Customer Reviews

Charm

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

 

 

This may be my favorite album in the world. I never seem to get tired of it and it lifts me to the highest heavens each time I hear it. Monica's vocals are amazing and are on full dazzling display in this one. The music is a perfect mixture of the raw and the refined. What can I say other than every song on this awesome disc approaches perfection! If I could keep only one CD out of the 500 or so I own I think this would be it!

A great album...but hardly one of the best of the 90's. Like The Loved One so much better. www.Mercyground.com actually has the original album for sale at a reasonable price. (August 2, 2006...for some reason my review of Charm is posted as a review of The Loved One...a phenomenal album, Monica Ricards best ever).

If I'd heard Strange Boutique's music first, I never would've anticipated the sound of Faith and The Muse. It's neat to hear Monica's earlier incarnation. The music is a cross-section of 80s and early 90s college rock, with healthy doses of Mission U.K., Echo and The Bunnymen, U2, and The Cure. Monica used more low alto and soprano action than she does today in F&TM. Plus, you get a photo of Monica without her trademark headpiece. Sorta like "Batgirl - Behind the Mask."

The songs have an echoey, late night feel. Lots of guitar reverb, treated vocals/harmonies, and stream-of-consciousness lyrics that suit the music well. Dan Ingram's drumming suggests he'd heard a couple of Police albums.

Tracks like "Quicksand Minds," "Remedios The Beauty," and "A Certain Euphoria" are danceable without getting too loud or heavy. "A Happy Death" is the most Police-esque tune on the album. All the songs are mixed to keep our attention on Richards' singing, which is FINE with me.

Strange Boutique had a good, balanced sound with some of the post-punk tactics that influenced goth and darkwave through the 90s. Maybe it's selfish, but I'm OK with this band's demise since that allowed for Monica and William to become the butt-kickinest' husband-wife team in Celtic/goth-rock/darkwave.

I have only one problem with this album: poor production/mixing.
The vocals are too low in the mix, sometimes (i.e the verses of `Hills...') totally inaudible. A near-tragedy, given the sheer gorgeousness of Monica Richards's voice...and the music in general. Even with the sound problem, this is not only the first masterpiece of her career, but one of the best (yes, you read that right) alternative rock albums of the '90s. Track-by-track dissection seems improper - words can't convey the net impact of those marvellous harmonic twists, haunting guitar lines and Monica's crystalline vocals, but I must draw attention to `Solar Friend' (which includes a vocal hook Monica would put to even better use in a certain Faith & The Muse song in '96), `Alekan Girl' (ethereal-romantic) and `Glaciers Down' (sheer overwhelming perfection).