Customer Reviews

Cry

5 star:		(264)
4 star:		(66)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(43)
1 star:		(66)

 

 

I don't usually do this. I'm a 50ish white guy up in Vermont with a 5,500 piece record collection not prone to reviewing anything. I like what I like. But, every now and then an artist (and if it was ever in doubt before, it is not now. Faith Hill is an artist - not just a singer)puts out work that cannot be ignored and that you just know you will contiue to play regularly because it gets inside you and changes how you deal with your day or your night or your own self, for that matter. This was a gutsy album to make. Faith Hill's success is not just that of a country singer. Nor of a cross over singer. With each of her albums she has moved in a progression toward...something. It is not easy any more to put her in a nice little niche. This album takes risks musically and lyrically. While she did not write any of the songs, she sings as if she owns each one - passionately. She makes each one her own and you can hear that in the way she takes a familiar word or phrase and stamps (or breathes) her own phrasing into them -making each song (and she) unique. The lyrics are sometimes beautiful (Cry, If This is the End, Beautiful, You're Still Here, Baby You Belong), sometimes wrenching (When the Lights Go Down, This Is Me), brutally honest(Back to You, Stronger,You're Still Here). Sure song writing teams may have put these songs together, but they do NOT feel that way...and they are cetainly not sung or played that way. Musically...some great musicians do some wonderful things on this album. (Headphones help realize the extent of this.) This does not come off as an album dominated by a bunch of talented studio musicians. No, on this album they join Faith Hill in giving every song it's own breath. No two alike. No safe sameness. There are adventurous things going on musically - no twang, no pandering (like a sampler platter of fave craves of the moment) to widen market sales, no effort to create a safe successful album. Faith Hill did not choose to rest on her laurels. Instead she continues to bravely and beautifully move in her progression toward...something. Country? Sure (pure and simple). It's there; she did not stomp on her "roots". Pop? Sure, but no syrup, (no TV contest winner here). There are moving stories here (whether hers or not). There are blues, and gospel tinges, rock (not soft, by the way), and a mix of musicians, instruments and production (she is half of the production team for each song)which make each song unique - while collectively creating a wonderous and moving drama right down to the last words in the last song. Faith Hill is the real deal. There is not a false "note" in this album. Faith Hill is simply and refreshingly honest. However difficult it might be to not consider her beauty, her natural and sincere stage presence, her humor, and her ability to hold her own with David Letterman, this album can (musically and lyrically) stand entirely on it own merits. It is the work (and team work) of a confident artist willing to take risks for the sake of her art. Do I like this album? No, I love this album.

The first thing I want to say is sorry to Faith as I bashed this album in my review when the album came out. I was disappointed that this was not her typical music: Country. The fact is this album has grown on me. There are some really great songs on this. Probably my favorite is "Baby You Belong". But other good songs are "If You're Gonna Fly Away", "Unsavable", "Free", "I Think I Will". Faith sounds good but it is completely different than previous material including "Breathe".
Anyway, I think this album will produce many hits and I hope Faith has a long happy career ahead of her.

A lot of people - mostly critics and some country purists - will be upset that Faith Hill has abandoned her familiar country sound on "Cry." There's not a steel guitar or "fiddle" to be heard (although there are "violins" in the string sections). Faith completes the evolutionary process she dabbled in with "Faith" and spotlighted with "Breathe." The vocals on "Cry" are confident, and she has never sounded better. In fact, her vocal arrangements are true to what she sounds like in concert - soulful, edgy and gospel-tinged. Don't expect to find any fluffy subject matter ("This Kiss" or "The Way You Love Me"). This time around, the song selection emotes independence, tough relationships and even anger (the title track). She rocks on the free-spirited "Free," and "This Is Me." Fans of her recent power ballads will find familiar territory in "When The Lights Go Down," "Back To You," and "Beautiful" (a departure with it's spoken verses - her husky delivery pulls it off). Despite the predetermined label of "pop album," and the absence of a duet with husband Tim McGraw, country fans and programmers still have plenty to enjoy: "Baby You Belong" is a perfect, multi-format choice for the second single. She outdoes herself on the dazzling ballad "Stronger," and the quiet yearning of "You're Still Here" is appropriate in our post 9-11 climate. Faith even takes on dance/pop with "If You're Gonna Fly Away," but it's far from teen pop. The song sticks to the album's theme of tough love and a woman finding herself. She rarely stumbles - the album may be a bit overproduced in some areas ("One"), and "Unsaveable" is the only track that seems to be - mismatched and not strong lyrically. At first listen, your first reaction may be that Faith Hill has gone too far. But give it three or four spins, and you do appreciate her honest delivery and her guts to step outside the comfort zone of Nashville. This is a great effort by an artist who refuses to be defined by genres - and she succeeds brilliantly. Definitely recommended.

Well, I'll admit it, I doubted Mrs. Tim McGraw could pull off an album that could appeal to both country and pop/rock fans.
I was wrong to doubt the power of Faith Hill...she did.
This album is extremely good! From the "don't-mess-with-me!" ("Free", "This Is Me") to the mourning ballads ("You're Still Here") it's pure gold. Honestly, I haven't stopped playing this CD since I bought it in October 2002.

Here's the lowdown on the tracks:
FREE - Catchy, good if you need a "pick me up" song. ("Life pulls fast changes/Wind blows past pages/All I see is I don't need this")

CRY - Perfect for getting over a hard break-up. ("Give it up baby/I hear you're doin' fine/Nothin's gonna save me/I see it in your eyes")

ONE - Decent. It's a good, "I'm over you" song, but it can get a little old. ("One is breaking into two/And my heart is turning blue/And you still don't get it do you?")

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN - Beautiful. A great song about not realizing how you feel until it's too late. ("When the lights go down/And there's nothin' left to be/When the lights go down/And the truth is all you see")

BEAUTIFUL - My least favorite. I personally don't like the spoken-word verses, but it's kinda cute. A Valentine's Day kind of song. ("I love how soft you touch my skin/Like you're touching the wings of a butterfly")

UNSAVEABLE - Another break up song. I think it's easy to relate to, c'mon who hasn't been stuck in a hopeless relationship. ("Baby I cried/A little too hard/A little too long/What I thought was right was way too wrong and too far gone")

BABY YOU BELONG - A cute little love song. Sadly, it is almost Hallmark-y. I have mixed feelings for this one. ("Like a familiar song/Every word is telling me/That the time has finally come/Now here you are")

IF YOU'RE GONNA FLY AWAY - Written by Pink and Linda Perry, it tackles a tough topic - drug addiction. ("So you'll take a thousand pills/Hope it will be numb/Lie awake in bed/Counting all that's wrong"). Faith's vocals are amazing on this one.

STRONGER - About trying to save a relationship, much more positive than UNSAVEABLE. ("So cry for me baby/And I'll cry for you/And we'll both break down and we'll both break through/And we'll both be stronger")

IF THIS IS THE END - Another familiar situation, first REAL love. Those breakups hurt the most, cause you don't want to let go but you know you have to.("It was so easy/We were so young/It's only natural it came undone")

THIS IS ME - An "In-your-face!" kinda song! Sweet, perky, and positive. A nice change from the breakup songs. ("What I do is who I am/All of my impurities/Are right here on my sleeve/This is me")

BACK TO YOU - Great song. Like WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN in the "I can't believe I let you go" sense. ("I would walk the world, cross the seas/Journey beyond the moon/I'd do anything, go anywhere/To find my way back to you")

I THINK I WILL - Not my favorite. I kinda think it should've been crossed off the album. ("Gonna change, before I break/Gonna take your heartache and make it mine/This time, oh, I think I will")

YOU'RE STILL HERE - This one makes me cry. It's about mourning the death of someone you love, only to realize they've never really left you. Very beautiful, probably Faith's best song since THERE YOU'LL BE. It reminds me of 9-11. ("You're still here/I can see you in my baby's eyes/And I laugh and cry/You're still here")

If this isn't enough for you, I got three words for you: BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!!!!!! Well, buy two. Keep one and give one to someone you care about, it's the perfect gift for anyone with a love for music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I urge Faith's longtime fans who prefer her country music to listen to "Cry" again. I found it to be every bit as good as her older country albums "It Matters to Me" and "Faith". "Cry" is filled with songs that have real substance, songs that evoke emotion the way Faith did back in her early career. You won't find any of the pop-crossover lovey-dovey fluff of "Breathe". Instead, "Cry" is the album of a woman finding herself, from the declaration of independence in "Free" to longing for a loved one that has passed on in "You're Still Here". Faith's interpretations of the many feelings present on "Cry" is superb and her vocals are as amazing as ever. Her performance of "When the Lights Go Down" is reminiscent of past ballads like "I Can't Do that Anymore", and though the style is not country, Faith feels the rhythm on "One" and "Unsaveable" every bit as well as she did on "This Kiss". Every song on "Cry" is great...and Faith has included a gem to please her country fans too - "Stronger" is the best I've heard from Faith. For all of Faith's new fans, listen to "Stronger" - and you'll see what her country fans are missing! Though I would love to hear Faith sing country music again, I have to admit that the songs on "Cry" are anthems that celebrate the independent artist that Faith has become!

I love this album, pre-ordered it in October, got it and have been playing since, on a daily basis, I have yet to get sick of it and am still finding new riffs to love. Many people would say that Faith Hill isn't country anymore, but I SAY, she isn't JUST country anymore. Big difference there!Am I the only one who thinks that a true artist can't be contained within a single genre?An artist needs to stretch and grow or her product becomes stagnant, often they'll transform into something similar to what they always were, and in the end will end up going full circle, but since the point is the trip itself, who cares as long as its a happy landing. This is STILL the Faith Hill we fell in love with. Musically this album has some great songs with even better arrangements that pull the listener in and takes them for a ride. Thats what I look for in music...Faith's voice gets stronger with each album and I am eagerly looking forward to the next.

Pure Country? No, Pure Faith.

The new album from Faith, Cry, is not pure country. Nor is it pure pop, gospel, or any other musical genre for that matter. Which is what makes it totally incredible- and totally Faith. Faith has dug down deep and traced back to her roots in rural Mississippi, to give us a fusion of all the sounds she grew up listening to- gospel, pop, country, rhythm & blues, and some Faith-style soul. Songs like 'You're Still Here' and 'When The Lights Go Down' show Faith's amazing ability to capture a song and make it her own, wrapping her lush vocals around it and making an ordinary slow song into a soaring ballad. This record is Faith's best yet, for one reason only- because it is pure Faith. She has reached to every corner of her musical influences and brought it all to us in 'Cry'. She has continued to grow musically, and has poured her heart & soul into every track, giving us 14 tracks of Faith at her best. Pure Country? No. But it's Pure Faith, and that's the best you can get.

Wow! Never have more emotions been so tightly interlaced together. Neither have words nor melodies been sung with such honesty. This is not just a CD, this is a work of art. Faith has reviewed her brush strokes, improved her techniques, blended her hues with remarkable accuracy, and the result is nothing less than a masterpiece. From the albums upbeat tunes (Free, One, This Is Me, If You're Gonna Fly Away) to her sultry ballads (Cry, Beautiful, Baby You Belong, Stronger, If This Is The End) Faith delivers a remarkable album. Perhaps the days of producing songs like ` I Can't Do That Any More' and `Wild One' are over. But Faith delivers her new material with such sincere emotion and conviction that we are more than willing to look over that, and gladly accept the metamorphic changes that have resulted in
Faith Hill -The Diva. CRY is a journey of self-realization. You will experience the jubilant side of love, with exclamations of contentment and happiness, and also experience the turbulent side of love, with it's heartache and misery. Faith empowers with her anthems of freedom, and devastates with her songs of heart break. It is no wonder that she is one of the most popular female entertainers today. What differentiates this CD from others you ask? Faiths vocals, her impeccable taste for picking songs that play with human emotions, and that fact that after listening to this CD you actually feel as if your hunger has been satisfied. After hearing songs that leave much to be desired, it is refreshing to hear songs with quality and substance.

Faith Hill turns in another commanding performance on her latest disc CRY. Ever since her 1998 album FAITH she has been moving closer to pop and away from country. This process continued with the mega seller BREATHE from 1999, and now CRY cements her in that place. However, you could not describe this album as one genre. There's rock (strong presence), pop, R&B, and more. With those two albums there were hints at what was to come, but with CRY its like Faith has found her true voice. There is thankfully no fluff like "This Kiss" or "The Way You Love Me" on here, those were good tracks but I'm glad there is nothing like it here. The first single is the title track, a power ballad which is just heartbreaking, the video is quite interesting visually. "Free" is my anthem, I'm sure it could be a lot of people's anthem, just a declaration of independance and survival. It's a funky pop/R&B song that Faith tears up vocally. "When The Lights Go Down" is another sweeping ballad, sure to be a hit if released. Same goes for "If This Is The End". There's an R&B flavor in "One" and the song written by Pink called "If You're Gonna Fly Away". She heads into rock territory on songs like "This Is Me", "Back To You" and my favorite "I Think I Will" which is a nice upbeat song with a good message. "Stronger" is a soulful track that starts out acapella, and turns into a powerhouse of emotion. "Unsaveable" shows off Faith's strong vocals. The album closes on a high note with the ballad "You're Still Here", a highlight most definately. The closest to country is the title track, while some might be upset she isn't country, I say why put boundaries on music, if you enjoy it then why does it matter what kind of music it is. Overall a strong set turned in again from Faith, one of my favorites from 2002.

When I first listened to this CD, I was more than a little disappointed. As a major country fan, I was disappointed at her songs seeming more popish and even gospelish, and I didn't really love any of the songs. (With the exception of "One.") But why does it matter which category music fits into as long as it is good music??? I listened to this CD again, and I got more used to it. This album is very different from her previous albums, so it takes some getting used to, but now I absoulutely LOVE IT!!! Faith's vocals are just INCREDIBLY AMAZING!!! Every time I hear her voice, I am blown away. Here is what I think of each song on the album:
1)Free - Great beat!!! Great words!!! This song has ENERGY, but
it's probably not for everyone, even though I love it.

2)Cry - This song's words are amazing. Faith puts alot of
emotion into the song. If you are a fan of power ballads,
you will really like this song.

3)One - My FAVORITE song on the album!!! Like I said before,
this song was the only one that i really loved when I first
listened to the album. This song has it all - great words,
great vocals, great words, great beat. I just love the beat
of this song. Its very funky!!! I've heard it described as
R&Bish, and I even think that it's a little jazzy. Faith's
vocals are incredible on this song - she really belts it out,
and she shows what a powerful singer she really is.

4)When The Lights Go Down - I really didn't like this song AT ALL
when I first heard it - I thought that it was boring. Now
I don't know why I ever thought that!!! This song is now my
second favorite on the album, second only to "One." Faith
really belts it out again on this song, and its just a
gorgeous song overall. It's also a power ballad.

5)Beautiful - A very different type of song. Not one of my
favorites. It's a song in which Faith talks the verses, and
sings the chorus. A slow song, and a nice variety.

6)Unsaveable - Love the guitar that opens this song!!! Very
catchy song, and very beautiful.

7)This is me - This song is one of the "countrier" songs on the
album, and it is very good, although not as powerful as "One"
and "When The Lights Go Down." Overall, a good song, and fun
to listen to.

8)Stronger - Pretty, pretty song!!! She starts it out
achapello, and then the guitar comes in. Also one of the more
"countrier" songs. A slow song, and very emotional.

9)Back To You - Great song!!! Lots of emotion.

10)If You're Gonna Fly Away - Kind of a gospelish song, but still
great. I really like it now!!!

11)If This Is The End - Wonderful song, sung very beautifully.
Very soulful.

12)I Think I Will - Funky beat!!! Fun song!!!

13)You're Still Here - Great, emotional song, with a good beat.

Overall, a great album!!! It has "Grammy" written all over it. Be sure to listen to it a couple of times before you get used to it.