Music Review: Julie Atherton - A Girl of Few Words & Simon Burke - Something About Always

Here's a couple more cd reviews of two of my favourite theatrical performers and both cracking cds which I recommend.

Julie Atherton – A Girl of Few Words

Possessed of one of the finest voices currently working in musical theatre if I say so myself, Julie Atherton captured my heart from the first time I saw Avenue Q and I’ve been under her spell ever since. This cd, featuring the songs of composer Charles Miller, marks her solo recording debut

Her voice is just a thing of wonder, at times soft and subtle, but always full of character and more often than not breaking your heart. But she slips easily to a powerful upper register that makes you want to hear just belt everything out and she’s particularly skilled at the comic numbers, with a superb diction rendering every word crystal clear: there’s a real honesty to everything she sings, you feel like she could make you cry just singing the phone book.

I love most every song on here, but If You Were Mine is particularly beautiful, the piano-led Be Careful is excellent and the collaboration with Paul Spicer, Someone Find Me is a fun duet, their friendship clear from the ease with which they harmonise and the final climbing chorus is just lovely. And if you’re lucky, there’s a nod to her most successful show, with a bonus track of There’s A Fine Fine Line included,

A Girl of Few Words is widely available but here’s the Dress Circle link.

Simon Burke – Something About Always

Simon Burke came onto my radar for the first time last year but he did so in quite some style, ending the year as a two-times fosterIAN award winner for his turns in the deeply moving When the Rain Stops Falling and providing the perfect foil for John Barrowman’s over-exuberance in La Cage aux Folles.

Taking in several shows from his varied career, Something About Always is Burke’s debut cd release and this really feels like a personal songbook with Burke sounding so relaxed and comfortable throughout. He has stuck to songs he is intimately familiar with and it pays off: his Song on the Sand from La Cage aux Folles is wistful and romantic, Sondheim’s Sorry – Grateful is rich and lyrical, but Falsettoland’s What More Can I Say is my highlight, warm, tender and just perfect.

There’s two great guest spots as well: he has great chemistry on True Love with his co-star from The Sound of Music Connie Fisher and is clearly having a ball with Caroline O’Connor on a sparkling, laughter-filled rendition of Cole Porter’s You’re The Top. Even Edelweiss sounds like a thing of beauty here (never having seen the show, I have certain preconceptions about that song) with a lovely duetting section in there.

It helps that the songs are so well-arranged, for real instruments (no synthesised backing tracks here, Barrowman!) heavily piano-based with some nice touches of brass in there too and under Daniel Edmonds’ musical direction, they sound so classic that I can’t imagine them dating at all.

Some musical theatre albums are fine for dipping into but don’t play as whole albums: Something About Always is not one of those. Rather it is a well sequenced, beautifully arranged collection of songs featuring Burke’s rich, powerful voice in fine form which you will listen to from start to finish without disappointment, and then again!

Here's a link to buy the cd, which I heartily suggest you do, from Dress Circle.




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