News

James Blunt

At The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on Monday

Checking the pop-album charts these days is a very good barometer of how times have changed. Certainly you'll find lots of R&B (Rihanna, Justin Timberlake), a goodly dose of rap (Kanye West, 50 Cent) and even a touch of hard-assed rock 'n' roll (Nickelback, still hanging in after nearly two years on the charts). What you won't find is very much easy-listening pop music, the type of folk-infused, candy-coated stuff that pushed Cat Stevens or Chris de Burgh or Al (Y ear of the Cat) Stewart into the spotlight in the seventies and eighties. One would assume that there is absolutely no market any more for that kind of acoustic-based, romantic and tuneful stuff. And one would almost be right, but not completely.

Because that would ignore the amazing and surprising success of England's James Blunt. In 2005, Blunt had a massive left-field hit with the whiny and vomitrocious hit single You're Beautiful, a rather cloying and annoying number that earned for the 33-year-old former English soldier a huge, almost exclusively female following and pushed the sales of his debut album, Back to Bedlam, into the stratosphere (about 11 million discs sold worldwide). Blunt thus established himself as this decade's doe-eyed troubadour, and Monday night at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre, he returned to town to introduce his new All The Lost Souls CD and thereby prove he is more than just a one-hit wonder.

When he asked the predominantly female crowd (the guys in the throng were definitely there as escorts) whether they had heard the new release, he was met by a resounding chorus of girlish squeals. Then again, everything he said, sang or pointed at was met by a similar cacophony, so it was hard to verify the truth of the response. Judging by the fact, though, that even the songs from the new album quickly became sing-along affairs, it would seem that Blunt's fan base has remained true.

With only two albums under his belt, the set list was quite predictable. And, by and large, it was structured with songs from the new album on the front end and numbers from the debut at the end (although he did dispense with You're Beautiful early on, which was something of a surprise).

And while Blunt's style and sound are in many ways unique, there are points of comparison one can suggest. At times, as on the slightly heavier I'll Take Everything or One of the Brightest Stars, he comes off as somewhat reminiscent of the early-period Bee Gees, especially those songs on which Barry Gibb sang lead. The new hit single 1973 featured a saucy sing-along chorus that might have been pulled right off Cat Stevens's 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. But it was during the ballad Shine On that the most obvious point of comparison hit me. At the risk of sounding like an old know-it-all, I will simply point out that Blunt's fans might be interested in hunting up music by an obscure (and long-dead, actually) pop singer-songwriter by the name of Clifford T. Ward, who released albums in and around the same time Stevens, Stewart and the rest were at their peaks. The similarities are certainly coincidental, but surprising none the less.

And while Blunt is certainly best known for his romanticism, it should not be forgotten that his wartime experiences (he served in the British peacekeeping force in Kosovo) have led to some poignant and heavy-hitting anti-war numbers (such as No Bravery from the debut album). Both Same Mistake and Carry You Home, the latter making an oblique reference to the events of 9/11, were a reminder that Blunt is more than just a pretty face.

However, it's also doubtful that it was these numbers that packed the Phoenix Monday night. I heard tell of one girl who lined up at 11 a.m. Monday (for a 9:30 p.m. show start) just so she would be able to get one of the coveted spots at the foot of the stage, thereby placing herself inches away from the shaggy, T-shirt-and-blue-jeans-wearing troubadour. Trust me, she didn't do that just so she would have a better handle on Blunt's take on world events.

Special to The Globe and Mail