Bare

How things change. When Annie Lennox released her debut solo album Diva (and to a large extent the ill-advised covers follow up Medusa), the world was agog to hear what the voice of the Eurythmics would do next. Over ten years later and the expectation is not quite so vigorous.

Perhaps that’s why Bare comes adorned with such a stark, challenging cover shot – maybe we need reminding that Annie Lennox was always about questioning the status quo, examining the accepted role of women within music and for that she will always deserve respect. Sadly, Bare isn’t the album to fight that particular battle. While the title hints at a more stripped down musical approach, the reality is a record that has been overproduced to the nth degree, the only semblance of humanity remaining being that voice, still capable of doing things to you after all these years.

Only on occasion, however, does Bare really do her any justice. ‘A Thousand Beautiful Things’, ‘Pavement Cracks’ and the feisty ‘Loneliness’ are proof of what could have been achieved, while the sparse ‘The Saddest Song I’ve Got’ is defiantly the real thing. For once abandoning the studio sheen in favour of a simple backing, it’s the album’s truly memorable moment, the one track to put up alongside ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘You Have Placed A Chill On My Heart’, ‘No More I Love Yous’ and the rest. Maybe if this didn’t sound like it was recorded in a bubble, protected from a decade’s worth of musical progress, then Annie Lennox could be standing shoulder to shoulder with Madonna. As it is, Bare sees her on a worrying slide into musical middle age. Lets hope that it’s not too late to reverse the trend because we need her, we really do.