New Release: Jonatha Brooke: "The Works"

Review of Jonatha Brooke's new album "The Works"
Stream the full album here on AOL Music

The best tracks on Jonatha Brooke’s most recent album give listeners a sense of calm and joy. The problem is those few songs are mixed in amongst a larger number of bland songs devoid of emotion. Overall, The Works underwhelms, but there are a couple songs worth giving a listen.

“All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me” is a nice jazz piece that perfectly blends keyboards, acoustic finger picking, and great slide guitar tones. “Madonna On The Curb” shows promise with a nice acoustic riff, but seems to lack a certain energy, serving as a microcosm of the album as a whole.

The next track worth a listen is “Taste Of Danger”, a keyboard and bass heavy number that’s a mix of Sheryl Crow country/pop and Brandi Carlile down to earth folk.

The best track is “Coney Island Intro”, an accordion piece to which one could gently and peacefully fall asleep. The fact that this amazing work of art is only 35 seconds long is the biggest disappointment of the album. It does lead into another great track, “King of My Love”, which shares a toned down accordion riff from “Coney Island Intro”, along with a melancholy piano piece.

The Works is best when it stays simple, as witnessed on the peaceful, stripped down “Coney Island Intro”, but too often is rather bland, and doesn’t effectively showcase the talent of Jonatha Brooke.