Customer Reviews

Behind the Velvet Curtain: Songs from the Motion Picture Redbelt

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

 

 

I wasn't anxious to write a review, but couldn't let the only other review of this lovely recording be a rating of 1 star. This album is typical of Rebecca Pidgeon - a little folk, jazz and country all mixed together. Rebecca writes lovely songs (If you haven't heard her before, be sure to check out "Raven") Perfect, very spare acoustic accompaniments. Several lovely bossa nova songs. Nice version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice." I haven't seen the movie that some of these songs came from, but the CD stands on its own merits. I might have ordinarily given it 4 stars, but didn't think that the 1 star I saw when I checked out this site was fair at all.

I'll join in with JDB and bump this up to a more appropriate rating.

JDB is right, Rebecca puts out solid recordings, and this one is no exception.

Nor is it exceptional. If you like RP, then this one will fit right in. Still, I consider Tough On Crime or New York Girl's Club to be substantially better.

I have "Tough On Crime", which is better than this, but they are both hamstrung by too much intellect in the songs and not enough feeling. Some people will see this as a plus, but I don't think there are any good songs here. And there is an irritating vocal mannerism here on the first two songs. She sings "San Francisco-ho" on the first track, and "blame-hame", "shoulder-her", "chatter-her", "answer-her" among others on the second track. It irritates me so much I've only listened twice and I'm not going back.

The only passable song here is the one she didn't write, The Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice", but her voice is so thin in the high register that it doesn't really work.

How this CD evolved from songs written by Luciana Souza and David Mamet, to some strange psuedo-country pop-thing, I'll never know. Perhaps the producer of this CD has a background in country/western, but whatever the reason, this CD is generally just boring. The first two cuts were encouraging, but then it bogged down to the point where I finally just turned it off. I listened to it again, a few days later, to give it a second chance, but no, I turned it off again.

I loved Redbelt the movie, and I love Luciana Souza, so I had high expectations for this CD. I haven't heard anything else by Rebecca Pidgeon, but I suspect that the producer of this CD had more to do with its downfall than the singer. It's truly terrible.