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Daily star review

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/2051...l-Young-Echoes/

REVIEW - WILL YOUNG: ECHOES



8th August 2011 By Sarah-Louise James


WILL'S recent collaboration with Groove Armada appears to have rubbed off on the original Pop Idol.

Come On, Personal Thunder, Losing Myself, Hearts On Fire and Runaway would all sound at home on one of the veteran dance dudes' albums.

Returning on an electro tip, after 2008's Let It Go, is a great move for Will. His honeyed vocals and dreamy choruses mix perfectly with delicate dance beats.

The lyrics are mostly yearning, the album as a whole seems to address the stages of a breakup - the insecurity, the jealousy, the pain, the yearning and the eventual recovery.

Lie Next To Me, all about seeing an ex you're still in love with, will have you swallowing back a mini lump.

As might disco groover I Just Want A Lover which on the surface is all about no-strings-fun but has sadness at its core. "I just want a lover to take away the pain."

Outsider is an album highlight - a dramatic piano ballad about losing someone, with sonic echoes of Adele's Hometown Glory. "The clocks are on strike, they will not tell the time," sings Will sounding desolately soulful.

Happy Now, the funky Good Things and Safe From Harm bring the album to an upbeat, positive finale.

POPJUSTICE

The Will Young album is almost indescribably brilliant

Story filed Monday, 11 July 2011


We've become completely obsessed with the new Will Young album - or six songs from it, at least - since it arrived in the post last week.

Listening to it on repeat has been the easy bit, although while the songs are all very elegant and confident and electronic (but also warm) and very instantly among Will's best ever, it's proved surprisingly hard to put into words just how amazing it all is, and why that amazingness has proved so irresistible. But amazing this album certainly is. These are our iTunes star ratings, for a start, and you know us well enough by now to know that we do NOT mess around when it comes to the purity of the iTunes star rating.



Our favourite song off the sampler is 'Silent Valentine' (which sounds like a very sad Christmas) while the Bronski Beat-esque 'Losing Myself' seems to be the song that best joins the dots between this album and the Groove Armada collaboration that set the wheels for this whole new sound in motion.

Some bits off the press release:

» Album release: August 22.
» Single release: August 21.
» It's coming out on the 10th anniversary of Will's first Pop Idol audition.
» Richard X has produced the whole thing.
» Will's been writing with Jim Eliot (amazing), Andy Groove Armada (amazing) and Pascal Gabriel (amazing).
» According to the press release, "the sweeping strings and key changes of his hit ballads have made way for synthesised melody, towards something sparer and more controlled. ‘I had to learn to undo my musical muscle memory,' he explains. ‘To allow space into the music.'" (It's basically the perfect comedown album.)

Here's the single, which got its radio debut this morning.



Please note that while we usually worship at the altar of the radio edit, the album version of the single is in fact a little bit better, partly simply because it goes on a little bit longer but also because the intro unfolds with more power.

Basically, the remaining seven songs could be the sound of Will Young swinging a toaster around his head and this would still be one of the albums of the year.

Here's the full tracklisting.

1. Jealousy
2. Come On
3. Lie Next To Me
4. I Just Want A Lover
5. Runaway
6. Outsider
7. Silent Valentine
8. Losing Myself
9. Personal Thunder
10. Hearts On Fire
11. Happy Now
12. Good Things
13. Safe From Harm

Hurrah

http://www.popjustice.com/

Holy Moly review..7/10

A great album for people who like Will Young

Thu, 11/08/2011 - 10:29 by BeccaDP
•7/10
•BUY NOW:

It feels like only yesterday that we were watching lovely Will Young singing Evergreen and crushing the dreams of poor stuttering Gareth Gates. But it wasn’t, it was 10 years ago! We know, time flies, doesn’t it? Well, anyway, 10 years and five albums later, and Will Young isn’t going anywhere, as his new album Echoes proves.

If you listened to lead single Jealousy when we put it up last week, you sort of already know what to expect; a smooth, slow album full of gentle synths complementing Will’s lovely vocal while he sings about love and heartbreak. Jealousy is a great lead single; a slow build up of muffled bass that brings to mind Give It Away by mid-2000s dancesters Deepest Blue, in a really really good way.

On Lie Next To Me, Will sings about bumping into an ex he still loves, and manages to be really heartfelt and touching without a hint of saccharine, and could easily be the best track on the album, seeing Will’s vocal range from rich and deep to reed-thin and fragile. Sad Will is replaced by Horny Will on I Just Want a Lover, where he yelps “not being sentimental, I want you to satisfy me” against a persuasive beat that, sped up, would be very danceable indeed.

Hearts of Fire and Losing Myself continue the dancier feel, bearing the unmistakeable handprint of collaborators Groove Armada. At the other end of the scale, bereavement ballad Outsider is very Adele’s Hometown Glory, right down to the delivery and tone of the vocal, and it’s really sweet if not derivative.

Will Young has made another great album for people who like Will Young. It’s a different take on his usual sound, and is certainly pleasing to listen to. Sure, there’s a handful of duff tracks; don’t bother with Come On and Silent Valentine, because they’re a little bit dull, and could have been jettisoned to move Good Things and Happy Now up the tracklisting.

Working with Richard X and Groove Armada is a smart move for any pop star, and Will Young has worked it to its full advantage, co-writing all but one of this album’s 13 tracks, and working closely with production to produce a sound that fits him very well. Will explained that this album taught him how “to allow space into music” and that space is exactly what makes this album work; Will has walked away from soaring strings and armies of backing singers, to create a cool album that showcases his lovely voice and his love for a good synth.

Here's the video for jealousy, the first release from the album:



Music Review, Will Young

http://www.holymoly.com/music/reviews/will...0%99s-nice58607

BBC review

A fantastic fifth album from a Pop Idol who continues to deliver the goods.

Ian Wade 2011-08-12

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of Will Young participating in the more innocent, pre-X Factor Pop Idol, the show he won at the start of 2002. It landed him on Planet Pop with a carefully stage-managed precision that has since seen a decade of hopefuls either make it (Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, JLS) or crash and burn before a stint on whatever other reality show will have them.

Young was vastly superior to his nearest rival at the time of his breakthrough, Gareth Gates (who came unstuck approximately 18 months into his music career), and come his second album – 2003’s Friday’s Child, featuring the brilliant single Leave Right Now – he’d grabbed hold of every aspect of his music, taking control so as not to suffer a similar fate. From then he knocked out two more albums, issued a greatest hits compilation in 2009, and recently worked with Groove Armada on the dance duo’s 2010 LP Black Light.

For his fifth album, representing something of a new chapter for Young following his best-of set, he has teamed up with super-producer Richard X – the man behind past hits for Saint Etienne, M.I.A., Kelis and Goldfrapp. But it was actually the X-produced Steve Mason album, 2010’s much-acclaimed Boys Outside, which prompted Young to seek him out in the first place. The results of that suggest he was exceedingly wise to do so, as Echoes is a triumph.

Throughout these 13 tracks, while never taking a wild leap into gabba territory, X brings subtle elements of dancefloor delights present and future into arrangements complementing Young’s tunes of love, longing and regret, making this a high quality affair all round. The hands-aloft joyousness of lead single Jealousy is just one of the highpoints; other moments of magic come along with Silent Valentine, which sounds like a giant hit you feel you’ve known forever, and I Just Want a Lover is a foxy boo-hoo-beneath-the-mirrorball future classic.

And standouts continue to present themselves. Losing Myself sounds like a mid-80s Climie Fisher keytar-and-crap-hair turbo ballad. He sounds completely at home in the environs of Lie Next to Me, while the chimes and cowbells of Good Things sound like something Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis may have handed out to someone with fierce shoulder pads in 1985 (in other words, it’s amazing).

Echoes is a fantastic, perfectly crafted adult pop album for people who’ve long wondered if such a thing existed anymore. It deserves to be reasonably enormous. Bravo, Will.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/z4pn

FIRST LISTEN (Daily star August 13)

Returning on an electro trip is a great move for the original Pop Idol.
Will's honeyed vocals mix perfectly with delicate dance beats on his new disc out August 22.
The album seems to address the stages of a breakup.
Lie Next to Me will have you swallowing back a mini lump.
Disco groover I Just Want a Lover, about no strings fun, has sadness at it's core.
Piano ballad Outsider is a highlight whilst single Jealousy is his finest yet.

Music week review

Will Young - Echoes (RCA)
14:50 | Monday August 15, 2011
By Dave Roberts

Nearly 10 years ago, when Will Young won Pop Idol and became very famous very quickly, he seemed like an extremely nice young man who made quite nice pop music.

Now he still seems thoroughly nice, but the music is more sophisticated, mature, personal and far more in tune with how Young has always wanted to sound.

Echoes’ opening track and lead single, Jealousy, sets the tone: mid-paced, with some electronic flourishes and a prominent but not dominant dance floor beat. It was the highest climber in last week’s airplay chart and is available from this Friday (August 21st).

Young will be promoting Echoes via a nationwide tour in October and November – and the 10th anniversary hook should snare quite a bit of media attention. All talent show winners should be this nice – and would kill to be this successful, especially a decade on from their tearful first triumph.

EQ Album Review - "Echoes" by Will Young

by Marc Ridley

New Will Young albums don't appear very often, but when they do, his steady onslaught of promising pop has ensured his reputation as a reliable entertainment mainstay which keeps the pop world steadily turning.

Young's new album, "Echoes" is out on Monday and is his latest since 2008's "Let It Go", which spawned the well received yet not exactly well sold singles "Changes", and that one of the Natwest ads.

EQ has been given an advanced preview of the album, featuring six tracks and the lead single "Jealousy" (video below), which you may have already heard. As a whole, "Echoes" has a definite tone of its own, and leaves behind the more mainstream, soul feel of its predecessor. Its brilliance is unusual and understated, yet the subtle electronic and pop threads running throughout the thirteen tracks ensure ear deserves a place in the nation's ears.

If you haven't heard it yet, "Jealousy" is the first track on the album and is soft and minimal, with Young sporting a quietly vulnerable voice. Bursting into a more expansive sound, the toned-down style of the track is joined by a reliable and familiar electro beat. The chorus is uplifting but somewhat subtle and mature; there's no over-the-top pop here.

"Lie Next to Me" is slower and softer, with Young's whispered vocals only audible due to their layered arrangement. "Come On" is a first-listen highlight, and offers a more up-tempo beat which still restrains itself to within the same tone as preceding tracks: 'Walk away, that's what you do / and it looks like I'm somebody you once knew ... Like a dream the sky is falling / Is it you who's talking to me?'

The album's closest track to a ballad comes with "Silent Valentine", a piano-led track which falls short of anthem status but is nevertheless a pretty satisfying, if unconventional, pop ballad.

Conversely, "Losing Myself" is heavier and struts along with a strong bass line, paired-up with an impressive melody. It loses its way towards the end, but managed to take the album in a stronger direction, which is welcome after the vulnerability of preceding tracks.

"Personal Thunder", meanwhile, sounds cautious and unsettling, with lonely vocals and a relentlessly disjointed melody. But the brilliant chorus, when it eventually arrives, has a clear, confident melody and lyrics to match: 'I'm finding these days my personal under / it's tripping me down / locked in a cage but I won't surrender'.

Whilst releases by Will Young aren't as big events on the pop calendar as those by other, similarly long-lasting artists, there is certainly a level of quality here which ensures our continued interest. Even from the few tracks we've heard, which only make up about half of the album, there's a lot to like and a lot worth listening to. In short, we're happy with Young's fifth effort. And we'll eagerly await his sixth.

http://www.eqmusicblog.com/2011/08/eq-albu...young.html#more

Entertainment focus

*****

The original Pop Idol Will Young is returning to the charts after a brief hiatus. His last release was 2009’s The Hits which celebrated the singer’s career since winning Pop Idol back in 2002. Since the release of that album Will has taken time out to star in Sky Living show Bedlam and record his new album. In an unlikely move Will has teamed up with dance producer Richard X to record Echoes, his fifth studio album.

Echoes is quite unlike anything that Will has done previously moving him into more rhythmic territory than we’ve heard before. Inspired by his collaboration with Groove Armada on History, Echoes sees Will exploring new musical ground whilst keeping his trademark vocals intact. Opening with current single Jealousy it’s clear that Will’s new sound is a progression rather than a reinvention. Known for his heart-wrenching love songs Will sticks to similar lyrical ground whilst exploring the musical landscape behind the words. The end result is something fairly stunning and is sure to win Will even more fans than he’s currently got.

There are so many potential singles on Echoes that it’s difficult to know where to start when expressing our love for this record. The pulsating 80s beats of Losing Myself are a definite highlight whilst Outsider is the closest Will gets to his signature sound. Good Things is a proper dancefloor cut that will get some fantastic remixes if it’s granted a single release and Runaway is a smooth electro-pop cut that utilises Will’s vocal range to great effect.

Elsewhere on the record Will channels La Roux on the falsetto-filled choruses of Personal Thunder and borrows an epic musical landscape from Coldplay on the superb Come On.

I Just Want A Lover is the record’s most exciting and enjoyable cut. The heavy beat combines with Will’s reverb filled vocals for one of the saddest upbeat songs we’ve ever heard. Lyrically the song pines for a lover to take away the pain of being alone. We can’t wait to see him perform this on his tour later in the year.

Echoes could be Will’s best album since his mega-selling Friday’s Child record back in 2003. We’re glad that he’s trying something new and when we last interviewed him back in 2008 he expressed a desire to make a more dance-oriented album but was concerned how his fans may receive it. Judging on the response for Jealousy they’re lapping it up and we hope Will continues to explore this new sound. Echoes is a polished, heartfelt and glorious pop record that will stand the test of time.

http://entertainment-focus.com/music/artic...ll-young-echoes

Robot Pigeon – 16th August

Here's our review of the new Will Young album, 'Echoes':

It opens amazingly, sags slightly in the middle but pulls it all back magnificently at the end. The second Will Young album this lifetime we've wanted on our iPod. 8/10.

But the album deserves a little more than that. Ahem.

'Jealousy' is a bit of a loss-leader as a lead single. It's the closest the album gets to a club 'banger' but we're glad he didn't push it any further. The day Will Young features a guest rapper on a single is the day the music dies (someone should write a song about that. Maybe Yasmin can do the chorus). But while it's not exactly David Guetta, it's certainly the most danceable track here.

Favourites on the album include the second superb Kish Mauve-penned track (and surefire future single) 'Hearts On Fire', the brilliantly uplifting 'Come On' and 'the lovely spooky space-aged pop of 'Runway'. 'Good Things' gently rubs up against funky house without pushing the boundaries of frottage and album finale 'Safe From Harm' is a brilliant disco anthem with Will's stunning vocal pushing into Jimmy Somerville territory with an incredible falsetto.

But for us, the standout on the album is 'Lie Next To Me'. Now, Will Young has done ballads before (and he'll probably not better 'Leave Right Now' despite coming close on several occasions) but this one is up there with his finest. It sounds like a love song for a sad little spaceman who has messed things up once too often - and this is summed up perfectly in the line: "I see you got all that you wanted / you seem so happy this time around / don't want to ask too much of you / I'll just get drunk and let you down". YES YES, WE KNOW - IT IS LYRICALLY SIMILAR TO ADELE'S 'SOMEONE LIKE YOU'. *runs and grabs tissues*

'Lie Next To Me' does everything a good Will Young ballad ought: It makes you feel sad for lovely Will, warm on the inside because someone else nice is having a tough time of things and glad that he won that bloody TV show all those years ago. Add to this some wonderfully cosmic bleeping and swooshes, and you have a high new entry in The Top Ten Best Will Young Songs Of All Time. Very wonderful indeed.

Round of applause for all involved.

http://www.robotpigeon.com/2011/08/good-ne...ong-on-new.html

Time Out

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

****
Will Young Echoes RCA


Of the reality show winners, Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke haven’t done too shabbily, while Joe McElderry is gamely hanging in there. We know what became of the hapless Steve Brookstein (It involves a Pizza Hut in Maidstone) and are frankly too polite to suggest where Michelle McManus might be now. But, ten years on from winning the first Pop Idol, Will Young is entering another phase of his career.

For his fifth album, it’s out with the strings-drenched pop balladry and ersatz soul and in with co-songwriters Kish Mauve and Andy Cato, and producer Richard X. The latter effected Sugababes’ successful electro makeover back in 2002 and-although there’s nothing as edgy and raw as that here-Young’s move (steered by A&R man and former Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering) involves a major shift in intent and, very possibly, audience. Rhythm is now paramount, hence the funkily insistent ‘Safe from Harm’, the irresistibly lush ‘Happy Now’ and bedazzled, killer single-in-waiting ‘Good Things’, which is ripe for a remix or two. Due to vocal similarities, there’s a fair bit of George Michael in ‘Echoes’, filtered via the disco of Chic, Pet Shop Boys and Goldfrapp. No complaints there.

It’s not a total groove picnic, mind. ‘Jealousy’ is a banal, quasi-Erasure thumper; ‘Come On’ vapid Euro-House; and ‘Silent Valentine’ treads water. But ‘Outsider’ is a pearlised, piano-based ballad that doesn’t make us heave (result!); ‘Runaway’ has us itching to shimmy across the floor six seconds in; and ‘Personal Thunder’ is gorgeous-a euphoric, 5 an weepie that Alison Moyet would kill for. Young scores in all the ways the Robbie Williams must so wish he could. But then, Will does have the voice, not to mention the likeable persona. Happy anniversary, sir. Sharon O’Connell.

This post has been edited by truly talented: Aug 18 2011, 12:43 PM