Album review: BONNIE TYLER – Between The Earth And The Stars

BMG [Release date 22.03.19]

Celebrating 50 years in the business and looking good (although the cover art has surely been subject to some diligent Photoshopping) Bonnie Tyler looks to bolster sales of her latest studio album with cameo duets from some of rock’s most decorated servants Sir Cliff, Sir Rod, and (not quite there yet, but give it a couple more years) Francis Rossi OBE.

Sir Barry [Gibb] offers up a track, and the album also features three songs penned by Ed Sheeran writing partner Amy Wadge, and sees Bonnie reunited with David Mackay, the man who produced her first two albums all those years ago.

So, an all-star cast…

But, without reaching for your smartphone, how many ‘hits’ can you name beyond ‘It’s A Heartache’, ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’, and ‘Holding Out For A Hero’? If you can name any, this album is probably one for you, although it’s also interesting to note that of her 17 studio albums (outnumbered by a ratio of almost 4:1 by compilations) only four have charted in the UK, with her biggest successes being in the Eurozone, and Norway.

So it’s a fair guess which way Bonnie voted in Brexit. And you can bet that Jean Claude Junker and Michel Barnier are fans. So maybe Mrs May could slip them advance copies as a negotiations ‘sweetener’? It’s the sort of record you could imagine her ‘grooving’ to in the back of the Jag on the way back from the Commons.

So is there a market beyond the corridors of power on either side of the Channel – for Between The Earth And The Stars? Well, to be fair, Bonnie’s unmistakeable vocals remain untarnished by the years, even if, in musical terms, it’s as if time’s stood still since 1984. And let’s not forget, Sir Cliff and Sir Rod are still huge sellers.

So with Mother’s Day is just around the corner you can expect to see Bonnie smiling coyly at you – next to the hot cross buns display – at your local Sainsbury’s checkout. Just make sure you wear a baseball cap and pay with cash, or the music police will track you down … ***1/2

Review by Pete Whalley

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