Duffy 'Stepping Stone'

Chart Peak: 21
YouTube

Twenty four year old Welsh songstress Duffy followed up her hugely successful hits 'Mercy' and 'Warwick Avenue' with the gorgeously haunting 'Stepping Stone' in September 2008... The following month, she scopped the award for "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the Q Awards.

Second track in a row that missed the Top 20, though at least this one was surely included knowingly because, easy as it is to forget now, Duffy was one of the biggest stars of the time and Rockferry was the top-selling album of 2008. Little did we know then how badly her comeback would misfire a couple of years later. Somewhere down the line 'Stepping Stone' seems to have got a bit forgotten which is a pity as it was one of her best singles, a charmingly underplayed song that leaves space for her voice - some of her other songs seemed to force her into yelping. Although she's playing the victim a bit here she's at least playing a victim who wishes she wasn't one and the record's steady pace suggests a protagonist struggling with her lot. If you pass a charity shop in the near future, there's a decent chance you'll encounter a copy of the album in there and this track is probably worth the price.

Also appearing on: Now 69, 70, 72
Available on: Rockferry (EU Version)

Duffy 'Mercy'

Chart Peak: 1 (5 weeks)

YouTube

I've been putting it off for a while (for various reasons, some of which will soon become clear) but it's finally time to bring this blog into the 21st century. Perhaps it would have been more logical to ease myself in with an album from early in the decade, but Now 69 suggested itself for the good reason that I actually found both discs dumped in a recycle bin not long after it was released. Waste not want not, I thought, and decided to liberate them. In fact, this was at the time the fastest-selling Now album ever, but Now 70 overtook it.

As this track made its chart debut exactly 18 months ago, it probably doesn't need much in the way of introduction; and my favourite thing about it is a bit of a spoiler for a future post. I doubt I can tell anyone who reads this anything about the record, indeed, so all I can really try is to say what I think of it. Well, it's not bad. I'm usually suspicious of anything that seems heavily hyped, especially when it's talked up as being "real" but the less you think about that, the more likeable this becomes - a good but insubstantial pop song with some nice keyboard sounds; indeed, big airplay hit as this was it seems to lose a lot on the radio. I'm less keen on the mumbling in the background, which sounds slightly phony, and her vocal on this track isn't in my favourite register. There are other tracks by her I like more but I don't mind this one. So sue me.

Also appearing on: Now 70, 71, 72
Available on: Rockferry