On The Download: Susan Boyle’s ‘I Dreamed A Dream’

Susan Boyle’s much-anticipated debut — the album that broke Amazon.com pre-sale records and was preceded by a second-place run on “Britain’s Got Talent” that reached over one hundred million people via YouTube — is finally here. And the album didn’t disappoint, notching a No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts with sales of 701,000, the biggest debut week for a first album since Snoop Dogg’s in 1993.

Indeed, the Scottish singer’s American numbers dwarfed those of her domestic reality show competitors — Kris Allen and Adam Lambert – respectively, the winner and runner-up of “American Idol’s” latest season. Their albums sold a combined 280,000 copies in their first weeks of release, or less than half of what SuBo managed.

But will Susan be a one-album wonder, driven by a rags-to-riches story and the magical memory of her show-stopping “I Dreamed A Dream” performance? Or a performer ready to carve out a long career?

The Scottish singer’s voice rings out clear and true on her debut album, as impressive on record as it was on “Britain’s Got Talent.” With a songbook that draws from rock (the Rolling Stone’s “Wild Horses,” the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer”) to religious hymns (a rousing “Amazing Grace”), the music is stripped-down and slow, a clear vehicle for SuBo’s voice. As a recording artist, she’s still finding her footing — her takes on the rock songs are polished but, ironically, lacking the emotion she brings to stand-outs such as “Proud” and “The End of the World,” a forgotten ‘60s country cut. From start to finish, she’s front-and-center, as if the album’s musicians are scared to overshadow her — the backing arrangement on “How Great Thou Art,” for one, is little more than a plodding synthesizer.

As a whole, it’s a strong first effort that accomplishes its goal: making SuBo shine. Fans of the singer (or of vocal-oriented pop, in general) should find the record a perfect stocking stuffer. But more than anything, it wets the appetite for what she could accomplish later in her career.

I’d love to hear Susan’s take on, say, Ella Fitzgerald’s catalog, or a T Bone Burnett-produced country/roots collection. With the success of “I Dreamed A Dream,” I’m sure we’ll be hearing Susan sing whatever she wants for years to come.

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