Renee Olstead - Skylark
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.97 You Save: $7.02 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.46 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Skylark
Free Music Review: Worth the wait!
Hit: 5 Stars
Fans of Renee Olstead's self-titled debut have eagerly waited since 2004 for a follow-up disc. While the intervening years have been frustrating for fans anxious for new music, the resulting album proves worth the wait. Skylark takes all of the elements that made her first disc a success and ups the ante with a great mix of standards and more new compositions that prove to be an even better showcase for Olstead's amazing voice. The up-tempo, David Foster-penned "Midnight Man" opens the album and then segues to a beautifully rendered cover of the Billie Holiday classic, "Lover Man." This is followed by one of my favorite songs ever, "Stars Fell On Alabama," and I love this arrangement. For the opening bars, Olstead's voice accompanies a tinny piano and is overlaid with scratches that sound like you're listening to an old record - this nostalgic touch seamlessly gives way to the "modern" sound for the rest of the cut. There's a little Andrews Sisters's vibe to the arrangements and background vocals on "Thanks For the Boogie Ride" and "Ain't We Got Fun" (the latter was featured in the film Kit Kittredge - An American Girl). Kudos to the producers and arrangers for crafting such an accessible collection of jazz/pop music with several neat little nods to the musical roots of the standards - it's a great balance of nostalgia with a modern pop sensibility (should definitely appeal to Michael Buble fans!). Chris Botti's incomparable trumpet playing is featured on "When I Fall In Love." Honestly I'm a little over this song, but between Botti's always-welcome presence and Renee's pitch-perfect delivery, I can't seriously complain. Olstead co-wrote three songs for this album, proving she has an equal flair for writing as well as song delivery. "Midnight In Austin Texas" is a funky, rockabilly-tinged nod to her home state. The other two cuts - the bluesy "Nothing But the Blame" and the exquisite ballad "Hold Me Now" -blend perfectly with the standards. "Hold Me Now" is my favorite cut on the disc - Olstead wrings every last drop of emotion out of the lyrics with a maturity that belies the fact she's not yet twenty. With Skylark Renee Olstead proves she's a triple singing-acting-writing threat whose star is on the rise. I only hope it doesn't take five more years for the next chapter of her musical journey to see the light.Free Music Review: Renee may be the best since Ella
Hit: 5 Stars
If you love this genre of music (i.e, the presentation of the all-time standards for the best-written songs and lyrics in the history of American music, with creative and effective individual interpretations of those songs, along with a reasonable effort to generate something new of substantive value in this area) ...
... then Renee Olstead, imo, is the best hope for this generation we currently have of continuing to enjoy, in this genre, the highest level of truly rewarding musical performance.
What sets Renee apart is more than just her remarkable talent (combined with the outstanding supporting work of David Foster). What is dazzling is her intangible ability -- that Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald also possessed with their unique singing styles in the same genre -- to communicate the words and melody of the song to the listener in a personal way that not only paints the picture ideally, but also leaves the listener believing that the artist (in this case, Renee) actually enjoys the music herself, is willing to risk demonstrating her feelings for the music by giving an honest, open and bold performance of each song, and then, happily, is willing to share the finished product (subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in the marketplace) with the public at large.
Renee Olstead's musical talent appears to be one of a kind, so far, in this generation ... and, for all we know, she may be the last to communicate this effectively, in this genre, with her wonderful singing.
So, let's hope she can stay the course, because her albums, so far, are at the very top of the play-list (staying there far longer than any others) for many of us who have waited for years for this worthy sequel to her delightful "summertime" debut.
Thanks, Renee -- appreciate what we already are enjoying with your CDs, even if we have to wait another four years for the next album. Your first CD still is in the car, now joined by "Skylark", and there is room for four more with this particular car's stereo system.
If necessary -- due to an expedited production schedule on your part -- we'll happily buy a new car with a more sophisticated stereo system.
Free Music Review: Pretty Young White 5 Stars
....aren't supposed to sing this repertoire this well. Well...there's Jane Monheit, but, great as Jane is, Renee is the new head of the list. (Diana Krall is a pretty white girl, but not young; Madeleine Peyroux is young and white). This record took too long to make, but I forgive whoever slowed it up...it is FABULOUS. Yes, I like gorgeous redheads, but that's irrelevant with singing this good.....As to specifics...13 tracks...4 original compositions, of which I liked "Midnight in Austin, Texas" the best...9 old standards, that every girl and her sister has done before (some more than others, naturally). Well...it's like hearing them for the first time. "Stars Fell on Alabama"..."When I Fall in Love"..."Ain't We Got Fun"...Renee makes them her own. With Jazz, that's OK...in fact, it's the idea. (If Anna Netrebko did that in "Lucia", it would be a different matter). The Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer standard "Skylark", the title cut, has been done over and over, but NEVER better (the late Eileen Farrell did it for Reference Recordings ~20 years ago, but she was of an entirely different order of magnitude). Ray Charles recorded "Hit The Road Jack" at least 45 years ago; it's written for a man, but Renee did fine, and was smart enough not to mess with the lyrics.
If you get the idea that I believe this to be a REALLY special album, you're right. In a couple of tracks, including "Stars Fell...", the sound mimicked a 1930s broadcast...that's OK, it wasn't overdone. I do see the earlier reviewer's caveat about the engineering; my sub-woofer got a work-out. That aside, this is one of the greatest Jazz albums I've ever heard. (Yes, Diana, I still love you). The little girl from her self-titled recording is growing up very nicely. Don't fail to grab this....ten stars, at least.
Free Music Review: Red Lightning
Hit: 5 Stars
Buy this CD. If you ignored the short review then beware, there's a sudden storm coming, when you see the thunderheads boiling walk, out into the field as far away from all else as you can, raise your arms above your head and wait...you'll hear the crack, but you'll never see the flash...Renee Olstead's Skylark will blind you, take your breath away and leave you dazed and gasping, you've just been struck by red lightning. There are singers who can sing sweet and there are singers who can sing loud, but only once in lifetime does one come along who can rattle the gates of heaven and then whisper so sweet and low that the summer wind has to stop to hear. Skylark weaves the magic of Johnny Mercer with the voice of Renee Olstead and between them they blow up a gale to make the angels weep. Then Renee turns it around and does to Boogie Ride what Toni Tennille did with You Never Done It Like That and somewhere off in heaven Mae West is smiling. Anyone can twist a lyric and make innocent words tell a naughty tale, but to add a dash of laughter and a bit of wink and what you have is a saucy song that makes everything seem a little better...that's talent. There's plenty of good stuff to go around, Midnight Man will make you stay up late, My Baby Don't Care will make you wish and Ain't We Got Fun sums up this disc as well as bringing an old tune back to life, there's Hit The Road Jack and Midnight In Austin Texas and everything in between. This CD is so good I have four copies, one for each car and one for the house. I was right in the first place, buy this CD.Free Music Review: It took waaaay toooo long, but it was worth it!
Hit: 5 Stars
It took too long for this follow-up album to be released, but it's definitely worth the wait. Renee, just months short of her twentieth birthday, hits the mark, scores a bull's eye, again! Song choices are a brilliant display of her vocal prowess; her approach to each shows that she's an original with unmatched maturity. When hopeful songstresses on American Idol seem to want to scream at the top of their collective lungs, it's nice to have a talent such as Renee's take both standards and originals and give each her very personal stamp, focusing on interpretation rather than sheer volume. Under the tutelage of the likes of David Foster once again and the added talents of Humberto Gatica, Renee gives her fans an early Valentine gift...a group of songs which showcase her awesome young talent. No need to single any selection out...you'll enjoy them all. And here's hoping that her next release won't take the length of time to put together that this one has taken, although if this is what the wait has been for...putting together a group of songs that SHE'S proud of...then the wait is very much worth it!