Album Review: Long Way Down by Tom Odell

Yes, there he is, the next piano man: Tom Odell, posing in one of the beautiful streets of London, proudly captured on the cover of his debut album.
But should he be so proud of his achievements? Or could he better run that long way down for the disappointed critics?

When I bought the CD, I had already listened to the songs "Hold Me", "Another Love" and "Can't Pretend", and when I listened to the rest of the album's tracks, I got a bit sad.
Is this album worth fifteen pounds? Not really.
Is the album worth a trip to the nearest city, twenty kilometers away? No, actually. (Well, I did in fact discover one of the best music stores I've been to, actually; Sounds Tilburg, you should definitely check 'em out!)
"Another Love" was a great success, but only in the beginning; the Dutch radio stations almost spammed the innocent listeners with the song, and after a while it got boring and annoying.
"Can't Pretend" is a good one, if you ask me. Nothing wrong with the track, nice vocals. Might be a little bit too "gospel", but it's not that annoying. But is this a song you can listen to every day and doesn't get boring? No, again.
"Hold Me" also sounded good, but got boring after listening to it a few times. If you'd only show me the lyrics, I would burst into tears; how cliché do you want the lyrics to be?
("And it's getting late now, and we're a long way from our homes..." "When you hold me, hold me in your arms, oh when you hold me, yeah I can feel your heart..")
Are those songs supposed to be the main tracks on the album?
Sorry, Tom, but I hope you've got something more special.
Because the album lacks that "wow-factor". And that's exactly what makes an album original, special and good.
But then you've got "Grow Old With Me"; listen to Coldplay's U.F.O. for a few seconds. Exactly the same chord scheme, same melody, even the same speed! Luckily he's good at copying other artists' songs... I've honestly never heard such a perfect form of plagiarism before! Good job. Ahem.
"I Know"  is a weedy ballad, nothing special at all. Sounds a bit like a Keane song.
"Supposed to Be" is a poor Coldplay imitation, again.
"Long Way Down"; how many times has he used the word "rooftops" in his songs?! Striking.
But how does he do that, making almost every song on his album sound like a vague imitation of Coldplay songs?
"Sirens" is just disappointing, I can't say much about this song. It's not original, boring and much too sweet...
"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" is probably meant to be called "I Think It's Going to Rain Criticism Today".
But there's not much wrong with the track. I like the ending of the song, although it totally isn't original. But it could be a nice soundtrack for a movie.
And then; Tom Odell's Mumford and Sons attempt... Attempt.
He simply hasn't got the right voice for heavy folk, and the backing vocals make the song even weaker.
"Heal" is, I think, the only strong and good song on the album. This is the first song that really shows that Tom can in fact write songs himself...
"Till I Lost"; which Coldplay song is that again? "A Message", maybe?

And then those two extremely unnecessary demos nobody will really listen to, because they're not very different from the finished songs on the album.

I think we can all make a good conclusion;
If this would be the height of his career, he is already descending that ''long way down''.

Rating: 6/10