Alison Moyet - The Turn

Not so much torch, more a towering inferno

The oh-so-80s synth noodling and spiky hair of Yazoo seem several lifetimes ago when listening to the big, brash bombast of Moyet’s first solo album for five years. Having all but reinvented herself as a theatrical diva after stints in Chicago and the two-hander with Dawn French, Smaller, the “Alf” of 2007 is an overwhelming powerhouse of torch and tragedy flitting between Bassey and early 70s Bowie. Anytime At All and One More Time soar with elaborate orchestrations, their ambition and energy almost exploding beyond the confines of a CD. It’s a large-scale sound with drama to the fore, made to reach out to the tiniest crevices of a cavernous auditorium. Moyet’s songs, co-written with Peter Glenister, seem tailor-made for the artifice of a stage production, but avoid the hammy mawkishness of, say, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Even the more subdued numbers have a stature and classicism recalling the emotional intensity of prime Dusty Springfield. Her own story, including a period when record label conflicts as good as gagged her for nearly a decade, would provide rich pickings for a musical celebrating triumph over adversity, with Moyet asserting herself as the Elaine Paige it’s OK to like.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

W14 | 1746275

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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