-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER –
(HOLE SUPPORT)
Tiffany Page is very pretty. She has lovely hair. She has a lovely voice….lovely. Is this what we want from our singers? For them to be lovely? Some people think Cheryl Cole, and puppies peeping out of the tops of stockings are lovely…some people are morons.
I’m not really being fair, Tiffany Page does have a great voice, smoky and sultry, coming on all Chrissie Hynde one minute, particularly in her incredibly catchy first single ‘Walk Away Slow’ and then soaring and soulful the next, but occasionally it just feels like there’s something vital missing.
The band and the songs in general are pretty strong, she’s created some great 3 minutes of pop and she’s got a knack with a chorus, I’ll give the girl that. ‘Playing With Fire’ demonstrates it well and her voice at times adds a sleazy element that strengthens the overall sound. Maybe that’s it though, maybe that dirty, grubby, ‘this is my truth, get down and drag yourself through my pain’ feeling is what’s absent and sometimes a song no matter how catchy needs a bit of real substance.
There’s no visceral thrill, just a feeling of pleasantness, like Katie Melua but with better songs. I guess though really, there are worse things in the world and she’s got plenty of time to develop a true intensity to her writing.
Latest single ‘On Your Head’ should be a hit, Radio 1 have been championing it lately and with good cause, it’s intensely likeable. I love ‘Hope He Doesn’t Know About You’, it combines The Go-Go’s with The Pretenders amid shades of Elastica, which is no bad thing and shows a decent ability to construct a song.
Along with the audience members I spoke to I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for her in the future. Tiffany Page, much better than Cheryl Cole…
