Album title: Stars are Rising
Artist: Joanna Forest
Genre: Classical Crossover
Nationality: English
Release date: March 10
Position in Discography: Debut
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Average RYM Score: N/A
I suppose being classical this album might be hard to track down details on, and so it proves. Wiki tells me Joanna Forest is an English soprano, this is her debut album and that she records this album with the help of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Arts Symphony Orchestra. That's it. Discogs, RYM don't even have her as an artist, so that's as much as I can tell you. Sopranos? I've heard Sarah Brightman, of course, and Katherine Jenkins. They can be a little off-putting but there's no doubting the talent of any woman who can sing in that style. I don't know either of the first two songs, but then she does “Life on Mars”, and well, it's okay but there's something missing on it. A little overblown on the chorus, quite sparse on the verses, with the stupid sound of a cow on that line. Sigh.
Slade's “How Does It Feel” is an odd choice, I feel, and I don't know the song, so can't comment on the job she does on it, though given that Slade were glam-rock bovver boys of the seventies, it seems extremely weird to hear a classical soprano sing the song. Overall, she's of course a wonderful singer – couldn't doubt that – but the fact that most of these songs are unknown to me is kind of a barrier to really enjoying the album; I'm not that much into the soprano voice, I don't like opera and this is kind of a slog. Not the same sort of slog as with the previous album. There, it was just that the songs were very long, but I did enjoy them. Here I'm a little lost, though I now hear her singing that song from
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, “Pure Imagination”. That's nice.
But it's really not my thing. If it's yours, I imagine there are few better at this than her and Jenkins, and maybe Kiri te Kanawa. But it's a little boring and dreary for me.
Check out more from this artist? Nah
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Unlikely, though there may be some gems hiding in there, so you never know.
Expectation Index: 3