Vanessa Carlton - Harmonium
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Free Music Notes for Harmonium
Free Music Review: Vanessa's Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
It took only two years for Vanessa Carlton to come back out of the studio with her second album: HARMONIUM. The record is a remarkable piece of work, and even better than Carlton's pervious album. Once again, by the Pop/Rocker's side is an amazing group of a professional orchestra, professional guitarist, bassist, and drummer. The group's work had astoundingly progressed with more musical traits such as passing chords, melody lines, dynamics, and counterpoint. Third Eye Blind's singer and guitarist Stephen Jenkins also stepped in as Vanessa's producer, adding his own share of creating this amazing piece of work. The duo's colaberation and compatibility truly rings to one's ears on the track "She Floats". The piece contains a beautiful orchestrated introduction, and a unique use of Carlton's and Jenkins' own musical wailing and screaming. HARMONIUM is a work displaying Vanessa Carlton's true musical aspirations, and the album is a must have for any music fan.
Enhanced CD features contains behind the scene footage of making HARMONIUM.
Stand out tracks include:
"White Houses"
"Who's To Say?"
"Private Radio"
"Half A Week Before The Winter"
"She Floats"
Free Music Review: "Love is dancing on my finger..."
Hit: 5 Stars
Vanessa Carlton's sophomore effort, Harmonium is a outstanding album. I did not care for her first album, Be Not Nobody. The only songs I did care for were Ordinary Day and A Thousand Miles. Here on Harmonium all 11 tracks are brillant, moody, and cool. Afterglow and Who's To Say are my fave tracks, great ballads. Her boyfriend Stephen Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) helped produced this album and he did a fabulous job with the final result. C'est la vie and Private Radio are really strong uptempo songs. I love her paino playing on She Floats and The Wreckage. She shows great promise on San Fransico and the first single, White Houses. The best song is a tearjerker called Annie, the song is about a young girl dying, "I'd give my bones for you to get a few more years..." Papa and Half a week before the winter show Carlton's growth as a songwriter and musician, "He sits behind a desk of mahogany, he whispers dreams into my ear..." It's a shame this album wasn't commerically succesful like her first album because this could not be a better album. Harmonium is a hidden treasure, buy it now, you won't be disappointed.Free Music Review: Beauty
Hit: 4 Stars
With just a simple background of piano, Vanessa stiches the gaps between all sorts of music and makes it "Harmonium". It's a very beautiful album. When I first heard "White Houses", and saw the movie video, I fell for this album immediately. "Annie" is another significant one, it's so beautiful, it brings you tenderly to the scene inside the lyrics as the moody piano carries you to the final end of the four minutes. I must say my favorite song is the light "San Francisco", but I still failed to work out what this song is all about; it's one song sounding quite light-hearted but with lyrics that I believe has a certain history.
Every single song in "Harmonium" is a poem. She even makes the fast "Private Radio" sound beautiful. "Half a Week Before the Winter" sounds like a world of fantasy, but I think she is trying to tell something. "She Floats" is an eerie song about the suicide of a girl. She can be very like Picasso sometimes, only that she sings.
At first I was surprised how less this album seems to be acknoledged by the music listeners, but as the world only cares for hot beats and sex and gangs nowadays, I guess I must not be shocked. Also, these songs aren't exactly what you'd call catching, especially "C'est La Vie" and "Papa". With Vanessa, you get something different from hip hop or pop. I hope she makes another hit like "A Thousand Miles" on her next album... to get the attention she deserves.
Free Music Review: She's grown
Hit: 5 Stars
Unlike her debut, Be Not Nobody, where the only few good songs were 'A Thousand Miles', 'Ordinary Day' and 'Sway', Harmonium proves to us she's not a 'pop princess' as she hates being called by the media, but she's one of the few artists truly capable of creating an album that's consistently good and isn't ambitious to cater to the masses.
Most people will only associate this album with 'White Houses', which I think is not an accurate representation of this album. To me, 'White Houses' was a chip off the old block where 'A Thousand Miles' came from, and really was just to draw to her sophomore release a little bit of attention.
The vintage element of the album really comes out in the songs 'Annie', 'C'est La Vie'(where she plays the rhodes instead of a piano) and 'Half A Week Before the Winter'. These songs define what the album really is.
One of the interesting songs is 'She Floats', where in the middle of the song Stephan Jenkins and Vanessa sing the vocals for a 40-strong choir, and screams can be heard in the background. It's the most bizarre, yet climactic thing you could ever hear. What's more, 'The Wreckage', the hidden track to this album, is a flashback of the dead girl in 'She Floats', as she speeds through the highway.
My favorites:
Annie
Half A Week Before the Winter
Private Radio
Papa
What intrigues me is why she named this album 'Harmonium' without actually using the harmonium in any of her songs, and perhaps the correlation with the culture and history with that instrument with her songs.
But, that said, I think this album is severely underrated and it's a pity she didn't get to release another hit. Vanessa was going to release a second single from Harmonium (which I believe would have been 'San Francisco'), but her record company decided against it. So she's going to work on her third album, and hopefully it will rock as well!
Free Music Review: A CLASSIC !
Hit: 5 Stars
I LOVE THIS ALBUM, IT'S A CLASSIC. WITH UNIQUE SONGS, WITH GOOD MEANINGS. I WISH THIS ALBUM HAD MORE PUBLICITY, AND MORE SINGLES, BECAUSE THIS ALBUM IS WORTHTY OF GOOD SINGLES. LIKE:
WHO'S TO SAY - THIS SONG IS BEATIFUL IN IT'S OWN WAY, IT TALKS ABOUT HOW WE DONT KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, SO LETS LIVE FOR THIS MOMENT.I COULD SEE THIS SONG BEING PLAYED IN ONE OF THE O.C EPISODES.
ANNIE - SUCH A SAD SONG, ALMOST MADE ME CRY.I LOVE THE WAY SHE PLAYS THE PIANO ON THIS SONG. IT'S VERY TOUCHING.
PRIVATE RADIO - ONE OF THE VERY UPBEAT SONGS ON THIS ALBUM. I LIKE THIS SONG TOO. WHEN I FIRST HEARD THIS SONG I HAD IT STUCK IN MY HEAD FOR LIKE A WEEK.
TRULY, ALL OF THE SONGS ON THIS ALBUM R GREAT. VANESSA CARLTON IS SUCH A TALENTED SINGER. I HOPE 2 SEE MORE OF HER AND TO BUY MORE OF HER ALBUM'S.