9

Damien Rice | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 14, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Heffa/Vector/Warner Bros.
• ASIN: B000IU3XTM
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,780 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #79 in Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk > Alternative Folk

Track Listings

1. 9 Crimes

2. The Animals Were Gone

3. Elephant

4. Rootless Tree

5. Dogs

6. Coconut Skins

7. Me, My Yoke, and I

8. Grey Room

9. Accidental Babies

10. Sleep Don't Weep

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Not quite as endearing as his raw and seductive 2002 debut, O, the second full-length album by Irish troubadour Damien Rice finds him taking a more slapdash approach to his lyrics and arrangements, with balmy tracks like "Rootless Tree," "Coconut Skins," and "Me, My Yoke, and I" seemingly made up and recorded on the spot. Strange then that it took so long for 9 to actually arrive, with just a handful of odd collaborations (Tori Amos, Herbie Hancock) and one promising benefit single ("Unplayed Piano") to hold fans over during the four-year delay. Nothing here quite achieves the lush poetry on display there, although Rice and his singing companion Lisa Hannigan come close with the creepy opening track "9 Crimes" and the damaged whisper-to-a-scream ballad, "Elephant." --Aidin Vaziri

Product Description

9 is the extraordinary follow-up to young Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice's critically acclaimed 2003 debut album which sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, including more than 1 million in the U.K. Touring this country and making a masterful television premiere on the Late Show with David Letterman, Rice entered the U.S. music consciousness. Considering the overwhelming response to these new songs, which Rice performed on tour this summer, 9 is set to take him even higher. Wrote Rolling Stone of 9: ''Songs that, for all their quietness, leave a dark, lasting impression.'' Newsweek: ''An out-and-out gorgeous CD, so full of undiluted, unfalsified emotions that it verges on open-heart surgery.'' The New Yorker: ''An album of understated gems.''

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars No sophomore slump for Rice. March 28, 2007

By guillermoj

Format:Audio CD

I stumbled upon Damien Rice's debut "O" after hearing the completely in your face "The Blower's Daughter," which was very effectively used in the Mike Nichols movie "Closer." It's one of those songs that you can't get out of your head. "O" also included the catchy "Volcano" but what made it earn 5 stars for me was the complete confidence in which Rice just lets his musings come out. None of the other songs were as catchy, but no less enjoyable as he commanded attention even when he was almost silent.

"9" starts off with the gorgeous "9 Crimes," which even more than "The Blower's Daughter" had the fortune of getting some serious airtime as it was prominently used in a November sweeps episode of "Grey's Anatomy." That song has an otherwordly feel that I don't remember feeling since hearing Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in the mid 1980's.

The rest of the release is by no means disappointing, but there has been such an influx of singer/songwriters in the past few years that it is difficult to stand out. Here Rice seems less concerned about letting you in on his thoughts as he did in "0", than in telling his tale and giving you the option of listening in if you want to. He does not project with the same force and it makes for a less showy record. To me that is not a bad thing as he could have easily made a sequel to "0", but here the stories are more dense, confusing, but ultimately quite universal.

If you liked "0" as a whole and not just the better know songs, it's a safe bet that you'll like "9." On the other hand if you don't like this type of confessional music, nothing here will change your mind about this artist.

No sophomore slump for Rice and here is to many more releases of this caliber.... They can't all earn 5 stars, but there is a significant number of singer-songwriters who are proving that they too can hold their own in world where pre-packaged and overly produced releases seemed to be the only options in the horizon. Read more ›

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sincere January 19, 2007

By Amskeating

Format:Audio CD

Misery. It's an international language. So while the lyrics to "The Animals Were Gone" are delivered up in Damien Rice's soft Dublin tones, the plangent strings, hesitant melody and descending chords could just as easily accompany some French chanson in which the message is "je regrette".

Melancholy is smeared liberally over this follow-up to Rice's spectacularly successful album "O".

You would think that we would have had our fill of down-in-the-dumps singer-songwriters making semi-orchestral productions out of songs which would once have been strummed in the back rooms of pubs, but Rice has done pretty much what David Gray did with "Life In Slow Motion" - he has produced a work of such sincerity and quality that it transcends its genre.

Best moment here is "Elephant", which begins with quiet voice and almost inaudible guitar, building in intensity to heartfelt keening and a rush of orchestra and percussion before dying back to a mumbling conclusion.

Emotionally, it is as if Rice has climbed a mountain and fallen down the other side.

37 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dressed to the 9... November 16, 2006

By Dogville VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have to disagree with the Amazon review. 9 is every bit the worthy successor of O. In fact, I feel Rice has expanded his sound a little including a few more upbeat tracks. His lyrics remain at his pristine best, poignantly dark and still emotionally stirring.

The opener 9 Crimes is a chill-inducing ballad with Lisa Hannigan, just like a terribly frank exchange of words between a desolate couple. Then there is the movingly lovelorn The Animals Were Gone ending in a sweeping violin climax and the evocative Elephant where Rice rises from a mere whisper to eventual heart-tearing scream towards the end. Things go on a lighter note on the seemingly lyrically-inane Dogs and Coconut Skins and this is where the causal listeners need to read further.

Grey Room comes closest to being an O continuation, along the lines of the splendid Delicate.
The closer Sleep, Don't Weep ends the album on a tender note, almost like Rice having reached a resolution of sorts, then quite not yet there.

9 is definitely the answer to a long 4-year wait after O. Savour the greatness, it just might be another 4 years before good music like this is bestowed upon us again.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gave it two weeks, now I'm hooked. November 25, 2006

By J. DEATS

Format:Audio CD

This one grows on you, just like his first album. It stops short of reinventing the style but does a very good job not repeating O. For example, here we have electric guitars, more percussion, production that goes from very simple to often masterful in the same track. At first listen a song like Rootless Tree is a simple then offensive, but after a few listens Damien fans will hear the brilliance in it.

This isn't music manufactured to hook you in between radio ads. With music being the way much of it is today, I've found that I've "tuned my ears" to the templated song, waiting for the quick hook so I can absorb it, listening a few times then throw it away, but you can't do that with Damien's music and if you approach it that way you're likely to pass his work off as simple folk music. But if you listen trying to search for what he's trying to say, if you seach for the soul of the artist you'll find no mask on this album. 9 is a coherent work, it is a brilliant album every bit as good as O, if anything it has more variety than O. I think a lot of people will say, there's no Blowers Daughter or there's no Cannon ball on 9. I guess I don't understand those comments, because I always thought of those songs as just part of the sum of that album. I never thought they defined that album as a great album. 9 doesn't have a few stand out tracks , but it has a lot of brilliant moments spread out across the album.

One quick historical note. Track 3, "Elephant" was originally titled "The Blowers Daughter, Part II" and has been showing up in live sets for a long time now.