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Music : Half the Perfect World
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Rating: 
- A bit of a let down
Compared to everything else out there at the moment, I suppose this is not a bad CD but after "Careless Love", (which I thought was shockingly brilliant), I find it a bit of a let down. The songs sound somehow dull, unengaging, disjointed, incoherent. Not even the guest appearance by k.d. lang, (whom I happen to really like), manages to alter my view. The overall impression I get is of a project that was done in a hurry and in a rather throwaway and nonchalant manner. And whereas before, I wasn't really bothered as to whether Peyroux was a woman who just happened to have a voice that sounded like Billie Holiday's or whether she was deliberately setting out to model herself on her, I am bothered now. I'm still not sure which is which but I'm bothered, simply because the music feels so flimsy, her voice becomes the main or only focus. And hard though she may be trying, she'll never be able to match Holiday's pathos. Billie didn't just sound the way she did by accident. She sounded that way as a result of the tumultuous, substance-fuelled and angst-ridden life she had.
I dunno. Maybe it'll grow on me. Maybe I'm just in the wrong frame of mind. Whatever. I guess it's okay in a playing-it-in-the-background-in-Starbucks kind of way but that's really it. It seems, like as is the case with most music, the best way to get anything of quality these days is to go back into the archives. With that in mind, I'd recommend either go get the real thing or, if you've already got all Billie Holiday's albums, try someone else like Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Bessie Smith or even Nancy Wilson.
I really wanted to like this CD and I was so looking forward to it. Sorry I can't be more positive.
Rating:
- An excellent CD, well worth adding to your collection.
The other positive amazon reviews speak plainly enough as to the sumptuous music on this disc. What I write is merely a slight riposte to the viewer next in line- Yes, she's no Billie Holiday. Nor was Nina Simone. Or Roberta Flack or Aretha Franklin. No more than Emmy Lou Harris or Dolly Parton were pale imitations of Loretta Lynne and Tammy Wynette. I'm glad all of those women put out records and followed their own paths and muses, regardless of who came before them and paved the way. Billie Holiday herself was no Bessie Smith.
At any rate, Ms. Peyroux is far far more than a Billie impersonator with an impeccable french accent. Moreover, while the curmudgeons, cranks and fogeys of the world are very much entitled to view the world through their own woebegotten sense of what is or is not a 'classic,' it's not their place to foist their all-too-arbitrary and subjective sense of aesthetics on the rest of us... We who might want to take a chance on something new. Don't get me wrong. Long live the church of Billie. But when you judge the world with her as your sole criteria, you loose out.
Besides, to my knowledge, there are no extant recordings of Billie Holiday covering songs by Serge Gainsborg, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, among others. Maybe I'll hear Billie singing 'Suzanne,' in my dreams, but then skullbound reveries are rather difficult to bootleg, are they not...?
One more thing I'd like to point out: they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery but that's a half-truth at best. Inspired interpretation and creative translation are bolder forms of paying homage. Ms. peyroux never simply covers a song; she has the audacity and flare to not only try new things with the tunes she loves- she makes them her own. Imitation is the class clown aping an Ace Ventura routine. What this woman does with the songs she plays is in an entirely different class... Ms. Peyroux's other CDs are just as exquisite. In fact, her cover of Elliott Smith's 'Between the Bars,' is perhaps the best cover of a Smith tune ever. Give her a listen, you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
- "She's her own, very real thing." Uh, not quite......
The main editorial review at the top of this page concludes by saying, "She's her own, very real thing." Someone could write this only if they've never heard Billie Holiday. And if they've never heard Billie Holiday, they have no business writing editorial reviews for Amazon.
Peyroux is to Billie Holiday what Harry Connick, Jr. is to Frank Sinatra. Suit yourself, it's your money.
Rating:
- A Serene State of Mind
There are those who'll dismiss Madeleine Peyroux as just another Billie Holliday wannabe - and those are the people who just don't 'get' what a wonderful artist Madeleine Peyroux really is. Madeleine is unique and cannot be pigeon-holed into one genre, or another. She is what she is: one of the best song interpreters we have today. Her vocals carry you to a serene state of mind. Stand out tracks include "Everybody's Talkin'" "Once In a While" and "Half the Perfect World," but the real stunner here is the introspective duet by Madeleine and K.D.Lang on Joni Mitchell's "River."
Rating: - Same old, same old
Miss Peyroux reminds me a lot of Billie Holiday. She has an exceptional and beautiful singing voice. Her rendition of standards in this album is great. She should just record a real jazz album full of the great american songbook.
I am a big fan of her but I am still waiting for album of just standards.
- A bit of a let downCompared to everything else out there at the moment, I suppose this is not a bad CD but after "Careless Love", (which I thought was shockingly brilliant), I find it a bit of a let down. The songs sound somehow dull, unengaging, disjointed, incoherent. Not even the guest appearance by k.d. lang, (whom I happen to really like), manages to alter my view. The overall impression I get is of a project that was done in a hurry and in a rather throwaway and nonchalant manner. And whereas before, I wasn't really bothered as to whether Peyroux was a woman who just happened to have a voice that sounded like Billie Holiday's or whether she was deliberately setting out to model herself on her, I am bothered now. I'm still not sure which is which but I'm bothered, simply because the music feels so flimsy, her voice becomes the main or only focus. And hard though she may be trying, she'll never be able to match Holiday's pathos. Billie didn't just sound the way she did by accident. She sounded that way as a result of the tumultuous, substance-fuelled and angst-ridden life she had.
I dunno. Maybe it'll grow on me. Maybe I'm just in the wrong frame of mind. Whatever. I guess it's okay in a playing-it-in-the-background-in-Starbucks kind of way but that's really it. It seems, like as is the case with most music, the best way to get anything of quality these days is to go back into the archives. With that in mind, I'd recommend either go get the real thing or, if you've already got all Billie Holiday's albums, try someone else like Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Bessie Smith or even Nancy Wilson.
I really wanted to like this CD and I was so looking forward to it. Sorry I can't be more positive.
Rating:
- An excellent CD, well worth adding to your collection.The other positive amazon reviews speak plainly enough as to the sumptuous music on this disc. What I write is merely a slight riposte to the viewer next in line- Yes, she's no Billie Holiday. Nor was Nina Simone. Or Roberta Flack or Aretha Franklin. No more than Emmy Lou Harris or Dolly Parton were pale imitations of Loretta Lynne and Tammy Wynette. I'm glad all of those women put out records and followed their own paths and muses, regardless of who came before them and paved the way. Billie Holiday herself was no Bessie Smith.
At any rate, Ms. Peyroux is far far more than a Billie impersonator with an impeccable french accent. Moreover, while the curmudgeons, cranks and fogeys of the world are very much entitled to view the world through their own woebegotten sense of what is or is not a 'classic,' it's not their place to foist their all-too-arbitrary and subjective sense of aesthetics on the rest of us... We who might want to take a chance on something new. Don't get me wrong. Long live the church of Billie. But when you judge the world with her as your sole criteria, you loose out.
Besides, to my knowledge, there are no extant recordings of Billie Holiday covering songs by Serge Gainsborg, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, among others. Maybe I'll hear Billie singing 'Suzanne,' in my dreams, but then skullbound reveries are rather difficult to bootleg, are they not...?
One more thing I'd like to point out: they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery but that's a half-truth at best. Inspired interpretation and creative translation are bolder forms of paying homage. Ms. peyroux never simply covers a song; she has the audacity and flare to not only try new things with the tunes she loves- she makes them her own. Imitation is the class clown aping an Ace Ventura routine. What this woman does with the songs she plays is in an entirely different class... Ms. Peyroux's other CDs are just as exquisite. In fact, her cover of Elliott Smith's 'Between the Bars,' is perhaps the best cover of a Smith tune ever. Give her a listen, you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
- "She's her own, very real thing." Uh, not quite......The main editorial review at the top of this page concludes by saying, "She's her own, very real thing." Someone could write this only if they've never heard Billie Holiday. And if they've never heard Billie Holiday, they have no business writing editorial reviews for Amazon.
Peyroux is to Billie Holiday what Harry Connick, Jr. is to Frank Sinatra. Suit yourself, it's your money.
Rating:
- A Serene State of MindThere are those who'll dismiss Madeleine Peyroux as just another Billie Holliday wannabe - and those are the people who just don't 'get' what a wonderful artist Madeleine Peyroux really is. Madeleine is unique and cannot be pigeon-holed into one genre, or another. She is what she is: one of the best song interpreters we have today. Her vocals carry you to a serene state of mind. Stand out tracks include "Everybody's Talkin'" "Once In a While" and "Half the Perfect World," but the real stunner here is the introspective duet by Madeleine and K.D.Lang on Joni Mitchell's "River."
Rating:
- Same old, same oldMiss Peyroux reminds me a lot of Billie Holiday. She has an exceptional and beautiful singing voice. Her rendition of standards in this album is great. She should just record a real jazz album full of the great american songbook.
I am a big fan of her but I am still waiting for album of just standards.