Natalie Imbruglia - Left of the Middle

"My mouth is dry, forgot how to cry..."

This was an album I had back in the day, Natalie Imbruglia's Left of the Middle had a lot of potential to be a great pop record but unfortantely many of the tracks fall flat. Songs I do appreciate are Torn, Big Mistake, Wishing I was There, Smoke, and Left of the Middle. The rest of the songs are aimless filler. Imbruglia does have a gorgeous voice but her inconsistent songwriting drags these songs down. This album is an oldie but not so goodie. Nice try Natalie! November 18, 2007

Classic? Perhaps.

While it is a good album, none of the songs are as great as Torn. But maybe it's because when I listen to Torn, it still feels the same as the first time I listened to it when I was 7 years old. I'm 17 now. Natalie's other albums are much better. I'd recommend White Lilies Island over this. January 14, 2007

Passable cover

Natalie's very pretty, and has a voice that doesn't grate. The problem is that the only compelling song on the album is a prettified pop version of Anne Preven's "Torn." As recorded by Anne with Ednaswap, Torn is a gut-wrenching masterpiece - and not even Natalie's handlers could remove all of the emotion from the song. Listen to Left of the Middle five or six times some night, call me in the morning, and I'll defy you to sing or hum any other piece on it. I'll stick with the original, thank you. August 12, 2006

Moody, but not annoying. Good stuff.

Natalie Imbruglia is one of those artists that invariably "requires repeated plays". I'll admit to never being a big fan of this kind of music, and it's to her credit that admist all the messages, she manages to get some pretty fine tracks in here.

If you're a fan of downtempo and fairly deep subject matter with a dash of poppiness, you're going to love this. Me, I was able to find enough positives to give it 4 stars.

Favorite tracks: Wishing I Was There, Intuition, One More Addiction, Smoke, City
Good tracks: Big Mistake, Leave Me Alone, Don't You Think, Impressed, Left of the Middle
Least favorite track: Pigeons and Crumbs

(Not touching Torn...the number of times it's been overplayed, there's no way in hell I can objectively judge it.) December 15, 2005

Better than some of the other reviews say,

Natalie Imbruglia released Left Of The Middle back 1998. It's 8 years now, but this album never lost it's touch. When I read the review that states that Torn is hopelessly outdated, that made me sad, because it is not. How else is it played on radio daily, today, 2005 (almost 2006 I might add)? And it's still selling good (both the single and the album)? Of course everybody is entitled to their opinion. I just felt like I needed to clear that out of the way.

Torn is a magicial song and it's worth buying the album for [or the single]. After hearing this one on the radio for many years, I still love it's dreamy tune , with the guitar making the same sad sound on the background over and over again. Natalie's soft voice leads you through the verses, and it's powered up at the chorus. The ending of the song is also very nicely done, makes you wanna listen to it all over again.

This album has it's highlights, besides torn, which is probably the catchiest and to some the best track on the album (and one of the best songs in the history of music).

At first listen, Torn, Big Mistake, Wishing I was there and Leave me alone will probably appeal most.
After a few more listens, you will find Smoke, Pigeons and crumbs, Left Of The Middle and city are equally good.

Some of these songs just never ever lose their touch. Sometimes I get tired of tracks such as Smoke, and I think: what was so great about it? But when I haven't heard it for a while and I hear it I remember what was so great about it [same goes for a lot of other tracks].

This truly is a great album that deserves to be heard by those who haven't. I own a lot of CD's, but I played this one most out of all of them. December 13, 2005

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