Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
It should never be a surprise that the artistic have more than one arrow nestling in their quiver, that they have the sense of delivery that will take them down the avenues in which perhaps would all wish to explore, that the sensitive side of their nature will allow them to take on any creative aspect and showcase their talent.
It should never come as an astonishment, a revelation, but somewhere at the back of the mind the general public is always shocked that an actor might turn their hand to releasing an album, a sense of celebrated Blues or whimsical jests, or even in just the tines of sincerest, fondest wishes and memories imparted as they open up their life in Tales From Home.
Eleanor Tomlinson might have caused a sensation for television fans as Demelza in the Cornish classic of Poldark, but it is to her reading of some of the more traditional and Folk classics which turn a head in appreciation in her album Tales From Home.
We have become cynical in the way we treat such albums, all too often we find ways to decry and abuse in conversation, suggesting that artists of any imaginative creed or calling should not be able to cross over into different endeavours. It comes down in part to jealousy on our own part, the gnawing fickle state of our own mind that doesn’t accept that people can turn their hands to more than one way of expressing themselves. When we do recognise the hand being played as one of sincere generosity, it opens up our own sense of value, that we appreciate the chance to hear or witness a heart beating with love rather than being confined behind closed doors.
In Ms. Tomlinson’s reading of songs such as Paul Simon’s Homeward Bound and Carole King’s Tapestry, the listener is treated to a train of thought, a brave and beautiful stance in two of the more well-known ballads of the 20th Century that typify the sense of loneliness and pressure that can accompany the human condition.
With songs such as She Moved Through The Fair, The Spinning Wheel, Who Knows Where The Time Goes and The House Carpenter all adding to the sense of exploration with the keen eye of an actor adding a different dimension to the words laid out, Eleanor Tomlinson should be applauded, congratulated for having the belief and the courage to step out of the comfort zone that others insist should not be breached, that her own Tales From Home are worth listening to.
Ian D. Hall