Ed Sheeran X (CD, Asylum/Atlantic Records, 2014) ****
Genre: Pop, folk-pop
Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi), The Warehouse
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Thinking Out Loud (X)
Gear costume: Photograph, Sing (X)
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Thinking Out Loud (X)
Gear costume: Photograph, Sing (X)
Active compensatory factors: Plus (+) was English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's debut album. For me, Ed was a bit like Adele - a music that I heard while in The Middle East (Qatar). Both came out of nowhere, seemingly, and then were everywhere!
I'm not that fond of the rap styles he adopts (quite a few on + and X and they've dated a bit since) - I much prefer his simple guitar led love songs.
The debut album got things off to a good start with his unique brand of balladry and acoustic hip-hop becoming commercially very successful. He's generally easy on the ear but without being easy listening - plenty of confronting language, and topical references re drugs and casual sex for that to happen.
Generally, I prefer the more streamlined pop of X to the debut. His melodic gifts seem more to the fore and the raps aren't cringey.
Where do they all belong? I stopped with X, but Jacky likes Ed's songs, so if I see subsequent albums going cheap, I'd pick them up (maybe). At the time, my daughters enjoyed Ed's approach, and I think that the late teens, early twenties demographic is what he was aiming at anyway, rather than me.
Where do they all belong? I stopped with X, but Jacky likes Ed's songs, so if I see subsequent albums going cheap, I'd pick them up (maybe). At the time, my daughters enjoyed Ed's approach, and I think that the late teens, early twenties demographic is what he was aiming at anyway, rather than me.
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