Description

Aled Amazon.co.uk Aled is Aled Jones’ first CD for 16 years. It’s one thing to make a comeback; it’s something else to re-emerge with a completely new voice. After a high-profile career as a young descant, including the hit single “Walking in the Air”, Jones left the limelight. His time out included a stint at the Royal Academy of Music developing his baritone voice which is now heard on this his first disc as an adult. The strengths of Jones’ treble, notably clarity of words and musical expression, have been preserved in his adult singing voice. The 14 tracks on Aled include folk songs as well as hymns and other religious pieces, a reflection of his “day job” as a Songs of Praise presenter. On several numbers, Jones teams up with Robert Prizeman and his boys choir Libera. This is an inspired pairing and produces some of the disc’s highlights, including the spine-tingling “Vespera”. It is good to hear Jones sing in his native Welsh, but the finest moment is saved until last–Adolphe Adam’s popular modern-day carol “O Holy Night” where the two Aleds, young and old, duet. –Rebecca Agnew