Track Listing

1. Rockferry
2. Warwick Avenue
3. Serious
4. Stepping Stone
5. Syrup & Honey
6. Hanging On Too Long
7. Mercy
8. Delayed Devotion
9. Scared
10. Distant Dreamer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2657 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 38 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rockferry, the Welsh singer's lovingly constructed debut album, has already succeeded beyond expectations, and although Duffy may not quite be the ingénue portrayed by a clever press campaign (she nearly won a local television talent show a few years back while a single credited to Aimee Duffy is still available on iTunes) she is surely the most appealing of the current flood of young soul sirens. The astonishing title track, co-written by Bernard Butler, sounded like a lost transmission that had taken decades to get through as soon as it hit radio last year. But the gently rolling soul ballad "Stepping Stone", that strapping, inescapable monster hit "Mercy", the ice cool "Serious" (the one time she really does channel the spirit of Dusty Springfield) and the wistful, elegant "Warwick Avenue" are similarly effective. Suggestions by some that Rockferry is little more than sixties pastiche are churlish. Butler's previous work with David McAlmont (featured here as a backing singer) showed his skill at writing and arranging the dramatic, while her other collaborators such as Steve Booker and the team of Jimmy Hogarth and Eg White are hardly lightweights. But despite some wonderful orchestral settings, it's Duffy's terrific voice that makes this so satisfying, even overpowering Butler's exquisitely underplayed guitar work on "Rockferry" itself. Growling the blues on "Syrup & Honey" or belting it out over his lovingly arranged wall of sound on "Distant Dreamer", she sets the tone throughout, several of her songs dealing with escape, both physical and romantic. The sound of someone singing herself to stardom, Rockferry is at times genuinely amazing. Steve Jelbert

Review
Somewhere there's an unofficial manual about how to create legendary soul albums. There's advice for budding new artists on how to screw up their life a bit, get their heart broken, acquire some 'issues' and turn it all into music. Listening to Rockferry, it's evident that Duffy hasn't yet read this book; the haunting experience of hurt is tangible by its absence. However, the scholarly pursuit of her craft has resulted in an album that's a delicious confection of elegent, bluesy soul. It's not legendary, but it's well over halfway there.

This 23-year-old Welsh singer arrives in a fanfare of expectation. Second single, Mercy took its nouveau Northern Soul straight to number one - shimmying through the melee of nu-rave, skinny jean indie and witterings of Kate Nash et al. While there's a glut of Winehouse wannabes on the scene right now, Duffy's longevity is assured. Much has been made of the three years it's taken to mature this album - and it's this that sends her soaring beyond the likes of Adele, whose rushed debut was devoid of character.

The spine-tingling orchestration comes courtesy of a dream team of writers and producers, one of which is indie veteran Bernard Butler: the thinking man's Mark Ronson. He brings the album to a dazzling denouement with Distant Dreamer - a sonic waterfall of strings so uplifting you emerge drenched in hope. Elsewhere, the Dusty Springfield comparisons find justification in the likes of debut single Rockferry and Warwick Avenue, a stirring tale of strength and walking away. There are few low points to be found, with the Gabrielle-esque Stepping Stone noticeably hanging limply in the tracklisting.

The subject matter of Rockferry is the preserve of classic soul - rueful tales of myriad insubordinations at the hands of dastardly men - and Duffy's voice is an understated sensation. Yet her youth and naivety mean she's been force-fed pain like she's songstress foie gras. The result is that it's the quality of her sound that resonates, rather than the emotional force of the lyrics. True soul serves up solace for the broken-hearted. With Duffy, lyrics like ''In an instant you were gone / And now I'm scared'' (from sublime relationship eulogy, Scared) simply don't shatter romantic idealism the way they should. After three years of musical growth, Duffy has found her voice - now it's time to enrich it by living. --Sophie Hammer

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