Beth Orton : Releases >>

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Having collaborated with such dance acts as Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers, singer-songwriter Beth Orton is sometimes regarded as a young folky hitching a ride on the electronica bandwagon. On Trailer Park, however, she harks back to a lost Seventies tradition whose exponents included Traffic, Tim Buckley and especially John Martyn, all of whom worked in a hazy interface between jazz, blues and folk. Fleshed out with multiple layers of vibes, strings and keyboards, Trailer Park is at once a soul-searching and sensual album, with Orton's flat-edged and indistinct lyrics often seeming to melt in her own mouth. Only "Sweetest Decline", featuring Dr John on keyboards seems slightly twee. Otherwise on the likes of "Couldn't Cause Me Harm" and "Feel To Believe", the pleasures and pains of love are conveyed so tangibly it almost hurts. --David Stubbs

Daybreaker >>

It's perhaps the cruellest twist that in trying to distance herself from Chillout's massed ranks, East Anglian songstress Beth Orton has come up with Daybreaker, the ultimate 4 am soundtrack. It certainly wasn't intentional; Orton has never been best pleased with the "Come Down Queen" tag she acquired thanks to the hazy folk and bleery electronica of her 1996 debut, Trailer Park, and her association with dance luminaries such as the Chemical Brothers and Andrew Weatherall. Hence her third studio album steers a path to more traditional singer/songwriter territory. Yet topped with Orton's drunken croon--unintelligible, blissfully lazy and bittersweet--the unhurried country strummings of "Carmella", "God Song" and "Ted's Waltz" are still prime twilight listening. Add the moodier down-tempo moments; "Paris Train"'s haunting orchestrals, "Mount Washington"'s ambient bleeps and the dank beats of the Chemical Brothers-produced title track and it's hard to see Daybreaker doing anything other than reaffirming her "Come Down Queen" credentials. Admittedly there's a shortage of memorable tunes--nothing quite lives up to her previous best, "She Cries Your Name" or "Stolen Car". But even then the vagueness of her melodies, like the vagueness of her voice, merely adds to Daybreaker's gentle, nocturnal charm. --Dan Gennoe

Central Reservation >>

Is Beth Orton the folkie Beck? Or is Beck an Orton with beats? Since both graze from genre to genre like goats feasting on whatever strikes their fancy, drawing parallels is tempting ... and perhaps pointless. After all, both artists were born in 1970 and emerged at a time when musical categorisation became an exercise in futility. English thrush Orton's third release--like her critically hailed debut and the Best Bit EP--prompts one to flash on an ever-swelling range of influences. Since she's blessed with the rich, warm voice of a true pop singer, it's easy to imagine her sharing space on some out-of-time radio playlist with Dusty Springfield (listen to the elegant, string-laden "Sweetest Decline"), except Orton's music draws on 1990s trip-hop elements as well the jazzy folk of Tim Buckley and vet Terry Callier (reprising his Best Bit cameo). Orchestration, upright bass, vibes and Orton's own resolute guitar give long, languid tracks such as "So Much More" and "Pass in Time" an Astral Weeks-like feel. All those touchstones and no fewer than six producers might imply that Central Reservation is something of a mishmash. In truth, Orton's overriding vision is all that's needed to create cohesion. --Steven Stolder

Trailer Park - Legacy Edition >>

Pass In Time - The Definitive Collection >>

Pass in Time: the Definitive Collection is bound to do well because, frankly, people like Beth Orton. It's as simple as that. While she hasn't exactly set the world on fire since first coming to our attention as one half of Spill alongside William Orbit, she's always boasted a most reliable voice that, while neither particularly unique nor entrancing, can sell a song most efficaciously.

Similarly, while it is highly unlikely that Beth is anybody's absolute favourite artist of all time, her appeal is exceptionally broad. When the Chemical Brothers need a surrogate female larynx for their populist electronica they invariably call on Beth; she's a stalwart of Radio 2, a less spiky and consequently more palatable Sinead O'Connor and during indie rock's 1996 heyday, NME's typically Britpop-hugging critics embraced Orton's career-encapsulating "She Cries Your Name" iron horse as their single of the week.

Pass in Time, meanwhile, throws out no less than 24 reasons why we like Beth Orton. Here are feather-light emotions, mellifluous, casually delivered vocal gymnastics, heartstring-stroking coffee-table melancholia, solo highlights and collaborations with the aforementioned Chemicals, William Orbit and Terry Callier. It's a solid, engaging anthology. It's unlikely to steal your heart and soul but you'll like it a heck of a lot. --Ian Fortnam

Trailer Park/Central Reservation >>

Comfort of Strangers: Special Edition >>

Best Bit EP >>

Best Bit isn't the revelation its predecessor, Trailer Park, was. With that eye-opening debut, Beth Orton was marked as an uncommonly promising newcomer; Best Bit represents a rest stop between records. That said, the five-song EP is of value, if for no other reason than it unites the Londoner with American folk-soul stylist Terry Callier, who duets with Orton on his own "Lean on Me", as well as a cover of Fred Neil's "Dolphins". Having collaborated with such dance acts as Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers, singer-songwriter Beth Orton is sometimes regarded as a young folky hitching a ride on the electronica bandwagon. On Trailer Park, however, she harks back to a lost 1970s tradition whose exponents included Traffic, Tim Buckley interface between jazz, blues and folk. Fleshed out with multiple layers of vibes, strings and keyboards, Trailer Park is at once a soul-searching and sensual album, with Orton's flat-edged and indistinct lyrics often seeming to melt in her own mouth. --Steven Stolder