Duffy - Acoustic... and More (2008-2011)

British singer Duffy has had a strange music career. She put out two successful albums in 2008 and 2010. Then, around 2011, she was drugged, kidnapped, held hostage for many days, and repeatedly raped. She was so traumatized by this that her musical career has barely continued ever since. She hasn't released any new albums, gone on any tours, and only put out a few songs.

I've already posted two albums of cover versions she did. This album mostly focuses on acoustic versions of songs from her two albums. They're not always strictly acoustic, since they sometimes have drums, bass, and/or other instruments, but they're much more stripped down compared to the album versions. Personally, I prefer a lot of these versions, especially for the songs on her overproduced second album, "Endlessly."

The first ten songs make up the acoustic portion of this album. All of these are officially unreleased. All of them come from radio or TV shows, though the first four were performed in front of an audience. The sound quality is generally very good.

I'm calling this album "Acoustic... and More" because there are four extra songs after the acoustic ones. As I mentioned above, Duffy hasn't released much music from her kidnapping in 2011, but she has released some. I included a few of those in the second volume of the covers albums I posted. But there are four originals that she also put out. So I've included those here. The song "Whole Lot of Love" was included on the soundtrack to the movie "Legend" in 2015. "Dear Heart" was put out as a B-side in 2015. "Something Beautiful" and "River in the Sky" are unreleased, but were posted by Duffy on her Instagram account in 2020. I put "Whole Lot of Love" at the last track because it's the most rocking, so it doesn't fit well with the acoustic sound of the other ones.

The fact that Duffy posted two songs in 2020 is a promising sign. Let's hope she further recovers from her trauma and is able to fully resume her music career.

01 Stepping Stone (Duffy)
02 Syrup and Honey (Duffy)
03 Oh Boy (Duffy)
04 Distant Dreamer (Duffy)
05 Well, Well, Well (Duffy)
06 Endlessly (Duffy)
07 Don't Forsake Me (Duffy)
08 My Boy (Duffy)
09 Mercy (Duffy)
10 Too Hurt to Dance (Duffy)
11 Dear Heart (Duffy)
12 Something Beautiful (Duffy)
13 River in the Sky (Duffy)
14 Whole Lot of Love (Duffy)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110832/Duff_2008-2011_AcousticandMre_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken in concert in Santa Monica, California, in 2008.

Duffy - Rain on Your Parade - Non-Album Tracks (2006)

Duffy has had a very strange musical career. She had a huge year in 2008. Her debut album "Rockferry" was the best selling album in Britain that year. But her next album, "Endlessly" in 2010, was a critical and commercial disappointment, and she hasn't released another album since then, apparently due to a sexual trauma in the early 2010s that totally derailed her career.

Personally, I really like the "Rockferry" album, but I think "Endlessly" is best forgotten. However, it turns out she has a de facto second album of all original material that's much, much better. Like Oasis with their first couple of albums, she blew lots of very good songs on B-sides that few people listened to. If one puts together all the "Rockferry" related B-sides, there's exactly enough songs for an album that's very much in the "Rockferry" style, and is nearly as good. This is that album.

The first song was a significant hit for her. It, plus the next three songs, were released as bonus tracks to a deluxe version of "Rockferry." All the other songs are B-sides, except for "Enough Love" and "Smoke without Fire," which were released first on movie soundtracks. 

In my opinion, "Endlessly" was a mistake, with terrible production that tried to make her sound like all the other generic pop crap on the radio, overwhelming the soulful singing that makes her special. It's much better to consider this her real second album. I think it is impressive that she wrote or co-wrote all the songs. Hopefully someday she'll fully reconnect with her musical mojo and put out more music like this and "Rockferry."

01 Rain on Your Parade (Duffy)
02 Fool for You (Duffy)
03 Stop (Duffy)
04 Breaking My Own Heart (Duffy)
05 Oh Boy (Duffy)
06 Save It for Your Prayers (Duffy)
07 Tomorrow (Duffy)
08 Loving You (Duffy)
09 Put It in Perspective (Duffy)
10 Big Flame (Duffy)
11 Enough Love (Duffy)
12 Frame Me (Duffy)
13 Smoke without Fire (Duffy)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110776/Duff_2008_RainonYurParade_atse.zip.html

The album cover photo is a promotional photo from 2008. For the next of both her name and the album title, I exactly imitated the text on the cover of the "Rain on Your Parade" single. I originally wanted to use that single cover for the cover here, but I could only find blurry, low quality versions. I prefer this photo anyway.

Duffy - Cover Versions, Volume 2: 2009-2017

I just posted an album of Duffy's cover versions from 2004 to 2009. Here's the rest of her cover songs that are known so far, from 2009 to 2017.

Only four of the songs here have been officially released. Although that depends on what "officially released" means, because three more of the songs have been posted by Duffy on her Instagram Internet account ("Trust in Me," "Love Me Tender," and "What a Wonderful World"). Unfortunately, those three sound a little worse than the rest, especially "Trust in Me." Each of them appears to have been recorded solo in her house, and it seems they were done under less than ideal perfect conditions. They still sound pretty good though.

The other songs come from a variety of sources, including radio shows, TV shows, and concert bootlegs. The last song, "I Put a Spell on You," actually is a full song done for a TV commercial.

On a different note, Duffy is a very capable songwriter. It turns out she released an album's worth of non-album tracks in 2008, mostly B-sides. I'll post an album I've made of that at a later date.

By the way, there's one cover she's done that I can't find. She performed "No Frontiers" in 2014. If anyone has it, please let me know and I'll add it to this album.

If you're interested in Duffy's music at all, I suggest you give this and the other covers album a listen. In my opinion, both albums are better than her second album, "Endlessly," which was a disappointment.

Here's a list of the original artists that made each song famous:

01 Stay with Me - Lorraine Ellison
02 You Do Something to Me - Paul Weller
03 Band of Gold - Freda Payne
04 All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
05 The Christmas Song - Mel Torme / Nat King Cole
06 When I Need You - Leo Sayer
07 Ar Lan Y Mor - traditional
08 Trust in Me - Mildred Bailey / Etta James
09 Hymn to Love [Hymnes a la Mome] - Edith Piaf
10 Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
11 What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
12 Are You Sure - Timi Yuro
13 Make the World Go Away - Ray Price / Timi Yuro
14 I Put a Spell on You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Here's the usual song list:

01 Stay with Me (Duffy)
02 You Do Something to Me (Duffy)
03 Band of Gold (Duffy)
04 All I Want for Christmas Is You (Duffy)
05 The Christmas Song (Duffy)
06 When I Need You (Duffy)
07 Ar Lan Y Mor (Duffy)
08 Trust in Me (Duffy)
09 Hymn to Love [Hymnes a la Mome] (Duffy)
10 Love Me Tender (Duffy)
11 What a Wonderful World (Duffy)
12 Are You Sure (Duffy)
13 Make the World Go Away (Duffy)
14 I Put a Spell on You (Duffy)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110831/Duff_2009-2017_CovrVersionsVolume2_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I used a promotional photo from 2011.

Duffy - Cover Versions, Volume 1: 2004-2009

A couple of days ago, I posted two albums of Adele rarities, most of them covers. Now I'm going to do exactly the same for Duffy, with two albums of rarities from her, except they're all covers.

The similarities between Adele and Duffy are many. They're both British female soul sing-songwriters who hit it big with debut albums in 2008. Neither of them have released much music since their debut albums, with Adele releasing two more studio albums since and Duffy only one. Both of them have put out almost no new music in the last five years in particular. 

But while Adele has gone on to sell over 100 million copies of her three albums, Duffy has pretty much disappeared. It seems that at some point in the early 2010s, Duffy was kidnapped and sexually abused for about a month, leaving her psychologically scarred. Yet it also seems both singers may be making comebacks soon. Adele apparently was going to release a new album in late 2020, but it's been pushed back to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. And Duffy has released two new original songs on-line in 2020, a promising sign that she may be close to restarting her music career.

All but two of the songs here are officially unreleased ("Please Stay" and "Live and Let Die"). But the sound quality is consistently high throughout. The first two songs are unreleased studio recordings from 2004, way before the rest. The other unreleased songs all come from radio or TV shows. Four of those were recorded in front of studio audiences, but the clapping noise is minimal.

Since Duffy is a soul singer, it makes sense that most of the songs she covers here are soul classics. But she has a few surprise choices as well. I particularly like her version of "Borderline," even though I'm not much of a fan of the original by Madonna.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 I Melt - Lucia Cordaro
02 I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again - Eva Cassidy
03 Cry to Me - Solomon Burke
04 The First Cut Is the Deepest - Cat Stevens / Rod Stewart
05 Bring It on Home to Me - Sam Cooke
06 Please Stay - Burt Bacharach / Drifters
07 These Arms of Mine - Otis Redding
08 Ready for the Floor - Hot Chip
09 Tainted Love - Gloria Jones / Soft Cell
10 Borderline - Madonna
11 Wonderwall - Oasis
12 Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney

Here's the usual song list:

01 I Melt (Duffy with the Invisible Wires)
02 I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again (Duffy with the Invisible Wires)
03 Cry to Me (Duffy)
04 The First Cut Is the Deepest (Duffy)
05 Bring It on Home to Me (Eddie Floyd & Duffy)
06 Please Stay (Duffy)
07 These Arms of Mine (Duffy)
08 Ready for the Floor (Duffy)
09 Tainted Love (Duffy)
10 Borderline (Duffy)
11 Wonderwall (Duffy)
12 Live and Let Die (Duffy)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110777/Duff_2004-2009_CovrVersionsVolume1_atse.zip.html

I chose this 2008 photo of Duffy in concert for the cover art because I like the way a pink light frames her like a halo. I didn't alter that original in any way. Also, she's used the same cursive writing of her name on all her material, so I used that too.