Lucy Woodward's 2010 album
Hooked!, a jazz-inflected collection of classic pop and torch song ballads, makes the most of
Woodward's soulful voice. Having long moved past the mainstream pop/rock of her 2003 debut,
While You Can,
Hooked picks up where her 2008 sophomore effort, ...Is Hot and Bothered, left off, with
Woodward delivering a kind of pop/rock-meets-jazz sound that falls somewhere between the retro R&B and singer/songwriter pop of such similarly inclined artists as
Duffy and
Jamie Cullum. In that sense, songs such as the cheeky "Another Woman" and the yearning "Slow Recovery" will certainly draw some favorable comparisons to such icons as
Dusty Springfield. Certainly, these songs are produced with an ear to re-creating the big ensemble pop of the '50s and '60s, and fans of that old-school Brill Building sound should find
Hooked! to be an appealing catch. ~ Matt Collar