Vanessa Carlton - Be Not Nobody
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Free Music Notes for Be Not Nobody
Free Music Review: Amazing CD
Hit: 5 Stars
I am a musician myself, and am pretty critical when it comes to music. But this CD has blown me out of the water. Vanessa Carlton has talent beyond her years. Every line of every song is profound, if you listen well enough. This CD will always be at the front of my favorites list. Song to Listen To...Twilight. Listen closely and you will realize exactly what she is singing about.Free Music Review: Hyped and laudable debut full of liveliness
Hit: 4 Stars
Be Not Nobody, the debut CD from piano pop sensation and ballerina Vanessa Carlton, actually makes for one whopper of an album. Her dazzling piano playing--along with lilting, jazzy vocals that are instantly recognizable--makes for a unique and radio-friendly style that couldn't be any more polished if it tried. Despite all of her hits, namely 2002's inescapable ballad "A Thousand Miles", Vanessa still has a firm grip on her craft to ensure that it doesn't become lost in mainstream chaos.
Her words are just as fleshed-out as her sounds. Of the twelve tracks, only three or four have a more depressing nature, but as a pop album that fact works out fine. "Ordinary Day", the fantastic, swelling opening song, tells Vanessa's tales of an unsuspecting lover who gave her the advice to "take my hand / Live while you can". Unsurprisingly, unrequited love and lovesickness play quite a role in her songs, adding a sprinkle of realism among the concoction of sensationalism and glittering piano melodies contained herein. "Rinse", for example, is a morose but fantastic account of a girl slowly driving herself insane over her unreturned feelings for a boy. It starts off almost rushed, but explodes into a tempest of guitar licks and desperate lines that lash out with nothing but the naked truth.
The low point here is probably "Prince", during which the album seems to be winding down into a rather lazy final 1/3, but it picks itself back up immediately with a cover of the Rolling Stones' classic "Paint It Black" and (the real gem here) "Wanted", which has a great deal of Vanessa's distilled voice unaided by instrumentation. She shows off a natural and viciously honest side of herself that is only exhibited once on the whole CD.
But through the whole thing, there is always the reassurance that Vanessa knows what she is doing and knows the right way to do it. After this album and her follow-up Harmonium exploded onto the music scene, there's no question about this artist's exuberance and, above all, just plain talent.
Free Music Review: young and very talented
Hit: 5 Stars
I usually buy music based on one artist's song. In this case, the song was 1000 Miles. I liked it the first time I heard it and my interest was rekindled when it was used in the movie 'White Chicks'.
After purchasing it and listening through it a time or two, I focused on each song as it played. The second song that has trumped 1000 Miles thus far is 'Paradise'. I've always appreciated an artist who uses a full orchestra and Vanessa is no exception. The piano and strings played in the first few seconds immediately grabbed my attention. Then came this innocent voice that quickly grew into a young woman in total control of a very compelling song. As a person quite a few years older than Vanessa, I feel hauntingly seduced by the maturity and control of this young womans voice.
Free Music Review: First off the track listing is wrong on amazon...
Hit: 4 Stars
So I decided to post that. Here it is:
1. Ordinary Day
2. Unsung
3. A Thousand Miles
4. Pretty Baby
5. Rinse
6. Sway
7. Paradise
8. Prince
9. Paint It Black
10. Wanted
11. Twilight
Okay, now on to the review.
This CD is pretty good I must admit. While at times Vanessa can come off as whiny, all of these songs (minus maybe two of them) sound so different it keeps you interested. Vanessa isn't the strongest lyricist but her words do the trick.
Highlights: Ordinary Day, Pretty Baby, Rinse, Paradise, Paint It Black and definitely Twilight which is probably the best track here. A Thousand Miles is good too but it isn't my favorite anymore.
Lastly, I would like to say although this release is close to stellar, her follow up (which flopped) Harmonium, is the better CD. I do recommend it over this one because of songs like Who's To Say, Afterglow, Private Radio, Half A Week Before Winter and She Floats. Certainly great songs.
But all in all, I believe that if you like pop music that isn't too poppy, and you're into something with some meaning, a lot of sadness mixed with loneliness and longing, and a unique feel and vibe for nearly every song, then you should get this CD. ^_^
4.5 stars.
Free Music Review: Bad Recording Quality
Hit: 2 Stars
This disc has great songs on it, but they are recorded in a very poor manner. You can actually hear the microphone input clip on parts of certain songs. This is solely the fault of the recording engineer. In other parts you begin to wonder if the other instruments are the feature and not Vanessa.
If you are listening to this CD on a boombox or some HTIB system, you may not ba able to hear what I hear (I have Classe front end components pushing B&W 802D speakers.) When I purchase a CD I expect recording quality better than what I can do in my basement!