Track Listing

1. Nobody's Fault But Mine
2. Sweet Hours
3. So Sublime
4. I Shall Be Released
5. Only One Cloud
6. When the Rains Came
7. Oh My Life
8. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground - Duke Special, Beth Rowley,
9. Almost Persuaded
10. You Never Called Me Tonight
11. Beautiful Tomorrow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12883 in Music
• Released on: 2008-09-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Born to British missionary parents in Peru and raised in Bristol, England, songstress Beth Rowley is a British talent poised for greatness.

"Little Dreamer", Rowley's debut album, charted at #6 on the British charts the first week out in May. Largely co-written by Beth with saxophonist Ben Castle (Duke Special/Jamie Cullum), the album has a bluesy, soulful sound that is captivating and unique - yet belies her youth.

Highlights include "So Sublime," "Oh My Life," "Sweet Hours," and covers of the Willie Nelson classic "Angels Flying Too Close to the Ground" and Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released".

Amazon.co.uk
Cute, curly-headed diva Beth Rowley won many hearts with her charming Violets EP. Born in Peru and raised in the English West Country, Rowley has been mentored by Carleen Anderson and now follows up on the success of that EP with Little Dreamer, an album that continues her sweetly old fashioned, Motown-esque blend of blues, gospel, soul and jazz--all peppered with a classic mainstream sheen. Produced by Steve Power (Blur) and Kevin Bacon & Jonathan Quarmby (Richard Hawley, Finlay Quaye), the album discloses a voice as jaw-droppingly flawless and hopelessly compelling as a Norah Jones or Amy Winehouse, but with atmospheric traces of Karen Carpenter, Aretha Franklin and Eva Cassidy too. Tracks like the stunning gospel blues of "Almost Persuaded" and soulful single "Oh My Life" are good examples of what to expect from this cozy, feelgood album. The reggae pulse of "I Shall Be Released" tends to undermine the power and beauty of the original, but slow, heartfelt blues numbers like "One Cloud" more than make up for these blips. Rowley plays it safe on Little Dreamer, but it's a stunning collection nonetheless. --Danny McKenna

Customer Reviews

A sparse country and smoky jazz affair !
British chanteuses mired in the past and singing the blues are more regular than buses these days, but Beth Rowley isn't just soulful, she's spiritual.
Steaming out of Bristol tousle-haired Beth has the voice to rival Adele and Duffy and the mature delivery to put them in the shade.
After a series of independent releases and the patronage of saxophonist Ben (son of Roy) Castle, her debut album is very assured.
The daughter of missionaries, she sings with gospel fervour, her big voice seeking redemption and effortlessly outshining the eager choir behind her on "Nobody's Fault But Mine", which showcases a Sixties-style soul vocal, admirable control and beautiful clarity.
Of the 11 tracks, six are rearrangements (by Rowley herself) of traditional melodies, and/or cover versions. The remaining five tracks showcase Rowley's own promising songwriting talents, which she does justice to with her easy, silky voice.
Furthermore, her reworked versions of traditional folk songs actually bring something fresh and original to the tracks.
When she tries to update her sound, however, the west country girl confuses contemporary pop with bloodless Middle-Of-the-Road.
Both "So Sublime" and "Sweet Hour" reduce her to just a pleasant, Karen Carpenterish diversion, and her bunny-boiler routine during "You Never Called Me" comes with all the menace of a kitten.
The real trouble lies, as it so often does, with the production. Too often this album plays it safe, lacking real punch. A track like "So Sublime" is so lightweight, floating close to the danger area marked 'Eva Cassidy', that it virtually floats off the CD.
Yet, the bulk of the material - a poppy blues jazz amalgam - is actually fine, being mostly co-written by Ben Castle; placing her in a more mainstream Jamie Cullum mould. And she handles covers extremely well.
Her take on "Nobody's Fault But Mine" is affecting, though perhaps her reggae version of Dylan's "I Shall Be Released is a little too happy for the song's sentiments.
Another borrowed song is Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground", a duet with Duke Special, beautifully set with Hammond organ, lap steel, dobro and saxes.
"Beautiful Tomorrow" closes the album on a such a powerful rush of gospel-like harmonising that it's hard not to leap from your seat clapping and bellowing.
This is a sparse country and smoky jazz affair and the stylish understatement in Beth's pure, appealingly lazy voice is perhaps the quality which most endears her on this debut.
Highlights: "Nobody's Fault But Mine", "I Shall Be Released".

19
Rockferry

Good debut with room for improvement
Beth Rowley's voice isn't as distinctive as the voices of her nearest British pop `rivals', Amy Winehouse and Duffy, that's not necessarily a bad thing but it does mean that some of her songs, such as "So sublime", can seem a bit bland.

What singles her out from her contemporaries is that as well as singing pop and 'reconstituted 60s soul' she also sings `da blues'. However, she's no Susan Tedeschi and I find that her take on Blind Willie Johnson's "Nobody's fault but mine" is a bit dull. Similarly, her producer has taken British blues singer Jim Crawford's "When the rains came" - which Jim recorded with just his guitar and voice - added a full band with Hammond organ, slide guitar and gospel backing singers to turn a masterpiece of understatement into overblown mediocrity. She's not exactly ruined a great song (that would be perfect for a cover by Joe Cocker) but she's missed all the subtleties of the song and its original performance. I also find the modern blues "One cloud" to be pretty average.

I think that when she leaves the blues behind she's a lot better, "Sweet hours" and "Oh my life" both work perfectly as modern pop/soul, as do the gospel-influenced "Almost persuaded" and the reggae version of Dylan's "I shall be released". The real revelation for me was her duet with Duke Special on Willie Nelson's "Angel flying too close to the ground" where her voice is thoughtful and vulnerable, and which for me was one of her best vocal performances.

It's commendable that Beth and her producers have tried to include different types of music into the mix of her debut CD but I feel that for much of the blues-based material her voice can't really carry the songs and their arrangements.

A haunting debut that left me wanting more
I was captivated by Beth Rowley's haunting "Nobody's Fault But My Own" on my way home from work (she was featured on NPR), and knew that I had to have more of her smokey, gospel blues-tinged debut Little Dreamer. Roughly half of the album has that hand-waving church vibe that makes you want to sway in place with your eyes closed, caught up in the power of the music. "Only One Cloud" is a moody song that sounds like a field spiritual. Jim Crawford's "When the Rains Came" is fronted by a haunting Dobro with a driving bass that sounds like a Native American dance. "Almost Persuaded" tells the tale of "temptation flowing like wine." The chorus of "You Never Called Me Tonight" has production values that sound like it could have come out of some lost Motown vault, with a sassy, almost funeral-like pounding piano knelling the death of the doomed relationship.

But Little Dreamer is multifaceted, and includes covers of Bob Dylan (I Shall Be Released) and Willie Nelson (Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground), along with some upbeat pop. The sweet, slow piano intro to "Sweet Hours" almost sounds like a lost Norah Jones gem as bass and snare step in to pick up the beat, while "So Sublime" flirts with hints of 1960s folk and pop. I wasn't as crazy about "Angel"; Beth's voice wasn't as complementary to the song as on the stronger gospel-influenced tracks.

Overall, this is a very promising debut of another undeniably talented British singer-songwriter in the vein of Corinne Bailey Rae, Back to Black and 19 who truly inhabits the smoky, gospel-tinged blues tunes and makes them her own.