Carol Kidd - Dreamsville - Music Web International

It has been a long time - seven or eight years - since Scottish singer Carol Kidd recorded an album, and she has already tried retiring once. It was traumatic for her when her partner, John, died in 2003 and for some while she felt unable to work. She even lost her voice for six months. Then she began writing lyrics and gradually returned to performing. At a question-and-answer session during a 2006 show in Glasgow, she was asked why she hadn't made any records for so long, and that spurred her into making this album.

The CD makes you feel glad that she's back, as she still sings radiantly in tune, without any artifice or pretension. Her vocals sound as natural as breathing. The dozen songs on the CD are well-known (perhaps well-worn) but she brings freshness to them with her unforced delivery. She really is a jazz singer - taking occasional liberties with melodies and lyrics (e.g. omitting some words from A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square) and doing such jazz-vocal things as singing the verse of Happiness is a Thing Called Joe.

Carol co-wrote two of the songs with guitarist Nigel Clark. There Goes My Heart sounds sincere enough to come from Carol's own experience, and it is accompanied simply and subtly by Nigel. Do You Believe? is a similarly delicate duet. Most of the songs are slowish, although Can't We Be Friends? is pleasantly bouncy (with fine double bass from Mario Caribe), and It's All Right With Me doubles up what starts as a medium tempo. The backing quartet provides commendably sensitive accompaniments. The Linn record label is renowned for its care with recording and the sound quality here is excellent. So is the singing. And the playing.

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