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Nov 2, 2011James Morrison drizzles his velvety-as-butter voice all over each of the 12 songs on The Awakening, his most recent foray into contemporary soul, where the balance between the cheerful and the cheesy works more often than not.
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Oct 26, 2011It's an in-the-moment album that's best when it's in the moment.
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MojoOct 25, 2011Amy Winehouse it ain't, but we can take a certain pleasure in a man who at least possesses the sort of grainy Sam Cooke mellifluousness that, down the ages, has redeemed blue-eyed-soul boys the world over. [Oct 2011, p.94]
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UncutOct 18, 2011There's little evidence [of reinvention] on a collection of soul-pop ballad s that sound like Jay Kay singing the James Blunt songbook. [Oct 2011, p.93]
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Oct 13, 2011Until Morrison manages to infuse some of this raw honesty and emotion into his sound, he's always going to struggle to create that one great record that his impassioned and soulful voice deserves.
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Oct 13, 2011The Awakening is lacking the grandstanding moment it needs to elevate it above reserved recommendation--it's a safe, steady affair, but about as revelatory as a Chris de Burgh best-of.
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Q MagazineNov 8, 2011The third album from James Morrison isn't the musical enlightenment that its title suggests, but rather another sturdy, if predictable, collection of soul-tinged, Radio-2 friendly pop tunes. [Nov. 2011, p. 139]
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Oct 13, 2011Strings and expensive-sounding gloss are applied by producer Bernard Butler but unfortunately it's Duffy-era Butler, rather than the sweeping soul of his mid-90s David McAlmont collaborations.
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Oct 13, 2011The songs are mostly just nondescript airwave fodder, clogging up the aether for months to come.
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