Best Albums Of 2014 # 8: Sam Smith's "In The Lonely Hour"
leave you agent, leave him for me
Is there anything left to say about In The Lonely Hour?
A modern In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning by a guy with an immaculate voice, a sweet falsetto that hits every note with the ease of youth and lingers on it, to further the heartbreak. And the difference between Sam and Adele? Sam has much better songs.
But there are other differences:
1 – Adele has been on indefinite hiatus for years, hell she even blew off Elton Hohn’s wedding not to mention Do They Know It’s Christmas 30.
2 – Sam is lousy live. I’ve seen him twice this year and he was awful both times.
3 – Sam wants it bad, he can taste it. A million copies sold, it is right there in his hands and all he has to do is grasp it.
Plus he deserves it. Near the top there is a three song string, “Stay With Me”, “Leave Your Lover” and “I’m Not The Only One”, which is the second strongest threesome of the year (Taylor doesn’t manage it, the first three songs on Big Apple Blues beats it) and for a deep blue MOR standard ballad, you can tell how Smith uses restraint as a weapon and beats, try “Like I can”, as a threat and a sword.
Sam’s next album will be a dance album, he can do it with ease (Disclosure were his breakthrough buddies) and it will be a huge pop hit and run win for all. Till then, this is the best break down album (he doesn’t get far enough to break up) album of the year.
