Natalie Imbruglia - Glorious: The Singles, 1997-2007

A dozen hits, plus two new cuts from indie-pop princess

While Torn remains a standout pop plea, with its insistent but angelic vocal and rhythmic acoustic guitar, former soap star Natalie Imbruglia was always going to struggle to emulate it. She came closest on her four albums to date with the looming atmosphere of Big Mistake, with much of the remainder of her work mixing her sucrose-sweet delivery with blending strings and piano (as on Counting Down The Days), with the occasional rockier moment, such as the Coldplay-like Wishing I Was There. Beauty On Fire has a more synthetic tone, as does the new Be With You, which could be Dannii Minogue backed by Ultravox. Other moments bring to mind bubblegum pop of the Blondie/Bangles variety, and while never exploding with emotion, there’s a gnawingly enticing quality to Nat’s brand of mellow pop.

Brightside | cat no tbc

Reviewed by Tim Jones
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