Kerry Ellis is a renowned musical theatre star, who I first became aware of through her work with Queen guitarist Brian May. She collaborated with him after starring in the We Will Rock You musical (which amazingly I still haven’t seen yet), and since then she has appeared in many major productions, as well as releasing a number of albums, with and without Brian’s involvement.
Most recently she’s been doing live streams on her Instagram, some of which are available on Youtube, as well as launching her own podcast – Keep Calm And Kerry On – where she talks to stars of stage, song and screen about their careers and their experiences of lockdown. So she’s keeping herself busy!
I haven’t had the good fortune to see her live in person yet, but I have been an admirer of her music for some years now, because she has a stunning voice and is very versatile, and I love musicals just like she does. I was therefore very excited to receive a signed copy of her brand new album recently (which, like all her albums, I bought myself – none of this is sponsored or gifted).
But as well as reviewing that, I thought I would also take the opportunity to give my opinions on her previous releases as well, because I have the time to do so right now, and it’s a good excuse (if one were needed) to go through them all again. So this a special post for the Bank Holiday weekend going through all her albums, plus a live concert on Blu-ray, and there’s a contents list below if you want to jump to specific titles. So I hope you enjoy!
Contents
- Anthems (2010)
- Candlelight Concerts (2013-14)
- Kerry Ellis (2014)
- Golden Days (2017)
- Feels Like Home (2020)
Anthems (2010)
Anthems is Kerry’s debut album, produced by Brian May (who also performs on the tracks). It reached number 15 in the charts and resulted in the two of them going on tour together. It’s a really strong collection of songs (3 of which had previously been released on a Wicked In Rock EP) that enable Kerry to showcase her power, passion and range. Brian May’s guitar playing is also instantly recognisable, and the overall orchestration of the whole album is wonderful, all of it complementing Kerry’s singing perfectly.
Dangerland is a fabulously epic opening track, an invitation to a world of love and perfection that’s impossible to refuse. It’s one of two original tracks, the other being I Can’t Be Your Friend (This Can’t Be Over), an emotional song about heartbreak that many people will be able to relate to. And in between those we have Anthem, a really lovely song from the musical Chess.
Next up are 2 songs from Wicked, which I first saw a couple of years ago with audio description, and then again in January this year – sadly not with Kerry playing Elphaba, as she hasn’t been part of the cast for some time now, but it’s still a fantastic show. The energy that Kerry puts into the inspirationally uplifting Defying Gravity on this album is magnificent, making it one of the major highlights, while the relatively more relaxed and thoughtful I’m Not That Girl is also beautifully sung. There’s an official G-A-Y remix of Defying Gravity as well, which is nowhere near as good as the original version, but it’s still fairly catchy.
The Swedish musical Kristina is represented next, with her English version of You Have To Be There, the lyrics of which don’t personally resonate with me, but it’s still nicely performed. Then there’s a cover of Love It When You Call, originally by The Feeling, which is a fun and lively track that I can’t help but tap along to. There are also beautiful orchestral covers of the classic songs Save Me by Queen and Diamonds Are Forever by Shirley Bassey. I still prefer the original versions of those, but I appreciate Kerry’s renditions very much, she does make them her own.
The next track, however, floors me every time, as her performance of Queen’s No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young) is incredible and deeply moving. Queen’s version is also fantastic, that goes without saying, but Kerry’s voice and the instrumentation lift it into something even more special. Roger Taylor is on this track too, as well as Brian May. That, along with Defying Gravity and Dangerland, are my 3 favourite songs on the entire album. And I Loved A Butterfly (Some Things That Glitter) is a beautiful and relaxing song to finish off with, being a lovely cover of the original track by Queen & Paul Rodgers.
So all in all, it’s a great variety of songs in a nice mix of styles, and Kerry does them all justice. It’s great to hear her tackling Queen numbers too, as I’m a huge fan of the band, and thankfully this isn’t the last time she does that.
Acoustic By Candlelight & The Candlelight Concerts (2013-14)
I’m putting these 2 releases together because they both feature material from Kerry & Brian’s Born Free Tour, comprising a number of intimate acoustic concerts in 2012 and 2013:
- Acoustic By Candlelight is a live album, consisting of songs taken from different concerts in late 2012, all seamlessly stitched together to sound like one show.
- The Candlelight Concerts is a complete film of their show at the 2013 Montreux Jazz Festival, available on DVD & Blu-ray, including Acoustic By Candlelight as a bonus CD.
The setlists for the album and film are different, but there’s naturally quite a bit of overlap in the songs they feature. They include tracks from Anthems, others that would appear on her later albums, and covers of songs by Queen and other artists. So they contain quite a variety of material.
The fact that these shows are acoustic gives the songs a different feel to the way you would normally hear them, sometimes very different, and they sound absolutely beautiful. There’s a romantic intimacy to the whole performance, heightened further when you can see the candles adorning the stage. It’s mainly just the two of them performing, but Jeff Leach adds some unobtrusive keyboard playing and percussion in the background here and there.
The tour was designed to raise awareness of their work with Virginia McKenna and the Born Free Foundation, who work tirelessly to conserve wildlife and protect endangered animals. So this is reflected in some of the song choices. Born Free and Nothing Really Has Changed (the latter written by Virginia McKenna) are sung with heartfelt love for the subject at hand, and in the Montreux film you can see little bits of the accompanying videos that are playing on the back screen, highlighting the threats to lions and badgers. And another pretty animal reference appears on the live album in the form of I Loved A Butterfly. The DVD & Blu-ray also include a lovely bonus video, where Brian and Kerry play Nothing Really Has Changed as a very moving surprise for Virginia at the Shamwari Game Reserve.
The album and concert film also feature great covers of Dust In The Wind, The Way We Were, Something and I (Who Have Nothing) (which Kerry notes they did a big version of previously with Zucchero’s daughter). In addition, other calm and beautiful songs that are only on the album include the Christmas carol In The Bleak Midwinter, the Anthems track I Can’t Be Your Friend, and a moment where Brian leaves the stage to give Kerry the opportunity to shine solo with I’m Not That Girl from Wicked, accompanied by Jeff on the piano. Additional cover songs they performed during the tour included Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Can’t Help Falling In Love, which sadly are not on the live album or Blu-ray, but the latter does eventually appear on their Golden Days studio album.
Brian also gets the stage to himself in the Montreux film (with some simple backing chords from Jeff), when he gets out the trusty Red Special to perform his instrumental Last Horizon, extended into a heavenly 9-minute jam – literally heavenly with a star field on screen behind him, as a guitar god and astrophysicist like him deserves. There are very few people who can make the electric guitar sing like he does. It’s mainly relatively calm in nature, but mid-way through he briefly rocks out with a “Now I’m Here” style riff to shake things up a bit and get the audience clapping along. And when he finally finishes, you can see people in the front row lifting their arms and bowing to him in a “we are not worthy” gesture. Can’t blame them.
Also worthy of note is the cheerfully catchy Kissing Me Song, which was a completely new song written during the tour, and thus evolved as it went along. The performance on the live album was only a couple of days after Brian had first presented the song to Kerry, leading to an amusing introduction where she explains why she has to read the lyrics on her phone! But 8 months later in Montreux, not only is Kerry inevitably far more confident at singing it, but Brian has switched from acoustic to electric guitar, giving the song even more drive. So whereas the performances of some songs are very similar on both the CD and Blu-ray, it’s great to get an insight into the development of this song at different points in the tour. And there’s some backstage footage which is fun to see in that regard as well.
And finally we’re blessed with a magnificent abundance of Queen songs, on which Brian also sings in some cases. On the slower side of things, they dedicate Life Is Real to Freddie (replacing the song’s original reference to John Lennon with the line “Freddie is a genius”), the audience gladly join in with the ever beautiful Love Of My Life, and Jeff Leach comes to particular prominence on the piano with extended intros and lovely accompaniments for No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) and Somebody To Love. No One But You is as moving as always, with images of Freddie’s statue appearing on the video screen, while Somebody To Love works very well in this acoustic form.
Of the more lively Queen numbers, Tie Your Mother Down gets the most radical reinterpretation, performed in a country style, which is quite the surprise! It’s not as good as the original, inevitably, but it’s still a fun and refreshing take on the song, and Brian does switch to the electric guitar towards the end as they move into the more traditional rock version. The audience quite rightly don’t care in any case, singing along to that as well as ’39, We Will Rock You and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, the latter another example of Brian switching from acoustic to electric part way through. He changes guitar a lot during the shows, to get the right sound for each song, and it’s worth it. It helps to keep things fresh and interesting.
So, in conclusion, these are fabulous live performances, showing why Kerry and Brian are a perfect musical partnership. The overwhelming message from their song choices and performances is one of love – for animals, nature, other people and ourselves. We’re all together in this world, with a joint duty to look after it, and the intimate nature of these concerts perfectly illustrates how special and important that togetherness is.
Kerry Ellis (2014)
As reflected in the name, this is Kerry’s first true solo album, as Brian May only makes a guest appearance on one track. It contains a variety of songs from musicals and a few other covers, and doesn’t contain any Queen songs. This is her big opportunity to fully go it alone and do whatever she wants, and she pulls it off nicely.
The album starts with Let It Go from Frozen. I’ve never seen the movie, but after it came out I soon got tired of hearing its biggest song played all over the place, so I was never a huge fan of it particularly. However, I do rather enjoy Kerry’s take on it. And it’s the perfect opener for Kerry’s first true solo album, as she sings that “it’s time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through”, and “I don’t care what they’re going to say.” The song builds in intensity as she shows just how much confidence and power she has, and the choir provides beautiful backing vocals too.
The next bunch of tracks are all well-known songs from musicals, with some arrangements that are quite different from what you might be familiar with. I haven’t seen all of the musicals in question, so I can’t always relate to the songs closely, but they’re all beautifully sung as you’d expect. My favourites are definitely As Long As He Needs Me from Oliver!, where Kerry inhabits the role and voice of Nancy very well (as I’m sure she did when she appeared in the show), and her powerful rendition of I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables.
Oliver! is also represented by Who Will Buy?. I prefer the arrangement from the 1968 film, but this isn’t a bad alternative. And My Fair Lady also has two songs here, with interpretations of I Could Have Danced All Night and Street Where You Live. These perhaps feel a little too slow compared to the original versions I’m more familiar with from the film, but are still nicely sung. Take That Look Off Your Face from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Tell Me On A Sunday is more upbeat, but the bonus G-A-Y remix isn’t really necessary, as it sounds a bit strange with Kerry sped up.
Beyond that, Brian May makes his appearance on acoustic guitar in The Way We Were, which is a very beautiful and moving song, and easily one of my favourites on the album. It basically mirrors their wonderful live acoustic performances, just with some strings added. Then there’s Gimme Love, which has nice work from the backing singers as well as Kerry. I think it’s an improvement over Ed Sheeran’s original, having listened to that too – but then I’ve never been into his music much, so his fans would probably disagree. The lovely Burt Bacharach song Alfie then gets a nice simple cover, as Kerry is backed by a sole piano, before the album concludes perfectly with a delightful and rousing version of Time Of My Life, a duet with Joe McElderry (and the two of them recently had a Facebook live chat).
So it’s a nice album, and I’d say my top 3 tracks are The Way We Were, I Dreamed A Dream and Time Of My Life. Overall it doesn’t feel as strong as Anthems for me personally, where more of the tracks really hooked me in and felt relatable and memorable (and not just because Brian was more involved). But there’s nothing bad about this album either, it’s still sounds lovely and is well worth having in my collection.
Golden Days (2017)
This is Kerry’s third studio album, and the second studio album to feature Brian May. Last time, on Anthems, he was producing Kerry and helping her to stardom, so it was just her name on the record. This time both their names get equal billing, so it’s an even closer collaboration. And it’s another fantastic selection of songs, some of which were first part of their live acoustic shows a few years earlier (see above).
The opening song, Love In A Rainbow, is an instant attention-grabber, full of passion and emotion. The lyrics are beautiful, and the track builds throughout into a very powerful ballad, including some lovely harmonies. The ending sounds really nice with headphones in too, as Kerry’s voice moves around you, sending the message of the song home in a delightful way.
It makes the start of the album feel like a housewarming party, where she welcomes you at the front door of her new abode with a warm embrace, and then gets you up for a dance with the catchy Roll With You. It’s not a complicated or fancy song, and it doesn’t need to be, it’s just good fun. The video shows them performing on stage, including many shots filmed from behind, so you can see the audience as the two of them perform or take selfies with the crowd. The single version has minor differences.
We then move on to the title track, Golden Days, a beautifully sincere and reflective song, with a pleasant oriental style that I can’t help but sway along to. Its unique sound really helps to it stand out, in a good way. The song was originally sung by Minako Honda, for whom it was written by Brian back in 1986. He then produced a remixed English version for a tribute album to Minako in 2006, after she sadly died of leukemia the previous year at the age of just 38. Her version also sounds really lovely, so is well worth a listen.
It’s Gonna Be All Right (The Panic Attack Song) is another catchy track that many people will identify closely with, especially now, focusing as it does on anxiety and reassurance. The video I’ve linked to there features the radio edit (simply called Panic Attack), which has slight differences to the album version, but they’re basically the same.
May 2021 Update: Brian & Kerry have created a new version of the song to give people support during the Covid pandemic. You can check out the new music video, an alternate video by Bob Whitehill featuring people from all over the world, live streams to promote each of those videos here and here, their interview with Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2, and a live acoustic performance at the Song For Nature concert.
We then slow down as we get into the first of many cover songs, with Kerry singing an absolutely divine rendition of Amazing Grace (which Brian also played as an instrumental during a 2016 Czech Republic show). That’s followed by the uplifting and unifying delight of One Voice (a cover of the Wailin’ Jennys song), and the romantic If I Loved You from Carousel. And as an added bonus, their video for One Voice features 2 Brian Mays on screen at once, so what’s not to like? If only we could clone him!
April 2021 Update: Brian & Kerry performed a special version of Amazing Grace at the London Coliseum, as part of Song For Nature: London Climate Change Festival on Sky Arts, backed by the English National Opera Orchestra & Chorus.
That all leads us nicely to their incredibly powerful cover version of Born Free, which had previously been the central pillar of their candlelight concerts tour after their work with the Born Free Foundation and Virginia McKenna (and a lovely acoustic version was released as an additional single). The music video for the song is heartbreaking yet important to watch, juxtaposing the immense beauty of majestic wild animals with barbaric images of evil trophy hunters proudly slaughtering and posing with their innocent victims. Cecil The Lion was killed by these despicable evildoers, and the video was made in his memory to promote Cecil’s Law.
Next there is Parisienne Walkways, originally recorded by Gary Moore. Both Moore and May are guitar gods in their own right, and each have their own unique styles, so this version was never going to be quite as good as the original. But it’s still a very faithful and enjoyable interpretation. And then there’s an epic cover of I (Who Have Nothing), which honours the song’s roots by mixing Italian lyrics (sung by Zucchero’s daughter Irene Fornaciari) with the English words we’re more familiar with (sung by Kerry). It’s wonderfully orchestrated and pulsates with energy.
Then we return to original material with The Kissing Me Song, which was written during their Born Free tour. It’s a simple and effective track, as it’s very joyful and catchy and easy to sing along with. The music video, which uses a much shorter and different mix to the album version, is a fun compilation of clips that people had sent in of themselves, either blowing kisses to the camera or kissing other people and animals. Brian and Kerry each make an appearance as well, as do a few representations of Freddie Mercury.
The album then concludes with 2 more great covers of love songs. The first is Story Of A Heart, written by ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and originally performed by The Benny Andersson Band. Powerful choruses mix with relatively calmer verses, and the ticking sounds indicates the passage of time that underpins the story. And finally there’s Can’t Help Falling In Love, which was first sung by Elvis Presley, and Kerry’s version is rather like a pretty lullaby to help you relax as the album concludes.
So I love this album overall. It’s a great sequel and companion to Anthems, with a decent variety of songs. I think Love In A Rainbow, Golden Days and Born Free are my top 3 tracks, but there are other close contenders among the rest. The feelings of romanticism, happiness, togetherness and caring for others really do come across nicely.
Feels Like Home (2020)
Recently I was very excited to receive a signed copy of Feels Like Home, which I purchased via her website (so again, as I said at the top of this post, this isn’t an advert, there’s no sponsorship involved). Kerry was going to give away the CDs while on tour, but as her concerts had to be cancelled, she’s been selling them online instead. And as you can imagine, it feels really special to have a signed copy from her! I love all the photos of Kerry on the album sleeve and in the enclosed booklet, as she always looks stunning, especially with that beautiful smile on her face.
In her message in the booklet, she states that she wanted to make “something special that is only available at my shows, something you can hold in your hands, take home, listen to and enjoy”. So it’s exclusively available via her website for £15, for as long as her stock lasts, which means it does indeed feel as special as she claims. I don’t know if it’s going to get a wider release in the future but, even if it does, you wouldn’t then get a signed copy.
In any case, it means the album isn’t on streaming services, and there are no official videos. But there are a few live performances you can watch, a few of which I’ll share as examples, and one of which is mentioned by Kerry in her introductory notes. She also points out that she’s performed all of these songs during her career, all over the world, so she’s very familiar with them.
Brian May isn’t involved this time, but Kerry does thank him in the booklet for “giving me confidence to go it alone for this one”. Her self-titled album 6 years ago was her first true solo release, but Brian was still involved in one of the tracks. But here he’s absent completely. He has got a copy though, of course.
She’s also been promoting the album heavily on her Instagram, and has been singing some of the songs (and others from her repertoire) in her live videos, which can be viewed on Youtube. I haven’t watched them yet, because I didn’t want to spoil any surprises, but after I’ve heard the album I intend to take a look through them in the coming days.
So even before I hear any of the music, it’s clear that Kerry has really enjoyed putting this together, it’s been a labour of love for her. And for me, this is a first-listen review, as I’ve held off hearing the album until writing this post. So let’s go through it track by track.
1. Your Song
Wow. As with previous releases, Kerry really knows how to pick opening tracks that grab hold of you, welcoming you to her world with excitement, love and hope. This is obviously a cover of the Elton John classic, but with a very different arrangement. As stated in the booklet, it’s based on the Moulin Rouge! Broadway Cast version, but I think Kerry improves upon it greatly. She beckons you in softly and calmly, getting you settled before building up to that full, glorious power that she has, finishing really strongly. She’s set a high bar for the album with this already.
Again as noted in the booklet, Kerry once performed this at the Royal Albert Hall 8 years ago, as part of The Night of 1,000 Voices, with a full choir and orchestra behind her. I can only find an audio copy on Youtube, which isn’t great quality but it sounds like it must have been incredible to be there in person. There are also audience-filmed clips of her singing No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) and Nobody’s Side from Chess from the same show.
2. Who Wants To Live Forever?
It was never in any doubt that she would do this Queen song justice, it could have been written for her. But my god does she nail it. The depth and passion she puts into this is glorious – especially the way she growls out the line “when love must die” and hits you with that big note at the end. The orchestration isn’t as epic as Queen’s, but is still striking and beautifully arranged, and is perfect for this version, including some nice heartbeats from the percussion in the background. The most major change is the omission of the instrumental middle section, which could be seen as a pity, but when you’re keen to hear Kerry’s vocals, you don’t want too long a gap between them! This has been designed to place Kerry front and centre, and rightfully so.
Unsurprisingly, she’s performed this many times before. In her introductory notes for the album she fondly remembers singing it live on TV with Vittorio Grigolo & Brian May in the Arena Di Verona in Italy, as just one part of their brilliant set. But she’s also performed it with Brian May in their acoustic shows, Matt Cardle, Rob Houchen, Ricardo Afonso, Marc Martel and the Killer Queen tribute band. So I’m not surprised she’s done such a good job with this version on the album, having had all that practice. She really makes it her own.
3. Ticket To Ride
I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this Beatles cover, being such a different song to the one preceding it. Clearly it was never going to be the same as theirs, but I was still surprised to hear such a radical departure from the Fab Four’s version, turning it into a soulful ballad with just piano and vocals. So initially it sounds strange, but as soon as you get into the lyrics it makes a lot of sense. After all, it is a sad love song about a breakup. The Beatles’ version is still awesome, of course, but Kerry injects a lot of emotion into her interpretation. and it works a lot better than I thought it might.
Online there is a live performance from Brasserie Zédel, in which Kerry’s vocals are very different to the album version, but it still gives you a sense of what it’s like.
4. A Million Dreams
Now we’re into the realm of songs that I’ve not previously heard in any form, so I have no frame of reference to compare with other versions. Which is perhaps a good thing. Some may express surprise that I don’t know this one though, as it’s based on the song from The Greatest Showman. But I’ve never seen that movie, believe it or not.
Having now listened to that version for comparison, Kerry has remained very faithful to it, but I think she performs it much better. It’s a really warm, sumptuous and uplifting song, conjuring images in my head of what she must be enjoying in her nightly visions. It feels like a nice follow-on to Ticket To Ride, as if she’s getting through the break-up of the previous song and has discovered new hope in her fresh independence. Plus it features the lyric “feels like home”, which fits in well with the album’s title.
It also transpires that she’s released this song before. Back in 2018 she recorded a charity single for Childline, joined by 1,000 students from the West End Stage group. The beautiful music video, featuring the choir doing sign language in addition to their fantastic vocals, is a very moving reminder of the struggles that children face, including bullying, abuse, exam preparations, fighting parents, exclusion, discrimination and the general feelings of loneliness, isolation, sadness, anxiety and fear that many suffer from. Whilst we all experience these feelings to some degree, they are especially unfamiliar and difficult for children to comprehend and deal with. Childline therefore offers a vital avenue of support, including via their phoneline and For Me app promoted in the video. Their service has saved many lives, so it’s great to see Kerry supporting them.
The track is still available to download on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, and probably elsewhere too. So it’s well worth picking up, especially because it’s for a good cause, plus it’s different to the new album version, which is very similar but doesn’t feature the choir.
Kerry has also performed the song live with Collabro in the past, and also sang For Good from Wicked with a group of West End Stage students, if you want a couple of other related videos to check out.
5. Shallow
This is a nice song, another example of one that builds in intensity as it progresses. It explores the desire and the confidence to dive in and go deeper, to find more to enjoy in one’s relationship and life in general. I now understand it was originally a hugely successful award-winning song performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, another film I’ve never yet seen. Lyrically it does make more sense as a duet, and that film version is pretty good. But Kerry’s version is still wonderful and emotional, and I prefer her voice to Gaga’s.
6. Feels Like Home
This is a beautiful and sweet love song, it would be perfect for a first dance at a wedding. There’s nothing fancy or crazy, it’s just a wonderful ballad sung with heartfelt softness and meaning. And it’s no wonder it’s such a lovely piece, considering it was written by Randy Newman for his musical Randy Newman’s Faust. Kerry’s voice is, of course, completely different to his, but the song really suits her, and there aren’t any big changes to the arrangement of it. It deserves to be the title song of the album. There are videos online of Kerry performing the song at The Alley Cat Bar and The Pheasantry (a Pizza Express venue).
7. She Used To Be Mine
This is a sad but nicely performed ballad, about life taking you to a place that you didn’t expect or want to be in, and reflecting on the person you’d hoped to become instead. It was originally written and performed by Sara Bareilles for the Waitress stage musical. It’s not a song that I can strongly relate to on a personal level particularly, but I can see how it would be felt deeply by many. Kerry does sing it very well indeed, and has performed it live in the past.
8. Feed The Birds
This is a very pretty song about an old lady encouraging people to feed the birds outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, by buying her bags of crumbs. The lyrics and the melody draw lovely images of the situation in my hand, with birds fluttering around as the feed is distributed for them. As someone who’s been in that area of the city a few times, it’s very easy to picture it clearly. It was first sung by Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, which I know I saw during my childhood, but it’s so long ago now that I can’t remember anything beyond a couple of its most famous songs. So this feels completely new to me, and Kerry sings it very sweetly, it’s lovely. You can hear her performing it at The Pheasantry and Prince of Wales Theatre on Youtube.
9. When You Believe
This is a duet with Louise Dearman, a musical theatre star who also appeared in Wicked, and with whom Kerry has done a concert before, as you can see here. So they’ve been good friends for a while. Here they’re covering a song by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey from the DreamWorks animated film The Prince of Egypt. It doesn’t resonate with me in terms of the religious references, but to some extent it can still be interpreted in the sense of believing in yourself, and the things you can achieve by doing so, which I can relate to more. So it’s not one of the strongest songs on the album for me, but it’s still nice, and their voices complement each other well.
10. Into The Unknown
A complete change of pace and energy to finish, with this fantastically catchy track, all about fighting and ultimately giving in to a powerful temptation, despite the uncertainty and fear in doing so. It’s powerful and punchy throughout, and Kerry signs off in style by holding the last note for an impressive 11 seconds. It was originally sung by Idina Menzel and Aurora in the Disney film Frozen 2 – although Kerry’s performance, as stated in the booklet, is based on the Panic! At The Disco version from the soundtrack, turning it into a great rock number. Kerry performed Let It Go from the first Frozen film as the opening track of her self-titled album in 2014, so featuring this song at the end of Feels Like Home bookends the two albums nicely.
Conclusion
All in all, I’m extremely pleased I got her new album. It’s a magnificent album, striking a good balance of loud and powerful with soft and sentimental, thanks to a pleasant mixture of songs. Kerry’s voice is as incredible as ever, there’s no doubt in her confidence and ability. And she’s introduced me to quite a few lovely songs that I’d never heard before. If I had to pick a top three, I would probably go for Who Wants To Live Forever, A Million Dreams and Into The Unknown, closely followed by Feels Like Home and Your Song, with everything else not far behind.
Relative to her other albums, I would say it’s better than her self-titled release from 2014, which was still very good anyway, but it’s more difficult and perhaps unfair to compare with her Brian May collaborations, as they’re very different things. It’s certainly up there with them though, in terms of my enjoyment of them. But the point is that Kerry has shown herself to be more than capable as a solo artist, and not for the first or last time by any means, it was never a secret.
If I had to give her newest album some kind of rating, I would comfortably give it 4 stars out of 5, it’s well worth getting. It only misses out on a 5th star because there are a couple of songs that don’t resonate with me as much as the others, so it’s a very personal rating, and many people will quite rightly give it top marks. There’s certainly nothing wrong with any of it. All the songs are very well performed, Kerry has a stunning voice. So you can’t go wrong by purchasing it.
You can buy a signed copy of Feels Like Home exclusively from her website, and you may also be interested in her new podcast Keep Calm And Kerry On, where she interviews stars of stage, song and screen, and you can join her Fan Club too. I’ve also compiled playlists of performances and interviews by Kerry Ellis on her own, and by Kerry Ellis with Brian May, if you want something to look through. And don’t forget you can watch recaps of her live streams too, which she regularly does on her Instagram.
So thank you for reading these reviews, I hope you found them interesting. Again, these aren’t sponsored – neither Kerry nor anyone connected with her has had any involvement with this. I’m just a big fan of hers, and this new release has only served to make that love of her work all the stronger, she’s fabulous.
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Well Eye Never 
Great post.
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Thanks Amanda! 🙂
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