Adele and Emeli Sande in Male.

For the first time I noticed the music of Sam Smith, as it competed for 1st place in the Billboard Hot 200 with Lana Del Rey. I was glad that Lana has prevailed, but at that time I knew not even how good is "In The Lonely Hour" and that Sam Smith would have had the 1 just earned.

The album starts off powerfully with the fantastic hit "Money On My Mind", which made it to number 11 of the Austrian single charts without I've noticed it. Anyway, this opener is somewhat misleading, because the rest of the album sounds a quiet, soulful ballads and generally quite heavy. But the latter I mean not at all negative, because Sam Smith mastered his craft. Not only his songs can compete with almost the beads of his female counterparts as Emeli Sande or Adele, the voice of the young singer is very remarkable; even his head voice is awesome and he can point to convey emotions. Some ballads, such as "Not In That Way" have, I even give you the creeps, which rarely can a song.

Overall, I find the album at all monotonous, as further alleged above, even if only the already mentioned opener and "Like I Can" bring in a bit more pace. But Smith's voice is ideal for singing great soul heartbreak ballads, and therefore he should do the kindly too! :)

I give a concise 6 notable for this debut album and am already looking forward to the second album. If it still increases a bit, he might do with it then even Adele's "21" competition.

Highlights:

Money On My Mind
Not In That Way
I'm Not The Only One
Like I Can