2008 - National - Reviews

Q 2008

Migratory Birds

'Still best known for her throaty bellow on The communards' version of Don't Leave Me This Way, Sarah Jane Morris has pottered on the periphery ever since, her deep but alluring voice being particularly well regarded in Italy. With all but one of its 12 songs covers, the hushed Migratory Birds is a showcase for Morris's voice rather than her songwriting. She makes an almighty hash of Bob Dylan's To Ramona, but brings new nuances to Damien Rice's Blower's Daughter, reclaims Britney Spear's Toxic as the great song it always was but never performed as, and stays lasciviously true to Nina Simone's filthy Sugar in My Bowl.'

John Aizlewood