Olly Murs: Right Place Right Time
Details
Pros:
Singer-songwriter rides the coattails of Will Young and fellow UK crossover contemporariesCons:
Bulk of songs tens dip into mediocrity, second half vexed with familiarity and safe balladsYoung Brit lad lands on US soil with safe copy of American pop-soul
Young Brit lad lands on US soil with safe copy of American pop-soul
As the latest wave of the 21st century British Invasion goes into overdrive with newcomers Jessie Ware, James Blake and Emeli Sandé landing on Plymouth Rock, the adorable Olly Murs – a product of the UK’s X-Factor – is hoping to jump into the ongoing parade. Right Place Right Time, the act’s third LP and first to really make noise on this side of the pond, seems to be a safe, but sadly ignorable disc to drop on our ears, especially as returning pop/soul swinger Justin Timberlake has just dropped one of the better albums of the first quarter of 2013. It tries to find its groove with Rob Base beats (“Heart Skips a Beat”) and recycled Maroon 5 riffs (“Troublemaker”). Once the rap cameos are out the way, Murs seems to wallow around in a bland tepidness as the songwriting hardly pushes his radio-ready pipes to the max. There seems to be no serendipity inside the weight of this material, and that’s pretty devastating considering the album’s deluxe edition is littered with fourteen tracks. Even his courtship with Motown flavors on “Dance With Me Tonight” doesn’t lit the fuse. In places, it sounds like he’s playing with Will Young templates, instead of finding his own voice and taking bigger risks with his singing style. Only when he finds a good ballad like the string-laden “Loud & Clear” and the sweetly nostalgically-painted “What a Buzz” does Murs sound like he’s find something befitting for him. By this time, the album is nearly completed and the anticipation for something magical has evaporated.
