It’s a tripple bill tonight with three singer songwriters, each of them spanning their own generation from the 80ies to the 00′ies, battling it out against eachother in our monthly Album battle review: Sinead O’Connor latest offering ‘How About I Be Me (And You Be You?) takes on Melanie C’s ‘The Sea’ and Emeli Sande’s ‘Our Version of Events’ . Who will take the crown!

Sinead O’Connor – How About I be Me (And You Be You?)

80ies pop icon Sinead O’Connor returns with a new album ‘How About I Be Me and You Be You’ to reflect on personal experiences such as getting married, have children, and personal fears and relationship situations.

The album opens with the ethnic ‘’4^th & Vine’’ which deals with Sinead talking about her emotions of going to church and getting wed. It’s a sublime opening track, with a very Middle Eastern influence to it. The album is a typical Sinead O’Connor album, very heartfelt, personal songs, who aren’t always as radio-friendly, the best example for this is probably the song ‘’Queen of Denmark’’ which is a rant against her lover and the world. There’s some harsh language used, which radio stations would probably not agree to play, it’s a great song which highlight’s the controversial person Sinead is which makes the track stand out on the album.  The new single ‘’The Wolf Is Getting Married’’ is without a doubt the most radio friendly of the bunch, and a very good lead way to the album. The same counts for ‘’I Had a Baby’’ which is lyrically so strong and features baby sounds making it sound sweet and heartfelt.

The 11 tracks on the album showcases what a brilliant songwriter Sinead is and how we should welcome her back with open arms in the industry but we couldn’t help but with wondering how the absence of the ethno-inspired title track ‘How About I Be Me and You Be You’ could be justified. The track, which was released as an individual single last year, clearly didn’t make the cut.

Melanie C – The Sea

While her latest album, ‘The Sea’ has been out for quite some time now, the talented singer songwriter, known as Sporty Spice in a long distant past, is getting a lot of coverage these days on television and radio since she’s touring the UK at the moment, so what a perfect moment to remind ourselves what a great singer Melanie C is, and what her latest album ‘The Sea’ has to offer.

Opener for the album is the title track ‘’The Sea’’ which is very much anthem and really sets the mood for what turns out to be an album, which Melanie herself described, as an experiment of different styles, hence why she chose to call it ‘The Sea’. There’s a variety of Mel’s on the album: From acoustic Mel on ‘’Let There Be Love’’ to Dancey Mel in ‘’Think about It’’. There is a return to her rock roots during the track ‘Stupid Game’ which she initially exposed on her first album ‘Northern Star’. And the pop tracks on the album, such as ‘’Burn’’ and ‘’Weak’’ which could have been written for the likes of Jessie J and Katy Perry. The appearance of ‘’Burn’’ on the album shows how current Mel is and how she literally blows a new generation away with her voice.  Point is the huge variety of styles showcases a remarkable voice which can handle any type of music.

As already mentioned some of the tracks are really anthemic, opener ‘’The Sea’’, ‘’Drown’’, and album-closer ‘’Enemy’’ are drenched with lots of drums, beats, guitars and just showcase again Mel’s voice and the emotions she brings to the surface.  The songs would perfectly fit into the musical genre and make you wonder why she’s not been offered to do a few seasons in the musical We Will Rock You.

Emeli Sande – Our Version of Events

Taking on Sinead and Mel C, is Scottish chanteuse Emeli Sande, who rose to fame last year when she released her 90ies inspired dance ballad ‘Heaven’, earning her the Brit Awards Critics Choice for 2012.

If you are expecting an album full of up-tempo dance inspired tracks a la ‘Heaven’ then we’ll have to warn you that ‘Our Version of Events’ may not be what you are looking for. Emeli’s without a doubt a lyrical wonder and a wonderful performer, but the track list for her new album consists mainly out of ballads. Not a bad thing of course, because there are some absolute gems on the album such as ‘’Mountains’’, ‘’Clown’’ ‘’Breaking the Law’’ and ‘’River’’ which really grab you where they need to. The album is however cleverly put together, in that sense that the few up-tempo tracks like ‘’Daddy’’ and the gospel inspired ‘’Maybe’’ and ‘’Next To Me’’ are being spread out so that the album doesn’t give you the chance to give up on the album.

Giving up on the album would be a shame, because there is some huge hit potential on there. Still we can’t deny we would like to have heard a few more tracks in the style of ‘Heaven’ appear on the album. Nevertheless it’s a very high quality debut album, with an exciting singer and songwriter who’s sure of a long future in the industry.

Our verdict:

All three albums stand out in their very own unique way and we would recommend buying them all three, but out of these three, we have opted to go for Mel C’s album, simply because it’s very different and experimental with different styles. But as we said all three of them are brilliant masterpieces in their own and definately worth a buy!

Mel C ”The Sea” is now available through iTunes.

Sinead O’Connor ”How about I Be Me and You be You?” is now available through iTunes.

Emeli Sande ”Our Version of Events” is now available through iTunes.