Navaro - High Wind

by John Clarkson

published: 7 / 2 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CDS

intro

Overtly sentimenal and uninspiring new debut single from London-based trio, Navaro

Beth Navaro comes from the school of hard knocks. A pupil at a London arts school, she had to put her teenage ambitions of a career in music on hold following the tragic early death of her parents and to take a job to support herself and her brother. She never, however, abandoned her dream and now in her 20's at last has recorded her debut single 'High Wind' with Navaro, the band she formed in 2002 with songwriters Alex Scott and Alan Morgan. An album, 'Sanctuary', is due for release later in the year. Navaro, however, unfortunately isn't another Shelby Lynne in the making, and 'High Wind' is something of a flop. The music on both 'High Wind' and its B side, 'Count on Me', is bland in the extreme. 'High Wind' is a sugarcoated and drippy epic ballad, flashily produced with lots of lilting backing harmonies, but no soul. 'Count on Me' meanwhile is a jaunty country rocker, similarly over produced and superficial with sudden nerve-tingling abrasive flashes of grinding guitar. The real problem with 'High Wind', however, is its lyrics, which combine sentiment and the worst form of rhyming doggerel. "It is taking somewhere us far away/Without a thought about the price we might have to pay" Navaro croons on 'High Wind'. "When the time comes when you can't come take anymore" she wilts on 'Count on Me'. "Don't you hesitate to knock on my door !" Beth Navaro is not without talent. She has one of those pleasant, breezy voices that in other circumstances would be appealing and easy-on-the-ear. She, however, needs far stronger material than this to work with.