MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD - ANYTHING

How much do I like Martina Topley-Bird? Well, for the last year and a half, I considered flying to the U.K. just to buy her solo LP, Quixotic, at a more reasonable price. Here in the States it was \"import only\", which means \"ridiculously overpriced\". And, in all honesty, Topley-Bird has one of the most beautiful voices on record today.
But, thanks to the wingless angels at Palm Pictures, this Janet from another planet is getting her long-overdue stateside chance. Anything is the redesigned, resequenced, renamed American version of her U.K. solo debut. Three songs shorter than its predecessor, it still packs the same interstellar wallop. (Sadly, \"Lying\", one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded, didn’t make the cut.)
How amazing is her voice? Give the album a listen. She bounces from mellow, jazzy tunes to funkier, meditative, Tricky-programmed ballads (\"Ilya\"), to fierce, guitar-heavy songs with the greatest of ease, and commands absolute attention with her voice each time. She hypnotizes you on the drum-and-bass-ish \"Ragga\" (with Tricky); takes you swimming through sleep on the dreamlike \"Ilya\"; sings you a bluesy, front porch \"Lullaby\"; and fills your head with sheer, inexplicable joy on the simple, interplanetary (yet deep-South) gospel gem, \"Outro\".
In its entirety, the album is a pretty record. But no matter what your musical tastes, the album’s worth having to experience Topley-Bird’s voice alone. It’s that beautiful.