Beverley Knight - 100%

I'm something of a latecomer to Beverley Knight.

I bought the "Made It Back '99" single, liked "Get Up!" and "Shoulda Woulda Coulda", but lost interest on hearing "Gold". However, things changed with the utterly brilliant "Affirmation" album, for which she teamed up with Robbie Williams' most successful collaborator, Guy Chambers (as opposed to Gary Barlow). An album I had in my possession, yet had never listened to, despite fantastic singles like "Come As You Are" and the Robyn-penned "Keep This Fire Burning".

I was then taken to a one-off gig in London, and she blew me away. I dug the album out, got the ones I didn't have and was delighted when she soon had a big hit with her greatest hits compilation, "Voice". I have since seen her live twice more, both times in Cardiff. Unfortunately, the last was to promote her "Music City Soul" album. It was still a fantastic concert, but the material from this new album left me wanting. It appears the record buying public agreed, as every single failed to reach the top 40, despite some decent airplay. ("After You" in particular should've been huge, and why wasn't "Black Butter" released?)

Which brings us to 2009, and the album "100%". Now a darling of Twitter (http://twitter.com/beverleyknight) her new single, "Beautiful Night", has been getting positive responses on You Tube and is a welcome return to form for me. So how about the rest of the album? Thankfully, it's her strongest, aside from Affirmation. Whether the sales will reflect this (I wasn't the only one burned by MCS) is another matter, but I hope so.

Highlight tracks include launch single, "Beautiful Night", 80s-dancefloor-inspired "Breakout", "Rip It Up" soundalike "In Your Shoes", the soulful anthems "Soul Survivor" (with Chaka Khan) and "Turned to Stone", and misfit RnB ballad "Square Peg" (reminiscent of her own wonderful "Straight Jacket"). The album closes with an enthusiastic, faithful cover of the Bee Gees' "Too Much Heaven", reminiscent of Destiny's Child's "Emotions" cover.

The low points? Few and far between, but I would have to single out the quite dreary title track. Then again, this could grow on me.

Beverley fans should not be breathing a sigh of relief, but letting out a huge cheer. I will now certainly be trying to get Cardiff tickets for November...