Michael Ball & Alfie Boe

Week 46: Michael Ball & Alfie Boe- Together at Home

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It’s Christmasss! Hahaha, as Noddy Holder from Slade once bellowed. I find it wholly appropriate to say that because, once again, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe sit atop the album chart, and it always makes for a great Christmas present. The duo first teamed up in 2014, and six records on have been quite a success. This album is also a poignant milestone—it marks a decade of their beautiful collaboration.

I am also surprised to discover that I might just well be the FIRST individual to review this new record. No pressure, then, eh? One of the first tracks I would like to highlight is their cover of Heather Small’s ‘Proud’. The song represents the duo’s pride in their roots, welcoming people from all backgrounds into their world and feeling proud of their families.

‘Homeward Bound’ was chosen because it is about being on the road and longing for home. The great American sonwriter Paul Simon also wrote it in Widnes train station.

‘Welcome Home’ is by a small American band called The Welcome Home, which is from the same place as R.E.M. The song combines a modern hymn with a Southern American style of Coldplay. Boe discovered it while trawling through Spotify.

Seeing ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ by Gerry and the Pacemakers on the album was a personal highlight for me. As a fan of Liverpool, and knowing that Boe is also a red, it’s a special connection. Another standout is the timeless ‘Baker Street’ by Gerry Rafferty. The album is a treasure trove of classics like ‘Dirty Old Town’, Take That’s ‘Rule the World’, The Hollies ‘He Ain’t, He’s My Brother’. But my heart belongs to the closing track ‘What’s the Craic? (An Irish Medley)’. This track, a medley of traditional songs from Mother Ireland, including ‘The Irish Rover’, is a perfect ending to a brilliant album. It’s a medley that’s perfect for any celebration or festivity.

Song recommendations: ‘What’s the Craic? (An Irish Medley)’, ‘Dirty Old Town’, ‘Welcome Home’

8/10

Week 1: Michael Bublé- Christmas

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You can tell that 2021 is just going to be as fucked up as last year. Why? Because we have already heard what the great soothsayer Nostradamus has said (Zombie apocalypse, asteroids, and famine. If you didn’t know.), and there’s a fucking Christmas-themed album at No.1 on New Year’s Day! I mean, how fucking depressing is that when we have only just finished celebrating Christmas not that long ago! I was thoroughly depressed listening to the album to review, knowing that it’s another 350 odd days until Christmas day again.

As you know, Michael Bublé is a French-Canadian singer who has been around for quite some time now and usually performs quite regularly for the BBC in England, be it on radio or television. I believe he has even performed at Last Night of the Proms. He scored his first No.1 album in 2007 with “Call Me Irresponsible” among several charts in Europe, Australia, The United Kingdom, America, and his native Canada.

“Christmas” was released a decade ago, and funnily enough, it was also no.1 on New Year’s Day in 2012. It is one of the most critically acclaimed Christmas albums of all time. In 2012, it won a Juno Award for the album of 2011. You would have thought that nine years after its initial release, it wouldn’t generate the sales to be number one a decade later. Still, it appears that “Christmas” was bought for household-only gatherings and family members as a present, making this possible.

Michael puts his slant on Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas is You” and has fun with the jazz band on “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”. “Silent Night” is another standout with its elementary yet melancholic tones, and if you want to smile and laugh, then “Santa Baby” is for you with its male point of view. There’s room for a duet with another Canadian artist, Shania Twain. Their rendition of “White Christmas” is something to behold, and you will get tingles listening to it.

This classic Michael Bublé album will bring him another generation of fans who may not have discovered him yet. This album is uplifting, sometimes melancholic, and full of smiles and laughs. If it was on the build-up to Christmas or it was Christmas, I would undoubtedly be in the mood to enjoy it more. It’s a bit shit hearing an album based around Christmas when it has already been and gone. I tend not to go out of my way to listen to Christmas albums unless I happen to be at a party or writing reviews where the album of the week is about the theme. So, I can’t say if I would classify this as my favourite Christmas album as I don’t listen to them.

However, towards the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, I listened to my fair share due to writing reviews and enjoyed them. This is up there with Michael Ball & Alfie Boe’s for me. Why? Because they are both full of humour. It could well be that Bublé’s album inspired Michael and Alfie. Those who love Christmas will find this appropriate for Christmas parties (If we can have them in the new year and beyond.), listening in the car, unwrapping presents, Christmas dinner, or just relaxing by the fire while drinking mulled wine or egg nog. What an album to review to start the new year, eh? So, I will very sarcastically wish you all a Merry Christmas. It’s going to be another fucked up year, so I might as well. Remember, there are only three more lockdowns until Christmas.

Song recommendations: “White Christmas”, “All I Want for Christmas is You”, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”

8/10

Week 48: Michael Ball & Alfie Boe- Together at Christmas

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There we have it. We now know what the fourth instalment of the next Michael Ball & Alfie record Boe will be called. We should have known that they would do one around the Christmas theme to freshen up the “Together” series. This has also been adapted for the West End and will feature a limited but socially distanced audience during this god-awful worldwide virus currently circulating. I am unsurprised; the lads have again hit the acme of the album chart. The dynamic works well, and it is a joy to listen to them perform covers or traditional songs in their unique way. It has also been bought out as a Christmas present for our loved ones. It is accessible on the ear and lifts our spirits, which we need more than ever.

Of course, the songs have been covered as often as the stars in the sky, but it’s the way Ball & Boe, the orchestra, and that Disney-esque sound have done them.

The album can switch up the mood with tracks ranging from “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” to “Mistletoe & Wine”.

Just by listening, you can tell the duo had tremendous fun recording this in the studio, and I loved the track “My Christmas Will be Better Than Yours.” you can hear a cheeky and smug tone in Michael’s vocal. The song made me laugh just by hearing Michael’s delivery alone. 

We then have the melancholic tones used for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the showcasing of why this duo works sublimely on “White Christmas”. The closer, “Once Upon a December”, is very dreamy, as I have mentioned about the album as a whole is Disney-esque. Another super record by the lads, the perfect present for the one you love. An album to fill our hearts with joy in one of the most fucked up Christmasses since the second world war.

Song recommendations: “My Christmas Will be Better Than Yours”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, “White Christmas”.

8/10

Week Forty-Four: Michael Ball and Alfie Boe- Together Again

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I have heard of both singers and know that they are tenors. Michael for various game shows and theatre shows plus, “Love Changes Everything” (Upon my research, I also discovered he was briefly in Coronation Street in 1985.) and Alfie Boe for his performance for the Who’s “Quadrophenia: the Musical”. I wouldn’t say I am not a fan of Opera, but I tend not to listen to it regularly. I can tolerate it and marvel at the vocal ranges when I hear it. 

“Together Again” is the follow-up to their 2016 album, “Together” (I bet you weren’t expecting that to be the title, did you?), and I have to say that I did indeed marvel at the vocal ranges and found the record quite impressive. Although there were usual cheesy Christmas songs chucked in like “White Christmas”. Another cheesy song I am not impressed by that featured on the album is the theme song played at Luton Town Football Club’s ground shortly before kick-off, “Bring Me Sunshine”.

I was impressed with the “the Prayer” and the unique way both delivered it. Also, the new song written for the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, called “Evermore”, will raise the roof upon any auditorium they embark on.

There are songs, however, that are saturated or just are not made better in any way on this record, like, “You’ll be Back”, “You’re the Voice”, and even a song that I do love usually, “New York New York” (When I’ve DJ’d, I have tended to close out the night with this as it gets everyone up and singing.) I also could have been more impressed with the West Side Story medley. Don’t get me wrong, it was a different angle, but it didn’t work.

My favourite off the record is “As if We Never Said Goodbye”. You can feel the bromance as they sing the song at each other. This record is probably better than the debut (I wouldn’t know as I have not heard it yet.), I say that because the first record doesn’t have that much versatility. In contrast, this record has unique ways of delivering songs that usually are sung traditionally and would not add flavour or any other form of creativity for fear of ruining the original version.

Overall: It was a smooth listen. As stated in the article, I may not listen to Opera daily, but I have no qualms about listening to it. Indeed, what I know of Alfie Boe, he is a highly regarded tenor in England, and Michael Ball is a versatile, expressive artist. I enjoyed their creativity on songs regarded as classics and that they dared to venture into unknown territory. This is a three-album contract with Decca Records, and I look forward to whatever the lads will name their follow-up to, “Together Again”. Unfortunately, my mark out of ten is mediocre due to the West Side Story Medley and an overcooked “New York New York”. 7/10