Jane

Having been propelled to fame by a now long-forgotten TV reality show, The Cruise, Jane McDonald was in danger of being swallowed up by a plethora of new young singers, fresh out of talent shows. She had always been slightly different than these bright new young things, however, as her style was more akin to a cabaret lounge, or indeed a cruise ship, than a polished TV studio. And her choice of songs had always been paramount -- as definitely shown to be the case on her seventh album, Jane, released in the autumn of 2008. There was a maturity that had been lacking on several of her previous albums and indeed, McDonald's voice had improved from her early days in the recording studio at the beginning of the century. Five of the 14 songs were not even cover versions, but co-written by McDonald and Lisa Harman. The album opened with a very faithful reproduction of the Sunny Leslie hit from 1974, "Doctor's Orders," even including the phone call in the middle of the song, and continued with two slow piano-led jazzy ballads, "Time for Love" and "Song for You." What may have seemed a strange choice, the Brazilian samba rhythmic "Mas Que Nada," worked very well, and then the songs varied from uptempo 1960s-style numbers "Nine Times Out of Ten" and "Sweet Talker" to ballads "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" and "Not a Day Goes By." There were a couple of Barry Manilow covers, "Even Now" and "One Voice," and one of the highlights of the album was her version of Neil Sedaka's "The Hungry Years." One of Jane McDonald's better albums. ~ Sharon Mawer