Walk With Me – Jamelia

Hopes were high for Jamelia's third album, Walk with Me, released in September 2006 almost three years after her previous album, Thank You, but the expected sales didn't really materialize, Walk with Me peaking at number 20 and spending just five weeks on the chart. Thank You had needed two bites of the cherry, appearing to fail miserably upon release, spending just two weeks in the chart and peaking at number 65 but enjoying a new lease on life throughout 2004 thanks to four Top Ten singles "Superstar," "Thank You," "See It in a Boy's Eyes," and "DJ." Walk with Me also included two further Top Ten hits, the opening track, "Something About You" and "Beware of the Dog," which sampled Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus," turning the track into more of a rock song than an R&B one, which didn't really suit Jamelia's voice. The next single, "No More," did more than sample the Stranglers' "Golden Brown" and played it as was on the original all the way through the song: it was a strange choice of sample, as it was so dominant that one found oneself listening to the background rather than the song and singing along to "Golden Brown." "Do Me Right" was a collaboration with Afrika Bambaataa but one would think it was influenced by Talvin Singh rather than a hip-hop pioneer as it sounded very eastern. "Window Shopping" also featured a sample but that was a particularly silly one of Molly Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe from the TV sitcom Are You Being Served, injecting the catch-phrase "Are you free." The album lost its way a little in the middle as "La La Love," "Go," and "Get Up, Get Out" are rather insipid, chugging mid-tempo ballads, and then it's back to R&B-soul on "Got It so Good." The album closed with "Hustle," a Latin-grooved dance track that did exactly what you would expect, and a good way to end an album, leaving the audience wanting more. ~ Sharon Mawer, All Music Guide