It All Starts Here [EP]

Jem | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP
• Label: Ato Records
• ASIN: B0000CABGC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,312 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

JEM It All Starts Here (2003 UK 5-track CD EP including They Come On Closer Finally Woken Just A Ride & an acoustic version of Flying High digipak picture sleeve)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good electronic pop, January 22, 2004

By 

CGC (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It All Starts Here (Audio CD)

There may not appear to be much room in the musical landscape between Portishead and Dido, but Jem Griffiths has found a comfortable home there with her debut EP. More accessible than Portishead but trippier than Dido, "It All Starts Here" opens with an almost ridiculously catchy number called "They," popular on XFM radio. It's followed by a slightly slower, jazzier song called "Come on Closer," which attains some of the edgy majesty of Garbage when the guitar chords kick in. The rest of the EP is not as memorable, but still worthwhile listening. "Finally Woken" moves closer to Portishead, while the last two songs quiet things down with acoustic guitars figuring prominently. Jem is not exactly breaking new ground, but fans of this style of song-based Brit electronica should find plenty to appreciate here.

Note: The first four of this EP's five tracks will also appear on Jem's forthcoming full-length release, due in March 2004.

Addendum: The full-length release, "Finally Woken," is definitely worth buying over this EP, as it includes most of this EP and the killer track "24."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jem is trippin..., January 6, 2005

By 

1Life ""Live life with no regrets" ~ ... (east coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It All Starts Here (Audio CD)

I have not heard this EP, which is why i gave it 4 stars, but i have heard a few songs off it. I also have heard her new album, "Finally Woken" which i have to say is pretty dynamite... however, i wish she would of have kept it more in the trip hop theme... her album is pretty trippy, and becuase i am a DJ, and into many styles of music, i really dig the trip hop beats she makes, and her singing goes real well over it. but there are some tracks that sound almost like metal, like Evanescence, whom i dig too, but if you make a trippy, dj like, electronica cd, you should sort of stick w/ that and not go into extreme lands like metal unless you can really cover that music good... she makes it work, but those are tracks i'd skip over fast...

I say get her new album. why pay x amt for the EP, the the full length is just a few bux more.

Fans of Dido, Sarah McLachlan should dig this... but anyone into trip hop, ambient, or chill music, who likes a lil hip hop in their beats, should def check Jem out... She does sound very similar to Dido, but where she differs is in here music steez... she's more trip and dj like then Dido. Jem was a DJ before she was a producer, so she knows her way around the decks, and she def knows what she is doing.. I'm trying to get her full lentgh right now on ebay, but ppl are mad bidding me out...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Best of "Jem", July 11, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It All Starts Here (Audio CD)

Welsh pop singer Jem burst onto the scene with her multi-faceted debut, "Fianally Woken." In the aptly named EP "It All Starts Here," Jem gave a taste to the world of what to expect -- catchy pop laced with trip-hop and folk, all from her debut.

Starting off the EP is the exotic, hip-hop-laced "They," followed by the sultry, sexy "Come On Closer." She shifts into a slower gear with the mellow, flowing "Finally Woken," before revving up with the pleasant but unexceptional "Just A Ride," and finally finishing with the gentle "Flying High."

If Dido joined Portishead and started playing folk, the sound that resulted might be a bit like Jem. While "It All Starts Here" has some of Jem's strongest songs, it feels a little constricted. Only "Flying High" could be considered a ballad; the others are almost insanely catchy pop. As a result, listeners don't get to experience everything she can do.

Jem's voice is sweet and sensuous, especially in the final track where it's unencumbered by electronica, and the sketchy lyrics even out to a pretty little ballad. Her music is a crazy quilt of trip-hop, strummy guitars, bells, and who knows what else. It takes what might have been run-of-the-mill pop and makes it feel fresh and new.

"It All Starts Here" displays some of the best of pop newcomer Jem, although it doesn't really show everything she can do. Pretty, fun, exotic and catchy.