I have Imelda May's new record and I have been listening to it for the past couple of weeks, I can give my very own oppinion about it, as it should be: it is obvious that there are changes... but they don't seem as "dramatic" to me as some people foresaw. Or at least they are not so for the moment. I mean, yes, the changes regarding Imelda's look (hairstyle and wardrobe) and band members are just evident but, regarding music style... well, yes, this is not a Rockabilly record at all but, when has Imelda May released a pure Rockabilly record? Yes, sure there was some Rockabilly in her previous albums, but there were also a lot of other styles and influences. It is true that Rockabilly is absolutely out of this brand new release and the change of direction seems clear, but we still can find Soul, Blues, Folk, Pop, (plain) Rock and even a little bit of Rock'n'Roll. Time will tell if this change of direction is temporary or definitive.

I'll say it bluntly: "Life. Love. Flesh. Blood" doesn't seem a bad record to me. It is not the best album released by Imelda May, but it is not at all a bad one. It is not the record I "dreamt" to be released by Imelda, but it is enjoyable, specially the ballads and, as a matter of fact, I believe that some of those ballads would fit in any of her previous records without any kind of problem. Easy as that.

And her voice, by the way, is there still. And what a voice!

Note: the track list above belongs to the "collector's edition" cd, being tracks 1 to 11 the ones included in the standard edition and tracks 12 to 15 the bonus tracks.