Beth Orton: The Other Side Of Daybreak : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Beth Orton's new album is more than just a remix disc; it's also a de-mix album. She hands four songs from last year's Daybreaker to outside producers who wrap the brooding midtempo tunes in chattering drum machines and ghostly dub. But she also breaks down that album's lead single, "Concrete Sky," into a solo-acoustic live performance, and she adds mostly acoustic versions of the Five Stairsteps' 1970 Chicago-soul hit "Ooh Child" and of "Ali's Waltz" -- an unused companion piece to Daybreaker's "Ted's Waltz" and one of her loveliest ballads. You can mess with Orton's music however you want -- add layers of electronica or strip them away to reveal the folkie within - and the songs will still work, because her melodies are that strong and her voice that compelling.

GEOFFREY HIMES
(RS 931, September 18, 2003)