This article is about the Emma Bunton album. For the song with the same name, see Life in Mono.
Life in Mono is the third studio album by English pop singer Emma Bunton. The album was originally set for a November 2006 release in the UK, however it was later pushed back to 4 December 2006. Much like her previous album, Free Me, the album experiments with elements of 1960s pop music. For this particular album the musical arrangement was more directed towards 1960s French pop music, with some elements of British 1960s pop and Motown.
The album was inspired by 1960s sounds, like motown, bossa nova and pop.[1][2][3][4] Bunton had been working on her third release since winter 2004. The album's title track is a cover version of the hit "Life in Mono" by 1990s trip hop band Mono, best known through its usage in the 1998 film Great Expectations. The track "Take Me to Another Town" contains a sample from Herb Alpert's 1965 "Green Peppers". Songs recorded during this period that did not appear on the final album include "Crazy", "Rhapsody", "Secrets", "Crazy Beautiful", "Ladylike" and "In Another Life".
Due to Bunton's pregnancy all forms of promotion were cancelled after a few months.
The Guardian's Alex Macpherson found that Life in Mono "continues in the same vein" as previous album Free Me, "with breezy Motown rhythms and tastefully swooping strings offsetting Bunton's candyfloss-light vocals exquisitely. Though she has largely eschewed the playful pastiche that made Free Me such a triumph in favour of a more languid subtlety, it's still a sound no one else in British pop is pursuing. And it's difficult to think of anyone who could pull it off more delightfully than Bunton does [...] There's an undercurrent of vague wistfulness that never quite leaves her voice, lending it emotional clout beyond its technical limitations."[8] Jaime Gill from Yahoo! Music UK called the album "a rather lovely record and quite possibly the last Spice-related release which anyone in the world barring immediate family members even vaguely cares about - she chose wisely. Like its charming predecessor Free Me, Life in Mono comes wrapped-up in a vogueish '60s French pop gleam, all sugary harmonies, luscious strings and crafty Bacharach style arrangements.[9]
MSN remarked that "while unlikely to be a chart topper, nevertheless Life In Mono is a charming record and reason enough for Emma to delay that pension-boosting Spice Girls reunion any time soon."[10]Digital Spy's Miriam Zendle opined that "there are a whole number of problems with this album, though Emma Bunton's voice is not one of them. It's utterly bland and very repetitive in terms of content. It seems to be geared very much towards the Christmas market and as such is incredibly cheesy and soft-focus. It's hard to find any tracks that really stand out, as they pretty much all sound exactly the same. Bunton's gentle, lovely vocals are the only thing that keeps the album from sinking into forgettability, but at the end of the day, it's just not enough."[6]AllMusic editor Sharon Mawer called it "a safe album, light and fluffy with almost no substance".[5] Talia Kraines from BBC Music felt that "there's little on this album that could see Emma bothering [another top 5 hit]. That's not to say little ol' Baby Spice hasn't tried [...] but while she may be continuing the Sixties vibe of Free Me, there's nothing that even flirts with the beehive razzamatazz of "Maybe"."[11]
Chart performanceedit
The album was Bunton's first not to reach the UK top 10.[12]Life in Mono debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 65 on 10 December 2006 and fell to number 75 in its second week before dropping out of the chart the following week.[12]
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This article is about the Emma Bunton album For the song with the same name see Life in Mono Life in Mono is the third studio album by English pop singer Emma Bunton The album was originally set for a November 2006 release in the UK however it was later pushed back to 4 December 2006 Much like her previous album Free Me the album experiments with elements of 1960s pop music For this particular album the musical arrangement was more directed towards 1960s French pop music with some elements of British 1960s pop and Motown Life in MonoStudio album by Emma BuntonReleased4 December 2006Recorded2004 2006LabelUniversal MusicProducerSimon Franglen Gary Clark Eric PresslyEmma Bunton chronologyFree Me 2004 Life in Mono 2006 My Happy Place 2019 Singles from Life in Mono Downtown Released 13 November 2006 All I Need to Know Released 12 February 2007 Contents 1 Background 2 Singles 3 Critical reception 4 Chart performance 5 Track listing 6 Charts 7 ReferencesBackground editThe album was inspired by 1960s sounds like motown bossa nova and pop 1 2 3 4 Bunton had been working on her third release since winter 2004 The album s title track is a cover version of the hit Life in Mono by 1990s trip hop band Mono best known through its usage in the 1998 film Great Expectations The track Take Me to Another Town contains a sample from Herb Alpert s 1965 Green Peppers Songs recorded during this period that did not appear on the final album include Crazy Rhapsody Secrets Crazy Beautiful Ladylike and In Another Life Due to Bunton s pregnancy all forms of promotion were cancelled after a few months Singles editThe first single taken from the album was a cover of Petula Clark s 1964 hit single Downtown It was released on 13 November 2006 It was the 2006 BBC Children in Need official charity single and reached No 3 on the UK Singles Chart The second single All I Need to Know was released on 12 February 2007 It charted at No 60 on the UK Singles Chart Critical reception editProfessional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAllMusic nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 5 Digital Spy nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 6 musicOMH nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 7 The Guardian nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 8 Yahoo Music UK nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 9 The Guardian s Alex Macpherson found that Life in Mono continues in the same vein as previous album Free Me with breezy Motown rhythms and tastefully swooping strings offsetting Bunton s candyfloss light vocals exquisitely Though she has largely eschewed the playful pastiche that made Free Me such a triumph in favour of a more languid subtlety it s still a sound no one else in British pop is pursuing And it s difficult to think of anyone who could pull it off more delightfully than Bunton does There s an undercurrent of vague wistfulness that never quite leaves her voice lending it emotional clout beyond its technical limitations 8 Jaime Gill from Yahoo Music UK called the album a rather lovely record and quite possibly the last Spice related release which anyone in the world barring immediate family members even vaguely cares about she chose wisely Like its charming predecessor Free Me Life in Mono comes wrapped up in a vogueish 60s French pop gleam all sugary harmonies luscious strings and crafty Bacharach style arrangements 9 MSN remarked that while unlikely to be a chart topper nevertheless Life In Mono is a charming record and reason enough for Emma to delay that pension boosting Spice Girls reunion any time soon 10 Digital Spy s Miriam Zendle opined that there are a whole number of problems with this album though Emma Bunton s voice is not one of them It s utterly bland and very repetitive in terms of content It seems to be geared very much towards the Christmas market and as such is incredibly cheesy and soft focus It s hard to find any tracks that really stand out as they pretty much all sound exactly the same Bunton s gentle lovely vocals are the only thing that keeps the album from sinking into forgettability but at the end of the day it s just not enough 6 AllMusic editor Sharon Mawer called it a safe album light and fluffy with almost no substance 5 Talia Kraines from BBC Music felt that there s little on this album that could see Emma bothering another top 5 hit That s not to say little ol Baby Spice hasn t tried but while she may be continuing the Sixties vibe of Free Me there s nothing that even flirts with the beehive razzamatazz of Maybe 11 Chart performance editThe album was Bunton s first not to reach the UK top 10 12 Life in Mono debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 65 on 10 December 2006 and fell to number 75 in its second week before dropping out of the chart the following week 12 Track listing editNo TitleWriter s Producer s Length1 All I Need to Know Emma BuntonJamie HartmanSimon Franglen4 182 Life in Mono John BarryMartin VirgoFranglen3 483 Mischievous BuntonCathy DennisGreg KurstinFranglen3 414 Perfect Strangers BuntonGary ClarkPam SheyneFranglen3 315 He Loves Me Not BuntonYak BondyFranglen3 286 I Wasn t Looking When I Found Love BuntonPascal GabrielHannah RobinsonFranglen3 317 Take Me to Another Town ClarkKeely HawkesEric PresslyClarkPressly4 088 Undressing You Tim KellettKate ElsworthFranglen3 219 I m Not Crying Over Yesterdays BuntonBlair MacKichanJustin GrayFranglen3 2310 All That You ll Be BuntonPeter GordenoChris PorterFranglen4 00 Bonus tracksNo TitleWriter s Producer s Length11 Downtown Tony HatchFranglen3 2412 Something Tells Me Something s Going to Happen Roger CookRoger GreenawayBondy3 4113 Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps Osvaldo FarresJoe DavisFranglen2 3014 Por Favor Noel ShermanJoe ShermanBondy2 35Charts editChart performance for Life in Mono Chart 2006 Peakposition Scottish Albums OCC 13 69 UK Albums OCC 12 65References edit Emma Bunton Life in Mono The Guardian Retrieved 31 December 2020 Emma Bunton Life in Mono The Guardian Retrieved 31 December 2020 Emma Bunton s Life in Mono Turns 10 The Guardian Retrieved 31 December 2020 Baby Please Don t Stop The Breezy Return of Emma Bunton Muumuse Retrieved 31 December 2020 a b Mawer Sharon Life in Mono Emma Bunton AllMusic Rovi Corporation Retrieved 31 January 2013 a b Zendle Miriam 4 December 2006 Life in Mono Emma Bunton Digital Spy Review Digital Spy Archived from the original on 17 January 2007 Retrieved 31 January 2013 Murphy John 4 December 2006 Life in Mono Emma Bunton musicOMH Review musicOMH Retrieved 31 January 2013 a b Macpherson Alex 1 December 2006 Life in Mono Emma Bunton The Guardian Review The Guardian Retrieved 31 January 2013 a b Gill Jaime 3 January 2007 Life in Mono Emma Bunton LAUNCH Yahoo ardian Review Yahoo Archived from the original on 13 January 2007 Retrieved 31 January 2013 Life in Mono Emma Bunton MSN Review MSN 1 December 2006 Archived from the original on 6 December 2006 Retrieved 31 January 2013 Kraines Talia Emma Bunton Life in Mono Review BBC Music Retrieved 4 November 2022 a b c Emma Bunton Artist Official Charts UK Albums Chart Retrieved 6 August 2017 Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100 Official Charts Company Retrieved 6 August 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Life in Mono album amp oldid 1180308487, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
