Powerless

Powerless, firstly the title is a total contradiction of what we're about to get! Five years in the making, and not surprised, being a long time fan and knowing the volume of material that must have been originally rehearsed, written or recorded but left out to make way for the current content, must say what a choice a good mix of soulful materials delivered by the UK's best. Lovely production superb musicianship all round totally faultless. Reading some reviews I'm getting totally surprised that some are evaluating with slightly negative comments, due to material being left out!! So instead let's judge the album by what's been included just seems to make sense. One thing that's more than obvious is that Elkie Brooks has total control of the content the style of production, and nice to see that her writing skills go from strength to strength which can compete with any in the world. Tracks that are `must' have tacks are `Powerless' an incredible delivery - totally superb on all levels and not over produced, the other without a mistake is the Lee Noble track `Why' a really moving song and one which become a standard for all time, I have been fortunate enough to hear both live in concert, even better these have been skillfully transferred to a studio album not that easily as many live tracks fail to translate, but not in the case of Elkie Brooks. Giving a fair balance, producing nine tacks to a good standard is no easy task, what's outstanding is each track is uniquely performed with the brilliance that is Elkie Brooks, so if you want to hear more material by this outstanding artist it's, all out there with more on the way - for me this will be one of my all time favorite albums, yes in spite of only nine tacks, but than again I can understand once you've sampled this lady's voice you need more. Her diversity is incredible and this album is landmark a really moving set of songs.