SPIN.com
November 28, 2011
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How good was Adele's 2011? So good the British singer-songwriter gets an Andre 3000 shout-out on one of the year's biggest hip-hop releases, Drake's Take Care. On Tuesday, Adele caps off her remarkable run with the release of concert CD/DVD Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Hear the whole thing below (via The Guardian).
Adele's sophomore album, 21, has been the year's biggest seller by far, with more than 4 million copies snatched up in the United States alone. Throat problems requiring laser surgery on the 23-year-old soul belter's golden vocal cords have sadly prevented U.S. fans from seeing Adele perform her sleeper smash on tour, so this stark, emotion-packed set is the closest most of us will get for a while. Tear-jerking No. 1 single "Someone Like You"? It's here. Brutal blues-pop kiss-off "Rolling in the Deep"? Of course. A cover of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me"? Pure gravy.
OK, sure, the stream below is audio only. But given this strong singer's unadorned, all-about-the-music approach — the contrast between her and the gaudier pop stars at MTV's Video Music Awards this summer could hardly have been starker — we're clearly getting the part she wants us to focus on, anyway. Love hurts:
