Boys Don't Cry

I'm a little sorry that Rumer chose to make cover versions of 70s songs for this second album because she can write great stuff of her own and I don't think that some of the material here is up to her standard. That said, she performs it all wonderfully and the album as a whole is an engaging listen with some absolutely terrific highlights. It's very well produced and the overall sound is great - often making Rumer sound *exactly* like Karen Carpenter, which is just fine by me. Her silky tone, hint of vibrato and perfect phrasing do all these songs proud.

You may well not share any of my reservations. Part of the problem for me is probably that I was there in the 70s when all these songs were first released and some of them carry a lot of baggage for me. I have always hated the schmaltz of Gilbert O'Sullivan's `We Will' and `A Man Needs A Maid' was my least favourite song on Harvest, for example. However, `PF Sloan' and `Home Thoughts From Abroad' are absolutely magnificent here and the rest of the material is varied, generally good and superbly performed.

So...I think it's a matter of whether you like the songs. If you do, you'll love the album - it's the loving product of a very fine musician performing superbly.

Rumer's sophomore CD comprises covers of songs by male acts like Hall & Oates, Todd Rundgren, Stephen Bishop, to mention a few. Much like her debut, the album has a classic seventies sound with her clear strong vocals doing the collection justice.

The lush piano-sprinkled "It Could Be the First Day" sounds like something from the Carpenters. As does the similar dreamy "Be Nice To Me". "Soulsville" is Blues-tinged, "The Same Old Tears On A New Background" is a spare piano/guitar ballad, her treatment of "Sara Smile" while not too far from the original, is absolutely enchanting, while closing cut "We Will" is a tender quivery beautiful ballad.

Despite there being highlights, this is an album better appreciated as a whole. Harmonically rich, filled with lush strings and delicate piano and guitar sequences. For those that love seventies Elton John, The Carpenters, and other such great music.

The sophomore effort of the Anglo-Pakistani singer/songwriter Rumer, 2012's "Boys Don't Cry", is a retro soft rock covers album that finds the vocalist tackling tracks by various male artists of the 1970s.
As with her acclaimed 2010 debut, Seasons Of My Soul,this album showcases Rumer's gentle and sweetly soulful vocal style that is clearly perfectly suited to this material.
In fact, for anyone already familiar with her, it almost goes without saying that Rumer sounds a lot like soft pop icon Karen Carpenter Singles 1969-1981.
However, rather than coming off as a copycat, Rumer always sounds like the real thing and seems like she has genuine respect and love for Carpenter and the rest of the soft singer/songwriter titans.
She nailed Bread's "Goodbye Girl" on "Seasons Of my Soul" for gosh sakes, and "Boys Don't Cry" takes its cue from that cover and not the original material written in a retro style that made up most of "Seasons of My Souls".
Here we get Rumer's take on such laid-back cuts as Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan", Todd Rundgren's "Be Nice to Me", and Hall & Oates' "Sara Smile", among others.
Adding to the '70s soft rock vibe is the lush orchestral production from Steve Brown, who was also responsible for the sound of "Seasons". These are organic and rich-sounding tracks that frame Rumer's voice in sparkling piano, cinematic bits of strings, rounded horn parts, the twang of the occasional pedal steel guitar, and even a poignant harmonica line, as on Townes Van Zandt's "Flyin' Shoes".
Kudos to Rumer for not just covering the most well-known cuts from the best-known '70s artists, but also including such lesser-known numbers as Clifford T. Ward's "Home Thoughts from Abroad" and Terry Reid's "Brave Awakening". M. Collar