ALISON MOYET: The Girl With Gospel in her Guts

Title: Hoodoo

Label: BMG

The blues just oozes from Moyet’s husky presentation and it’s one that has progressively matured. This essentially pop-oriented singer grew up as a member of the synth pop duo Yazoo with then ex-Depeche Mode member, Vince Clarke, wowing the music world with the hit, Only You. She entered into a solo career with the LP, Alf’ that sprung hits such as All Cried Out and Love Resurrection.

Her solo career has now received a measure of the retrospective with the release of four LPs on the blessed vinyl. Including Alf’ (1984), Raindancing (1987), Essex (1994) and, to my mind, the best of the bunch, 1991’s Hoodoo.

On Hoodoo, Moyet feels at home and relaxed in her work. This might be because she had more influence and control upon the entire album project than on her previous outings.

LPs are such a personal thing and any album that attracts will always trigger a favourite track but this LP’s Wishing You Were Here is a definite standout that combines beautiful songwriting with a passionate delivery that goes all out and a rhythmic balance that can be overwhelming in emotional terms. There’s also some sterling backing vocal work from Kirsty MacColl. Those looking for blues inflections and gospel tones will also be happy to listen to both sides of this excellent album.

When looking at the mastering, I’m happy to report that the cut has been produced at a low volume which begs for the gain to be increased so that you can further investigate those elusive and fragile frequencies and details. There’s no emphasis anywhere on this LP, it’s a very balanced piece of work which will allow your hi-fi chain to work at the best of its ability.