Vanessa Carlton - Harmonium
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Free Music Notes for Harmonium
Free Music Review: Harmonium
Hit: 5 Stars
Vanessa Carlton, slipped under my radar the first time around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all heard "A Thousand Miles", but c'mon, was it worth an albums worth of material? I dont know. Now, shes got Harmonium, which is just...(searching for the right word) BEAUTIFUL, Vanessa has created what I believe to be what Tori Amos would have sounded like if she'd continued recording in the style of "Little Earthquakes".
Every song on here shows a different entity of her songwriting, from the masterpiece of a first single, "White Houses" (about the process of meeting new friends/falling in love/losing friends...the perfect summer song) to the very very last song "The Wreckage" (a detailing almost ethereal experience about an automobile accident caused by road rage). I wont delve into every song on the album, but I will say this, the highlights on the album are "Who's to Say" (featuring background vocals by Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes), "C'est la Vie" (about coming to terms with life and love and not giving a f*ck about it), and "Annie" which is so heartwrechingly beautiful, it might pull a couple tears out.
However, I must say that my personal two favorites are "Half a Week Before the Winter"...which oh my god, is just quite possibly one of the most beautiful, emotional compositions Ms. Carlton has ever done. It paints a visual in your head, and for those who've heard it, doesnt it sound like she was inspired by "Underworld"? Listen to the lyrics "Half a week before the winter, the chill bites before it comes, and I'm a child of the pleasure, daddy brings before he runs...he whispers dreams into my ear...though I've given him his empire, he delivers me my fear" (Siouxsie and the Banshees would be proud!) My other favorite is "She Floats", a powerful composition, dark yet full of vibrant vocals and strings in the beginning, what a way to end a beautiful album. (It was great live, too!)
Overall, this album is unmistakably great! I highly recommend it!
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: In a world of pandamoniam find harmony within Varnessa Carlton's supearlative Harmonium you no longer need to go 1000 miles for
Hit: 5 Stars
With her inert ability to hit all of the right cords, Vanessa Carlton had us all walk 1000 miles in 2002 as she begun the monotonous single track strain to make a hit and keep her on the road to success others cannot follow. In planting her foot firmly on the accelerator pedel and leaving other performers in the dust, Vanessa has travelled stedily with her fans embroiled in emotion with a willingness to follow wherever she leads. Vanessa Carlton has been invariably leaving everyone awash with desire, like footprints in the sand being swollowed up by the ocean, and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs imploring us all to 'Be Not Nobody' leading us finally to her 'Harmonium' that's worth the wait.
Immersing the listener in an eloquently flowing 'Harmonium' from the very beginning, Vanessa Carlton ignites a dorment spark within me and hopefully other listeners that leads me again into her enticing wild irresistible world where dreams unfurl and secrets are kept within the walls of 'White Houses' where no 'Desperate Housewives' reside, but a facade is exposed. With delicate beauty and accuracy for a lover's first time, she paints a haunting, playful picture with skillful words in which to fill her stupendous second album, leaving an infectious beat in our hearts and words we'll chant always. I am plucked like a delicate flower, for a corsage on Vanessa's dress as she takes my hand and I give her a passionate kiss. Infurled in the trance of her eyes, I linger. Her web of sticky threads holds me fast in an embrace we never want to escape. You'll stay as enthralled as I was as the music plays and I'm led on a dance with Vanessa leading any restless, unconvinced souls to peace and harmony with her. At the end leaving me forever intriuged how Vanessa has pulled off this incredible feat and wanting more. All in the pursuit to make beautiful music fans like myself will adore as it stands the test of time.
Free Music Review: Awesome From the Begin til' the End
Hit: 5 Stars
I love this album, not think 'bout i'm a fan, is so simple is excellent, but it's so hard to understan harmonium.
white houses 4/5: i like this song, the lyric is easy, but well estructured, the music looks a little bit simple, but it's good.
who's to say 5/5: i love it, the rebel but honest song, 'bout what you're feeling: mother don't.../ tell me friends are the ones that i lose/ coz' they bleed before you, it's nice
annie 5/5: this song turn me sad when i hear it, a dying girl, the piano is excellent and the vocals too, is a song with so much feel, but it rare that vanessa didn't use the orchestra in this song
san francisco 4/5: it's like a sunday song, i like it, the orchestra sound good, the piano look simple but it's nice
afterglow 5/5: i like the lyric, about feel free, and the music is excellent too, one of my fav. with annie
private radio 4/5: this gets a rhythm more comercial, but the lyrics like all the lyrics of this album is so good, about the insomnia, part of one that the other unknow maybe won't know
half a week before the winter 5/5: i like the lyrics here star the somber part of harmonium, confuses lyrics, talkin' about supervivence.
c'est la vie 5/5: i love the fender rhodes, the somber sound, the drums, oh it's all so melancholyc
papa 5/5: she assume a great role like pianist, playin' just her all the song, is a short song but she shows her ability in the piano, and the lyrics is so somber too
she floats 5/5: the most somber and melancholyc song in the album, a girl screams in this song, the lyrcis is short but a perfect craft, i love it too
the wreckage 5/5: the secret track, i love it, is so good, the same of papa
Free Music Review: Buy it. Now.
Hit: 5 Stars
Once I heard "White Houses" I knew I was hooked. The first time I heard the song I was practically enchanted and I just couldn't stop listening to it for, like, 2 full months. I had been a fan of Vanessa since her first single, but to be truthful, I wasn't very impressed with her first album, "Be Not Nobody." Sure, there were some catchy tunes, but a lot of the other songs were pretty boring. Well, thankfully, she didn't make the same mistake again.
Vanessa Carlton's new album "Harmonium" is amazing. a 'Harmonium' is an instrument like a piano and a flute, but Carlton likes the title because it's, quote, "like harmony and pandomonium." I just think the word sounds cool, and the album IS cool. ALL of the songs are great, I can easily listen to the whole CD over and over again. My only problem was how short it was, with only 10 songs listed, one bonus track (which I didn't really get why she didn't just list it, it would have made the CD look longer). The entire album is only a little longer than 40 minutes, about half the time of some CDs, but it makes up for it. I guess I'd rather have a short CD of all good songs than a long CD where I only like 2 songs. And believe me, ALL the songs are awesome.
I really have no problem with any song. OK, She Floats is my least favorite, but only because it's kind of boring and I don't really get it. But every song has its own uniquness, has its own music, and tells its own story.
I also like how the album has balance, it covers every end of the spectrum. It's got happy songs, sad songs, slow songs, upbeat songs, and manages to make them all great to listen to.
It's just an amazing CD, and if people have any brains, it's gonna be a classic.