Crows

Allison Moorer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 9, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B00000E7MD
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,218 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1. Abalone Sky2. Goodbye To The Ground3. Just Another Fool4. The Broken Girl (Album Version)5. Should I Be Concerned6. When You Wake Up Feeling Bad7. Easy In The Summertime8. The Stars & I (Mama's Song)9. Still This Side Of Gone10. Like The Rain11. Sorrow (Don't Come Around)12. It's Gonna Feel Good (When It Stops Hurting)13. Crows

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Crows - A Mixed Bag That Could Have Been Much Better, March 29, 2010

By 

Philip R. Heath "Gadgets, Music, & Books" (DFW) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crows (Audio CD)

Crows is Allison Moorer's latest recording of original songs following her cover album Mockingbird (see my review). This is a collection of dark, brooding folk tunes featuring Moorer's gorgeous voice. The opener "Abalone Sky" is fairly sparse featuring acoustic guitar to accompany Moorer's lament for something/someone that troubles her. This song is beauty in sadness. "Goodbye To The Ground" follows nicely adding some additional instrumentation while keeping the same mood. Moorer gives listeners an interesting variation on "Broken Girl" as the instrumentation lightens up a bit, but her voice is still haunting as she tells "Storms gather in her head sometimes". Her delivery on the bridge of the song is earnest and gives intensity to the song that sticks with you.

However Moorer stumbles at times with her songwriting on Crows. The chorus on "Just Another Fool" is trite and sophomoric "Ooh she ain't gonna let you in fool/she ain't ever gonna break her rule/and if you try your' just another fool." The lyrical pattern on "When You Wake Up Feeling Bad" seems to have caused Moorer problems as she had four verses each with four lines that rhyme. Needing to rhyme with "old", the third line is "All the bread in the kitchen's grown mold". Her delivery matches the awkwardness of the words themselves, and it essentially ruins the song. Finally, "Easy In The Summertime" features three choppy verses delivered hastily. This was my least favorite song on Crows.

The remainder of the songs came off fairly lukewarm. They weren't bad, but there wasn't anything that really stuck with me about them. When you add it all up, Crows is quite a mixed bag from Allison Moorer. Some songs show promise, but I would recommend buying mp3s of the few good songs and passing on the rest.

Download this: Abalone Sky

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Her Best Discs., February 9, 2010

By 

A* (New York, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crows (Audio CD)

I've been a fan of hers for years and loved her last disc, Mockingbird. But Crows is on an entirely different level. It leans so heavy on melody and strings allowing her voice to really shine and she gives you everything she has on these haunting songs. "Still This Side of Gone," is just melancholic beauty. The entire disc has this almost eerily atmospheric intimacy to it. The title track, "Crows," has a simple piano riff that underplays the lyrics brilliantly . And "Easy in the Summertime," follows in the same aforementioned formula. These songs, sort of like the rest of the disc, wrestle with inner turmoils of heartbreak/nature, but everything about this disc is just so polished and heartfelt that it avoids schlock. Moorer's voice has always been a thing of blues inflected beauty and with this disc's three upbeat tunes, it manages to have a hopeful poignancy to even the darkest of material on this disc. Wonderful album that matches the greatness of The Duel and The Hardest Part.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Missing the Allison of old, March 2, 2010

By 

Dennis S. Stuempfle "Denny Stu" (Pittsgrove, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crows (Audio CD)

I'm giving this 2 stars, not because I like it that much but because Allison's voice is too beautiful to record a 1 star album. I've been a fan of Allison Moorer since she recorded Alabama Song. I thought The Hardest Part was one of the best country albums made. I saw Allison live in Philly just after she released Miss Fortune and she was great. In Getting Somewhere we saw some departure from the country formula that made her a success. All artists tend to spread their wings a little. So it was no surprise that the next two CDs were named after birds. Mockingbird took Allison even farther from her country roots but in Crows we find an artist crossing over way too far from country to more standard "run of the mill" folk and pop. While her sister has pulled a nice switch by flavoring her country twang with some heart felt blues, or paying tribute to some great singer song writers who made some great song, these songs simply lack character. Whereas I once walked around singing Allison's songs, there isn't a song on Crows that I've fallen in love with or that I feel is catchy or noteworthy. The songs are gloomy and most were written in minor keys make them even more morose. That's not a problem as Allison has written a few sad songs in the past, one about her mother, that brought tears to my eyes. But these songs aren't up to snuff with her usual story telling excellence. And there are plenty of folk and pop singers out there. Go onto myspace and you can find plenty of mediocrity among pop singers. Why join them? I always hoped for more from Allison. For my money, I'd just as soon pull out The Show or The Hardest Part and enjoy a beautiful voice singing beautiful melodies. I hope this cd is met with the mediocre sales results that it warrants, not because I mean any ill will toward the artist but because I'm hoping for a wake up call that sends her back to her roots to share the country spotlight that she handed away to others, like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.