Shock !!! Katie Melua sings great song!

[andy-hughes]

I have always been mystified how someone as gorgeous as Katie Melua can sing such vacuous dross as 'Nine Million Bicylces' and then ....

I catch up with 'Secret Diary Of A Call Girl' and in the final (I think?) episode, i hear 'Piece By Piece' and when I track it dfown, I am gobsmacked to find that it is indeed KM - and I love it!

I can almost forgive her for the rest of her output ... almost ...

[Ice.Maiden]

Got a decent voice hasn't she?

[Hammer Head]

I haven't heard a lot of her stuff but I do agree that she has a wonderful nay magical voice. Another singer who also has a pure voice is Haley Westenra.

[andy-hughes]

She has Ice Miaden, but the stuff she sings could send a stone statue to sleep!

Until this song, which is not only a great song, but she delivers it really well - I may have to investigate any other nuggets that may be hiding in the dross ...

[ChuckFickens]

andy, I'm shocked.....

I would have thought you would know that the most popular/well known songs by any artist are not necessary the best songs by them.

Katie Melua has done some really good tracks.

[Ice.Maiden]

Yes - and leggy's posted a few of them. Lovely.

[saxy_jag]

Fact is, there aren't many styles that Katie can't sing in. Blues to folk to jazz standards - she can do them all. For some reason, radio producers and record companies seem to hang on her 'misery' side, which is a pity.

[andy-hughes]

I have no problem with her 'misery' side - it's just the vaccuous dreadfulness of 'Nine Million Bicycles' that puts me off - but after hearing this song, I shall investigate.

I do love sad mournful songs, but they have to have a feeling that the singer knows of what they sing.

Jeff Buckley - yes. Dolly Parton - yes. Linda Ronstadt - yes. Roy Orbison - yes.

Whitney Houston - no. Katie Melua - no, but she manages to be carried by the weight of the song on this occasion.

[ludwig]

Andy, I believe that all KM's material is written by Mike Batt, the ex-womble songwriter. In that sense, she's just the pleasant looking mouthpiece through which he can continue to deliver his songs now that he's too old and chubby to be a popstar himself.
It maybe that the song you're talking about isn't one of his?

[paddywak]

Katie writes quite a lot of her own material including Piece by Piece. According to the cover notes on that particular album she wrote 4 out 0f 12 tracks and collaborated with Mike Batt on one, who wrote 4 of the other tracks the remainder being by various other writers. I personally I like most of her stuff but I must admit Piece by Piece is better then most

[andy-hughes]

I did check and found that she wrote this song - and excellent it is too.

I have absolutely no problem with anyone who doesn;t write their own material, my only gripe is the Westlifes of tjis world, who perform songs for people who are not particularly passionate about anything in life, including music, so that awful cod-emotion servbes them just fine.

I live in hope that Whitney Houston can take her vocal technique and her emotional range and reverse them - I would pay to hear that.

[saxy_jag]

Ludwig, she sings a lot of Mike Batt's material because he is her producer and also the man who 'discovered' her. She does write a fair amount of her own stuff, including a fantastic tribute to the late Eva Cassidy, whose songs she also sings. She's also done a fantastic version of Randy Newman's "I think it's going to rain today".