FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY – BARB JUNGR & JOHN McDANIEL (Kristalyn Records – KLCD05)
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
I just know before I even start writing this review that it is going to make me quite unpopular – I just know it, but that is the drawback of reviewing.
I’ll start with the positives: Barb Jungr has a huge following and has a voice that is suited to the blues genre. Her interpretations of the Sting songs included in this album are stripped back for voice and piano, giving a fresh approach to many of the tracks. The accompaniment by John McDaniel is excellent and the harmonies between the two are faultless.
The album is a collection of Sting songs including: ‘Englishman in New York’, ‘Fields of Gold’, ‘Roxanne’, ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’, ‘Every Little Thing She Does is Magic’, ‘Message in a Bottle’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’, among the 17 tracks on the CD.
I believe this is the CD to accompany the cabaret of the same name, which has already been very favourably reviewed on this site – so, what do I think of the album? I’m afraid it just does nothing for me. Jungr has too much tremolo in her voice for me and all the tracks started to sound very similar. Yes, I know they were all written by the same person, so why shouldn’t they? That’s not what I mean – it’s the treatment, it’s just not my ‘thing’. Possibly watching the tracks being performed in cabaret would be a different kettle of fish but on CD they fail to bring the performance to life.
I know I am going to probably be in the minority by saying this CD did nothing for me and I am sure Barb Jungr has a huge fan base who will wallow in this release (and who’ll probably be burning effigies of me at concerts) but for this reviewer it left me a bit cold.
Nick Wakeham
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