19 Review

It is easy to forget how quiet this album is. Mostly guitar and brushed drums, recorded cheaply, with Adele singing close to the microphone and doing very little of the belting she later became famous for. That restraint suits her. Hometown Glory, written at sixteen, is the most complete thing here, a piano figure and a list of things she has seen on a walk that adds up to more feeling than the songs that try harder.

Chasing Pavements has a real chorus and a slightly clumsy metaphor holding it up. Daydreamer is charming. The version of Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love is the reason a large part of the world knows her name, and it works because she resists every opportunity to decorate it. Elsewhere the writing is what you would expect from a nineteen year old, honest and general at once, and a few tracks pass without leaving a mark. A promising start rather than a great record, and it was never trying to be more.