Track Listing

1. Dream
2. So Blue
3. The Road Less Travelled
4. Blue Skies
5. Something I Dreamed Last Night
6. Miss Otis Regrets
7. Out Of Nowhere
8. Velvet Moon
9. This Time The Dream's On Me
10. Change Partners
11. What A Diff'rence A Day Made
12. Madrugada
13. Teach Me Tonight
14. I'm Beginning To See The Light

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25907 in Music
• Released on: 2003-09-15
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

A Voice Like Chocolate
I heard Clare Teal on the radio a few weeks ago and thought that she had a lovely voice then. I bought this album last saturday and I just can't stop playing it. Her voice is so lush it's like an audio version of chocolate. I love the upbeat songs, but it's the slow ballads that really really show off her vocals. I'm not a jazz specialist and i didn't even think i liked jazz very much but i'm going to get her other albums as soon as I can. An excellent record.

Swingin' down The Road
Having bought and been thoroughly impressed with Clare's latest album "Don't Talk", I thought I should investigate some of her back catalogue "before she woz famous", and from this one I can certainly see why she was snapped up by major label Sony.

Content here is more the swinging jazz style, with a romp through Johnny Mercer's "Dream" setting the tone from the start. There's no big band, though; backing comes from her regular group of six musicians, all given their chance to shine individually along the way. Clare's voice is beautiful, smooth and low, with more than a hint of Peggy Lee's phrasing, and by turn swinging, emotive, joyous and powerful, just rightly as each track demands. She even tries a little scat, of which I'm normally no great fan, on Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies", and it's brilliant, as a one-off.

The Great American Songbook is duly raided for most of the tracks, the one slightly less familiar amongst these being "Something I Dreamed Last Night", a bluesy ballad previously aired only by Anita O'Day and Marlene Dietrich, which Clare gives just the right, contrasting, laid-back treatment of. She also gives us a dreamy, late night version of "What A Difference A Day Made", certainly a nice change to some over-excited attacks on this song elsewhere.

Two of her own compositions are included, one after the other. "So Blue" is a haunting torch song in the mould of Kay Starr or Patsy Cline; "The Road Less Travelled" is more uptempo, with a groovy 60s lounge feel, the only drawback being Jamie Cullum's added vocal - any pretentions that the man can sing are blown away right here next to Clare's golden tone. Nevertheless, these two songs show that she can certainly write.

Sound and production are handled by much the same team as on her new album. Apart from the slower numbers everything, backing musicians as well as vocals, is very upfront, and the only drawback to this is that when the heat is turned up, for example on the last two tracks, the backing does almost overwhelm her in the choruses. This is a minor gripe, though - it's a very fine and enjoyable album, enough to tempt one further back in her archive.

An absolute must buy!
Clare Teal has been one of those artists that simply has failed to disappoint with each record she has released. I have been lucky enough to see her perform live and I can assure you that she is every bit as wonderful in "reality" as she is on record. Her new album "The Road Less Travelled" captures her every breath perfectly. Her range is astounding on this album, even more than the beautiful "Orsino's Songs". The album starts with Johnny Mercer's "Dream" (the best arrangement I have ever heard of this song by the way) and then it's straight into one of Clare's original compositions "So Blue". "So Blue" is a fitting tribute to the style of Patsy Cline and really shows off Clare's vocals. It's almost country in some places, but never crosses the line from tribute to pastiche. Then there is the awesome title track, a very powerful and intricate duet with Jamie Cullum..and again, a Clare Teal/Amanda Field original composition. Other outstanding performances on this album have to be "Something I Dreamed Last Night" which Clare sings so softly and clearly you can't help be be totally caught up in the emotions of the words and "Teach Me Tonight" that features a stunning guitar solo from Nils Solberg along with a very subtle but enhancing Hammond Organ part played by Simon Wallace. I really can't recommend this album enough, there is not one song that lets it down. "Clare Teal" a mark of real jazz quality!