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Admit it, you don't really like James Blunt. You want
to like him, since everybody seems to love that song about him
seeing his mildly pretty girlfriend when he was stoned, and you
listen to him in hopes of one day seeing the appeal, but you don't
get it. He's unattractive, has a bad voice, his lyrics don't make
sense…well, good news. There's a new soulful, accented James
on the block, and his CD is better than I really want to admit.
For the past couple of months, all I've been reading has been
rave reviews of James Morrison (and no, there is no relation
to the Jim Morrison of Doors fame). And I was like
"yeah, yeah, next big thing, blah blah…" But when
I popped his CD in my computer, I was really shocked. James Morrison
is Stevie Wonder, Howie Day, Jason Mraz,
Jamie Cullum and every bad, bad guilty pleasure of a 1990's
boy band wrapped up in a mildly attractive (but in an awkward
John Krasinski way) body. Hell, he even sounds like Evan
And Jaron (remember how great "Crazy For This Girl"
was? What happened to them?) on "The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore."
James Morrison might have Natasha Bedingfield writing
his songs - "I'm not lost, I'm just undiscovered" -
"I'm unwritten" - Does anyone else here see the comparison?
If she doesn't have a hand in writing his lyrics, then they should
marry and have really confused children. And to go along with
the British woman theme, if Joss Stone got a sex change,
she'd be James Morrison, too... husky, raspy voice translated
perfectly. On "If The Rain Must Fall," Morrison sounds
so passionate, I want to namedrop Jeff Buckley gone soul
just to imply his delivery alone. I don't want to love him so
much, but I'm finding that I do.
I'm not going to hide it. I love James Morrison in the same way
I love every band I listened to in seventh grade. Even though
his music is new to me, it's got some sense of nostalgia about
it that makes me swoon in memories he wasn't even really part
of. So go buy Undiscovered and fill up that lonely little
spot on your iPod in the soul section between James Brown
and Stevie Wonder. You can thank me later.
-Caitlin McGuire
Track Listing:
1. Under The Influence
2. You Give Me Something
3. Wonderful World
4. The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore
5. One Last Chance
6. Undiscovered
7. The Letter
8. Call The Police
9. This Boy
10. If The Rain Must Fall
11. The Last Goodbye
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