To many of us, Katherine Jenkins is the rather demure Welsh lady who possess the voice of an Angel, of which there can be no doubt. However, this is the lady who has recently fought against her former record label Universal, and has seen fit to openly criticise them for simply rejigging her old work and releasing yet more albums in her name. As a result of that battle, she has recently signed a new deal with Decca Records claiming that she is happy to be “returning to the home of Classical Music” all in time for her to celebrate her 10th anniversary. This is a lady who is not scared of a fight, and fight she will.
Within the world of opera, there are some singers out there that are OK, for example the likes of Russell Watson. But then there are artists such as Andrea Bocelli who, when they sing, make all of the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Jenkins is one such singer.
She releases her latest album, Home Sweet Home, to coincide with the announcement of a twenty one venue tour of the UK. The album contains several anthemic songs including We Are The Champions, World In Union and a version of Barcelona, which features Alfie Boe. The overall mood of the album as a whole, is one of positivity, although a few of the songs are quite mellow by comparison.
When you consider that the late Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews were amongst the great artists who had previously recorded We’ll Gather Lilacs, a song by Welsh composer Ivor Novello, then you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a rather large song for Jenkin’s to tackle, but tackle it she does, and she does it well.
Jenkins has put her usual smooth, clean, crisp vocal stamp on this album, together with a small piece of her own heritage in the form of Land Of My Fathers. She truly manages to make this song sound magical.
Other stand-out tracks include How Great Thou Art, Beethoven’s Ode To Joy and closes with my personal favourite, Silent Night. If you have enjoyed her previous albums then take it from me, you will not be disappointed with this, her latest offering, Home Sweet Home.
Our Rating: (3.5 / 5)