Customer Reviews

Chinese Boxes

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For Kim Richey to not be a household name after all of the superb albums she has released over the last decade has got to be one of the music business's biggest mysteries. On her fifth studio album Chinese Boxes, she continues to make a simply beautiful album full of poetic lyric writing that breathes life into her highly emotive and real songs. Her voice has never sounded better either. From cover to cover, this album is simply a masterpiece. I hope this album finally catapults her to the rich allocades she deserves--out of the box and into the light.

There are truly more "performers" out there than one might care to shake a proverbial stick at. But there are fewer and fewer Artists making great music these days. People who can truly craft a song, and then produce it to such an extent that the final product significantly moves you. Kim Richey does just that.
Although I think it may be a disservice to even remotely classify her efforts as pop. In the conventional sense of the word anyway.
Her music is deep enough to create it's own mini genre. You'll probably find yourself, as I often do, craving Kim Richey music. There aren't a great deal of people in my music collection I can truly say that about. Sting comes to mind... maybe Peter Gabriel or Sheryl Crow. Where their production sense and musicianship, coupled with their songwriting and performances allow you to keep the CD continuously running. Music always interesting, with solid melody, that leads you somewhere satisfying.
Every one of her albums is consistent from start to finish, and this one 's no different (Yogi Berra anyone?).
And how many albums do you own, where you really enjoy 90% or more of the music on that album? Two of the only things you'll ever find annoying about Kim Richey's music, is that there isn't enough of it, and you don't have as many people you can talk to about her material, because they're just simply not aware yet.

first off thanks to Darden Smith(another smooth singer who knows how to
do it right) for reminding me that Kim Richey has a new one out and to
check it out, and that I did. Its been a while since I last heard from Kim. I've been playing this on and off for the past week, nice selection
of songs, feelings, vibes and especially the production, sublime, but of
course its that voice of Kim Richey that draws you in. I hear so much of
the Beatles sound from the past woven in these melodies, it gives Chinese Boxes a timeless feel and one you will want to play whenever you're in the mood to relax, pour a glass of wine, a beer or whatever and think, this is one of the best of the year for this style of music, by far. Would
like to see radio wake up and play songs like "Turn Me", "Jack and Jill", "not a love like this".

"This is not the time for regrets, we have seen the worst and the best", croons Kim Richey in her new CD Chinese Boxes. We haven't ever really seen the worst from Kim Richey, although I was just a tiny bit disappointed in her fourth release, Rise. That one minor flaw in her astounding catalogue of breathtaking music is easily forgiven and forgotten now.

Chinese Boxes is a lyrical pleasure with just enough of her country roots restored to please even her older fans like me. While all the songs on this CD are outstanding, there are several that actually send chills down my spine when I hear her beautiful voice, filled with hope and despair and joy and sadness. Kim's voice is a soothing, supple embrace for the soul.

This CD is HIGHLY recommended.

Ever since I first heard Kim Richey a few years ago (on an episode of Angel), I've been collecting her CD's, delighting in each new discovery. Kim has a gorgeous voice and a talent for writing well-crafted lyrics and lovely melodies. Chinese Boxes is as good or better than any album so far, continuing on a path away from country and towards more of a pop sound (a journey she began in earnest with her 4th album, Rise). Kim is an immensely talented singer/songwriter, and Chinese Boxes is a wonderful addition to an already superb collection of work.

I have liked much of Kim's earlier stuff. Unfortunately, this music is somewhat disappointing. Many of the tunes come off as too pop and they seem to be aiming at a wider audience. They have lost any edginess they might of had mainly due to their overproduction. Occassionally the old Kim shines through but not often enough to rate this effort any higher.

There are very few artists I'll buy without first hearing a song from the CD. Kim Richey is one of them.
"Chinese Boxes" harks back to my favorite Kim Richey CD "Glimmer". Her collaboration with Mindy Smith on "Drift" was haunting. "A Love Like This" and "Pretty Picture" evoke emotion. I love her work and I always have.
As one who fell in love with Richey's sound way back with "Those Words We Said" when the country music stations were playing her, she has never disappointed me. Ever.

After a five-year layoff, Richey returns with a new record company and completes her transformation from alt-country darling to sophisticated pop chanteuse with a twist. This may be the smart pop record of the year, a fun, thoughtful, sonically shimmering gem.

Every song is enchanting from the opener, "Jack and Jill," about two adults climbing a hill of uncertainty, to "I Will Follow," an upbeat number with fun lyrical twists -- "doing dishes at the laundry mat" and "eating peaches in an apple tree."

Richey sounds better than ever. She wonders about the pieces of her life and the changes she's endured in broad metaphors. "When I get my head around what keeps me down, wouldn't that be something, something to say," she writes. Most of the songs are co-writes with Mindy Smith, Joan Osbourne, Bill DeMain (of Swan Dive) and Katie Herzig lending a hand.

Richey writes about subjects like change, difference, and relationships with the maturity of her years, but the sound is buoyant, beckoning on listen after listen. The production by Giles Martin, son of Beatles' producer George Martin, is inventive and pristine. One of the year's best.

Chinese Boxes is another great CD from Kim Richey. She is a great song writer and performer. It's too bad she's not seen and heard more in the world of performers. This is worth purchasing if you are a Kim Richey fan.

As much as it pains me to do so, I have to side with the negative reviews that Chinese Boxes has generated. Ms. Richey's other CDs--and especially Rise--are some of the most played in my household. However, after a couple of airings of Chinese Boxes, I put the CD up for sale on Amazon. None of the songs here has the intensity, natural lyricism, and/or emotional intensity of her earlier work. Also gone is the inventiveness--that is oblivious to categorization in any genre of music--that made Rise seem so interesting. Instead, the CD sounds all too much like the typical anemic pop played on easy listening stations. Big Disappointment!