Customer Reviews

Courage

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I spotted Paula in Rockport Massachusetts last week....I live there during the summer and I knew that she grew up there and still visits frequently. I "googled" her and discovered that this new album was out. I immediately bought it and can't stop listening to it. The tracks are sexy, hypnotic, jazzy, meaningful, addicting, exciting....just amazing!
I'm so glad she's back....better than before and ready for big big things to come. Paula, if you're reading this....get ready for the grammy's!!!
Please buy this record and listen to it over and over again...Play it while on the treadmill or at an itimate candlelit dinner party. Something for every music taste.

Unfortunately, too many people just know Paula Cole as "the girl who wrote that Dawson's Creek song." I strongly encourage everyone to give this disc a good listen. Her familiar brilliant songwriting, musicianship and singing voice are all here and after listening to her music, I somehow always feel more intelligent. It's always smart, but not inaccessible. To listen to her music, you really do have to "smarten up." The tragedy of so much music these days is that you have to "dumb down" to listen to it and so much of it seems as if it's being prdouced with the lowst common denominator in mind, and thankfully, Ms. Cole doesn't do that. Definately worth the buy!

I first heard Paula Cole the night before her first CD was released when she performed with Peter Gabriel on his "Secret World" tour. I went out the next day and bought her CD. I have loved her work since that night many years ago at the Tweeter Center.


Like all of her albums this one has some songs I just want to play over and over and over again, and some that I don't really like. She is a true artist, constantly testing the limits of what she can do with her music. I don't mind those less than perfect songs because of what they lead to in future songs.

I didn't know that Paula had anything new out, and happened to see this in the store. I promptly put back the CD I had gone out to buy, bought this one, and ran home. "Comin' Down" gave me goosebumps, but it was "El Greco" that made me sit in the middle of my livingroom floor and weep. Yes Paula, you've done a damn good job of "feeling emotions in a deeper shade...(of being) the one who puts them to song, and liberat(ing) the heartache comin' down."

Thank you--and welcome home, we missed you.

Paula Cole's new CD has excellent tracks, among her best work. Produced by Bobby Colomby whose work I first noticed as part of the classic band Blood, Sweat & Tears, "Courage" is a bit softer in tone. It does however intensify in terms of emotional wallop. My favorite track was written with Greg Phillinganes. "Safe In Your Arms" is such a lovely happy ending song with David Palmer's piano accenting the strong midtempo beat as Paula sings expressively, "It don't matter how strong I think I am, I always need another heart to bind me to the moment, to help me see myself." The opening track "Comin' Down" has a beautiful melody and a humbling lyric, "I'm free here in the mountains of peace may I be; I see the greatness above and the smallness of me. So free, here in the garden awake consciously, I see the greatness within; the greatness in me." Other tracks are also very strong like "I Want to Kiss You" with its breezy melody flamed with desire. "Lonelytown" sounds like an old-time jazz track from which a torch singer would milk the emotion. Paula does a lovely job with it. "Courage" is a fine return, different from her earlier work but exquisitely rewarding with its depth & beauty. Enjoy!

I feel in love with Paula Cole for the first time when I guy I worked with loaned me "Harbinger" telling me she is `amazing'. I heard the exquisite voice that is both powerful and soft, haunting melodies married to life given lyrics and I knew she was not so Ordinary. Then I fell even more in love with her when I saw her on Peter Gabriel's DVD "Secret World Live" and her incredible stage presence. She stole my heart again with "This Fire" and I didn't want to wait! "Amen" followed and I believed in Love again.

Now here it is 8 years later and she release "Courage". My Lovelight is indeed kindled again. She has returned with a very interesting Album. Her direction seems to have shifted or matured some what and this is may be partially due to the producer's input both good and no so good. However, it is Paula that shines with her voice as exquisite and rich as ever. Her lyrics are like fine lace dressing the album beautifully. "Lovelight", "Comin' Down", "El Greco", "14", "It's My Life" and especially "I Wanna Kiss You" are the cream of the crop and excellent. "Lonely Town", "Safe in Yours Arms" and "In Our Dreams" are good and may take a few times through to get you.

I feel that all of her albums have songs that are exceptional, some that are good and one or two that maybe considered average. This album is the exception to this rule and contains two songs that in my view are less than average. Unfortunately they choose add two duets to the collection - "Hard to Be Soft" and "Until I Met You" which are weakly produced to sound broadwayesque. The male vocals compared to Paula's voice are severely lacking and disjointed. These tracks just don't fit and seems like some other album's tracks got mixed in with Paula's especially so with "Until I met You". All that being said "Courage" is still a must have for any Paula Cole fan!

I give it 4.5 out of 5 and I am still very much in love with Paula Cole. Please keep more music coming as I will be waiting. Welcome back and thank you for your "Courage".

So it's been 8 years since Paula Cole's last album, "Amen". If you've visited her website you know why she's been gone for 8 years, and the reasons weren't always happy ones. I am glad Bobby Colomby (Blood, Sweat & Tears) helped Paula and encouraged her to summon up a new album. I must preface the rest of my review by stating that although I like Paula Cole's music, I feel each of her albums has had a few duds, and "Courage" is no exception. Also, I'm not entirely satisfied with Cole's musical direction on "Courage". She took a more adult contemporary approach that is jazzier and more Norah Jones-like.

That said, Paula Cole's vocals and lyrics continue to be the main draw on "Courage". Musically, I prefer her earlier works. I don't know if this change is due to so many years away, Paula's maturation process, Bobby Colomby's influence or the move to Decca records, or all of the above. This isn't to say that there aren't any good songs--there are several, like "Lovelight", "El Greco", "It's My Life" and "I Wanna Kiss You" that remind you of why Paula Cole is so great. There are several more that are okay, like "Comin' Down", "Lonelytown", "14" and "Hard To Be Soft" which showcase some different musical directions for Paula. Then there are the duds--"Safe In Your Arms", "In Our Dreams" and "Until I Met You" which really didn't register for me.

Overall, is "Courage" better than her last work, "Amen"? Yes. "Amen" was incohesive, but she had several strong songs like "Amen", "Pearl", "Be Somebody" and "I Believe In Love". I didn't find any songs like those on "Courage", but "Courage" has its charms. Still, I think Cole has yet to create her career defining masterpiece, and I hope it's just around the corner.

I first heard Paula as back up singer for Peter Gabriel. The depth of her talent is astounding. Not only does she have an AMAZING voice, but her songwriting & poetry stand alone. I wept through El Greco, because she was singing my life. Very cathartic & inspirational! I've bought it for four people so far (all musicians) and we are all certifiably addicted. I would expect this to be a multi-winning Grammy album. THANKS PAULA! You have once again blessed us all!

If men are from Mars and women from Venus, Paula Cole's latest album, her first in something like eight years, puts her current sensibility firmly in Earth's orbit on a steady trajectory toward a sane future. I've always liked this progressive singer/songwriter's voice, but her sentiments often left me befuddled. In the '90s she was bemoaning the lack of "Johnny Waynes" in "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?", when here I was struggling with my best Alan Alda impersonation! In recent years, I've only seen her on the Tonight Show singing backing vocals for acts I hadn't heard of. In any case, Courage presents a nice, mostly soft and traditionally arranged set of songs focusing on reflection and spiritual fortitude to face the future. There's a bit of an edge in her voice on songs like the anthemic single "14", but most of these tunes fit her softer folky/jazzy side quite comfortably.

She writes in the notes that this album is something of a miracle after many years tinged with self-doubt. I'd say she hasn't lost whatever it was that made her particular voice special.

I wasn't so sure Paula Cole would be ever be able to top "This Fire." But she does it definitively with "Courage." She retains her trademark sound- her voice rides the surf of the adventurous bass, drum, and rhythm parts with ease and dexterity- she could make you believe that she is still the "Saturn Girl" if she cared to. But this time around, she's a bit more wizened- simultaneously chastened by the prospect of self sustaining hope while letting go where there may be very little left. "In Our Dreams" in particular is, by turns, haunting & hypnotic- if you are attuned to it, the personal becomes the universal- which is what great art is supposed to do.
A truly wonderful, sublime album.

Courage is like Alanis who calmed down many albums later. It's sweet, calm, poetic, and a very safe album. If you're expected Throwing Stones or Tiger, you won't see it here. Or if you're even wanting the hooky melodies of Carmen or Hush, Hush, Hush. It's a bit sad to name all the tracks from This Fire but it was such an album of the decade. Every song was different and every song brought on a different mood and energy. Courage flows on the same wave. Every song is smooth and quiet. Her voice is beautiful as ever but one really misses the edge of her past material, the hooks, the fantastic musical arrangements. Everything kind of blends together after the 3rd song. It's nice that she's spiritual and found peace in her life but I was hoping for another masterpiece of a collection of songs that were different in every way.

She really threw us for a loop with Amen, which was completely rocky and, again, no songs that I walked away singing. I understand artists wanting to branch out but when they go so far left and loose that spark of creating memorable songs, it makes me sad. Artists like Tracy Chapman and Sade always stay true to their form and have legions of fans that appreciate that, I was SO hoping that Paula would come back with a bite and let us have it with another unique album. Yet, Courage is her "At Peace" album. It's not that I want her to be bitter and angry but give us some arrangements that aren't so relaxing and meditative. Good for her that she's happy but sad that we don't have the edgy sound from her anymore.