Album review: Katherine Jenkins - Guiding Light
For my next album review I am going to talk about Katherine Jenkins 12th album Guiding Light, which was released in November 2018. The album peaked at number 17 in our charts upon release, this brought her total of top 20 albums to 10, 8 of which went top 10 (all 12 of her albums have gone top 40). All of this furthers her reputation as one of the most popular opera singers in the UK, amongst Alfie Boe, Andrea Bocelli and Russell Watson.
Katherine is probably my favourite opera singer and actually the first opera singer I bought an album of, although I had heard opera and liked it when I was younger I didn't really appreciate it until I decided to buy Katherine's album Living A Dream (her 3rd album) from that point on I realised what I had been missing out on. Now my wife and I have quite a collection of opera CD's, including all of Katherine's, Alfie Boe's and Josh Groban's albums, several Collabro, Andrea Bocelli, Russell Watson and Aled Jones albums, not to forget a wonderful African opera singer Pumeza Matshikiza aswell as talent show stars Jonathan & Charlotte, Richard & Adam, G4 and Rhydian, This is not an exhaustive list, but you see my point hearing Katherine opened up the world of opera to me.
Time to talk about this album in particular and wow is really the best word to describe it, I would definitely say it's one of her best albums, alongside Living A Dream, Rejoice and Believe. Not only does Katherine bring her usual powerful and emotional mezzo-soprano vocal, but the collection of songs is even more unique that her other albums. With a couple of surprising covers, a few classic hymns, another original song and even a song in Welsh.
There is also one collaboration on this album, with Bryn Terfel on Morning Has Broken. This is a great collaboration, even though I am not the biggest fan of Bryn Terfel (I like him but not enough to collect him) he is the perfect choice for this song. The way their voices blend even though they are complete opposites is beautiful and the contrast of Katherine's mezzo-soprano vocal versus Bryn's bass-baritone lifts the song to a new level of enjoyment.
My favourite track on this album is, well there are two, Never Enough and Jealous Of The Angels. these are perfect songs for many reasons, first Never Enough this is a cover of the song from The Greatest Showman and is my favourite song from that soundtrack, easily getting a 9/10. However Katherine's version is even better, as I said perfect, I feel like this song fits Katherine's voice better as she can hit a higher range than Loren Allred, who performed it in the film. Therefore the chorus sounds even more emotional and sweeps back into the verses to deliver her lower range and get the point across even more. Jealous Of The Angels however is emotional in a completely different way, it's literally about when someone dies being jealous that the angels in heaven get to spend more time with that person. Not only does Katherine sing it with such emotion that you feel every word, but it also struck a chord with me as I have lost people that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to and I would give anything to see them one last time and for them to meet my son. This song is both perfect as a song and as an emotional reminder of what is to come for all of us.
A couple of honourable mentions, firstly To Where You Are, this is a song that I have loved every version I hear so it's not really a surprise that it is one of the highest rated songs on the album. This is partly because the song is so lovely to listen to and it is about going up to meet a loved one in heaven for one last time, it is the perfect way to capture what everyone must feel when thinking about a loved one. The second is Blinded By Your Grace, yes this is the Stormzy song for anyone wondering. What I love about Katherine's version is that it captures the same feeling as Stormzy does but with her style, it impacts the same and almost sounds like Katherine could have written it, this is also yet another song Katherine has used to show her faith (as you will see with some of the tracks) which is what Stormzy was doing in the first place. What this song also proves is that anything can be made opera and Katherine has a track record of doing this well, a few examples are Kiss From A Rose (originally by Seal), Bring Me To Life (originally by Evanescence), Black Is The Colour (originally a traditional Scottish folk song), No Woman, No Cry (originally by Bob Marley) and I (Who Have Nothing) (originally by Ben E King).
Finally then here are all the tracks on the album rated;
1. Homeward Bound 8.5/10
2. Jealous Of The Angels 10/10
3. Gaelic Blessing 8.5/10
4. Morning Has Broken ft Bryn Terfel 8.5/10
5. Dros Gymru'n Gwlad 8/10
6. Never Enough 10/10
7. Blinded By You Grace 9/10
8. To Where You Are 9.5/10
9. Make Me Channel Of Your Peace 7.5/10
10. Come Thou Font Of Every Blessing 7/10
11. Eternal Father 8/10
12. Nearer My God To Thee 7.5/10
13. Xanders Song 9/10
14. Peace In The Valley 8/10
15. Morning Has Broken 8/10
I would love to know your thoughts on this album and what your favourite song is
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Time to talk about this album in particular and wow is really the best word to describe it, I would definitely say it's one of her best albums, alongside Living A Dream, Rejoice and Believe. Not only does Katherine bring her usual powerful and emotional mezzo-soprano vocal, but the collection of songs is even more unique that her other albums. With a couple of surprising covers, a few classic hymns, another original song and even a song in Welsh.
There is also one collaboration on this album, with Bryn Terfel on Morning Has Broken. This is a great collaboration, even though I am not the biggest fan of Bryn Terfel (I like him but not enough to collect him) he is the perfect choice for this song. The way their voices blend even though they are complete opposites is beautiful and the contrast of Katherine's mezzo-soprano vocal versus Bryn's bass-baritone lifts the song to a new level of enjoyment.
My favourite track on this album is, well there are two, Never Enough and Jealous Of The Angels. these are perfect songs for many reasons, first Never Enough this is a cover of the song from The Greatest Showman and is my favourite song from that soundtrack, easily getting a 9/10. However Katherine's version is even better, as I said perfect, I feel like this song fits Katherine's voice better as she can hit a higher range than Loren Allred, who performed it in the film. Therefore the chorus sounds even more emotional and sweeps back into the verses to deliver her lower range and get the point across even more. Jealous Of The Angels however is emotional in a completely different way, it's literally about when someone dies being jealous that the angels in heaven get to spend more time with that person. Not only does Katherine sing it with such emotion that you feel every word, but it also struck a chord with me as I have lost people that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to and I would give anything to see them one last time and for them to meet my son. This song is both perfect as a song and as an emotional reminder of what is to come for all of us.
A couple of honourable mentions, firstly To Where You Are, this is a song that I have loved every version I hear so it's not really a surprise that it is one of the highest rated songs on the album. This is partly because the song is so lovely to listen to and it is about going up to meet a loved one in heaven for one last time, it is the perfect way to capture what everyone must feel when thinking about a loved one. The second is Blinded By Your Grace, yes this is the Stormzy song for anyone wondering. What I love about Katherine's version is that it captures the same feeling as Stormzy does but with her style, it impacts the same and almost sounds like Katherine could have written it, this is also yet another song Katherine has used to show her faith (as you will see with some of the tracks) which is what Stormzy was doing in the first place. What this song also proves is that anything can be made opera and Katherine has a track record of doing this well, a few examples are Kiss From A Rose (originally by Seal), Bring Me To Life (originally by Evanescence), Black Is The Colour (originally a traditional Scottish folk song), No Woman, No Cry (originally by Bob Marley) and I (Who Have Nothing) (originally by Ben E King).
Finally then here are all the tracks on the album rated;
1. Homeward Bound 8.5/10
2. Jealous Of The Angels 10/10
3. Gaelic Blessing 8.5/10
4. Morning Has Broken ft Bryn Terfel 8.5/10
5. Dros Gymru'n Gwlad 8/10
6. Never Enough 10/10
7. Blinded By You Grace 9/10
8. To Where You Are 9.5/10
9. Make Me Channel Of Your Peace 7.5/10
10. Come Thou Font Of Every Blessing 7/10
11. Eternal Father 8/10
12. Nearer My God To Thee 7.5/10
13. Xanders Song 9/10
14. Peace In The Valley 8/10
15. Morning Has Broken 8/10
I would love to know your thoughts on this album and what your favourite song is
*affiliate link
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