Duffy is one of those acts that we’ve been told we’re going to love this year. Mercy is the second single from her forthcoming debut album, Rockferry.
Mercy isn’t the first song in recent history to play on the iconic bassline from Stand By Me. It starts out that way, but it isn’t long before the hammond organ is tooting away and we’re transported back to Dusty Springfield-era soul.
Duffy’s voice lives up to the hype alright - she carries off the authentic soul sound and displays a good range at the same time. She avoids making the song a complete retro anthem by having an almost rapped vocal line in the middle.
I can’t help drawing comparisons to the once-celebrated Joss Stone and how she was initially lauded as a big star of that retro soul scene. Unfortunately, the music industry is trying to tell us that Duffy’s ability to recreate the 60s soul sound is the big thing in music for 2008.
I don’t blame Duffy for the unrealistic hype. That’s the fault of the overzealous marketers who’re trying to convince us that 60s soul is the big innovation in music this year. Bullshit. It’ll be good for a couple of novelty singles, but it won’t spark a resurrection of the genre. I guarantee it.
Amy Winehouse pulled off the retro thing with Back To Black because she had an edge and the backing of the genius that is Mark Ronson.
Verdict: On its own, Mercy is a decent pop song. Duffy has an excellent voice and she’s a beautiful girl. But as for being at the cutting edge of music, well this track is a good 40 years too late.
Watch The Video:
Here’s the Mercy video. Watch out for the dancers catching fire toward the end. Disconcerting.
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3 Comments »Leave a comment »
Totally agree, I love soul nusic…and now this is f***kin markerters tapping the brilliant Northern Soul scene for a buck….sweet jesus we’ll have teens going around saying how much they love Dusty and Aretha and crap DJs playing it ad naseum and googling info on soul music… ahh sad….
god where is the orginality these days..
I fail to see how this qualifies as ’soul’ in any way other than the marketing. It’s a pretty standard r n b pop tune (i say ‘tune’ in the loosest possible sense), and a shockingly transparent rewrite of ‘rehab’ by Amy Winehouse, but sixties soul it is not.
The marketing people have looked at Duffy’s face- sort of attractive, but a bit odd looking, and blonde, and decided that’s a bit like Dusty springfield, so got her to drop her first name- and bang! with a bit of eyeliner, there is their marketing angle.
Cynical, mass marketed rubbish. There is nothing retro about the music. Dusty Springfield generally sang SONGS with a tune, and a strong chorus. This is just a collection of beats and monotonous faux soulful singing.
I don’t know why people keep comparing Duffy to Dusty Springfield. Duffy has a tiny Kazoo voice similar to Amy Winehouse’s. Dusty was a theatrical personality with a smooth, rich voice good for belting out loud extended vowel notes. Duffy looks and sounds like a little girl in comparison.
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