HYNBM album review - Record Mirror

HYNBM album review

“Have You Never Been Mellow” (EMI).

Grammy awards and American chart-toppers seem to agree with the lovely Livvy, This is probably the best album she’s made, freeing her to some extent from the sugary, twee image that has bugged her for so long in this country.

There’s still a conservative, middle-of-the-road feel about the material, but the lady herself seems to be gaining an extra confidence and zest that very nearly lifts her out of the rut she has been embedded in for so long. Her singing has taken on a sharper edge and there is slightly more imagination in the choice of material with the inclusion of Tom Jans’s “Loving Arms,” and Albert Hammond/Mike Hazlewood’s “The Air That I Breathe,” both of which are performed well enough.

The mood is gentle and relaxed, and on a few tracks like “Goodbye Again” and “Follow Me,” and John Farrar’s title track, slips back into the dull, unimaginative formula which has typified so much of her work. There’s also some concession to the peculiar country label that’s been tagged on her in the States, and she sounds all the better for it. Faintly country-tinged tracks like “Water Under The Bridge,” and “I Never Did Sing You A Love Song” are worth a dozen of “ I Honestly Love You,” which is also included here.

Production by John Farrar is faultless and predictably enough the album is full of polish and professionalism. Yet a few particles of dust have appeared on the whiter-than-white image which make it more personalised and human than any of her previous works.