Scooter Chronicles

Natalie Imbruglia - “Left of the Middle”

Tracks:

1. Torn
2. One More Addiction
3. Big Mistake
4. Leave Me Alone
5. Wishing I Was There
6. Smoke
7. Pigeons and Crumbs
8. Don’t You Think
9. Impressed
10. Intuition
11. City
12. Left of the Middle

It’s amazing how much MTV and VH1 have influenced the music I listen to, and I haven’t watched them on a regular basis for over 20 years! Well, I have tuned into VH1 for “Behind the Music” and their series of “I Love the (insert decade here)” shows. Although neither really show music videos anymore, do they? But back in 1997 I was flipping through TV stations and came across the video for “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. The song turned out to be quite catchy (and a minor hit), though quite frankly it wasn’t the song that caught my attention. ; )

“Left of the Middle” is the debut album of Imbruglia’s, an Australian soap opera actress turned pop-star (and who is acting again, most recently with Rowan Atkinson in “Johnny English” … see below). For you rock fans out there, she is also known as Mrs. Daniel Johns; wife of Silverchair’s lead singer and guitarist.

Natalie Imbruglia playing Lorna Campbell in the movie “Johnny English” with Rowan Atkinson as the title character.

So what is it about this album that I like so much? The tunes are catchy. Though quite honestly, none really stick out and wave “Hey, I’m a great freakin’ tune!” “Torn” was a hit sure, and “One More Addiction” is pretty cool as well (gotta love wah-wah guitar sounds!), but nothing really sensational. There is pop cheesiness throughout the album. There are some great sounds and musical ideas happening, but at times it’s schizophrenic. Hard rockers that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Melissa Etheridge or Sheryl Crow album, then boppy-dance-beat tunes that would fit in with Brittany Spears (I suppose).

So why am I seemingly trashing an album that I refer to as a favorite? I see the flaws, but I like what the base is. When I first heard this album I was really getting into female singer-songwriter types. This was more pop sounding and had much more production polish to it, so it was different and I really found myself not being able to stop listening.

There is some weirdness too that attracts me to most of the songs. It shows loads of promise, or it did, though that is said with my tastes in music in mind. I am not sure what Imbruglia’s two follow-ups offer, but I hope to find out in the future (they are on my Wish List at Amazon).

So even though this album isn’t the stellar type that fans flock to buy, or some underrated gem that people have sadly missed the magic by not buying it, it is still one that I find in my CD player a lot. Even as much as I “like” Natalie Imbruglia (as seen above by the amount of pictures ::: nudge-nudge wink-wink :::), you can’t hear that in her music. But what her music does say is still good enough for me.