She & Him - Volume One
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Free Music Notes for Volume One
Free Music Review: Disappointing
Hit: 2 Stars
After hearing Zooey Deschanel's singing in the film "Elf", like a lot of other people I have been hoping she'd put out an album, but what a disappointment this one is. Most of the songs don't really suit her voice, she sounds strained at times, and the production is lousy....it sounds as if she's singing into a toilet bowl. Too bad, because she does have a really nice singing voice, but this collection doesn't showcase her talents well at all. Plus, her cover of the Beatles "Should Have Known Better" is lackluster and dumbed-down. Hopefully next time she'll get it right...she is a talented actress and singer but this CD just doesn't do anything for her.Free Music Review: Could be so much better.
Hit: 3 Stars
I can't think of any better word to describe my overall feeling after listening to this a few times... disappointed.
Zooey's voice has haunting quality, this bittersweet painfulness that can easily pull at your heart strings. Yet, for reasons not clear to me the production wasn't done in a way to get the best out of her vocally. In some passages it feels very forced, like she's reading off a lyric sheet in front of her, yet somtimes 10 seconds later in the same song she'll reach a passage where you can tell her heart is in it, it's note perfect, and it starts stirring that emotion inside you.
For example on "Take it Back". The first line, the word "It" wavers and is clearly flat, and not in a good slidey jazzy way, just seems like no one cared to get her to do this line over. yet a few seconds later she's deep in note perfect soulful emotion. I don't understand why they wouldn't take the few extra minutes to capture that magic all over the record. Unfortunately, when Zooey isn't there emotionally with her voice, is sounds strained and is distracting. I KNOW she is capable of a much much better vocal performance. In the brilliantly performed passages, there's nothing like it, so the proof is right there for you to hear.
Song-wise, the best songs for her are the ones she's written. I can do without the Beatles cover. It isn't very good. Beatles covers are precarious ground to cover in my opinion. If you aren't going to do something really really great with it, don't do it. The songs are close to as brilliantly written, performed, arranged as they are going to be on the Beatles' recordings. The absolutely high point for her vocally is the unlisted recording of what sounds like her in a noisy room singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot. These classic folk songs are where she shines, and a lot of this record sounds contrived. A lot of Be My Baby-ish attempts are made, and though they sound pretty authentic, I just don't think this is where her voice shines. It shows limitations instead of showcasing her natural abilities.
In any case, I'm still listening. It's definitely fun, I just can't get thru it without being annoyed by the fact that I KNOW if a little more work was done in the studio she could have nailed it beginning note to last.
Keep singing Zooey. We like it. That slow croony Kline/Clooney/Holiday vibe is where you shine. We're thankful to have another great singer in this vein. Make us cry. You can do it.
Free Music Review: yay zooey
Hit: 4 Stars
been looking forward to this for a while and was not disappointed. i am a zooeyphile, however. i even sat through "failure to launch."
keep up the good work!
Free Music Review: Surprise...
Hit: 4 Stars
What a pleasure this album turned out to be. It is easy to write off Zooey as an actress who is a musician wanna be, but when I heard the album for the first time I was pleasantly surprised. Zooey has true vocal skills, a sort of deconstructed old fashioned, take me at face value sound, that is instantly appealing, almost instantly hummable. Free Music Review: What a Surprise!
Hit: 5 Stars
I really adore Zooey Deschanel's acting. Now, I have only seen two movies that she has been in (Failure to Launch & Tin Man) but in both films, she is superb. In Failure to Launch she is just a supporting character, but she steals the show (along with Terry Bradshaw). And I love her facial expressions in Tin Man.
OK, enough about that. At first listen I didn't care much for this CD. I was very disappointed when I sampled it on iTunes. But for some reason, I just kept getting drawn back to listen again and again. Probably about my fourth listen I was hooked. I can't explain it, but there is just something about this CD that grows on you.
It reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. When I first watched it, I thought, "It's OK." But after watching it, as the week went on, I started thinking about it and thought, "Man, that movie was really funny!" This CD is kind of like that (at least for me) Only instead of "funny" it is just really good music. I hope to hear more from She & Him in the future (or even just Zooey by herself).