Author: Allison Crowe
Format: Remixes included
Release Date: 04-05-2004
Details: 'Secrets' ~ Allison Crowe recorded this solo, singer-songwriter, album in 2004. First setting up a home studio, Allison engineered and assisted with production (alongside Rainer Willeke of Canadian r'n'b combo, Soul Station). Allison performs all vocals (lead and harmonies), plays piano, guitar, keyboards and added percussive 'thumps' to the collection. Secrets contains a mix of tunes from Allison's 'band days' (some of which are radically redefined), freshly-penned songs, and a couple of choice picks from other artists: Counting Crows' brooding 'Raining in Baltimore' ~ the first song Allison performed when she launched her career as a singer-songwriter; and 'Joan of Arc', a shining exemplar of Leonard Cohen's poetic brilliance. Guest artists contributing to Secrets are: Del Crowe (guitar); Jo Lundstrom (accordion); Eric Reiswig (Uilleann pipes); and Rainer Willeke (tambourine). Tags: Allison Crowe, singer songwriter, rock, folk, jazz, pop, soul, acoustic, independent, alternative, contemporary, live, piano, guitar, lyrical, vocal, seasonal, holiday, Christmas, Beethoven, Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco, Counting Crows, Pearl Jam, Leonard Cohen, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Chet Baker, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, John Lennon, Elton John, Bob Marley, Edith Piaf, Nina Simone, Fiona Apple ***** Here's what reviewers say about Allison Crowe's 'Secrets': 'Joan of Arc: Once famously described by the Vancouver Courier as possessing a style akin to 'Elton John meets Edith Piaf', the Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe is renowned for her ability to blend control and melodrama. Certainly she does so on this spirited cover of Cohen's 'Songs of Love and Hate' classic, a track which also powerfully showcases her considerable talent as a fine interpreter of song.' ~ MOJO Magazine (UK) ~~~ April 8, 2007 Review in The Green Man Review By Kelly Sedinger, April, 2007 Allison Crowe, Secrets (Rubenesque Records, 2004) This is, apparently, the debut CD of Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe, whose holiday-themed album Tidings impressed me a few years back (after a bit of work on my part). This album demonstrates roughly the same approach to music-making that ultimately impressed me before, with Crowe using her alto vocals to hone in on the important parts of a lyric, while her own tasteful and elegant piano playing backs her up with a minimum of other instruments. The best thing about 'indie' music is that at it's best, it represents a clean and unfiltered view of music performance in which the ideal is to make you feel as though the performer in question is sitting in the room with you, with no giant bank of sophisticated electronica between you and them, filtering the sound into something that, while often impressive, is still part-industrial. Of course, one has to look through a lot of indie music to find a gem like this, but Allison Crowe's Secrets is indeed just that: a gem. (And remember, it's a debut album. From this point, she had nowhere to go but up.) One of the first things one sees on Crowe's official Web site is a quote she apparently likes to give in interviews: 'Why music? Why breathing?' That response indicates a driving passion for her music, and this passion is easily heard in her work. What impresses me so much, on repeated listening to Crowe's work, is the way she manages to deliver the right emphasis to precisely the part of a phrase or an entire song that needs it most. She's not content to exist in a boring musical world of 'First verse-to-chorus-to-second-verse-to-chorus-to-bridge-to-chorus again.' Each of the songs on this album -- nine of which, out of eleven, are her own compositions -- stands alone as it's own complete artistic statement. That's an impressive accomplishment for an artist making her debut album. Heck, it's even impressive that she only includes two covers here, especially considering how well done those covers are. (They are 'Raining in Baltimore,' originally by Counting Crows, and 'Joan of Arc,' by the great Leonard Cohen.) The only real negative with this CD as a package is, frankly, the booklet, which contains just a list of performers, a few acknowledgments, and that's about it. I would have liked to see printed lyrics here, especially since Crowe writes her own. Alas. It took me a while to warm up to Allison Crowe's voice the first time I heard it, but I'm glad I spent the time. She is a considerable talent. [Kelly Sedinger] Reprinted with permission from Green Man Review. Copyright by Green Man Review. ~~~ Secrets: CD Review Sophia Gurley, The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music (USA) August 2006 'Lisa's Song' is a beautiful, powerful song for a young woman, Lisa Marie Young, who went missing from Nanaimo, B.C. in June 2002, and proceeds from the sale of the CD go to help fund the search for her. Unlike other songs I've heard written for such occasions, this is a real song, and not a clichéd, didactic, flat tirade-this is a song worth listening to for itself and n
UPC: 634479976926
EAN: 0634479976926
Languages: English
Binding: audioCD
Item Condition: UsedVeryGood
