CD Review – When Love is Gone – Meredith Braun

WHEN LOVE IS GONE – MEREDITH BRAUN (Stage Door Records – STAGE 9053)

Meredith Braun has followed her critically acclaimed first album Someone Else’s Story with this brand new song cycle entitled When Love is Gone through Stage Door Records.

There is absolutely no denying that Braun is a consummate performer with great emotion in that powerful voice and the songs chosen for the album are all beautifully performed.

However, this is certainly not an album to listen to if you are feeling in the least bit down – if you are waiting for the upbeat number, then you’ll wait!

I think it is exceptionally brave of her to have the confidence to release an entire album of melancholy material. Braun states that this album is: “the story of an ‘Everywoman’ who is living through a painful and difficult relationship” and to that end she has achieved her goal, but I sort of hoped that through all the pain there may have been some hope for the future.

Having said all that, I will reiterate that Braun is a standout performer and the emotion pouring out through all these tracks is unbelievable.

This is probably why the whole album feels so dark, thanks to her superb artistry.

I would like to add that, apart from the original by Carly Simon, I have never heard ‘That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be’ so beautifully and meaningfully sung.

This is going to be eagerly added to the collection of all Braun’s thousands of fans, but I would urge others who love to hear songs sung with great emotion and truthfulness to buy it.

Nick Wakeham