MJ Cole – Sincere (2000)
[Album 681/1001]
“If you’re really sincere,
If you feel it in here
Then it’s gotta be right!”
– Bye Bye Birdie, Honestly Sincere
Whenever I hear the term, Sincere, I’m immediately transported to the fictional town of Sweet Apple, Ohio.
If you’ve seen the 1963 film, Bye Bye Birdie, you already know why.
The performance by the Elvis-esque character Conrad Birdie was simply so Sincere that none of the crowd was left standing by the end!
.
.
Good news: unlike the crowds in the video above, I managed to listen to MJ Cole’s Sincere multiple times without fainting!
If anything, I thought the album did a good job of regulating blood flow to the brain for me.
Now I don’t doubt the sincerity of the recording at all & the Elisabeth Troy vocal appearances were certainly the standouts.
It’s just not likely to end up being an album, to borrow a Conrad Birdie lyric, that I feel in here.
However, I found it was the right selection for me this week, if perhaps not in its intended context.
With parent/teacher night on Wednesday & report cards on the horizon, it’s definitely marking season.
And MJ Cole’s relatively unintrusive Sincere worked terrifically well as a soundtrack to marking tests.
…..
Verbalize the Positive
Though it may not be confused with a cinematic masterpiece, Bye Bye Birdie remains quite quotable & fun!
1001albumsin10years 
Don’t faint…I have never heard of MJ Cole or seen Bye Bye Birdie. I have let you down, I sincerely apologize!!
As long as you’re sincere John, I’ll manage!
Well, I guess its good that with marking season coming up your going with this album and not ‘Reign in Blood’ haha!
Then again the pace of SLayer may help you get through that stack of report cards quicker!
Haha – too true Deke, I bet my efficiency would go way up if I was listening to slayer, trying to keep up with those Criminally insane cymbal notes!!
Glad this isn’t the quiz question this week as I have no clue about it….
I would have struggled to make 5 questions about it!
It’s funny how some of us can use music as soundtracks for work and exercise. The older I get the more I appreciate silence and music seperately, but obviously everyone has their own routines!
I do enjoy running in silence sometimes (Depeche Mode’s enjoy the silence being a good motto to remember!) – but when marking tests, I find music that is ‘there’ without being too intrusive helps me keep going
I call BS Geoff – you made this one up. I can tell.
I can assure you, the film Bye Bye Birdie exists!
Well, now I have a better idea of what Bye Bye Birdie is.
My work here is done!