Kitty Empire 

John Newman: Tribute – review

John Newman's revival pop is more about reinterpretation than reinvention, but there are winners on this album, writes Kitty Empire
  
  


The latest in a long line of 60s revivers, John Newman, who has had two No 1 singles (Rudimental's Feel the Love, his own Love Me Again), lists all his inspirations on the title track of his debut. They should include Plan B. You could easily subtitle this record The Reincarnation of Strickland Banks, if tracks such as Out of My Head weren't quite so autobiographical. On superior cuts such as Cheating, meanwhile, this 23-year-old be-quiffed Yorkshireman looks like continuing his gilded strike rate. But where Plan B or Amy Winehouse, the doyenne of revival pop, always added an element of top spin to their tributes, Newman merely reinterprets well, rather than reinventing.

 

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