Posted: Sunday 24th August 2008

Being the son of a famous musical couple can be a blessing or a curse. If you're Rufus Wainwright then you manage to surpass the success of your parents with relative ease but if you're Kelly Osbourne you'll find yourself struggling to be taken seriously. Thankfully Teddy Thompson is more on par with Rufus than he is Kelly. The son of folk legends Richard and Linda Thompson, Teddy has been quietly building himself a fanbase for the last 8 years. With three studio albums under his belt already, Thompson is gearing up for the release of his fourth album A Piece Of What You Need. The album follows the release of single In My Arms.

When we reviewed In My Arms, we gave Thompson a bit of a rough ride. Although we liked the song we felt it was missing that oomph that made us want to burn it onto our iPod and put it on repeat. Does the rest of A Piece Of What You Need rectify that? For the album Thompson has been working with producer Marius De Vries to craft 11 brand new songs. Fans will know some of the tracks already as Thompson has been test driving them during his live sets.

The album kicks off with The Things I Do, a country-influenced, rock number that gently introduces you to Thompson's music. Instantly we realise that In My Arms was a bit of a misrepresentation of this album. Whilst that song is pleasant but unexciting there are many better tracks on A Piece Of What You Need. The jerky What's This?!! is a catchy and unusual number that uses stark guitar strums before exploding into a twinkly melodic chorus and bridge. Piano ballad Turning The Gun On Myself explores a different facet of Thompson's talent and dabbles in blues' rhythms.

Can't Sing Straight is the album's finest moment with Thompson immersing himself in country with ‘Yee-ha!' style riff driving the song. Vocally Thompson changes tact and goes all out for a Johnny Cash-meets-Elvis vocal and drawls all over the track. It stands out for being so different from the rest of the album and is perhaps the truest indication of Thompson's identity as an artist.

Something you can't escape from on A Piece Of What You Need is the influence of Thompson's long-time friend and supporter Rufus Wainwright. Not only does Thompson use Wainwright's producer Marius De Vries, but he also sounds like him on several tracks. The ballad Where To Go From Here sounds like a more pedestrian version of a song that Wainwright would record but the deep, vibrato-filled vocals sound just like him.

A Piece Of What You Need is a patchy but pleasant affair. The album suffers from sounding a little safe and the second half becomes a little samey. We would have preferred Thompson to be a little more experimental as he is on tracks such What's This?!! and Can't Sing Straight. Instead he stays within his comfort zone with the end results being average.