CD Charts
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Music : Half The Perfect World
1 2 3
Rating: 
- Deeply disappointing
This album is dull. Deeply, deeply dull. I love Peyroux's first two albums but after listening to this one several times in a desperate attempt to find something of merit I've taken it down to the charity shop. It's hard to pin down but there is a lifeless sameness to most of the tracks. The only reason this got a second star is the first track, "I'm All Right" - which wouldn't have been out of place on Careless Love - a single thirty-something woman's statement of another failed relationship featuring the clever line break "It should be easy to leave/but I have to conceive/that wherever you are you're driving my car". Unfortunately, after the opening track it is all downhill. Buy Careless Love or Dreamland instead.
Rating:
- Pleasant enough
I thought Careless Love was excellent, bought the first album on the strength of that and liked some tracks but some I just switched off to, and bought this latest on the basis of the average experience of the two... To my ears, there are some fine songs here, ably performed but as a whole the album does not (after 3-4 listens anyway) deliver what Careless Love does.
I don't suppose there are many people out there who like Peyroux and also like early Tom Waits but if you know the original Saturday Night then listening to Peyroux's version is like listening to Rolf Harris doing Stairway to Heaven.
I'm sticking it on iTunes and the iPod and I'll give it the ultimate benefit-of-the-doubt test which is to stick anything questionable on the car stacker and play it at least ten times over the next month. It's not a hi-fi experience (10-speaker Bose though) but it's immersive and if that doesn't work for me nothing will.
Three stars seems a little harsh as I can't put my finger on anything specific but Careless Love is a genuine 5-star and I simply can't see this being picked off the shelf anywhere near as often.
Same story with Norah Jones' second, but that's another review...
Rating: - Silky smooth but needs driving hard!
This is easy-listening jazz by a singer with a fine voice that she rarely drives to the limits. Her band provide a perfect and sympathetic backdrop, particularly some excellent organ work. All silky smooth, but I can't help feeling that undemanding selection of material holds Madeleine Peyroux back from her potential.
To choose one example, she duets with k d lang on Joni Mitchell's song River. I love Joni's Blue, but that is arguably the dreariest song on the album. Peyroux could surely have chosen to reinterpret a more challenging and adventurous song?
Don't get me wrong, this is high quality but somewhat empty late-time jazz. I hope the content matches the wrapper next time out!
Rating:
- Svelte and sophisticated
This is a unique album of outstanding quality - jazzy with very special vocals. This should have a wide range of appeal and could be the perfect soundtrack for a dinner party or a romantic evening with a bottle of wine. Very special and well worth sampling.
Rating: - Good but over-hyped
This is a good album but her earlier 2 were exceptional. They were sparse and let the music out but this one is more conventional, easy listening and over-produced for my taste.
I like it but this will never be one of my favourites - nothing as original as her interpretions on the first two albums and far too many instruments.
- Deeply disappointingThis album is dull. Deeply, deeply dull. I love Peyroux's first two albums but after listening to this one several times in a desperate attempt to find something of merit I've taken it down to the charity shop. It's hard to pin down but there is a lifeless sameness to most of the tracks. The only reason this got a second star is the first track, "I'm All Right" - which wouldn't have been out of place on Careless Love - a single thirty-something woman's statement of another failed relationship featuring the clever line break "It should be easy to leave/but I have to conceive/that wherever you are you're driving my car". Unfortunately, after the opening track it is all downhill. Buy Careless Love or Dreamland instead.
Rating:
- Pleasant enoughI thought Careless Love was excellent, bought the first album on the strength of that and liked some tracks but some I just switched off to, and bought this latest on the basis of the average experience of the two... To my ears, there are some fine songs here, ably performed but as a whole the album does not (after 3-4 listens anyway) deliver what Careless Love does.
I don't suppose there are many people out there who like Peyroux and also like early Tom Waits but if you know the original Saturday Night then listening to Peyroux's version is like listening to Rolf Harris doing Stairway to Heaven.
I'm sticking it on iTunes and the iPod and I'll give it the ultimate benefit-of-the-doubt test which is to stick anything questionable on the car stacker and play it at least ten times over the next month. It's not a hi-fi experience (10-speaker Bose though) but it's immersive and if that doesn't work for me nothing will.
Three stars seems a little harsh as I can't put my finger on anything specific but Careless Love is a genuine 5-star and I simply can't see this being picked off the shelf anywhere near as often.
Same story with Norah Jones' second, but that's another review...
Rating:
- Silky smooth but needs driving hard!This is easy-listening jazz by a singer with a fine voice that she rarely drives to the limits. Her band provide a perfect and sympathetic backdrop, particularly some excellent organ work. All silky smooth, but I can't help feeling that undemanding selection of material holds Madeleine Peyroux back from her potential.
To choose one example, she duets with k d lang on Joni Mitchell's song River. I love Joni's Blue, but that is arguably the dreariest song on the album. Peyroux could surely have chosen to reinterpret a more challenging and adventurous song?
Don't get me wrong, this is high quality but somewhat empty late-time jazz. I hope the content matches the wrapper next time out!
Rating:
- Svelte and sophisticatedThis is a unique album of outstanding quality - jazzy with very special vocals. This should have a wide range of appeal and could be the perfect soundtrack for a dinner party or a romantic evening with a bottle of wine. Very special and well worth sampling.
Rating:
- Good but over-hypedThis is a good album but her earlier 2 were exceptional. They were sparse and let the music out but this one is more conventional, easy listening and over-produced for my taste.
I like it but this will never be one of my favourites - nothing as original as her interpretions on the first two albums and far too many instruments.