Songs for you by James Morrison

They have the same name. We know the other one better as Jim, though and that Morrison has long ago taken to playing his gigs in the great beyond. Still I really thought that being named James Morrison would be a big liability for the young singer-songwriter from Britain who debuted with the CD

Undiscovered

three years ago. Couldn’t he have changed his name to something else that will not be associated with a pop music icon? Well, he stayed with his name and I have since been proven wrong.

Morrison, who comes from Rugby in England, made it big worldwide on his first time out. The album sold over two million copies with Undiscovered as its main single. The title track won for him the Brit Award for Best Male and was nominated for Best Single. He also got another nomination for Best Newcomer in 2007. There were also other hits like Wonderful World, One Last Chance, The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and You Give Me Something from the CD.

It was really quite a remarkable turn from a young guy who likes to write sweet and funny songs and who is not afraid to be an aching romantic. Take note that even big stars seldom make three or four hit singles out of one album. One song is what most usually get from a CD. Besides competition at that time was stiff. It was also a hot period for other new singer/songwriters with lots of soul like James Blunt and Corinne Bailey Rae.

I guess you can say that Morrison was the guy who won the race. His songs proved to be more chart-friendly than Blunt’s and he matched Bailey Rae point for point in sincerity. His songs are obviously inspired by real-life experiences and he has no qualms about letting people in on those. Of course, it also helped that fans found the early morning huskiness in his voice quite appealing and his lean, hungry young poet look quite attractive.

Morrison is back with a new album titled Songs for You, Truths for Me. It is his crucial sophomore release. His hair is better styled but there is no need for worry that success has changed anything. The CD has everything that made Undiscovered a big smash and most importantly has already yielded two big single releases. It can now be said that Morrison hurdled the dreaded second album slump with the introspective You Make It Real and the lush heartbreaker Broken Strings which features Nelly Furtado.

Morrison tends to over-produce at times and to go all out with the Michael Bolton moaning, but that is just what buyers of blue-eyed soul like best. My favorites are the emotional ballads like Nothing Ever Hurt Like You, Precious Love and Please Don’t Stop the Rain. The other tracks are The Only Night, Save Yourself, Once When I Was Little, If You Don’t Wanna Love Me, Fix the World Up for You, Dream On Hayley and Love is Hard.

I would like something lighter and a bit playful on his next album. No one should wallow on self-pity all the time. But for now you should check out Songs for You, Truths for Me, where James Morrison has something for all sorts of heartbreaks.

Billboard’s Top 200 Albums

Meanwhile there are several interesting new CDs this week in Billboard’s Top 200 Albums list and here are the Top 10 titles: Unstoppable by Rascal Flatts; Hannah Montana The Movie Soundtrack starring Miley Cyrus; The Last Kiss by Jadakiss; Wide Open by Jason Aldean; Now 30 by Various Artists; Fearless by Taylor Swift; Defying Gravity by Keith Urban; Twilight, the Motion Picture Soundtrack by Various Artists; Lotus Flow3r/MPLSoUND/Elix3r by Prince and Bria Valente; and The Fame by Lady Gaga.

The Top 10 singles in the Hot 100 Chart are the following: Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas; Poker Face by Lady Gaga; Right Around by Flo Rida; Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Soulja Boy Tell ‘em featuring Sammie; Blame It by Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain; Dead and Gone by T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake; Day ‘N’ Nite by Kid Cudi; The Climb by Miley Cyrus; You Found Me by The Fray; and Gives You Hell by The All American Rejects.