However, in this case, his emotional pleas, the transcending gospel choirs, and his overall vocal talents are not enough to please those looking for stadium packed chants and occasionally uplifting music. You can what Sam Smith was trying to do on In the Lonely Hour by keeping things simple and surely there’s an argument to be made that less is more.
ALBUM OR COVER SAM SMITH IN THE LONELY HOUR UPGRADE
The lyrics themselves are a huge upgrade from the lazily thought out chorus on “Money On My Mind.” Smith commands an audience as he expresses what its like to be in a one sided love by saying “You’ll never know the endless nights, the rhyming of the rain, Or how it feels to fall behind and watch you call his name.” Other album highlights include: “Life Support,” a much more contemporary track that dabbles in a mild dub step beat while cascading over a tranquil guitar pluck and Smith’s retro-soul voice, and “Good Thing,” another sad love song with a memorable chorus of “Too much of a good thing won’t be good for long.” On a record call of songs of unrequited love (and there are a lot of them here), none is as strong or as sentimental as “Leave Your Lover,” a lonely piano ballad that showcases the soulfulness of Smith’s vocals. While remaining slow, the track is more climatic thanks to Smith’s soaring vocals and a harmonizing gospel choir, although not exactly a song you’ll keep playing on repeat.
The album does offer several glimpses of Smith’s brilliance, especially in “Stay With Me,” a desperate plea to a lover to stay a little longer as he expresses his tendency to get attached. I do it for, I do it for the love.” By the time “Stay With Me” and “Leave Your Lover” come along, its clear that In the Lonely Hour suffers from a sort of chronic melancholy that can be heard throughout the lyrics and gloomy, slow moving instrumentals. What brings this song down is an awful chorus that strays away from Smith’s usual soul-drenched voice to make way for an aggravatingly, high-pitched hook of “I don’t have money on my mind. Starting the record off is first single “Money On My Mind,” a disappointingly basic song that is made up of punchy percussion beats and dull piano keystrokes. While not a bad album, the same magic and sonic innovations that his artists spots seemed to indicate is lacking. Even with titles such as BBC’s Sound of 2014 or BRIT’s Critics Choice Award under his belt, Smith unfortunately struggles on his solo album by playing it too safe. Due to his previous collaborative success, it comes as no surprise his record label set him up with top producers Fraser T Smith, Eg White, and Two Inch Punch to help perfect his individual sound. Like most other UK imports with a hit single or two in the bag, Smith needs his debut to become something more than just an “OK” album if he has any hope of surviving the brutal music industry. Luckily for many fans, Smith takes that challenge as motivation as he attempts to prove his newfound success was well deserved.
The song is an interesting one in the development of Sam’s song-writing and performing skills.Anyone unfamiliar with the rather ordinary sounding musician Sam Smith may notice him from his featured vocals in Naughty Boy’s chart topping “La La La” or Disclosure’s club smash “Latch.” Now he faces the challenging task of matching the quality and success of his guest appearances with his solo effort, In the Lonely Hour. Whatever the motivation the melody and Sam’s voice have reached the level of maturity of their later work. We can speculate that maybe its lack of sophistication caused it to be rejected, and certainly the songs on In the Lonely Hour are more complex. The lyric is self-explanatory and needs very little annotation.
One interesting comment is that ‘the melody flows naturally as if it’s always existed and just waiting for Sam to write it.’ The public response to the Youtube clip is one-hundred-per-cent positive. The song has an emphatic, hypnotic, bluesy beat that is reminiscent of the Grammy-winning song “Stay With Me.” Sam’s voice has the distinctive mature, rich quality of their later work. Sam has never given a reason for excluding it. It was also ‘pulled’ from Youtube, although Sam can be heard singing it in a recording of an early concert in May 2013 at St Pancras Old Church in London. This song was composed by Sam Smith for their album In the Lonely Hour, but a decision was subsequently made not to include it.
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