Go backstage with The Music and receive FREE:

  • Exclusive members-only editorial, charts
  • Our subscriber-only newsletter
  • Members only competitions to win tickets, experiences and more
  • Access to our street press archives
  • First access to our exclusive limited edition vinyl variants

Thank you for being a part of our community! Enter your email address as verification and you'll be taken backstage right away.

Please ensure that you provide a valid email address.

Album Review: Tanita Tikaram - Closer To The People

Mac McNaughton
StarStarStarHalf Star

"...one could almost feel guilty for losing touch."

More Tanita Tikaram Tanita Tikaram Profile

Unfairly lampooned for her 1988 mopey megahit Twist In My Sobriety, Tanita Tikaram's smokey folk-pop shouldn't have remained that hard a sell.

Opening her ninth album with the choogling Glass Love Train immediately recalls the beaming cock-a-hoopla of her debut single Good Tradition and one could almost feel guilty for losing touch. Giving Cool Waters a vinyl crackle underlay, and engaging full jazz mode on Night Is A Bird, downplays Tikaram's lyrical kookiness and showcases how comfortable she is in pulling the right moves for the songs themselves. A very welcome return.