CD: Petula Clark – Lost in You

“Cut Copy me”, the opening track of Petula Clark’s first British studio album in six years, is beautiful. It could have been created by Saint Etienne at their most melancholy. Her voice almost a whisper, it’s the sound of shadows and uncertainty even with what sounds like a light touch of autotune. The title track follows. Similarly assured, it’s sparse and centred around a rippling piano. Then a by-rote, in-the-shadow-of-Adele version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" breaks the spell.

Accompanying “Crazy” are versions of “Imagine”, “Love me Tender”, Gershwin’s “He Loves and She Loves” and a distanced, downbeat, pointless reworking of her own “Downtown”. Getting crazy about any of these retreads is hard. The album could have been a restatement, showcasing Clark's voice on new songs as classy as those she came to world-wide prominence with in the Sixties. Instead, Lost in You isn't sure of what it is.

Of the new songs, “Reflections” has a Lloyd Webber feel, while the sensitive “Next to You” evokes the understated grandeur of Michel Legrand. Petula Clark, of course, has always been as much about the stage, cinema and standards as pop, but in covering too many bases and shoehorning in the cover versions, Lost in You is not coherent. What would it have been with a Danger Mouse (the man behind Gnarls Barkley), a Mark Ronson or even a Jack White in the producer’s chair?

For another take on the album, head across La Manche where its prototytpe was issued last year. Petula also featured “Cut Copy Me” and some of the same graphics. It also included the terrific Philly-disco shuffler “Hang Tight” which, had it also been exported from France, would have brought a much-needed lift to the too-safe Lost in You.

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Petula Clark performs 'I Couldn't Live Without Your Love'