Just Music
*****
Upon the first listen, most people compare young Adele to Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen and Natasha Beddingfield and basically everything positively British. And that's what she is.
Though she may channel Wino, I mean Winehouse, in a few tracks, Adele is unapologetically her own musician. Her range of soul and blues could be mistaken for a '50s singer who has lived an interesting life. But the girl is only 19 (hence the album title).
19 is a brilliant debut and the fact that she played bass on some of the songs and wrote almost all of the lyrics (which meander between playful and melancholy at times) is testament to Adele's talents. Listen to Melt My Heart To Stone, Right As Rain and Chasing Pavements to sample the brilliance.
The only reason 19 falls short of five-star status is because she tends to use one word a lot: Tired. This word features in almost every song and, while it doesn't take much away from the songs, that you notice it sometimes is annoying.
Other than that, this is easily one of the best albums of the year, and 2008 just began.