No Rain, No Flowers is obsessed with melody - Claudio is a master of ruffling and extending notes, dawdling in many shades of breathy, high-register singing - but frequently indifferent to rhythm. This album is consistently suave, admirably steady.īut it’s also a little tepid. That’s where things stay for the next 28 minutes. No Rain, No Flowers opens with a few of those sighs laid over plangent keyboards and pretty, understated bass it’s an invitation to sink in, to join the singer in her languor.