Music Reviews: Stacey Kent, Rhett Miller, PJ Harvey, The Postal Service, Poe

Making progress here. :) Finished now with the stuff I listened to on my road trip on the 15th-17th, plus a new artist I found since I got back. But still to come are the CDs I uploaded from J2's pile in his room. Woo. That should be fun. Maybe in another week or so...

Stacey Kent - "Collection", vols. 1 & 2: I liked iTunes' description of her in the bio section, to wit: "Kent is what men used to call a classy broad. Her elegant fashion sense and understated vocal style make her sound like a woman from another time, an unflappable sophisticate with a warm, slightly world-weary persona."

I would have said it like this: her voice has a quality of innocence to it, but it's an innocence that has also been... um... "at the footbridge with a boy after dark" more than once, if you get my meaning. :) Kind of like the girl-next-door channeling Billie Holiday. Yowzah.

Where's this girl been all my life? :) My goodness, what a sweet, pretty voice and a sensual, sophisticated delivery. Ooh! Makes me want to hug myself. :P This is good understated jazz, beautifully sung. Absolutely gorgeous, not a single bad track.

And huh, she's been around a while, too - quite a discography. Enough to put out two compilations of prior albums. Wonder why I never heard of her before? As it is, I only heard one of her songs by chance on an iTunes radio station I listen to sometimes, SKY.FM's "Datempo Lounge", and had to find out who she was.

As to favorites, it's hard to single any out, but.. I'd have to say Dreamsville (a Mancini tune from the 50s that I never knew had lyrics), Comes Love, East of the Sun, Shall We Dance, Little Girl Blue, All Too Soon, The Gentle Rain, and You Are There (which I can barely get through, it's so poignant.) Well, enough superlatives. :) She's just plain good.

Rhett Miller - "The Believer": Nice. Sometime front man from the Old 97's, I guess. Now I have to see *them* in concert. They are in town now and then. He comes off as sort of leaning toward the pop side of alt-country, but - gosh, he's nice to listen to. :)

Good songs, good vocals, good playing... familiar themes but not the same-old/same-old lyrics. Solid. Favorites: Brand New Way, Delicate, Help Me Suzanne, Meteor Shower, Singular Girl, I Believe She's Lying, Fireflies, Victoria, I'm WIth Her. Great CD.

PJ Harvey - "Rid of Me", "Is This Desire?": Yikes! She is either pinning your ears back with intensity, or calming you down with subtlety. It's all or nothing with her, it seems. And these two albums reflect that on/off dichotomy. On "Rid of Me", she sounds angry & disillusioned about life. On "Is This Desire?" she is more contemplative & puzzled.

I prefer the latter - by a long stretch. :) Did not like the first CD at all, but on the second one there were a few tracks that made the cut: Is This Desire?, A Perfect Day Elise, Catherine, Angelene, The Garden, The River. This is not an artist that I warm up to, but she certainly does have a following. Just why, I can't quite fathom. :)

The Postal Service - "Give Up": Hm. Seems to me these guys should either do electronic music and drop the lyrics, or .. if they want to sing, change the backing band. I'm not sure their vocals and the music really go together. Such Great Heights was a big hit for them, but Iron & Wine's acoustic version fits the lyrics sooo much better. It becomes the romantic ballad it should be. :) Aww... it's one of my favorite songs ever. I guess I have sort of an emotional attachment to it. :)

We Will Become Silhouettes was another popular one for these guys. Kind of a cool lyric idea, but I think it would have been better presented if done in a similar way to the way The Flaming Lips did "Do You Realize?", much more breathy and ethereal and without the blips and beeps and driving rhythm. Didn't work for me.

Natural Anthem is another one where the electronic music is good as is, until the weak vocals come in. They need to yell more in a song like that. In comparison, Clark Gable is a track where the vocals and the music work really well together. Favorites: Clark Gable, Recycled Air, Sleeping In, The District Sleeps Alone.

Poe - "Haunted": Ooh. Peculiar. Creepy. This girl is apparently working through the emotions surrounding her father's death right in front of you, the listener. Yikes. Very intense in spots. And really odd recordings and voice mails (from the beyond) interspersed in between songs. Eww. Feels like you're eavesdropping on someone's grief.

There are a few tracks that are okay (mostly those with no creepy voices from the netherworld), but mostly it's kind of disturbing. She's a pretty good rocker when she isn't being creepy. I liked: Spanish Doll, Hey Pretty, Lemon Meringue, Walk The Walk, Control, Amazed, Wild.