Stacey Kent - The Boy Next Door - 2 x 180g LPs

2008  2 x Vinyl LP release.

The Boy Next Door has been hailed as the best record Stacey has ever made, and is a record that has established her as a household name in France as well as in her homeland and around the world. The Boy Next Door sees Stacey perform songs connected to the men in her life - the musical men she most admires that is.

Stacey Kent’s unique, distinctive style could best be described as classic chic; the musical equivalent of the "little black dress". Just as the little black dress has the power to let a woman's personality shine through, Ms. Kent's delicately nuanced interpretations of the Great American Songbook eloquently showcase the complex melodies and classy, sophisticated lyrics of American popular music during its golden ages.

Vocally, Stacey Kent has never sounded better. And there is so much to admire: her dulcet-toned mezzo soprano, with its shimmery jazz lilt and translucent vibrato, her innate sense of swing and instinctive timing, her subtly shaded line readings, and the exquisite delicacy of her phrasing. A master storyteller and communicator, Stacey also brings a comparative literature graduate's acute interpretive skills to her singing, eschewing shopworn sentimentality for a piquant romantic lyricism.

"The Boy Next Door" is a heartfelt and reverent tribute to Kent's musical heroes, which include legendary crooners Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, octogenarian jazz master Dave Brubeck and Manhattan cabaret doyen Bobby Short. The stylish jazz chanteuse's repertoire also finds her working outside the Great American Songbook for the first time, with contributions from latter-day pop songwriters Burt Bacharach, Paul Simon and Carole King. Ms. Kent puts her own indelible stamp on each number as she weaves her magic on a delectable collection of pop-jazz standards that encompass infatuation, seduction, love, loss and reminiscence.

She receives impeccable support from her sleek, urbane jazz quintet, whose rhythmic fluency is further enhanced by the tasteful, literate arrangements. Newton and Tomlinson, both accomplished musicians in their own right, also display hitherto unknown musical talents as they join Curtis Schwartz to provide tongue-in-cheek backing vocals for Stacey's deliciously bouncy rendition of "Ooh-Shoo-Be-Doo-Bee".