Customer Reviews

The Best of Phoebe Snow

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you know nothing about Phoebe's work (that would be a shame, by the way), then you should get this album. Every song is fine, and they show off all of her many musical gifts, ranging from the tender ("Two-Fisted Love", "All Over") to the barnburners ("Shaky Ground"), to ones that start off sweet and build to an incredible level of intensity ("Teach Me Tonight").

Phoebe also gave the single greatest live performance I've ever seen on the Letterman show. Some years ago (I can't remember how many) she blew the doors off everything with an awesome rendition of "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie-Woogie Flu" (regrettably not included here, although she later rerecorded it for the album "I Can't Complain.") This woman has pipes to die for and a range you just can't believe.

So what am I saying? BUY THIS ALBUM!!

I was never a fan of Phoebe Snow while growing up in the 1970's. Actually I had never heard too much about her until I heard this classic Greatest Hits album and was spellbound from beginning to end. What a powerful and glorious voice, every song on this album sounds perfect coming out of her golden pipes. This CD doesn't have a bad song in it, they're all great ones. However, I do have four favorites that I play over and over everytime I listen to this amazing album. "Poetry Man", I believe it was her first big hit from her first album is a gem of a song. The music and the lyrics are very soulful and is just mesmerizing to listen to her sing this classic. "Don't Let Me Down", is a great song that was written by Lennon and McCartmey and she does a great cover and sounds just as good if not better than the original. "Shakey Ground" is one of my favorites I love this song. It jams with raw power from beginning to end and the electric guitar on this track is fantastic, I LOVE SHAKEY GROUND. "Every Night" another song written by Paul McCartney is a terrific song and a favorite of mine. I usually skip to this song first on the CD when I listen to it because I like it so much. This song is fantastic as is the entire CD. After listening to this great recording I went out and bought her first album "Phoebe Snow" which is also a great one to have. There is a song on that album that I feel should've been included on "The Very Best Of" CD which is "Either of Both". This is a really great song that I find highly compelling and a little nostalgic but that is in fact what is so great about the song. I find this artist to be highly underrated like a few of her contemporaries and is nothing to be ashamed of because the truly great performers usually are. I think this is a great album to have in any music collection. One album that should not go unnoticed. "The Very Best Of Phoebe Snow" is a classic album from a time when things were a lot slower and life was good and carefree. Yet this CD should be heard in any era. This album is (for me) pure soul, funk and pop and totally Phoebe Snow.

Is there a singer alive who can sound more nakedly vulnerable and unprotected than Phoebe Snow? The supple, rippling vibrato she employs to such devastating effect sounds like nothing else in the musical world today.

On this, her first collection of greatest hits, Snow unfurls a heavenly soprano that reaches effortlessly for the ceiling without ever sounding harsh or shrieky. Just moments later, she'll dip down into the caramel undertones of her magnificent voice to come up with something rich and deliciously sensual.

This is a voice that invites you in and you find that you are powerless to say no. You can tell that there's power here, but Snow isn't a show-off--she chooses to hold something back just a little bit so that you're aware of the power of her voice the way you might be aware of, say, the strength of a sleeping lion. It's implicit and it's all the more intriguing because it's sheathed.

"Two-Fisted Love" is a gorgeous giving up--I love the guy, he's gone most of the time, I don't know what to do but keep loving him. Rarely has settling sounded so attractive. On Snow's justly famous "Poetry Man," the hypnotic guitar leads us into the song before Snow lazily releases her shimmering voice on a paeon to the joys of being verbally seduced:

"You bashful boy
You're hiding something sweet
Please give it to me, yeah, to me,
Talk to me some more . . .
You are a genie
All I ask for is your smile . . . "

This is a first-rate collection from a singer we hear all too little from these days. Get this woman out of singing ads and back to crafting the gorgeous songs we know she has in her!

Standing on Shakey Ground is not only the best song on this CD its what you will be doing when everyone who hears it gets up and starts boogying. Although all the songs on this album are fantastic, its the funky groove of tunes like "Shakey Ground" that really stand out for me. Like the Staple Singers but wish they were just a little bit more disco/funky/James Brown? Listen to Pheobe Snow.

I am the author of "Butterscotch Blues", a book that came out in June of 2000.

The original title was called "Harpo's Blues" after the wonderful Phoebe Snow song. Unfortunately my editor didn't share my vision and it was changed to "Butterscotch Blues".

"Harpo's Blues" is pertinent to the story. Reference is made all throughout the book. It became the lead character's 'song', my chance as an author to page homage to the greatness of Phoebe.

Phoebe Snow is an original. There were none like her before her and there will be none like her after. Pick up this ablum and experience it for yourself...

Margaret Johnson-Hodge

From nightclubs to bars.. the music of Snow has changed .. the fans have changed.. The ol bluzy soft irregular meter songs were the best... Phoebee bring in the mike .. take down the vocal volume.. calm down the band.. sing more lavender not red.

Old Fan Dan

I have this album still from the 70's....Bought the cd too!
This lady can sing. She was taken too soon from us.
You will enjoy all of her albums. I suggest "Looks like Snow" for your next one. ENJOY!

i bought this cd about 8 yrs. ago.it has alot of scatches but i love it so much i had to buy it again!i could nt find it anywhere else except amazon.com!(love you too!)

I'm new to the Phoebe Snow party, but I've got nothing but love and respect for everything I've heard from her so far. I picked this up on vinyl recently, not knowing anything about her or her music. I took it home and was absolutely blown away by what was coming through my speakers. I've got to say too, her version of Don't Let Me Down strikes me as the first Beatles cover that I like better than the original. Seriously. I can't really say enough about how blown away I was by her voice and her songs. I can't wait to dig deeper into her catalog.

We like to compare songs from a variety of artists. Our 3 best versions of "Teach Me Tonight" are by Phoebe, Al Jarreau and Ella Fitzgerald. Ella is one of the greats, but she has to take second place to Phoebe's verson of "Teach Me Tonight"! Listen to the shooting star. It's perfect.