Dido - 'Still On My Mind' (Deluxe Edition) Album Review

Tracklist:

CD: 1 1. Hurricanes 2. Give You Up 3. Hell After This 4. You Don't Need A God 5. Take You Home 6. Some Kind Of Love 7. Still On My Mind 8. Mad Love 9. Walking By 10. Friends 11. Chances 12. Have To Stay CD: 2 1. Just Because 2. This Is Love 3. What Am I Doing Here 4. Hurricanes (Live Acoustic) 5. Thank You (Live Acoustic) 6. White Flag (Live Acoustic) 7. Give You Up (Mark Knight Remix) 8. Take You Home (Undercatt Remix)

Dido has one of the most distinctive voices of the last 20 years, it’s one of those voices that, when she starts singing, you know who it is and are instantly transported back to a certain period in time. It’s not something many artists can do only on the strength of their voice.

After a self imposed sabbatical from music Dido came roaring back with the top 5 UK album, 'Girl Who Got Away', in 2013. Not many artists can take such long breaks and come back so strong. This new album continues the revival and suggests this time she’s back to stay.

Dido has always been at her best when she concentrates on her voice and the words, the music is almost, sometimes, a distraction. This recent revival has been built on both, on this current album there are some mis-steps from a musical perspective but when it all comes together on songs such as 'Give You Up', 'Some Kind Of Love', 'Take You Home', 'What Am I Doing Here' and 'Walking By' it’s tremendous.

There are some interesting musical choices as well which makes it clear a lot of thought, passion and effort has gone into this album. This is not just someone dialling it in to bolster their pension fund, this is an artist, trying, and mostly succeeding, to remain relevant.

There has always been a cool detachment to Dido’s voice which juxtaposes that detachment with the emotional content she somehow manages to inject into her songs. There are times when she sounds both distant and on the verge of heartbreak. It’s why her voice is so listenable, it sounds like it shouldn’t be but in every song she sings it manages to convey just the right amount of emotion, whether it’s gratitude, sadness, heartbreak or happiness.

Whether there are any tracks to match Dido’s commercial success of the very late 90’s and early 2000’s is debatable but I have no doubt her fan base will thoroughly enjoy this album.

The bonus tracks are good, sometimes excellent but more importantly what they do show is that Dido is clearly a phenomenal live voice who, as she’s about to tour, you should go see, you won’t be disappointed!

If you ever liked Dido, and many people did, you really should give this a listen.