Back to Scratch

Charlotte Church - Back to Scratch

Back to Scratch
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Category: Music CD
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CD Details

Artist: Charlotte Church
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2010-11-02
Music Label: EMI Import
Soundtracks:
  1. Back to Scratch
  2. We Were Young
  3. Ruby
  4. Unravelling
  5. Logical World
  6. Suitcase
  7. The Actors
  8. The Story of Us
  9. Don't Think About It
  10. Cup of the Sun
  11. Snow
  12. Lovedrunk
  13. Honestly

Music reviews of Back to Scratch

Music Review: She did a good job on this.
Rating: 4 Stars

I like this album. Though it has been marketed as pop, I would classify it more as folk or country. The lyrics and melodies have an almost Carole King sound with a very noticeable Nashville twang, quite different from her other music. I'm no fan of country-western, but she pulls it off.

I would list two major strengths for it:

* It is realistic and relatable. I can identify with music by, say, Regina Spektre, and I feel that here.
* The overall composition is agreeable and comfy. From the musical style, to the subject matter, to the album art, it's nice. No trying too hard, no cheap attempts at being edgy, no embarrassing overachiever pieces that don't quite work out. Not trying to be unkind, Charlotte, but some of those earlier works were badly weakened by these elements; and they are happily absent from Back to Scratch.

In my opinion, there is one major weakness in this album:

* It isn't very commercial. "Logical World" has a Selena Gomez kinda flair, with a funky accompanying video, but there's really no ear-catching single that I could imagine showing up on the radio everywhere. That's not much of a weakness if you're a fan, but it won't push the album.

About the tracks:

The songwriting is strong, with the exception of "Honestly" which was apparently intended to sound confessional-ish/vulnerable/heartfelt, but really bears the lack of self-awareness of her teen music. With that exception, I felt the pieces were generally listenable and intelligent. "Ruby" and "Cup of the Sun" are probably my favorites. I love the crackling, old phonograph record sound in Ruby and the lightness of Cup of the Sun. "The Story of Us" would have made the top of my list, but for the arrangement. She performed it live for FemaleFirst with just a guitar backing her up and it was amazing as an acoustic number. I think she should have recorded it that way for the album. With the backup vocals, it sounds more like truck-stop music to me, but without them she sounded like Laura Nyro. "We Were Young" bears mentioning, as it has probably gotten the most promotional attention. Very personal, very innocent and sorrowful- I didn't care for her live performances of this one as much, but the studio recording is excellent. Finally, I want to mention the hidden track: her cover of "River." It isn't as custom-fitted to her voice as her own music, like her cover of Bridge Over Troubled Waters, but it's still well executed and rich.

The entire album has a soulful, sadder-but-wiser quality and the sense of an artist performing her art for her art's sake. It definitely lacks the wow factor that her very first album had and her subsequent albums tried to have, but it doesn't seem that she was shooting for that. This is a stand-alone piece of work, like or leave (little nod to "Honestly" there), and I like it.
More Back to Scratch free music reviews:
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Description of Back to Scratch

2010 album from the Welsh Classical/Pop crossover vocalist. Produced by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbeck, the fourteen track collection is multi-textured Pop dynamite, showcasing Charlotte's incredible range as well as her knack for informing each and every song she sings with unabashed emotion. Her second pop album, Back To Scratch, shows off a mature, refined side to Charlotte, with a sophisticated pop sound that will doubtless win her legions of new converts as well as satisfying her loyal fan-base. Partly written in Nashville with Luke Laird and Patrick Davis, she also worked with local Welsh artists The Druids and Jonathan Powell on the album. EMI. 2010.

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