Eva Cassidy - Songbird
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Free Music Notes for Songbird
Free Music Review: The most beautiful voice i the world
Hit: 5 Stars
Forget the calculated pop garbage of Mariah Carey. Forget the over-produced muck of Celine Dion. If you want to truly hear a beautiful voice that doesn't require over-the-top arrangements and lots of hair spray, you MUST hear Eva Cassidy.If you first glance at the song list on the "Songbird" CD, some of the titles seem, to put it frankly, totally avoidable. "Over the Rainbow." "Wade in the Water." Songs that have been remade and remade until you may think nothing new could be added to them. Eva Cassidy was able to take these songs and turn them into something new and worthwhile. Her rendition of "Over the Rainbow" is absolutely breathtaking....moving, perfectly sung, emotional, understated. Her version of this tune perfectly captures what she was capable of...taking a song and totally making it her own.
The song choices range from traditional tunes like "Oh, I Had a Golden Thread" to contemporary numbers like Christine McVie's "Songbird." But Eva Cassidy was able to take this variety and work it to her advantage; despite the fact that "Songbird" is actually a collection of songs from three previously released albums, the performances are amazingly seamless and this makes the album as a whole a million times better than the overdone, poser pop that invades U.S. radio.
The most amazing performance here is her achingly beautiful version of Sting's "Fields of Gold." The song is made all the more poignant byt the fact that Eva Cassidy lost her battle with melanoma in 1996 at the age of 33....so when she sings "you'll remember me/when the west wind moves/among the fields of barley," it will easily bring a tear to the eye. Simply amazing.
Free Music Review: Astonishing!
Hit: 5 Stars
I am not easily impressed.I had never heard of Eva Cassidy.
I did not see Nightline.
I do not own this CD.
So why am I compelled to write a review?
One other reviewer wrote that "you will always remember where you were or what you were doing when you heard Eva for the first time." Let me relate to you my story.
Driving home from a long day at work, with the radio keeping me company, the strains of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" drifts over the airwaves - somewhat familiar (the melody, lyrics etc.) however totally different in the emotions that it evoked. I was mysteriously enthralled, captivated, stunned, perplexed at my reactions; trying to anticipate the singer's next note or phrasing or inflexion or expression, but each time I was wrong - and was pleasantly wrong because Eva did it better than I could have ever anticipated or imagined.
I pulled over to the side of the road, and sat dumbfounded, as I listened and longed for the piece never to end. But alas, all things do - end that is - even a life as beautiful as Eva's as I have now learned.
As I browse the web intent on learning more, I see that over 190 of you have also saw fit to write about your experiences with this cherished music. Alas, there is hope for Man if God CAN stir our souls to tears - even in this cynical age.
You all have an advantage on me as I read that you all have one or some or ALL of Eva's CD's. I have only heard one song - ONCE. That is until tomorrow when I shall immerse myself in Eva's music and her creations.
So I will always remember sitting in the car at the side of the road, at the edge of the park on a late sunny afternoon, stunned by my first experiences of Eva.
I ca't wait to be stunned again and again.
Free Music Review: Miraculous
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't normally review what I buy. I've never had a compulsion to tell the world what I thought of something. However, after buying this album I was compelled to add my review and second the 5 star reviews already posted.
I first heard of Eva Cassidy in a small quilting store in Syracuse Nebraska where my wife was shopping. `Wade in the Water' was playing and I couldn't help but notice that voice. What a voice! Powerful or oh so tender as the music required. Now I should say, I'm a classical violinist and not really into this kind of music. The masterpieces of Beethoven and Brahms and the playing of Hilary Hahn are more my kind of stuff. But I was taken with that voice and had to buy the CD.
After listening to it the first time I must say (almost to my embarrassment) that I loved it. Successive listenings have only impressed me more. The songs are so heartfelt, both the lyrics themselves and Eva's singing of them that I could not help but be drawn into the music. She was gifted with a marvelous voice, but even more wonderful is the way she used it. Her passion and expression makes the music sound as if she was singing directly to me and no one else. A couple of songs still bring a tear to my eye. The more I hear `I Know You by Heart' the more I think it may become my favorite simply because of the sentiment it expresses. But how can I place it ahead of `Songbird' or `Had I a Golden Thread'? Neither of them are second place songs - but I digress.
She sings with a folk/blues/gospel flavor, but I think that is irrelevant. The making of good music in any genre is a miracle that touches the heart. Eva's music is a miracle and it will touch your heart.
Free Music Review: The Voice of an Angel
Hit: 5 Stars
I listen to almost any genre of music and appreciate it for its own unique worth, but never have I heard anything that so pierced all of my being and brought out all the emotions that were within. Eva's voice is so beautifully pure, so strikingly clear, that you wonder why she was never appreciated as much as she should have been. You can listen to this album over and over trying to find a single flaw and you will fail. It is the perfect listen, and if you truly appreciate a great voice you will never get tired of this. Reading these reviews you will see hundreds of fans of "Fields of Gold," and I love that song as well, but the rest of the tracks are just as wonderful. Her cover of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" is my personal favorite, as her jazzy numbers rival her ballads for beauty and effect. "Wade in the Water" is quite possibly the best gospel recording I have ever had the pleasure of hearing, sung with such passion and intensity. She shows out her jaw-dropping range on "Time is a Healer" and the absolutely breathtaking close to "Wayfaring Stranger." Then you have classics like "Oh Had I a Golden Thread" and "Songbird," I mean, what more can you really say? Everyone should hear this CD, I am just 20 years old and I have forced any friend that has ever ridden in my car to listen to this CD and they all love it. Not a one has left without asking again who that woman was. This is an album for the ages. It is a shame that we did not get to appreciate her while she was here, but there was someone else that wasn't appreciated for His worth when he was here in His short life, and He is who Eva is with today.Free Music Review: Touched and Left Breathless with the voice, with the person
Hit: 5 Stars
I hardly ever venture outside my genre of preference and the type of music I sing semi-professionally, which is classical. But I was captivated one night as I caught the last 10 minutes or so of an ABC Nightline Special about an American singer currently enjoying huge posthumous success in the U.K. Then when I heard the voice and saw her sing "Over the Rainbow" in a rare video clip (you can still view it by doing a search of her name in ABCNEWS.com - I have done that too many times to count too), I felt in an instant a connection to her and the purity of her voice and artistry. Well, I just got my cd yesterday and played it too many times to count. Eva performs each piece with precision rythm and immaculate and unique stylings. She also has a variety of "colours" to her voice to perform each song of her eclectic collection. Lucky for us she sang out of the simple and unadulterated motive of singing whatever song she loved and that meant something to her and declined sticking to any one type of music for commercial profit. Hence we get to hear her sing folk type ballads, gospel, jazz, and soul; all sung with the precise colorings of the voice as appropriate for the song. After reading the accompanying brochure about her down-to-earth life (she was shy and preferred to keep her low-paying but beloved daytime job as a landscaper), and about her untimely death, I just started weeping while listening to the first song "Fields of Gold" (it is as if she was singing about herself). And the other bookend song "Over the Rainbow" equally moved me. I highly recommend this cd and to see her video clip as mentioned above.