Customer Reviews

Corinne Bailey Rae

5 star:		(257)
4 star:		(88)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Pop, blues, soul, classic 1970s R&B - all these things are brought to bear in the music of Corinne Bailey Rae, not to mention forming an indie band called Helen when she was 16 and being a big Led Zeppelin fan in her formative years.

Rae, 26, has a rich variety of experience making music, including sanctifying Primal Scream songs for her church choir, and this album sounds incredibly assured for a debut.

The key track is 'Enchantment', which is utterly bewitching with scratchy backbeat samples and sprinklings of lush keyboards the perfect setting for a voice which simply melts in the ears. It brings summer warmth to a dreich February day, oozing the same languid loving as the single 'Put Your Records On'.

Comparisons with Norah Jones are lazy and easily made, but this girl is much more about pop chutzpah than slick jazz sophistication.

'Choux Pastry Heart' is not as flaky an idea as you might suppose, gliding through love gone wrong territory with the tastiest coating on that bitter pill to be heard in a long time.

For now, it seems Bailey Rae is required - or has chosen - to stick firmly to the middle ground: songs like 'Breathless' and 'Enchantment' are so inoffensive you wonder quite how those comparisons to a hard-living icon such as Holiday could come about.

But one song, the truly enchanting 'Like a Star', left an impression that her true sound - the music she would love to make if not for the interference of producers or chart-worriers - is, if not gritty or grimy, then at least heart-baringly honest. Real soul, in other words.

A glowing introduction to a significant talent.

I ain't gonna front. I've been looking forward to this CD since I heard that beautiful slice of soul drenched honey-of-a-single' like a Star'. Yes there has been a lot of hype surrounding this young lady, based on this one toon. Well, I'm here to say that you need to believe the hype on this one. Listening to this CD conjures up images of lazy warm summer days, chillin with a loved one, or outside listening on your MP3 player.

Firstly, let's deal with the voice. She has been compared to Billie Holiday, which is high praise indeed. I'll leave the comparisons up to you. I'll stick to the music.

The aforementioned `Like a star' kicks off this CD, and is quickly followed by `Enchancement', which is dream-like lullaby of a love song, beautifully sang. The second single' Put your records on', is a feel-good uplifting summer song, with a great video (see on Corinnebaileyrae.net) `Till it happens to you' slows downs proceedings, with a blues rinsed song of heart break. Things perk up with' Trouble sleeping, a mid tempo offering, which is light and breezy. 'Call me when you get this' is one of my favourite tunes on the CD. With strings and an old school feel running all through it, I hope this is a single release. Beautiful. Things are laid bare, on the Piano led 'choux pastry heart' which highlights Corinne's vocal strength, and range. 'Breathless' is another highlight, a sweet song of the first fruits of love. 'Butterfly' is another gorgeous. mid-tempo, song relating to Corinne's relationship, with her mother. The album ends with,' Season change, another favourite, which deal with life's pain, hurts, and disappointments. All these songs are slow to mid tempo, so for those looking for the latest `club' banger, may be disappointed. This is the kind of CD that you can let play without skipping songs, and it's a grower. All these songs didn't hit me immediately, but the warmth quickly spread. On a side note, the single' Put your records on' has a bonus song' Since I've been loving you', an old Led Zepalin tune, which is available on Itunes. Piano driven slice of soul. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED.

Corinne Bailey Rae captured me with a thick, smooth and alluring voice that is both unique and timeless. This album definately goes back to the heart of R&B as it used to be, back before it became vulgar. What you hear in her singing is fresh and vibrant.

HOWEVER...

After about the third track, I noticed a pattern. It's basically her voice + smooth bass building up to a tinkling of little chimes, and trumpets in the background. Basically, it felt like all of the songs were remixes of the SAME song. There is a shocking lack of diversity.

I believe that her voice deserves to be laid over better music.

This is a very good first album, don't get me wrong. It serves well as a listen-to-before-bed album, or a driving-home-after-a-long-day-of-work album. I'm looking forward to her follow up, hoping to hear something more unique. I believe there is a TON of potential here.

I first found out about Corinne Bailey Rae last year when she was spotlighted as a VH1 You Oughta Know artist. While I jumped onto her bandwagon immediately afterwards, somehow I never got around to listening to her full-length self-titled album until just recently. But I'm sure glad I did.

By now, I'm sure everyone's familiar with the singles "Put Your Records On", "Like a Star" and "I'd Like to", but there are even more great songs to be found. "Call Me When You Get This" is a funky change from her usual fare, and "Butterfly" and "Breathless" are beautiful in their own right. And although I'm not sure what "Choux Pastry Heart" means, it's also a highlight.

In fact, every song on here is a highlight. I know it's been said a few time before, but when it comes to Corinne Bailey Rae, do what her debut single instructs and put her records on.

Anthony Rupert

I never, ever, fall for the most commercial song on a CD. I generally go for one of the hidden gems, the one that doesn't shine in the public domain of TV appearances and videos. This is not the case with this CD. From the moment I first heard it, I couldn't get "Put Your Records On" out of my head. To this day, I don't know why; the lyrical strings in many of the other songs are far more to my liking, but somehow the funny lightness of this song sticks to me, and I often find myself humming it during the day....

"Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song

You go ahead, let your hair down

Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,

Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow."

THE BEST OF THE REST

"Like a Star" -- Lyrical, languid, lovely

"Till It Happens To You" -- A quintessential breakup song

"Call Me When You Get This" -- playful and sexy, a message to a lover:

"Baby, if you're still awake,

Call me when you get this.

I've got all this poetry now, I didn't know then.

I kept inside. Guess I had never seen anything beautiful

Till I first saw you asleep at night."

"Trouble Sleeping" -- a bluesy classic; the horns on this song are memorable

A couple of songs carry out the theme, but I'm less fond of them: "Breathless" , "Enchantment" and "Choux Pastry Heart". The material at the end of the CD is less comprehensive and "listenable" than the first 2/3.

All in all, Bailey Rae demonstrates that everything old is new again - but she deserves to be compared only to herself and not some of the unique ladies that came before her. I hope that this early success is followed by continued success as an artist and songwriter.

If you haven't heard this CD, it is highly recommended!

Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled CD is certainly worth the price of admission for those seeking well crafted, contemporary soul and delivers on most of it's promises. Colorful, thoughtful lyrics that ache of love not quite there, rich textured musical arrangements and stylish vocals that balance youthful optimism with a hint of disappointment. The stand-outs on this project are "Trouble Sleeping", "Like A Star" and "Butterfly", with the last one not only being the best of the three, but the one that ultimately showcases Bailey Rae's lyrics. The single, "Put Your Records On", is a decent, mid-tempo ditty that's easy to sing along to, but certainly lacks some of the depth of the other material. The lyrics on this one trumpet free spirited innocence and self-discovery, but don't really say much more than you've heard before from similar artists. And it reeks of being added later so the record company could feel like they had a "single" with some groove and not an album of ballads. To her credit, she maintains a good consistency throughout the CD by using one main producer, Steve Chrisanthou, a perk many urban artists overlook. Too many producers bringing too many different "feels" to the album and no one thinking of the artist's sound as a whole. And unfortunately, like a lot of R&B/soul acts, she's weaker on up tempos and stronger on ballads. The knee jerk reaction to Bailey Rae by those who listen casually will be her Billie Holiday comparison, which isn't unfounded. Her voice, while stronger and more dynamic than Lady Day's, certainly does ape Billie's style, but is unable to capture mood and sadness and beauty the way Billie could. Lots of young singers have been influenced by Holiday and she'll probably grow past this at some point. Rae writes her own songs, plays and sings on her records, so being a triple threat will bode well for her development. However, as a singer, her voice can sometimes get lost in busier arrangements, if she's not careful. Her delivery, while dripping with personality, can lack an intensity that a vocalist needs to command the ear of the listener. On "Call Me When You Get This", one of few up tempos, the track almost runs her over and we find ourselves bored by whatever she's singing about. The one great failing of this British, singer-songwriter's debut, in my opinion, is the track sequencing on the CD. If you listen from start to finish, there's no journey in the song order. A great album always takes you on a trip and manipulates the listener to step into the artist's world. This CD, while having some really good moments, loses when it starts with a dark ballad, followed by a darker ballad, then to the upbeat single---and back to a dark ballad! By the fourth song, you'll wanna break up with her,too. Anyway, if you're so inclined to mix up the song order yourself (I've done it before), this is a very strong first outing by a bright, talented singer who really does seem to have the goods. Hopefully, her record company and those in her corner and will allow her to stay the path set before her and give her the time and space to continue to mature and blossom.

As we entered this new decade, one genre that has seemed to disappear from the musical landscape has been R&B. Don't talk to me about Usher or Ciara because that type of R&B has been taken over Hip-Hop influences. Yeah, it was novel when Mary J. Blige invented the sub-genre over ten years ago, but now that every R&B artist has Hip-Hop producers all over their albums, it's become tiresome. Even Alicia Keys, whose first two albums were great, sometimes lets Hip-Hop take over too much in her songs. When I talk about real R&B music, I'm talking about baby making music like Boyz II Men and Babyface.

Enter Corinne Bailey Rae and her self titled debut album. The English songbird has actually been able make an R&B record in 2006 that doesn't have any Hip-Hop beats on it. Rae has been touted as a cross between Macy Gray and India.Arie but her voice is much more assessable than Gray's (though it does take a little time to get used to) and goes far beyond Arie's acoustic soul leanings. The comparison must come from the acoustic guitar driven second single Put Your Records On.

In fact on the album Rae is able to catch the vibe of R&B throughout the decade starting with the opener, Like a Star, a soft and stripped down song that evoke Billie Holiday. She then moves into the sixties with Trouble Sleeping which could have fit in easily at a time when Motown ruled. Then Call Me When You Get This with its pseudo-disco beat could have been played during the hey day of Studio 54. Breathless would have a good edition to any Anita Baker album. With the closing track, Seasons Change, Rae is even able to evoke Alicia Keys without the Hip-Hop beats.

This album may not be enough to bring back real R&B nor will it produced more babies than a Barry White release, but it's definitely worth a listen to anyone who misses silky voices and are tired of aggravated drum beats. The diversity of the album, mixing a wide range of soul music as well as a wide variety of instruments from song to song, should keep Corinne Bailey Rae in music collections for years to come.

I like the new Corinne Bailey Rae CD a lot, but there's something about it that makes it difficult to review. Everything about it, from the way it sounds to the way it is packaged, is extraordinarily retro. Even the flourishes suggest another era; the rhythm section is smooth, not punchy. Orchestration is the real deal, not some synthesized concoction. Given the state of contemporary singer/songwriter product, calling something `retro' is meant as a compliment, and is reason enough for me to recommend this disk, but who exactly am I recommending it to? Judging from the marketplace as it now exists, there just doesn't seem to be much room for singer/songwriters beyond Alicia Keys, so it is imperative that Rae's label finds a niche that radio will nibble, and CD buyers will bite. With melodies like these, that ought to be fairly easy, but today's music scene is baffling and extraordinarily frustrating, so I can't help but wonder how a pretty and feathery light CD like this will fare.

Perhaps the best thing about "Corinne Bailey Rae" is its consistency. Each song flows with a light and easy charm that would have guaranteed hit status a few decades ago. If the year were 1972, this CD would have as many hits as Carole King's "Tapestry" album. "Put Your Records On" could have been the summer theme of that year - even the subject of the title (records??) alludes to an earlier era. "Trouble Sleeping" is just the kind of song you'd have expected to hear on the radio between Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. "'Till It Happens to You" adds a hint of Alicia Keys into the mix, and other tracks suggest the mellower side of Nelly Furtado, but the real influences here are Joan Armatrading and perhaps Roberta Flack. The production is flawless (remarkably, I can't find a credit in the booklet), and the rhythm section is tastefully unobtrusive and yet supportive. In my opinion, this is the type of musicianship that deserves awards.

What could be wrong with a CD that has so much going for it? "Corinne Bailey Rae" is a comforting album, and I'm comforted to know that talented singer/songwriters can still get recording contracts. The songs are both charming and seductive, but they walk a fine line between the predefined demographics of today's narrow-minded programming requirements. So will this excellent CD be able to find its audience? I guess it isn't my job to figure out who will like it. My only responsibility is to let you know that it's a damn good `record', provided you are open minded and inclined toward the mellower sounds of the early `70s. Most amazingly, this CD is selling like hotcakes, so maybe there is some hope for the music industry after all. A- Tom Ryan

While I will probably get slammed for not falling under Corinne Bailey Rae's spell, it's not for lack of trying. This woman is revered in her native England and has received universally good reviews around the world, so it seemed like a no brainer for me to buy this release.

I listened to the whole release several times and I could not believe that I was entirely indifferent to it and that is not a good thing. Sure "Like A Star" and maybe "Put Your Records On" are nice enough, but for the most most part I felt like I say listening to background music that lacked intimacy, intensity, and emotional connection. Corinne has been compared singers like Macy Grey, Norah Jones, Sade and even the one and only Billie Holliday, but I see none of it.

Some may think that my review may reflect a total lack of appreciation for the more quiet, subtle sound that is the anti-Britney and the like, but it simply is not true. I love singers like Kate Bush and other left of center acts, but Corinne's voice seems too light for me and the arrangements are plain flat.

This is not to say that the lady is not without talent as the two songs that I mentioned above say differently, but this record simply does not hold a candle to the work of say Rickie Lee Jones, who to this day does not get the credit she deserves.

If you are looking for a safe record that will not offend, you could do much worse, but if you've listened to all the hype, you may want to lower your expectations. I don't hate this release, it just does not resonate with me.

Given that virtually every up-and-coming musical act gets hyped beyond the point of consumer exhaustion, it's tempting to automatically reject the artist along with the hype. Not a good idea though, particularly if it means missing that occasional album that really deserves one's lasting attention. Which brings us to UK soul artist Corinne Bailey Rae, who has really put together a special debut from the first cut to the last. Without exception her vocals go deep, as do her songs (all of which she wrote or co-wrote). It's ironic that star performers whom are considerably older than Corinne find the need to revamp themselves in the image of certain lightweight teenage acts. Then here comes someone in her twenties who has a mature musical point of view and an image to match. Without even trying, Corinne is making some top-selling predecessors look even more skanky and desperate for attention than they already were.

I can repeat what other reviewers here have praised about Corinne's music, and I think I will by echoing those who see this album as bridging the most timeless soul/r&b classics of the past with subtle contemporary production touches. Corinne deserves better than to be compared to others, but as a general point of reference: if you're into the likes of Alicia Keys and other talented nu-soul artists (Amel Larrieux, Monday Michiru, etc.), it's hard to imagine that you'll be anything less than thrilled by Corinne's music. One thing that contributes to the album's success is that although the soulful production and arrangements do have a contemporary vibe, thankfully the tracks aren't turned into generic audio wallpaper via cookie-cutter beats, guest rappers, and over-exposed producers. Corinne is making waves by sticking to her musical strengths, rather than diluting her talent via ingredients with a six-month shelf life. As such, perhaps there is no quantity of obvious hit singles here, but who cares when there's musical quality throughout. Hopefully we'll be able to say that about future albums by Corinne Bailey Rae.