Megan Hilty is no stranger to the recording studio. Recently she has featured on the soundtrack to the hit NBC TV Series 'Smash', as well as the spin-off 'cast album' Bombshell. Prior to this, she could be found appearing on the Encores 2012 Cast Recording of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and on the 2009 Original Broadway Cast Recording of the Dolly Parton musical 9 to 5.

The next logical step, and what we have here is a solo album by Megan Hilty, which is what we now have in the shape of It Happens all The Time. Well, sort of. For me the logical step would be to do an album of music that showcases what we know Hilty for - Broadway songs. Oh it would have been so good to have someone to showcase songs from new Broadway shows, rather than the old ones, which I have personally heard enough variations of for now.

However, Hilty took the brave choice of choosing all unknown songs, by songwriters such as Aimee Mann, Carrie Underwood and Damien Rice. The album notes say that the songs all resonate with her, and allowed her to make an album in a way that show tunes wouldn't have let her.

And that, for me, is the flaw. This comes across as a very self-centred album for me. Not that it's not a well made, great sounding album - it's obvious a lot of production has gone into this. But the issue for me was that none of the songs meant anything to me. There are some excellent performances on the album - 'Be A Man' and 'The Heart of the Matter' being the stand out tracks - but nothing that made me want to listen again.

And that's a shame, because Hilty has a superb, modern voice, and someone I've been wanting a solo album from for quite a while. However, as I've said, the production and arrangements on the album are worth a listen on their own, and Hilty carries the songs well.

6

Ian Gude