Alison Moyet - minutes and seconds (live)

You know, it's kind of hard not to fall in love with Alison Moyet's amazing voice the first time you hear it. I've never really dived into her music before, I'll admit that, but there's a first for everything. And, well, from what I've discovered, she has quite a prolific career.

It was back in the 80's that she first joined the synthpop duo Yazoo (known as Yaz in the States) with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke. Coming to prominence in that band, the two disbanded a year later in 1983 and her solo career began.

In 1984 she released her debut solo album Alf, which rocked the charts in Britain, reaching the prestigious No. 1 position. That album also spawned several hit singles, reaching various positions on the UK charts (highest was No. 8), and also managed to break into the US' Top 40. And, a year later, she released a cover of That Ole Devil Called Love, and, again, she climbed the charts with that song, making No. 2.

Her next LP, preceded by her next big UK hit Is This Love?, was Raindancing, and as history tends to repeat itself, she had several more hit singles, including another cover with Love Letters. It wouldn't be until four years later until Moyet released her 1991 album Hoodoo, in which she was nominated for a Grammy for the single It Won't Be Long.

However, also in this time period, after the release of Essex (which her then record label, Sony, pressured her into re-recording and re-producing tracks, as well as additional material to be remixed) Moyet took an eight year break before entering back into the recording field. She wanted to obtain complete artistic control over her music, and was not happy with her current situation.

Either way, her career still continued by recording vocals for Tricky, Sylk-130, Ocean Colour Scene, The Lightning Seeds, and King Britt. She also sang back-up vocals with Sinead O'Connor, and she also appeared on the music show Later With Jools Holland to sing with Dusty Springfield for the song Where Is a Woman to Go?

And, finally, she was free once more in August of 2002, with Sony releasing her from her contract. It was shortly after that that she signed to Sanctuary Records and released her first studio album in eight years, Hometime. Her comeback made her reach the top five best selling female UK artists of 2002. Two years later, a collection of cover versions was released, titled Voice, and again made it into the top 10 on the charts.

In 2007, she released the single One More Time a week before her next album The Turn released, and reached No. 21 on the charts. After an anniversary release by Sony - which contained hand picked tracks by Moyet - it's now that we get more into present time.

The Minutes released in 2013, debuting at No. 5 in the UK albums chart. And, as she writes a follow-up to this album, we're given a treat with a live album, minutes and seconds (live) taken from The Minutes Tour.

This is where I pick up on this artist's prolific career. The live album definitely won't sound as good as the professionally recorded studio album, but it does give you a taste of Moyet's personality behind the music, as well as what she's like on stage. You're not just getting another album from Moyet, or just a random live album, you're getting both the experience of listening to her emotive side through this recorded live performance, and a loving sight into how Moyet can inspire and encourage an entire crowd right in front of her.

If there is any one track that I'd highly recommend on this album, I'd say you should shoot straight for Winter Kills. Not only do you get a fantastic song slowly moving its way through your ears, with it's slow moving synth lines and somber melody invoking a sort of sadness within you, but Moyet also delivers a wonderful speech as a preliminary to Filigree. The speech is both moving and humorous, and was lovely to listen through; I found it just as attractive, maybe even more, as the music that came after it.

You'll also find such classic tracks as All Cried Out from her debut release, Ordinary Girl and Is This Love? from Raindancing, the hit Only You and Situation from her days in Yazoo, and This House from Hoodoo.

So, in terms of releasing a good album, Moyet has easily done that. If you've never been to one of her shows, you can easily simulate that experience just by putting earphones in your ears, shutting your eyes, and listening to this album. A bit of a fan service, I'll agree to that, but when you combine tracks from past days, with newer tracks from her latest album, and a nifty little speech right in there, you can easily say that this is a good album. Go check it out. Jan 09 2015