Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Eleanor Tomlinson, Sony Music Masterworks 2018.
This album joins the recent burgeoning list of albums of cover songs.
For some reason there’s been quite a number of them in recent months, some very good and others less successful.
If the picture on the album cover is familiar, then you may recognise Eleanor as Demelza Poldark from the BAFTA winning series Poldark.
The album has been produced by Poldark soundtrack composer Anne Dudley and she has done a good job of capturing Eleanor’s beautiful voice covering an interesting collection of folk-influenced songs.
Song choices include classic hits from the likes of Simon & Garfunkel (Homeward Bound), Carole King (Tapestry), Bonnie Raitt (I Can’t Make You Love Me), Gordon Lightfoot (If You Could Read My Mind), and a number traditional Scottish and Irish folk songs.
She also includes the traditional song, The Spinning Wheel, as a very good duet with her brother, Ross Tomlinson.
It’s easy to dismiss actors who produce albums as chancers cashing in on their name, and why shouldn’t they?
However, in Eleanor’s case she has the talent to achieve fame for the quality of her voice as well as her acting skills and undoubted beauty.
Eleanor has been in very high demand on both the small and large screens recently.
In addition to her run in Poldark she has starred as Princess Isabelle in Warner Bros. Jack The Giant Slayer and Mary Durrant in BBC’s Ordeal By Innocence.
She’s currently filming a leading role in The War of The Worlds, the first British television adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic tale of alien invasion.
The three-part series will air on BBC One in the UK and it’s sure to be picked up by Australian TV.
In addition to this, Eleanor will be seen in the up-coming film, Colette, alongside Keira Knightly and Dominic West so it’s doubtful that we’ll see her spending time touring to support this album.
Eleanor Tomlinson is a multi-talented performer and I’m sure that we will hear more of her excellent voice on CD in the future.
