Natalie Merchant - Ophelia
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Free Music Notes for Ophelia
Free Music Review: One of my all-time favorite CDs!!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is one of my all time favorite CDs. I got it at age 12 and now, at 17, it still takes a spin in my CD player quite often. I love all the songs, and they all hold such meaning for me. I love all of Natalie Merchant's work, but this is her best. She is an amazing musician, singer, and songwriter. Tori Amos (though I love her dearly!) shouldn't get all the credit for piano-playing! Natalie is INCREDIBLE too! I'll tell you a little bit about each song:OPHELIA: This title track is brilliant and cryptic and very interesting. In the CD jacket Natalie portrays several of the characters mentioned in this song (such as a Carmelite nun, a circus performer, etc.).There are some people talking in foreign languages at the end, and I've never figured that out. If someone does, please tell me! This is a great song regardless, though.
LIFE IS SWEET: Natalie herself said that this is one of her favorite songs she's ever written. It's brilliant, uplifting, and inspirational. So much of the music out there these days is degrading and depressing. Way to go Natalie for upholding the true spirit of REAL music!
KIND AND GENEROUS: The biggest hit from this album, this is a sweet and simple tune. I've heard that it's dedicated to her fans; that she's thanking them for her success. If that's the case... You're welcome!!
FROZEN CHARLOTTE: Guaranteed to make me cry. Judging from the other customer reviews, this is a fan favorite. Some people went so far as to say that it was the best song of 1998! What UI love most about Natalie is that she can write strange, poetic, and cryptic lyrics that are nearly impossible to understand, and the meaning of the song truly comes out in the way she sings the words. "Frozen Charlotte" is a prime example of that. A standout track on an album of standout tracks.
MY SKIN: This (tied with "Thick as Thieves") is my favorite song on the album. Natalie is an amazing writer and pianist, and here her voice goes from teary and whispery to an angry shout, and the result is one of the most beautiful songs ever performed. Natalie also portrays the character in this song in the CD booklet.
BREAK YOUR HEART: This is more typical Lilith Fair-fare, and has never been one of my favorites on this album. It's not bad by any means- on another album it would be the best track! "Break your Heart" sort of reminds me of an energetic Sarah McLachlan.
KING OF MAY: This song is dedicated to the late Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, whom Natalie greatly admired. This is a very touching tribute that may well be a classic some day. Somehow, the first line "Farewell today" really gets to me. It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
THICK AS THIEVES: The epic centerpiece of this album. It's about war, but which war I don't know. I'm guessing it's about the Crusades, but I'm not sure. If anyone knows, be sure to say! Confusion aside, this is a wonderful, and creepy, song. It, along with "My Skin" is the best song on the album. It's full of meaningful lyrics (which can be read aloud like a poem- it's reminiscent of T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."), like "Know no future, damn the past, blind, warm, ecstatic, safe at last." If this doesn't send chills up your spine, you must not be human. She chants most of the song until the end, which is beyond-words-incredible. I could go on about this song forever. By "Ophelia" just because of "Thick as Thieves." Trust me on this one!
EFFIGY: A profoundly disturbing song, featuring a guest artist singing in Tibetan. Natalie repeats the lyrics over and over: "I'm an effigy, a parody, of who I appear to be/ put your flaming torches under me." Spooky, and very different from the other songs on this album.
THE LIVING: A very sad song about a man contemplating suicide ("And I don't stand a chance with the living."). It's also the shortest song on the album at 2:30. I love songs of this length- my favorite Tori Amos song, "Josephine" is also about two and half minutes. In short, "The Living" leaves you wanting more.
WHEN THEY RING THE GOLDEN BELLS: Judging from the rave reviews of her current CD, "The House Carpenter's Daughter," people think that covers are what Natalie does best. This is a cover of an 1880's hymn, and is very beautiful, and features a wonderful guest vocalist. The tone of this song is much more upbeat than the tone of the rest of the songs on this CD.
OPHELIA REPRISE: This ten-minute instrumental masterpiece is at once low key and spectacular, leaving you time to contemplate the eleven wonderful songs you just heard!
If you are a human being buy this album! It will enrich your life and change you for the better
Free Music Review: A Classic Album That Will Be Loved Even Decades From Now...
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is hauntingly beautiful, with honest and universal lyrics and along with Natalie Merchant's strong and commanding voice makes this album a classic. While the albums hitting the high selling marks right now in the Mtv world are being claimed as unforgettable- they will be forgotten the very next year as they always are for most of the albums are nothing but mindless fluff that commands no serious attentin whatsoever, and that is what makes people forget. But albums such as Ophelia will always be remembered because of how captivating and powerful the songs are and especially, again, the lyrics on the songs are.
It may take a few listens to fully get into the album, as it took me, but believe me, it gets under your skin and it sticks eventually if you give it a chance.
This album is a classic in my book, with a deep, gorgeous sound to it that drew me to it at the first time I heard it. Matter of fact, Kind and Generous was the first song I recgonized by Natalie, so I knew eventually I had to get the rest of album as well. All the songs are memorable, as is Natalie Merchant, who I have grown to really enjoy listening to.
Ophelia- A- I love the way this song sounds, and the lyrics are ones you do not hear everyday. I like the pictures Natalie has in the album, which obviously relate to the song. I love the picture on the back the best...it's just cool to me, and she looks very lovely in the cover.
Life Is Sweet- B+- This song took awhile for me to get into, but the lyrics give it an extra boost to be a great song, for the lyrcis mean a lot. And the song got under my skin eventually.
Kind And Generous- A- I still love this song a whole lot, it is a great single and I enjoy hearing it.
Frozen Charlotte- A- One of my favorite on here as well. This song is so beautiful I just cannot get over the lovely vocals on this song and the lyrics as well.
My Skin- A- Another gorgeous song I love by Natalie, that does well perfectly after Frozen Charlotte.
Break Your Heart- A- This is another song that I can so relate to. I like the way she makes the song play as well, it fits well with her lyrics.
King of May- A- Lovely song, and her voice is just great in the song. It has to grow on you but when it does you'll just fall in love.
Thick As Thieves- A- Most will not truly appreciate this song till they hear the lyrics close enough. I love what Natalie is saying in this song- a true classic and played well.
Effigy- B+ - This song means a lot to me as well, and even though not much happens in this song (it's pretty short) the lyrics and the lovely vocals at the end of this song saves it.
The Living- A - Natalie's lyrics just continue to mean a whole lot to me, making this album the classic it is. I love the words to this song, and Natalie makes it lovely, as always.
When They Ring the Golden Bells- C+- Hmm this is the only song I do not understand. The lyrics are nice but the whole sound of this song is kind of out of place with the album to me. It takes the deep, shadowed beauty out of the whole album, so I usually skip this song. It's not a bad song, but just out of place to me sound- wise and just not a song that sounds that good altogether.
The Ophelia Reprise at the end though is very beautiful I like to fast forward to that, for that makes a great end to the album.
Overall, regardless of the last song Golden Bells, I find this a five- star album not just beause of the gorgeous, deep sound of this album, the lyrics will touch you and make the album even better. It is truly a classic that will outlive all the c.d.s I have to be tortured with daily on the radio. I know that since I'm a teen most assume everyone my age loves the radio fluff but I do not- and there are a lot more teens out there I'm sure who want more music like Ophelia and I hope there will be more like Ophelia and always will be.
PS- I also recommend her album Motherland. It is a little more lighter than Ophelia, but just as great.
Free Music Review: A Great Album, Not A Downer...
Hit: 5 Stars
Ophelia is Natalie Merchant's sophomore solo CD. This recording differs from TigerLily in that the record label had greater control of the content and players than the singer would have liked -- leading to her break with Elektra. It also marks the debut of Graham Maby on Electric Guitar; he later goes on to record Motherland and The House Carpenter's Daughter with Merchant.
Pete Yanowitz plays drums on TigerLily and Ophelia but was replaced by Matt Chamberlain on Motherland; Allison Miller subsumed Chamberlain's role on The House Carpenter's Daughter. Similar shifts with Natalie's guitarists -- Graham Maby strumming alongside Craig Ross and Todd Vos -- occur on this album. Guest musicians like Lokua Kanza, Daniel Lanois, and Don & Karen Peris accompany Merchant just this once.
Her lush songs on Ophelia received wide radio airplay, including Break Your Heart, Kind & Generous, Life Is Sweet, and a truncated version of the eponymous title track. Her shuffling of musicians after Ophelia's release also marked a turn away from commercialism towards the purely artistic for Merchant -- a move welcomed by fans, but probably not her business managers.
Essentially, Merchant's best tracks on Ophelia are the ones where she does more than sing. She prods her wurlitzer on the melodic Frozen Charlotte (Track Four) and introduces discord to the chorus. Michelle Kinney's cello and the singer's piano accompaniment on My Skin (Track Five) also underscore the beauty of Merchant's lyrics. I also enjoyed Jay Brunga's acoustic bass on My Skin.
Lanois's aching, bleeding, crying, wounded electric guitar on Thick as Thieves is transformative, appearing in the bridge and twisting the track's conclusion into an entirely different song. Yanowitz offers up delicate drums that back Merchant's smooth voice brilliantly here; her keyboard skills are confident and introspective, in perfect counterpoint to the guitars. Michelle Kinney's cello is difficult to pick out but beautiful to absorb.
I thought Effigy (Track Nine) was interesting; I enjoyed Merchant's styling on the hammond and wurlitzer, but found the Tibetan chanting to be overwrought. I likewise thought The Living (Track Ten) was great; I'd love to hear Kid Rock tackle a cover of this song. When They Ring the Golden Bells, a French funeral song from 1887, was a strangely fitting closing number.
All of Ophelia's eleven songs were thoughtfully recorded at Talking Dwarf Studios in Little Valley, New York. The orchestral reprise of the title track performed by Fretwork is a bonus track recorded at Air Studios in London, United Kingdom. Overall, this is just a gorgeous album. You can tell Merchant's band invested a sufficient amount of effort, emotion, energy, and feeling into these songs.
Free Music Review: A rare & unique beauty
Hit: 5 Stars
I must say i have to disagree with a number of the reviewers here who think that "Ophelia" is too morose, or dark, or simply too hard to sink into. This is one of the most powerful records i have ever heard... "Tigerlily" and "Motherland" (both also Merchant original alubms), while lovely in their own right have neither the quiet contemplation or simple majesty of Ophelia. Ophelia is just not the kind of album you can listen to in the background with the vacuum running, but that doesn't make it inaccesible as it was my first Natalie Merchant album i think that makes me an authority!Merchant brilliantly runs the full emotional gauntlet, from the haunting title track "Ophelia" which speaks of the human condition throughout time and beyond the single life of any one person, through the bittersweet yet hopeful "life is sweet", a piece dedicated to taking life by the horns. The dazziling melodies of "frozen charlotte" and "my skin" serve not only to highlight Merchant's truly gifted songwriting and lyricism but stand as a showcase for the full expression and emotion this singer is capable of and is rarely seen elsewhere to this extent. "Break your heart" is another clincher which reminds us again of the savagery, and beauty, of the human condition, glimpsed from a rare place of clarity. Final tracks "effigy" and "the living" bring us out of the emotional heaviness of some others on the album, and while the mood is still somber Merchant has brought us on a journey which takes us above sadness and we settle back and let her words flow over.
"When they ring the golden bells" is a sweet folk tune that brings close the album and entices reminiscence of childhood and times gone before we were born, simpler times, and though it sounds like an ancient irish ballad it is a Merchant original.
"Ophelia", given more than a cursory two plays through, will begin to reveal a subtle and understated pure beauty and elegance rarely found in a music industry intent on mass marketing, radio play singles and lyrics you pick up on first listen. Some reviewers have complained about the quiet mood and lack of singles in "Ophelia", but i would claim that is what begins to make Ophelia special... it is more than the sum of its parts, it is complete, it is an ALBUM. This is what music SHOULD be!! (Besides, "kind & generous" made a perfect single release).
A rare thing happened to me while i listened to to "Ophelia" time and time again... i grew to love and appreciate it more, not less.
Free Music Review: Emotional music that is not for everyone
Hit: 5 Stars
I had never obtained anything by Natalie Merchant before purchasing a secondhand copy of Ophelia at a local used CD store. I was simply blown out of the water by her beautiful lyrics and incredible voice. Since this CD, I have also listened to Tigerlily and Motherland, the latter of which showed a deeper and more mature voice. Both CDs showed incredible talent (in my humble opinion), Motherland especially.
I have to say though that Ophelia has moved me beyond compare. Ms. Merchant's voice, the enunciation of each syllable to its completion, the sense that she might be smiling during a certain word as it is being sung, singing the lyrics with such emotion from soaring and commanding to nearly a whisper---it's hard to describe, but just her vocal skills alone completely overwhelmed me, as if I were in a small room sitting next to her. Like other people who have reviewed this, I seem to gravitate toward certain songs such as "Life is Sweet," but more to my liking: "Ophelia," "Thick as Thieves," "My Skin," "The Living," among others, all of which I could expound on the implied messages (as I interpret them). "When They Ring the Golden Bells" was also beautifully executed, brings a tear to my eye, as the message is so sweet and utterly hopeful, no matter that the words were written so long ago. The final portion of the CD, instrumental, reprises the first selection (Ophelia). Beautiful. Gorgeous.
I could not recommend another CD more highly. Yes, some of the lyrics might sound depressing, but who on this earth hasn't ever struggled with difficult issues in their life and hoped for comfort or understanding? This CD gives both and more. Buy it and play it on a quiet night, when you can listen to it in its entirety with no interruptions. Depending who you are or what you like, you may keep listening to it many more times to come. I would give it 10 stars if I could and nominate it for Natalie Merchant's best offering so far.