Friday 1 May 2015

Dina Carroll 'This Time'

Chart Peak: 23
YouTube
Dina first charted in 1991 as featured vocalist on Quartz's 'It's Too Late'... Her solo career has already produced numerous hits such as 'Ain't No Man', 'So Close' and 'This Time' which features the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
I think this may have been another failed bet: her previous three solo singles had all gone Top 20 so this was probably expected to follow them there, particularly as it was a sentimental ballad released in February. In the end it didn't do so well, ending up the least successful of the six singles from the album and has left little impact on posterity - I'm sure I've never heard it outside the confines of this album and the YouTube link I've just looked up. Mind you, Dina Carroll seems a bit of an overlooked pop star generally, despite an impressive run of success in the early 90s.

Strangely, 'This Time' doesn't seem as opulent a production as the presence of a big orchestra (or at least its string section) would suggest. Somehow the rest of the arrangement feels a little bit cheap, possibly thrown together on synthesisers. Carroll herself is in fine voice but the song doesn't seem to go anywhere and it feels like a bit of a waste.

Also appearing on: Now 24, 27, 35, 43
Available on: The Very Best Of... (UK single CD)

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