Customer Reviews

Breakfast in Bed

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fantastic vocal work (man what taste in phrasing!), great playing, great new versions of soul standards (easily the best covers she's recorded) - and her best writing to date make this my favorite J.O. recording since she covered "blue million miles".

3 minutes in and I too was thinking "Dusty level"!!! I've never had that thought before while listening to anybody. Joan Osborne is getting better and better, sounding a little more mature and completely comfortable in her own skin/with her own pipes. supremely understated throughout!

took me almost the entire song to adjust to the change in lyric on "ain't no sunshine" but by the time Joan comes back in after a KILLER keyboard solo you cant help but be down with it.

It is great to see HER smile on the back cover and I cant wait to listen to her sing "baby is a butterfly" again, so i'm outa here. thank you Joan.

This intriguing mix cover songs and originals make this a very enjoyable collection, although the covers are not as varied as say Annie Lennox's Medusa but still engaging all the same. The tracks seem to pull you in more and more with each listen. "Baby is a Butterfly", "Sarah Smile" and "Cream Dream" were all particularly absorbing the first time through. The production is very good and clean. Her voice is as mesmerizing and sensual as always. You can't go wrong.

Most know Joan for her 90's hit "If God Was One of Us." She is far from those days. Most would be astounded to hear what Joan;s voice is capable of, as that song only trapped her into a simple octave throughout its verses.

Here in "Breakfast In Bed", Joan takes the jazz practice of covering American classics and favorites in her dynamic, raspy alto voice. This is a great CD, my favorites include the live performances of "Heatwave" and "What Becomes of a Broken Hearted" with Motown's Funk Brothers; and classics "Natural High" and "Sara Smile."

Check the song list, if you find any of your old favorites the GET THIS CD, you will definately not be disappointed. However "What Becomes of a Broken Hearted" is worth the $13 alone.

This album could be a soundtrack to anyone's life. It is performed masterfully, but retains that gritty, natural vibe of a singer who really feels "it." One of the best things I can say about it is that the covers sound like they have been recorded for the first time. Though the original versions are amazing, it feels like I am hearing them for the first time. Joan's songs are written very well (didn't know she could write this way) - could have been penned by Gamble and Huff themselves. All in all, there is not a weak moment on the cd, from the arrangements,Ivan Neville's soulful keys, the moderate and swelling strings, the whole production is a lesson in how albums should be made. Remember albums? Well, this is a great one!!!!

Okay, guys, here's some advice from a woman...BUY THIS CD!!!! Joan has done an amazing job re-interpreting some incredible soul classics and added a few new ones of her own! First of all, Midnight Train to Georgia couldn't be sexier or more meaningful. She certainly solved the issue about singing a legend's song (Gladys Knight) in a different way. Somehow, it's sexier. Breakfast in Bed, though still Dusty-esque, is now a Joan Osborne song (not to take anything away from the original). Though I was concerned about Sara Smile being that Hall and Oates were one of my favorite groups, fear not. She kills it with a new idea about phrasing.

Joan is the queen of laying back, taking your time and finally blowing you away...sounds sexy to me! Of equal note are the original songs which, until I read the booklet, did not know were original. Joan somehow has incarnated a writing style that sounds right in the period of music she's covering. That is not easy to do, but she did it justice in a huge way.

Last but not least is the production of this album. While so many CD's produced today sound, well, way over-produced, this album pays homage to the great concept albums of all time.You hear there is one idea and it is carried through splendidly. The strings add body, but don't overpower or become to "lush." The producer should be congratulated for not giving in to modern "everything must be perfect" idea. My advice? Put this album on next Sunday, serve your wife breakfast in bed and wait for your surprise!

Joan Osborne's soul homage "Breakfast in Bed" is a generous 16-track package, much of it riveting listening. Her band includes Ivan Neville and jazz great Greg Osby on sax. While the covers may tend to overshadow her self-penned tracks, particularly because she has written to fit the style, she has some great new gems. Joan's original "Baby Is a Butterfly" is a softer tune with a soaring string section that highlights its lovely melody. "You suffer so pretty like a ragged apostle, you burn oh so brightly like soldering gun*; I gave my body & soul to relieve you, Now you have told me that I'm not the one," Joan smokes on her self-penned "Heart of Stone." Another of Joan's originals is "Eliminate the Night" that has a delightful soul groove as the track builds elegantly, "I don't want to be the other woman; I know you're not the cheating kind, but I see you every night in a fever dream; I just can't get you out of my mind." This is one of the best tracks on the CD. Joan's original "I Know What's Goin' On" has an addictive midtempo groove in this tale of romantic betrayal, "Did you try to resist? Was she longing to be kissed? ... You have changed who you are; I've been watching from afar." She follows this with a happier original "Alone With You" with a sweet soul groove, a pretty melody & her bold romantic declaration, "I'm a full grown woman & I'm in my prime; I know how to love you & I'll take my time."

Of the covers, the set starts with a smoking Gladys Knight hit co-written by (former Mr. Carol King) Gerry Goffin and recorded by others like Joe Cocker ("One Night of Sin"), Tom Jones & Bobby "Blue" Bland. Joan cuts a soulful groove on the track. While the track doesn't explode, it does smoke in the grooves. Bill Withers' classic "Ain't No Sunshine" & another Gladys Knight hit, "Midnight Train to Georgia," work less well for me. The title track was best known by Dusty Springfield's recording. Here it works less well but with the strength in Joan's vocals purring longingly, "It's been so long since I've had you here, you can come again, darling it will be like it's always been before." I can't recall either Bloodstone's version of "Natural High" nor Merle Haggard's reading of it, but Joan's oooh ahhh background vocals put a smile on my face with this track. "Break Up to Make Up" may best be known by the Stylistics. It bears Joan's boldly emotional vocals on a very strong track. "Kiss & Say Goodbye" was a track by the Manhattans that Joan fills well, although it never was a favorite song of mine. Martha & the Vandellas followed by Linda Ronstadt have scored with the smoking Motown track "Heat Wave." Recorded for the motion picture "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," Joan blows the track out of the water. She concludes the set with an equally powerful version of Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" that tugs at your heart like an anchor in the harbor of love.

Joan's country-flavored "Pretty Little Stranger" was released in November 2006 and resulted in two songs ("What You Are" & "After Jane") perching on the top of my personal top ten this year. With a Christmas CD released this month, she's been in an intense period of activity. "Breakfast in Bed" boasts so many excellent tracks that it easily bears the few tracks that fail to ignite. Osborne is one of our most expressive singers and this set is no exception. Enjoy!

*lyric per my ear

What to make of this? Joan Osborne, 6 years after her last non-compilation, major-label recording, returns to the same well plumbed by "How Sweet It Is", namely a batch of old soul/R&B hits, although this time interspersed with a few originals written in the same vein. The older album boasted an absolutely startling re-imagination of the title track, which was worth the price of the disc all by itself. But that album was otherwise populated by comparatively unimaginative, by-the-numbers remakes, notable only in that they served to remind me of what made the originals so memorable in the first place.

The unfortunate thing about "Breakfast in Bed" is that there is no single track as mesmerizing as "How Sweet It Is". Some of the remakes -- notably, "Kiss and Say Goodbye" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" -- are enjoyable, if nothing to make you forget the original recordings. But the disc as a whole is sunk by a relentless sameness of tempo, of timbre, of instrumentation and style, that ultimately becomes boring, which is something of a feat considering how good the songs themselves actually are. Joan Osborne's voice is potentially a wonderful instrument, but she really doesn't break much of a sweat on these covers, nor on the originals, and the result, while pleasant enough, isn't anything to hold my attention.

I have in my mp3 collection a recording of Joan Osborne and a skeletal band covering "Brick House" in the studio of some radio station, and it's a revelation, funky and soulful and fun in equal measures. And for God's sake, go to whatever vendor you like and download her rendition of "How Sweet It Is" from the album of the same name; it completely transforms the song from a joyous declaration of love, sweet love, into something altogether more desperate. While it might not be to all tastes, it serves as the lone, legally downloadable demonstration that Joan Osborne is a formidable artist, capable of taking well-worn R&B favorites and making them her own. Nothing on this disc serves in the same way.

This album proves that real singers still exist. Joan's amazing pipes shine thorugh on this album proving it's possible to get better and better even when you thoughtshe was already great. Somehow this album captures her true pocket, soulful, dreamy thick songs that feature a master class in vocals. Best album of the year!!!!

I'm a long time fan and have always thought that Joan was just waiting to knock it out of the park, but hadn't found the right material. A great voice waiting for a record that would make people recognize that her talent was far greater than "What if God..." - Now, finally she found it.

Breakfast in Bed brings together some of the great soul songs of all time and serves them up on a hot bed of Joan Osborne's searing vocals. My favorites are the two Gladys Knight covers. She meets the challenge without missing a beat...and the energy with which she tears through Imagination - a song so worth reviving - is nothing short of incredible.

Other great tracks are Kiss and Say Goodbye and Ain't No Sunshine...both treasured favorites of mine. I felt like the songlist on this CD was ambitious undertaking, but Joan Osborne hit every track with passion and grit and real 'bed appeal'.

Hands down the best album of her career.

Whenever I see a contemporary artist reviving one of the Motown classics or doing a soul/ R&B themed album, I tend to be skeptical and figured that this person needed a boost in a flagging career. You can't blame people to want to sing these tunes, they are hook laden, the lyrics have a definite flow and rhythm to them, and you can't but love them. It would take a talent beyond William Hung to screw these tunes up.

But in the case of Joan Osborne, I needn't have worried. She had already mixed in an eclectic bunch of R&B tunes in her previous albums, she seems to have settled into a happy place doing her thing and she doesn't seem to be aiming for anything other than singing these great tunes.

Osborne seem so assured and at peace these tunes that she is able to bring you along for the trip. Her voice is effortless and cool when need be, angst ridden and tension filled when need be. She is definitely not a belter a la the American idol set, thank goodness. Hers is a mature sound, one that has seen and heard things before and is able to languidly navigate the obstacles set forth by the tunes, and in so doing, Joan Osborne completely puts her stamp on these particular tunes. Even Midnight Train to Georgia sounds naturally hers. Even though I will always associate it with Gladys Knight and the Pips, her version of the song is my favorite number 2.

It is interesting to compare her singing with those of Joss Stone, who I love also. Joss seems to be straining just a little too much, sometimes you get the feeling that she needs to chill just a little bit. Hopefully she can mature and grow into the confidence and ease that Joan Osborne exhibits in this particular album.