An amazing musician with an incredible voice
5
By JKTaylor
Many of these songs have been available in one form or another on Allison Crowe’s website for over a year and a couple also appear on her live album. They are presented here in album format with cleaned-up production and arrangements. I think at her core, Ms. Crowe is really storyteller and she uses her amazing voice to deftly pull the listener into the sentiment and landscape of each song. She is such a talented lyricist and songwriter, it hardly seems fair to us mere mortals that she should have a voice that is equally adept at portraying fragile emotions as it is capable of blowing off the roof with sustained power.
Though there isn’t a “theme” to the album, the tracks flow nicely in the given order. The songs range from joyous to longing, from playful to somber, from raucous to deeply moving. And while I’m not generally a fan of cover tunes, two of the three here are beautifully reinterpreted (“A Case of You” has never been so achingly gorgeous and “Darling Be Home Soon” receives equal treatment). The third cover, “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” holds up well against Aretha Franklin’s original breakout hit. Of the remaining songs, there are several standouts (Effortless, Skeletons and Spirits, There Is, Now, Silence) and no throw-away songs at all. I recommend this album to anyone who likes excellent music, and is bored by the cookie-cutter pop tunes that are so prevalent today.
