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Artist: Adele
Label: XL
Category: Music

List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £4.97
You Save: £11.02 (69%)



New (36) Used (8) Collectible (1) from £4.47

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 59 reviews
Sales Rank: 50

Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.7 x 0.4

UPC: 634904031329
EAN: 0634904031329
ASIN: B000XGDO04

Release Date: January 28, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

Tracks:

  • Daydreamer
  • Best For Last
  • Chasing Pavements
  • Cold Shoulder
  • Crazy For You
  • Melt My Heart To Stone
  • First Love
  • Right As Rain
  • Make You Feel My Love
  • My Same
  • Tired
  • Hometown Glory

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's right there; on the cover, the spine, or illuminating from your iPod screen. But it's hard to corroborate it in your mind. London singer-songwriter Adele's debut album is titled 19, referencing her age, and there are hints it's true--its themes are almost exclusively concerned with young love's highs and (mostly) lows and there's a clipped estuary English tide-mark to her voice, allying her with the fresh-faced modern female songwriting guard; Lily Allen, Kate Nash, et al. But the sheer weight of her maturity--vocally, emotionally and in overall poise—really reduces that all to circumstantial evidence. Adele is carrying something much bigger here, you can't help but be consumed by it on "Daydreamer" with it's jazzy tip-toeing guitar and elastic vocal range and "Hometown Glory" with its deep, lonely piano serving as a bed for the raw emotional undressing that takes place above it. Draw a line between timeless, powerful singers like Ella Fitzgerald and the modern standard of Amy Winehouse; Adele balances and pirouettes confidently along that tightrope. Winehouse particularly informs the likes of "Cold Shoulder" and double-bass heavy "Best for Last", and that's not an alignment that's ever going to be easy to realise credibly. Needless to say, she does, with ease. On future classic "Chasing Pavements" she also gives a nonsensical phrase a handful of heart in lieu of meaning and when you can pull that off convincingly you know you're in possession of something special. Who dares to dream what bigger numbers could bring. --James Berry


Customer Reviews:   Read 54 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars All Comparisons are False   October 28, 2008
Pia (UK)
Having now heard her album, to compare her to Lily Allen is a travesty. Adele is far better, her smooth voice and song writing skill for starters...

And whilst we're on the subject of comparisons, there's only one similarity to Amy Winehouse - and that is I love both of their albums, when my expectations were low.

Daydreamer: A chilled, melodic start to her debut album, but on first listen you kinda want to skip it to speed up your new listening experience. This is definitely one of those tracks you have to listen to a few times. Vocally she is very good.

Best For Last: Sounds quite bluesy, simple yet effective guitar backing throughout the beginning. Then the song gets going, catchy, warming and just simply easy to listen to. Love it.

Chasing Pavements: The song everyone will have heard already; perfectly placed on the album, vocally excellent and the main reason I noticed her in the first place.

Cold Shoulder: I read on another review the similarities between the intro for this with Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy. It's true; the sound is there, for about 10 seconds... The song itself is more upbeat than the 3 previous tracks, and in the middle of it there is a section that reminds me strangely, of Kula Shaker. ("time and time again I play the role of fool")

Crazy For You: Not my favourite song on the album. I do most of my listening in the car and I have been known to skip this one on more than one occasion.

Melt My Heart To Stone: When this song begins is the point in the album where she reminds me of James Morrison. I can't explain why, but it's no bad thing, I am a fan of his work also. Love this song.

First Love: This is a good song, but I for me, it drags a little. Not my favourite, I think I like this less than Crazy For You.

Right As Rain: If she was ever going to be compared to Winehouse, it would be because of this track. Fabulously catchy, I love to sing along to this in the car. I love the lyrics too, definitely one of the best.

Make You Feel My Love: Simple, yet beautiful. It is just the right duration; if it lasted much longer it could get boring.

My Same: If Adele was to ever be compared to Gabriella Cilmi, it would probably be for about 3 seconds into this song. But Adele goes on to prove her refreshing style one more time in another upbeat track with catchy sections, while retaining a smooth blues sound.

Tired: Arguably one of the best, If not THE best song on this album. Her enunciation can remind you of Lily if you are trying to compare. Love this song.

I'm impressed, and very surprised. I haven't yet got bored of this album and 10/12 are all brilliant songs. A strong debut, and to top it off, she's a nice person, she isn't (yet) a media monster and I hope it stays that way. I hope to see her around for years to come.



3 out of 5 stars Nice voice but cheer up!!   September 13, 2008
Chris Dilke Wing (Brixham, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I don't deny that this young girl has a nice voice, albeit not the greatest, but I cannot listen to this album the whole way through. I loved Chasing Pavements, but despite some OK tracks nothing else stands out, and it could all have been so much better. First and foremost, it's so depressing. I've tried a few times but I find it hard to listen to the whole album without either falling asleep or wanting to cut my wrists. Also, as I said she has a nice voice, but it might be even nicer if I could understand anything she's singing. Thank God there's lyrics in the booklet. And finally, the instruments. Adele really needs to get much more experience playing guitar as it ranges from mediocre to just awful, and this shows particularly on Best For Last.

It's not a terrible album, but a weak debut that hasn't set great future potential for Adele. Other new female artists around now such as Duffy and Gabriella Cilmi are likely to still be around in a few years, but I think if Adele wants to be remembered the same way, she's got a lot of work to do for the second album.



5 out of 5 stars Tremendous!   August 18, 2008
Doublecab (Sunny England)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Wow, well I thought superb, she is only nineteen - big future here.......Vocals on "Hometown" really moved me. A superb debut.


3 out of 5 stars Not too bad but nothing to get excited about.   August 13, 2008
Gogol (England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

While I have to say this is quite an entertaining album especially the strangely upbeat "Chasing pavements" and the rather quirky "Tired" This album is really one of a long line of "Next big thing" "Ella Fitzgerald" etc etc......

First off she sounds nothing like Ella Fitzgerald and is about as distant from the great soul singers as you can get. While Amy Winehouse for example may be able to carry it off (To an extent) the whole "modern soul" Adel really just doesn't cut it. Now I am not saying that is a particularly bad thing rather just be aware of what you are buying. If you are expecting a modern day Dusty Springfield then you are going to be seriously disappointed.

So what will you get? A number of tracks (I already mentioned 2 a third would be "Right as rain") That are extremely enjoyable tracks. On the song "Tired" I actually found her very British vocal sound to be more appealing than her attempts at soul diva singing that really do come off badly. If you think of Duffy, Amy Winehouse etc then you have an idea of what you are getting and you certainly wont be disappointed. If however you fall for the record companies plug of her being some kind of next great thing of soul then I am afraid you really will be unhappy with this one.

File under "Great to listen to on your ipod on the way to work"



2 out of 5 stars Not Enough   August 4, 2008
Mr. Derek Denton (South Lakeland, England)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Adele has a lovely voice and she has great potential as a singer, but one good song on an album is not really satisfactory from a purchaser's point of view. 'Chasing Pavements" is what captured me. The rest of the songs on this album are tedious, I'm sorry to say. Like too many other young artistes struggling to make a name, she has been tempted to pack out an album with too much dross. I think there must have been some bad advice given out along the way somewhere. Young talent needs careful nurturing. Too fast, too soon is not a good strategy for planning a serious career in either the singer or songwriting business. Primarily, a strong measure of self-criticism is needed on the part of the artiste if he or she is to build a good reputation. However, as I have said, Adele has a lovely voice, could be quite special one day with the right songs.

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