Beauty and truth from Tanita Tikaram
Tanita Tikaram is one of those artists who shone brightly and gradually faded. She's back.
Tanita Tikaram is one of those artists who shone brightly with their first release and then, as far as casual buyers were concerned, gradually faded from view. Her first album, Ancient Heart, was released in 1988 and was the home of two hit singles, ‘Good Tradition’ and ‘Twist in My Sobriety’. Further releases followed but were progressively less successful in terms of chart action, to the point that Warner Bros. dropped her.
But Tanita never stopped making albums. Relieved of the pressure to achieve hit singles, her music became (even more) honest and experimental.
This new album is something else. A new deal with Cooking Vinyl seems to bring a new approach to promotion. I don’t know if the chicken or the egg was first; did Tikaram write an album she was really proud of and become determined this one wouldn’t go unnoticed, or did a new agent or manager provide more oomph and she delivered an album to match? It doesn’t really matter. What we have here is not just a great Tanita Tikaram album but a great album, full stop.
How Tanita Tikaram Became a LIAR
This is a full circle album, in that it is intended as a follow-up to Ancient Heart, 37 years later. In this case, the relationship between the earlier album and this new release is in terms of a conversation between the two records and, in a sense, the two different people who made them. Tanita was 18 when she released her first album and is 56 now. Ageing is a strange thing. While I know I’ll be 67 in a week, I can still recall the 18-year-old in me and don’t feel very different, at least mentally.
We live in an age where lying – call it false news, call it post-truth, call it an AI ‘hallucination’, call it what you will, but it is lying – has become acceptable, and that is not acceptable. Several artists have reflected on the state we are now in; for example, Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate in their album The Uncertainty Principle (I wrote about it here). It’s good to see these reflections are not just made in unjustifiably obscure prog rock albums.
I’ve already said LIAR is a great album. What makes it so? Firstly, of course, the songs. Secondly, the performances. And third, the production.
Tikaram’s songs have always had a distinctive quality. She is able to find a strong melody but one that doesn’t always grab you by the ears on first listen. This, of course, could be one reason why mainstream success became elusive for her. Unless you give her songs room to breathe and grow and take the time to listen, they may pass you by. The opening track on LIAR, ‘Turn the Lights Down Low’, is a case in point. It’s mid-paced, not an obvious candidate for the opening track on an album, but the title phrase serves well as a hook. Here, too, we can sample the arrangements and instrumentation that are key elements of the album. Tanita’s husky voice has matured beautifully. The track has a light, expressive, moody feel, with Andy Monaghan’s acoustic guitar playing to the fore (he also produced that album, but that’s not why his playing is high in the mix). As the momentum builds, we hear more of Helen O’Hara’s violin, interweaving with Zasia Jagodzinska’s cello. O’Hara’s playing has been a feature on Tanita Tikaram’s records right from the beginning, and it’s never sounded better nor been as tightly integrated with the overall soundscape as it is here.
‘Fais Moi La Solitude’ is dramatic and takes us directly to the soul of the record. On one reading, it’s a love song – but remember the theme of the album.
“I hear the tin whistle of the lonesome / Every chancer and stowaway / Who can help me?” - Tanita Tikaram
When did becoming a chancer, an opportunist, a ducker and diver become a valid career option? I’d love to hear a blues band play this. The title, while apparently not grammatical French, works as “give me a break” or “leave me alone” in English. Quite.
‘This Perfect Friend’ was the first track from LIAR to break cover a couple of months ago. As soon as I heard the opening piano phrase, I knew Tanita was back. This is exceptional. The melody is heart-melting. As the song progresses, the piano figure takes flight and is finally joined by the violin and cello before Tikaram’s piano stands alone into the fade.
Every song is strong in its own right. You might say the songs are all of a similar mid-pace, and there are records I dislike as albums for that reason; albums where each individual track is just fine, but you don’t want 40 minutes at a similar tempo. That’s not an issue here, because each song has a way of drawing in the listener.
Live at Jacaranda Baltic, Liverpool (05/10/25)
‘Love Isn’t A Right’ (in case you thought it was, that line is completed with “it has to be earned”) is a short, succinct comment back to Ancient Heart. “If love can go, it comes back again.” This time there’s an accordion, played by Bartak Glowacki, giving the song a French feel. It’s fitting that the thoughts about youth and age, about love and lack of love, and about truth and beauty have that Gallic touch.
Let’s pause this consideration of the new album and reflect more on Ancient Heart. What did the young Tanita have to say about love and truth? The 18-year-old is looking forward in the sense that she’s anticipating the themes of the new record. Her voice, her songwriting, and her view of the world are astonishingly mature. For example, ‘For All These Years’ has a similar mood to the LIAR songs. The protagonist sings.
“I was only 16 years old / You were only 17 / Life isn’t so complicated / But then life isn’t s’posed to be.” - Tanita Tikaram
I must add that life can seem very complicated when you’re 16.
The fragile beauty of the closing track, ‘Preyed Upon’, almost could have been written by an adult looking back on her timeline.
Back to LIAR. Two other tracks stand out. ‘Sweet Feather and the Storm’ shows off the clarity of the production, with the strings being given room to breathe as they flit between the speakers. The song builds slowly, opening with a jagged piano figure and the heartbreaking line,
“Please, Heaven, don’t you be closed.” - Tanita Tikaram
In the second half the song becomes a chant: “I miss the old days” and then “we had such good times”.
There’s one cover, and an interesting choice: ‘Wild is the Wind’, written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington. This, yes, is the song David Bowie closed Station to Station with. Bowie’s interpretation is very different; not better or worse, but different. The lyric fits the theme of LIAR perfectly, as does the style of the song as played by Tanita and the band.
When I first heard ‘My Perfect Friend’, I wondered if it was a one-off gold nugget and it would be too good for the album, putting all the other songs into the shade. Not a bit of it. If you’ve ever even vaguely liked anything Tikaram has done, you have to listen to this album, even if you’ve only ever heard ‘Good Tradition’. If you’ve never listened to Tikaram’s music, this is the perfect opportunity to walk through the door.
Coming next on LP: My next playlist, LP>Play #059, is out in a week or so, followed by reflections on the ‘Mike Oldfield’ albums by Robert Reed.
Great review - thank you.
Cool to hear her again! I'm glad she's still recording.