K.T. Tunstall – Eye To The Telescope (CD)

 

Sound: B     Music: B

 

 

You may not have heard of K.T. Tunstall, but if you are lucky, you will.  She is a singer/songwriter in the best tradition of the best of that movement in the 1970s.  A self-taught musician, there is more heart and soul in her work than just about any other female solo artist out there.  In a music industry where everyone is a one-hit wonder and most of the commercial successes should be, she is the kind of artist that made the industry possible, offering empathetic vocals, range and insight worthy of the Sheryl Crows, Carole Kings and Carly Simons of this world.  Eye To The Telescope is a really impressive album and the songs here include:

 

1. Other Side Of The World
2. Another Place To Fall
3. Under The Weather
4. Black Horse & The Cherry Tree
5. Miniature Disasters
6. Silent Sea
7. Universe & U
8. False Alarm
9. Suddenly I See
10.  Stoppin’ The Love
11.  Heal Over
12.  Through The Dark

 

 

The music has more of a Rock edge than some of her contemporaries then and now, but also a great sense of both Country and R&B, which in this case makes for some fine music.  This ranges for the louder, bass heavy pieces to the fine ballads.  In all cases, I really like her singing to the point that she may be one of the best female vocalists around.  What range and phrasing, as well as dead-on expressiveness.  She may start out sounding like some of the other ladies, but it is never cookie-cutter and she grows on you as you begin to hear how much of a standout singer she really is.  The songs here are about life and people, with little politics, though the music is so open and free that it is hardly conservative.  That it is a woman this open and free is so great and there is a real joy in every cut.

 

Under The Weather is a ballad as laid back as Mazzy Star’s great hit Fade Into You minus the slightly rough vocal, then breaks into a more rhythmic section.  Black Horse & The Cherry Tree is a potentially big single, while Miniature Disasters is a great example of her wittiness.  False Alarm is a standout in its particular self-reflectiveness, while Stoppin’ The Love is a mid-tempo Rocker with unusually appealing vocals.  You just have to hear it to believe it, a fine album that grows on you with each listen.

 

The PCM 2.0 16bit/44.1kHz Stereo sound is very good as the album is well recorded, produced and engineered throughout.  It like the sound and fell of this album on both a technical and aesthetic level.  It does not have the limits, phoniness, cheapness, cheating or digital sound errors like harshness or shrillness so many bad albums do today because some idiot sits by a computer and thinks they invented civilization by being in control of a PC they just bought.  This is serious, professional work and one of the best albums of the year so far, something it will remain all the way to the end with no problem.  This deserves to be a huge across the board hit.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo