Customer Reviews

Art of Being a Girl

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ms.Cruise's latest outing may put die hard fans into shell shock when they hear the Mancini-esque samples and the hazy yet classy beats of Cruise's "Art Of Being A Girl"...the title track is the main course with a dash of tongue-in-cheek attitude about being a woman-child of the new millenium. It makes you want to dance with a Bond Girl or sip slight lazily on the world's greatest martini. Cruise works her charm with "You're Staring At Me", "Slow Hot Wind", "Falling In Love", and the entire remaing track list with chill-out lounge music that may not sound very much like her days with Twin Peaks alumni David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti...but like her previous albums "Art Of Being A Girl" takes slices of each decade of the past century and puts them in a blender with Cruise's angelic vocals and smart lyrics. You don't have to be an art freak or music tracker to get into this. Just get into the mood of taking an evening off of the drone-life of watching "Friends" and spend a refreshing and relaxing evening with Julee Cruise on her wonderful album.

Tired of formulated songstress album's by Avril and Michelle whomever? Try Julee Cruise's new offering. This is the album you pipe through your headphones while strolling along the beach holding hands with your significant other on some afternoon. This is the album you play while you sit alone in your dwelling at eleven o'clock at night drinking a cup of hot tea. This is the album you listen to at 9:30 A.M. on a rainy Wednesday as you peer out the window. It has great moments of beauty contrasted with startalingly funny vignettes hidden at the end of certain tracks. Opener "You're Staring at Me" is a great number to start with featuring subtlty and tranquility. Album closer and hidden track "Falling", a classic Cruise cut, is a phenomenal mosiac which creates the perfect way to end such a stunning cd. Every track in between is an equally good peice making for one of my favorite releases of 2002. Pop this into your player when you've had just to much of your co-workers Sheryl Crow.

(3 & 1/2 stars) I'm glad to be able to bring some reality to the discussion of this new CD by Julee Cruise. She is an interesting person, with the David Lynch connection, her SNL appearance in place of Sinead O'Connor, B-52s stint, etc. She wrote just about all of the material on her new 3rd album herself, and this her first release without Mr. Lynch or composer Angelo Badalamenti. It does have several highlights, but it also has some weak points.

The "good parts" include the extended closing track, "The Fire In Me," where Julee's silky vocals float cloud-like above a sea of synths and a nice Spanish guitar. "Everybody Knows" shimmers alluringly, "Slow Hot Wind" is a mysterious minor-key charmer with a cool electric guitar, and "Shine" and the title track are pretty good too. I also like the spoken word segments where Julee acts out a room service order and a phone call from mistress to lover. These are meshed in using clever musical segues.

On the minus side, you've got the extremely repetitive "Cha Cha in the Dark," where she annoyingly just sings the same line over and over in a song that really goes nowhere. Some of the early cuts are sample-heavy and awkward, especially those with guest producers Mocean Worker and Khan. And - although it did not influence my rating - this CD has the worst album cover I've seen in awhile, a dark and blurry group photo.

For those of us left who seek out unusual music
this new Cruise missile hits it target, for the
most part. I gave this one 4 stars as there are
so many off the wall pieces included here, but they
all blend so well with the beautiful chill feel
attitude, she hasn't sounded this good on vocals
and the chatting goings on inbetween songs helps
keep this from sameness at times. I've put this one
in on random and it really sounds great. I to was
smiling when I heard the last track blending into
her classic "Fallin" newly touched up, shes one
of kind.

I must agree to the previous speaker: WOW what a great CD.
Julee Cruise, the great Chanteuse from Twin Peaks, set up an amazing Chill Out/Lounge-CD for relaxing or having eveinings with cold summerwines.
Julee is one of the most interesting contempory artists worked with Hybrid, Badalamenti, Khan, David Lynch and here especially with Mocean Worker and the great musician JJ McGeehan.
Beautiful decent strings are combined with smooth electronica: also the remake of FALLING, the Twin Peaks Theme Song.
What a Woman, what a Girl!!!
A real Classic.

but it may take a few listens, as Julee Cruise's seductive vocals and occasionally monotone rythmns prove to be hypnotic and yet inscrutable. Leaving behind past collaborators David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, Cruise is nimble and careful and playful, but the songs are set on a slow-burning flame. After repeated listens, I discovered greatly quiet nuances in "Everybody Knows" (probably the album's best song), the initially raucous but contemplative "9th Ave. Limbo" and the humorous opener "You're Staring at Me". Not a bad CD, not as great as Cruise's earlier work, but she has to move on and so do we. Everybody, even '80's sirens, have to grow up.

I love Julee's earlier cds, especially "Floating Into the Night." The ethereal vocals, the strange arrangements all blend perfectly to create a one of a kind atmosphere, spooky and romantic. If you don't have that cd, buy it.

This cd is nothing like her earlier work, being mainly lounge inspired chill and electronica. However, her voice is still great, and the songs are often quirky, with unique touches. Some of the cd, however, falls into what is now cookie-cutter for the trip hop genre. Overall, it is a somewhat uneven effort, but it has enough high points and variety to recommend it.

If you like her first two (Lynch/Badalamenti) albums you probably won't like this one, it's very average. It's not interesting enough to be good and has enough strange moments that it isn't suitable as background music either. Save your money & buy 'Blue Bob' instead. Shame really...

I remember the sheer joy I felt when I learned that Julee was about to release this cd. That is only equaled by the feeling I got when I received the cd and listened to it! It's so good to have her back. Art of Being a Girl is Julee's finest work yet! Be prepared to close the blinds, lock the doors, dim the lights, and dance the night away with that special someone. There is a bonus track included, and well, without giving much away, it is the best gift she could have given us die-hard fans! Don't hesitate... buy this cd today!

I must admit that I have been hesitant to purchase this cd, but now that I have it, I love it!!...This cd is a huge departure from her David Lynch "era", and she has NOT missed the mark...the unique neo-jazz style of the album and the "quirky" interludes make this a must have for Julee Cruise fans as well as a fantastic background cd for a home "lounge" party...