"Voice" is an excellent set with Alison Moyet's strong & expressive vocals exploding on a collection of familiar tunes that are polished by her treatment. "Windmills of Your Mind" was the song around which she built the project. Long one of her and her mama's favorites, Alison hugs the melody like a fond embrace. The Michel Legrand melody with Marilyn & Alan Bergman lyrics merits classic status, "Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel, like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon..." It's a gorgeous track, a fine beginning. For many years, Liza with a Z had my heart on the Gershwin classic "The Man I Love." In the liner notes, Alison recounts how her search for material was through sheet music rather than recordings so as not to be influenced by other singers' interpretations. On this track she knew only the first two lines & fills the deep emotions with Derek Watkins' fine horn aching dreamily. Moyet is a major Elvis Costello fan. "Almost Blue" is a melody whose glow grows with repeated listenings while on Costello's Burt Bacharach collaboration, "God Give Me Strength," she brings new shadings and a sense of quiet strength & resolve. "Cry Me A River" has been recorded by artists as diverse as Joe Cocker, Aerosmith, Joan Baez, Jeff Beck & Ray Charles. Its amazing emotional wallop is sometimes overplayed as if by bad actors in a melodrama. Here, Moyet gives the song a bit of tease and sass in nuance while Julian Jackson's harmonica emphasizes the melody's deep sweet sadness. On the bonus track version Alison takes Bacharach's "Alfie" and lets the melody flow through her with the little trill on "if only fools are kind." All of the tracks here are strong from the French songs to "Bye Bye Blackbird." If I had any constructive criticism, I'd have enjoyed a couple uptempo toe tappers to vary the pace a bit. But Alison does an excellent job on this powerful performance. Enjoy!

If any aging icon has the inherent right to perform standards, old and newer, it is the impeccable exquisiteness of Moyet's rich and dense texture. Her manly, brooding alto brings deep, nascent understanding of the oft-recorded lyrics; it's almost as if she were borne to sing these. Her `Windmills Of My Mind' is clearly one of the most brilliant takes of this song ever recorded. The rest are deliberately paced, slow-burning and permeated with sense and sensuality. While Rod Stewart continues raping the standards canon with his queasy grasp at quasi-relevance, I'll bask in the glow of Moyet. My grade: A

Recently I been listening to the Alison Moyet's most recent album "Voice" more and more and truely feel its addictiveness.

I have been a fan of hers since I was a little boy as it all started with a group called Yaz (yazzo). Ever since, her voice has been one of the most memorable voices in the music scene for me. After her departure from this synthpop legendary band (Alison Moyet & Vince Clarke) to pursue her solo career, she moved further and further away from the sound she started out with (somtimes good, other times not). With "Voice", its a chapter of her career that shines so brightly. Although only a cover album, its defiantly one of her strongest releases to date. This time she took her voice to another level as she teamed up with Anne Dudley for a twisting ride of dark classical orchestra with a twist of soft soothing jazz that melts so well with Alison's mesmerizing voice. She may have tried something new in terms of style and delivery, but she has succeeded beyond words. Her delivery from "windmills of your mind" to the sexy French singings of "la chanson des vieux amants"...there is no stopping. She has certainly aged like good wine as not only her voice sounds top notch, but so does her looks. She looks more beautiful now than she ever did throughout her long career.

I'd rate this higher if it contained just a bit more variety. As an entire album, it's a bit too sluggish for my taste. Following rather quickly (for this artist) on the heels of HOMETIME, VOICE was quite a surprise, though. I like HOMETIME better, as it is more like the Moyet I know and prefer, but hey, each to his own. What I do admire about this effort is that Moyet has done a standards album that paves its own way and is unlike the dime-a-dozen easy listening covers records we're getting way too many of these days from former pop/rock stars (Rod Stewart needs to STOP, and Bette Midler's and Barry Manilow's recent "tributes" to Peggy Lee and the music of the 1950's, respectively, are bland, to be kind). The big highlight here is easily "The Windmills Of Your Mind," which rivals the one I've always loved best (Dusty Springfield's practically definitive rendition from DUSTY IN MEMPHIS). Moyet's version is not like any other recording that I've heard. First of all, here's a tune that's often done at a medium to fast clip, which really works slowed way down. Secondly, the glass harmonica combined with Alison's amazing voice is so eerie and haunting and lovely that this track sends shivers up and down my spine every time I listen to it. My other favorite is "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" (also done very well by Springfield, Sinatra, and many others). Talk about a melody and the quality of a voice being perfectly matched -- sublime! In fact, there is not a bad performance here, although like every singer I've ever heard do "Cry Me A River," save Barbra Streisand, Moyet misses the point. This is an angry and sarcastic song, and yet everyone seems to think that it is a sad, drippy ballad. Oh well, at least Alison seems to see the humor in the piece, if not the fury. In conclusion, this CD could have used a couple of swingers to spice up the proceedings, but I can't fault the set's production values or the excellence of the singing. If one wants to use VOICE for late night listening or for some powerful commiseration, there is little here to break the mood. I hope Alison Moyet is around for a good long time, and continues to make records as great as this, and the one before it.

This is a cool blue jazz album featuring the warmest female vocalist and the most talented orchestral arranger of our day. The product is charming, soulful and inspiring. Like a whole album full of That Ole Devil Called Love. This CD makes me want to sing.