There's Beauty in the Rain

The Georgia Straight

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There's beauty in this album, a second effort for an underrated Vancouver singer whose real strength is in her original compositions. Backed by a versatile outfit that includes Ross Taggart on piano and Campbell Ryga, waxing Paul Desmond-like, on saxophones, she does a creditable job with such torchy standards as :You Don't Know What Love Is" and "Lazy Afternoon" and well arranged swingers like "If I Were A Bell" and Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring." 

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Plato has a luxuriously unstrained alto voice, with occasional bluesy inflections that stop short of being mannered. It's her unadorned approach that is most compelling, especially on the stately, anti-cynical "Innocent Again" and the title tune, a toe-tapping modal number that shows Plato at her most relaxed. Compared to those originals, the obviousness of "You Give Me The Blues" is something of a letdown, but there's nothing here that would dampen anticipation for a whole platter of Plato's own tunes.

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