CD Review Regina Spektor - Far

Artist: Regina Spektor

Album: Far

Worth Buying? Every Track

You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Good Singer Songwriters

Tell me more: This is my first album experience with Regina Spektor. So I come to this review without the experience (or baggage, depending on how you want to look at it) of her back catalog. I come to this album as newbie.

This album really did sneak up one me. At first I was kind of indifferent. Another female singer songwriter at the piano singing with a soft lilting voice. Then the soft chorus to the song Blue Lips sung with an almost childlike innocence, struck me with its contrasting lyrics.

Blue Lips Blue Viens

Blue the Color of out planet from far far away

...Blue lips? The only people I know with blue lips are the dead. It felt like the song was contrasting ongoing bustling of human life against the silent intimacy of a single human death.

So I backtracked and started look at the lyrics preceeding the chorus

He stumbled into faith and thought

God, this is all there is?

The pictures in his mind arose

And began to breathe

And all the gods and all the worlds

Began colliding on a backdrop of blue

Blue lips, blue veins

He took a step, but then felt tired.

He said, "I'll rest a little while."

But when he tried to walk again,

He wasn't - a child.

And all the people hurried fast, real fast

And no one ever smiled

Blue lips, blue veins.

Blue, the color of our planet from far, far away

Blue lips, blue veins.

Blue, the color of our planet from far, far away.

After that the next song to grab me was Laughing With. I was immediately struck by, the sheer realness, and truthfulness of these lyrics. I remember comedian Dennis Miller (before he switched to becoming a political commentator) saying "No one gives themselves to God on prom night" and these lyrics certainly do make that point and more.

No one laughs at God in a hospital

No one laughs at God in a war

No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests No one's laughing at God when it's gotten real late and their kid's not back from that party yet

But God can be funny

At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke

Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they're about to choke

God can be funny

When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way

And when presented like a genie

Who does magic like Houdini

Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Clause

From this point forward I was won over. Each song began to grow on me more and more with each listen and I  also began to notice that her musicianship showed an obvious background in Classical piano.

I don't get to review music for a living (yet) so I don't have the luxury of always being able to have access to (or the experience of) an artists entire catalog before commenting. So like most regular folks, I sometimes come to the party a bit late and maybe start with an artist a couple of album in. So it's always a real testament when a single album by an artist is enough to make me want to start investigating their back catalog and hear what musically led them to this album.

After forming my own opinion, I decided to then see what others had to say, I was surprised by the number of music writers who expressed some level of disappointment. Reading their reviews, it would seem that this album is a bit of a departure and they want their "old" Regina Spektor back. This in no way diminishes my desire to hear her back catalog, but I am glad that I went into this album without any baggage from it.

TJR 2010

Listen to samples and get it on CD here

Right now only 5.99 for the album at the mp3 store

special edition CD and DVD version

It's on Vinyl too

Music Worth Buying 01/05/09 Sean Lennon

Artist: Sean Lennon

Album: Into the Sun

Worth Buying: Yes, the whole album.

You might be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Beck, Ethereal Pop, Quirky and or artsy (but not pretentious) singer songwriters......and John Lennon too.

When John Lennon's older son Julian released his first solo album it got good reviews. It was a good album. But everyone in the media seemed to fixate on how much Julian's voice sounded like his fathers. The word eerie was often used.

And in spite of the good reviews he got, It was kind've unfair in a way that they centered on this and not on the fact that he was good songwriter in his own right.

But for Mr. Lennon's younger son Sean, this was not a problem.

When I first heard Sean Lennon's debut album "Into The Sun", my first thought was how much he didn't sound like his father......And yet, in a strange way he did.

With "Into the Sun" Sean Ono Lennon proved that he was very much his father's son, not by sounding like him, but by being as innovative as him.  

Into the Sun is to me one of the most overlooked albums of 2006. There are moments when you can hear traces of his father, especially on a song like "home" with its spacey slide guitar echoing Strawberry Fields. But for the most part, I would have to compare Sean Lennon more to idiosyncratic artists like Beck then to his famous father.

If I where to describe the music on this CD I would call it dreamy ethereal pop with occasional dips into grunge, bossa nova, jazz, and psychedelia. Sean himself is a very good and very expressive musician. He may not have a voice as strong as his father but his vocals are sincere and he makes his vocals work.

If you can listen to this album without preconceived notions of what the son of a Rock icon should sound like and accept it on its own terms, I think you will be richly rewarded with the musical landscapes that Sean Lennon paints for you.

What about the Packaging? The CD comes in a standard jewel case with a nice booklet that features the lyrics and some nice illustrations.

Listen to samples of Into The Sun and purchase in mp3 format here

Puchase Into The Sun in CD format for the same price as mp3

Speed Racer as an analogy of the Independent music artist

Speed Racer (the movie) just came out on DVD. I wasn’t a fan of the Speed Racer cartoon as a kid (Gigantor was more my thing). But a friend of mine wanted me see it , so I did.

First of all, I was surprised at how much fun the movie was, I surprised by it's heart, but most of all, I was surprised how much the films story worked as an analogy for the struggles independent musicians/recording artists (of whom I count myself one) and the indie music scene.

When the film starts Speed is an independent racer. He is sponsored by no one but his Father's own equally independent Racer Motors.

When Speed wins the films opening race and makes the papers, his pit crew of 1 wonders why Racer Motors wasn't mentioned in the story.

Pops racer grimly states "The sponsors control the media". This sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Speed Racer struggles between the idea of signing with a major sponsor or staying independent.

Once upon a time, if you where a musician/songwriter, the only way you where going to release an album was if you signed to a Major label. Oh sure you could release an album on your own, but it would cost you a LOT, and no one would know about it after you where done. The labels controlled distribution. They controlled what made the shelves (they still do for the most part) they controlled what got on the radio through payola (and for the most part they still do).

The 2 big differences between now and then is that digital technology has made the recording process affordable and digital distribution is open to everyone and the labels have no control (but they keep trying to control it god bless em' LOL).

Speed quickly learns that signing to a major sponsor can put a lot of money in his pocket,but that they (the sponsor)can decide what he can and cannot do. They can even tell him he has to lose the race.

And like the Major labels, if speed doesn't sign with them, if he dares to race against them as an independent racer, they will bury him. They will make sure he never leaves the starting gate.

Even with the Internet the Major Labels try their best to control any avenue of promotion they can.

IE: It's not enough to beat the competition. They don't want the world to know that it even ever existed in the first place

Speed is told by the sponsors that his ideas of racing are all wrong. That racing is not about anything grander then the commerce it provides. Later his mother confirms that watching him race is like watching art.

numerous are the stories of recording artists with a real vision of their own finding themselves at odds with a label, who doesn't see their vision as "commercially appealing". Many times an artists signs to a label ecstatic at first, only to be frustrated later when desicions about their music, is not in their own hands.

In the end, Speed chooses his independence. As a result of his decision he must face impossible odds. He must face a giant promotion machine that wants him to not exist, and a system that works completely against him. Speed faces all these challenges and he triumphs (This a Hollywood movie after all).

In the real world The Indie music artist must face pretty much the same challenges. Our victories may not be as dramatic as a motion picture but they do happen and they are shared. When indie musicians  Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová won the Oscar for their song "Falling Slowly" from the Film "Once" it was a victory for the entire independent music community.

I am sorry to hear that Speed Racer did not do as well as hoped at the Box office. It is a visually stunning film with a surprising amount of heart (Not to mention a lot of fun). Go seek it out on DVD  if you haven't seen it yet, and if you have already, perhaps after reading this, you might see it through different eyes.

Speed Racer on DVD

Speed Racer on Blu Ray

Music Worth Buying 09/08/08 The Bird And The Bee

Artist: The Bird and the Bee

Album: The Bird and the Bee

Worth buying: Yes, the whole album.

You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: The Carpenters, Electronic pop, ambient pop. quirky pop, & indie pop.

Tell me more: Imagine if the Carpenters where more ambient sounding, and weren't opposed to using the "F" word  from time to time.  This is an album with lush and beautiful musical landscapes which came off at first listen as being electronic. But on closer listening I found that the instrumentation was actually more acoustic than I realized. But most importanly are the beautiful silk like female vocals that give this band it's unique sound (thus the Carpenters comparison) . There is a fun and quirky subversive quality to this album that extends beyond just the occasional use of the aforementioned "F" word.  This is one of the most enjoyable pop albums I have heard in some time.

click here to listen to samples and buy in the mp3 format

click here to buy in CD format

What if I am not ready to buy the whole album?   Try the song: F-cking Boyfriend