There’s a saying that I like to consider part of my musical philosophy – just because a song is catchy it doesn’t make it good. That’s the problem with so many albums these days, and James Blunt’s new effort Some Kind of Trouble is no different.
I was never a huge fan of James Blunt, mainly because his simple and sweet “You’re Beautiful” got overplayed to the point that when I heard the opening melody, I immediately turned it off. But as an album, Back to Bedlam was very stripped-down. It was mainly piano and vocals and overall pleasant to listen to. The lyrics weren’t muddled with too much instrumentation or overproduced audio. It sounded very clean. I didn’t even hear his second album All the Lost Souls, so I can’t judge that one. However, with his new record Some Kind of Trouble, Blunt has fallen into what I like to call the “Train Trap.” Because Train used to be a good band before they were too enticed by “rockstar” status and wrote songs like “Hey Soul Sister” and the cheap ploy “Marry Me.”
Now I’m not saying James Blunt has gone that far, but his new record has autotune. Not like Lil’ Wayne autotune, but more like Justin Bieber autotune. With the autotune, Blunt’s simple sound arrangements went out the door and turned into grandiose sugary pop songs. His voice was what made people stop and listen before because it was so different, but now it just doesn’t sound the same.
There are a couple ballads where I see a glimmer of what Blunt was before, but for the most part Some Kind of Trouble is a bunch of radio-ready filler songs. The first song “Stay the Night” is perhaps the most reminiscent of “Hey Soul Sister” with a joyous choir at the end, and you could easily sing Train’s song along with Blunt’s rhythm. In fact, I’m sure of it. But if anything was going to be the first single, the overwhelmingly chipper song it probably the one you want to go with.
For the most part, Some Kind of Trouble is more optimistic and less pretentious than his debut, but there’s nothing particularly memorable and it’s too scatter-brained. You have the sunny quirky songs like “So Far Gone” and “I’ll Be Your Man” (the latter of which actually does include clapping). But then there are also the overwrought “Heart of Gold” and “If Time Is All I have” which sound like 70’s-era Elton John lite.
However, the album isn’t all bad. “Dangerous” takes the pop synthesizer sound and runs with it without being too out of touch. If the whole album had gone in this direction without trying to hit every single other note in Blunt’s repertoire, I think I’d have enjoyed Some Kind of Trouble much more. “These Are the Words” and “Superstar” also hints at what “Dangerous” tells us outright, with even more vocal layering – which works with Blunt’s unusual voice.
I think Blunt’s problem is too many outside influences muddling the original artist. If you’re going to change up your style, pick one and do it perfectly. Don’t pick three and do a mediocre job.
Track Listing:
- “Stay the Night” – 3:36
- “Dangerous” – 3:10
- “Best Laid Plans” – 3:30
- “So Far Gone” – 3:34
- “No Tears” – 3:50
- “Superstar” – 3:49
- “These Are the Words” – 3:23
- “Calling Out Your Name” – 3:24
- “Heart of Gold” – 3:31
- “I’ll Be Your Man” – 3:37
- “If Time Is All I Have” – 3:25
- “Turn Me On” – 2:29
