Susan Boyle - The Gift

This morning I have done an absolute blitz of the house and now the Stig is in bed and my house is sparkly clean! And it's only 10:30!!

In an effort to motivate myself, I downloaded Susan Boyle's new album, The Gift. I thought this would get me in the Christmasy mood, and I also liked her debut album very much. My thoughts on this one? Well, just looking at the track listing, I was pleased to see that the line up was not just your usual list of cheesy Christmas tracks. There are a couple of songs on there like the Crowded House tune Don't Dream It's Over, that I was very interested to hear her take on. Unfortunately, although Boyle has a lovely voice, the album suffers from a bit of 'same, same but different,' syndrome. Apart from sounding very much like her first album, the tracks all sound very similar to each other. And her bland take on the Crowded House track left me somewhat disappointed. I mean, if you're going to cover a track, at least give it something new and fresh, right?

Anyway, I must say that I'll probably listen to the album again, despite these sentiments. I guess Boyle has just decided to stick to what she knows best, and although it's enjoyable for an album or two, it leaves me wondering how long she'll be able to keep doing it. Fans of her first album will probably enjoy this one, but be left with the feeling that this could be a downward slide into sameness and mediocrity.