Review: “Claire” by Claire Sweeney (CD, 2002)

Today’s Pop Rescue from an unknown fate, is the 2002 debut album Claire by British actress and singer, Claire Sweeney. Should you Believe that this album is great, or will Too Much of it Kill You? Read on…

Claire Sweeney - Claire (2002) album — Claire Sweeney – Claire (2002) album.

This 15 track CD is an album almost entirely of cover songs, so… let’s go!

The album opens with original track When You Believe. The song is a great showcase of Claire’s vocal power and range – and she shines here, giving us some Claire Richards from Steps vibes in her sound and the track too. It’s an immaculately produced plodder, but one that really works well. Rightly, the song was issued as a promo single, but sadly doesn’t appear to have had a full release. Therefore this album has no official single.

Then we’re on to I Hope You Dance with United Colours Of Sound, and this brings us some softer vocals from Claire as she’s flanked by a wave of acoustic guitars, backing vocalists, and a soft snare-led beat. An electric guitar plays moodily in the background, somewhere off to the left. It’s a nice gentle mellow track. The song is a cover of Lee Ann Womack’s 2000 single.

Next up is Too Much Love Will Kill You – a hit for guitarist Brian May of Queen, and aside from his writer credit, he’s here too on electric guitar (I wonder if it’s in a clause when covering him?). The track here is sung much slower than the original track, and whilst Claire has the vocal power for this song, her vocals don’t quite suit it, and the song just lacks the oomph that the Queen/Brian May versions did.

That’s followed by The Look Of Love, a cover of the (amongst others) Dusty Springfield hit penned by the legendary Bacharach and David writing duo. Here, we find Claire showing off her delicate and breathy vocals – and it sounds wonderful. The music swaggers perfectly along to the gentle bossanova. It works well.

That leads on to the classic Doors song Light My Fire, and here the track takes on a Bond-ian sense of drama. However, when Claire arrives on the mic, she’s taken on some kind of baby-doll persona with some higher pitched candied voice, although she hits the final note perfectly and holds it for ages. The strings are magnificent here, and musically it reminds me of the Shirley Bassey version of this song.

Next is Run To Me with singer and actor Oliver Darley. The tempo is down, as is the mood, as Claire is straight in on this reflective song. Oliver’s slightly contrasting vocals work well, and the duo manage to build up the track nicely with their harmonies. Over all, a nice cover of this old Bee Gees track.

Following that is My Heart Will Go On (Theme From Titanic) (as if we need that confirming), which was of course an iconic 1990’s hit for Celine Dion. Initially it doesn’t sound that different from the original. As it evolves, you begin to start missing the unrivalled Celine though, as Claire does the best she can with this belter, but sadly lacks the vocal power and range that Dion hits at that big moment. Instead, we’re left with a version from the woman down the pub who can definitely sing well, but not quite as well as she thinks she can.

Up next is Someday I’ll Find You – a Noel Coward song from his 1930 play Private Lives. We’re treated here to some beautiful strings and again some more big James Bond Theme styled music. Claire’s vocals flip from delicate to big and loud, and this fits the music wonderfully. This is a really great song and deserves to have been performed live or within a film, although I can’t imagine it working as a single.

Then we’re on to My Baby Loves Me (The Way That I Am), and this is quite a quirky and playful song, courtesy of vocal samples in the chorus. The backing track feels fairly country-rock, which may be echoing the Patricia Conroy and Martina McBride country versions in 1992 and 1993 respectively. Here though, Claire sounds like she’s having a load of fun, and vocally somewhat unlike previous songs found on this album. It’s good fun.

The strings are back for next track One Day I’ll Fly Away, bringing with them an air of mystery before Claire’s precise vocals cut through. It’s hard for me to listen to this song without imagining the version by Nicole Kidman in the film Moulin Rouge, but Claire does manage to make some subtle nuances from that version. The mid-way point’s arrival of the beat allows for the song to evolve, but doesn’t quite sit well as it sounds too upbeat and oblivious of the lyrics and string section.

Something In Red is next, and we’re now in a shift towards a song that sounds like some kind of folk song, meets children’s action song about choosing a dress. This is a cover of a song by Angela Kaset, although it wasn’t a hit (hitting #124 in the UK chart) – it was Lorrie Morgan who made it a hit in 1992. Still, it’s a song that sound like it’s from a West End musical, and feels much like a cheap filler for the album.

Then it’s This GIrl’s In Love With You, which plunges us back into the beautiful songs from Burt Bacharach and Hal David, made famous by Herb Alpert in 1968. Here we find brushed snares, swelling strings, and Claire singing like she’s living a daydream – which suits this mellow and warm song perfectly. The song certainly echoes it’s original 1960’s sound, and it’s a faithful cover of a well known song.

That’s followed by the 2001 Kate Winslet hit What If. Claire gets to show off her heartfelt and tender vocals. She sits high against this ballad’s soaring strings, and the electric guitars give a nice contrast at a highly emotive moment. It certainly gives the album some ‘final track’ vibes.

Then we’re on to a cover of the Barbra Streisand co-penned 1970s hit Evergreen. This song builds nicely, allowing Claire a gentle meander alongside the percussion and strings through the lyrics. Once again, she holds that final note like it’s the last one in the world.

Following that is closing track Scarborough Fair (Canticle), a song by Paul Simon. The gentle guitar accompanies her almost young choir boy-esque high pitched notes. The song is warm and gently grows as she makes her way through this familiar song. At times it almost feels Christmassey, but it works well as a final song, and a parting gift that’s unlike the rest of the tracks here.

Claire Sweeney’s promo video ‘When You Believe’ (2002).

Verdict

Over all, this album is a collection of pre-used and mostly familiar tracks, delivered well but unable to beat the originals.

A (mostly) covers album is a tall order. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, and here it sort of works. There’s no doubting the musicianship, nor most of Claire’s performances, and when it works it does so fantastically – Someday I’ll Find You, When You Believe, This Girl’s In Love With You, and even the closing Scarborough Fair show Claire’s vocals as flawless, and her delivery fairly faithful to the originals.

However, there are a few places where the choice of tracks feel a bit awkward. That’s led by the Celine Dion Titanic hit My Heart Will Go On, which unless you’re Celine Dion, it’s going to be a poisoned chalice. The Streisand cover of Evergreen feels a bit dull, and the Winslet cover feels a bit unnecessary.

It would be nice to hear her belt out a dance track – with a whacking great big beat and a ton of remixes, but sadly we were robbed of a full single release, leaving us purely with a fairly decent album and a promo single.

You might wince a little in places, but if you’re a fan of the tracks that feature here, then you’re not going to be too disappointed.