Released in 1995,
Echo Bridge was
Colin Blunstone's first album of all-new material since 1979's
Late Nights in Soho. (The intervening years had seen
Blunstone focusing on singles and re-recording his best-known work on
Colin Blunstone Sings His Greatest Hits.)
Blunstone and producer
Jon Sweet opt for a contemporary sound on
Echo Bridge, with covers including
Billy Bragg's "Levi Stubbs' Tears" and
Art Garfunkel's hit "Breakaway." The album also features several songwriting contributions from
Nik Kershaw, best known for his early-'80s hit "Wouldn't It Be Good." The highlight of
Echo Bridge is the gorgeous acoustic number "If I Said," which proves that
Blunstone's voice is best heard with minimal instrumental backing. Overall, the album is not as strong as
Blunstone's best solo work, probably due to the lack of his own compositional contributions (he co-wrote just one of the album's tracks). Originally released by Permanent Records in Britain, the album was thwarted by the fact that the ironically named label went under shortly after its release.
Echo Bridge was subsequently issued in the U.S. by Renaissance Records.