Customer Reviews

Deep End

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I recently had the opportunity to hear Christine perform live and was blown a way by her voice. This led to a discussion with friends about her most recent album, "The Deep End". Jumping on an impulse to hear her work, with just one or two clicks on Amazon, I received the album next day. I have now listened to the entire album, and I have to tell you, listening to "The Deep End" was definitely one for my "knock your socks off" category. This is one of those albums that has what I call a "listening snow ball effect". That's how I describe it when I'm listening to an album, and as one song ends, I look forward to hearing the next, which I enjoy just as much if not more, and then I listen to the next, and the next one . . . you get the drift. By the time I'm finished, I just simply say wow! This album that Christine recorded is magical. Christine is not just engaging as a singer, but as a songwriter too. She's a great storyteller who expresses herself in an extraordinary way. The whole album has a great flow with a nice mix of songs and production values. And on top of that, the album also features duets with Ian Hunter, Dion, and Marshall Crenshaw, as well as visits from the great Levon Helm, and one of my favorite guitarists and fellow Chelsea Guitar customer, G.E. Smith. My two favorite songs on the album are very different in style, and that would be the intimate "Girl Growing Up" and the very cool "Love Make You Do Stupid Things" - just great stuff. We also get to hear two different versions of her "The Gone with You" - also a terrific song in both forms. I really loved this album, and give it the highest recommendation! Enjoy it - you won't be disappointed.

This is a great CD with some very talented musicians working together. Christine has a great voice as well. If this CD doesn't make you groove a little, nothing will.

Unfortunately, Ms Ohlman is not widely known, which I guess is to be expected in this society of low expectations and buy-off-the-rack music. Nevertheless, she opens her soul on this CD via her excellent song-writing. She can deliver a song like few other women are doing these days - from the heart and from the gut - with a whole lotta soul. I would venture to say she's got her own bit of a niche, mixing vintage R&B, soul, and rock. Bottom line: this babe can sing, telling a story on every tune. You won't be disappointed with this artist

As usual, Christine Ohlman hits the ground running. The Deep End is soulful and sweet - hers is the voice of someone who has paid her dues and lived to tell about it. There's emotional mileage in this collection, sharp lyrics that evoke lingering heartaches, jaded yet hopeful and vulnerable. The material is beautifully written and arranged with a deep-rooted respect for those artists who laid the groundwork before her. Every track is memorable and addictive. The Deep End deserves a place in everyone's collection - loaded with powerful grooves and passionate vocals. Catch Christine and Rebel Montez live if you can... plus, she's one hell of a snappy dresser!

Christine has never sounded better. Her intonation is dead-on and she sings and writes from her true experiences. There's no bull here - she couldn't sing a song if she didn't live it or connect 100% with it. "Deep End," the second cut, should be a regular feature on any DJ's playlist. "The Gone of You" is so heartfelt - she has put into words so poignantly the emotions that run deep following a close personal loss. In addition to these outstanding ballads are the hard-driving numbers like "There Ain't No Cure," and "Bring It With You When You Come," demonstrating that she can belt out rock songs just as well. There are no clunkers on this CD. Pick this one up, put it in your CD player and keep it there - it only gets better.

This is certainly a cliché by now but if there were any justice in the music business, this recording and Christine's poignant tribute to her producer and mate Doc Cavalier, "The Gone of You" both deserve Grammy recognition. Let justice prevail this time. Yes, this record is simply stunning on many levels. The long -time featured vocalist with the Saturday Live Band has released her first album of new songs in six years. This could have easily been a downer, having endured the tragic losses of two people who were very close to her. Instead, you get powerful statements about love and the affirmation of life. As Christine remarked to me in our radio interview, "I just decided to jump back into life with both feet and make the most of it".

She invites many guests aboard, often repaying the favor of having her sing on their records. These include Marshall Crenshaw, Dion DiMucci, and Ian Hunter as duet partners and G.E. Smith, Big Al Anderson, (NRBQ), Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (The Del-Lords), Catherine Russell, Levon Helm, and more as accompanists. Obviously she has tons of respect among her fellow artists but it's her knack for soul and R&B that shine most brightly here. Her voice is just so damn commanding, soulful, and sexy that it becomes the focal point of everything she takes on. There are eleven originals that run the gamut from hard-charging rock and R&B ("Love Make You Do Stupid Things", "Bring It With You When You Come" and "Cradle Did Rock" among others) to ballads such as the title track and "Like Honey". Of course, the central theme is "The Gone of You" which appears twice, in full band and in demo versions. Few songs of loss are stated more directly, and honestly.

The aforementioned alone would make a great record but Ohlman's carefully chosen obscure covers from the deepest reaches of her extensive record collection add tasty finishing touches. She duets with Dion on the southern soul tune "Cry Baby Cry", and with Crenshaw on the Motown hit, "What's the Matter With You Baby". She nods to the loss of Rebel Montez's founder, Eric Fletcher, on Link Wray's "Walking Down the Street Called Love" which is taken from a live radio performance with Fletcher on guitar. "The Deep End" is a treasure; easily one of this year's best records. Dive in.

- Jim Hynes
Host of "Jim's Juke Joint and Soul Kitchen" on WXLV - [...]

Rock `n' roll women have always been a sparser commodity than their male counterparts. Even the adjective that describes a forceful rock `n' roll performance discriminates with its anatomical reference. Rock's had a few chart-topping female stars, including Wanda Jackson, Janis Joplin, Ann Wilson, Joan Jett and Pat Benatar, but the bulk of female rockers labor in day jobs that overshadow their solo output, or work in local obscurity. Patty Scialfa's better known for her marriage and membership in the E Street Band than for her three releases, Karla DeVito is remembered more for the video she made with Meat Loaf (on which she lip-synched Ellen Foley's vocal) than her solo album or subsequent song writing, and Ronnie Spector took decades to emerge from the shadow of her former husband and producer.

Christine Ohlman, whose twenty-year gig with the Saturday Night Live Band has put her voice in the ears of millions of listeners, has released six albums and contributed vocals to dozens of projects, yet remains more of a cult favorite than a name star. She sings in a gutsy rock `n' roll voice edged in soul and blues, part Bonnie Raitt and part Genya Raven, with an element of Van Morrison's early wildness. Her throwback sound combines the romanticism of Brill Building pop and horn-fed Stax muscle (courtesy of the Asbury Jukes' Chris Anderson and Neal Pawley) into a potent rock `n' roll stew. Her music reaches back to a time when guitars were front and center and bass lines propelled dancers to the floor.

The album opens with Ohlman growling her lovesickness against a twangy variation of the riff from Barrett Strong's "Money." She's drawn to the wrong man, but loyal to a fault, recounting the reasons to break away but lamenting what she's missing, proclaiming everlasting love and, in the tradition of the Crystals, opening her arms without worry of what others will think. She slings it out with the ease and familiarity of a club singer, working the crowd and drawing listeners close. Ohlman's band is similarly road-tested (Michael Colbath's bass playing is particularly notable), and her guests include Ian Hunter, Al Anderson, Eric Ambel, Levon Helm, Dion, and Marshall Crenshaw. Her dozen originals are complemented by covers of Van & Titus' deep soul "Cry Baby Cry," Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells' "What the Matter With You Baby," and Link Wray's "Walkin' Down the Street Called Love."

Once upon a time, when rock `n' roll thrived on the radio, this album would have spun off several hit singles. But in today's fragmented music market, and with little room for raw, gutsy guitar-based music, you'll more likely hear this in the background of a Fox TV show whose music coordinator is tasked with setting a rebellious mood, or perhaps on a celebrity musician's weekly satellite radio program. Of course, you can also hear Ohlman in her weekly gig on SNL, and perhaps the show's producers will be so kind as to offer her a spotlight to sing her original songs - songs that stand tall alongside the covers she curates for the band. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

"The Deep End" is that rare record that not only compelled this listener to listen to it in its entirety in one sitting but also has zero filler; every track, one through fifteen, are gems unto themselves (see separate track by track reviews in the download section.) Christine wears her influences well, steeped in Delta Blues, baptized in Deep Soul, drenched in rock'n'roll. Her credentials are amplified by guest vocals from Dion, Mott The Hoople's Ian Hunter and Marshall Crenshaw; Al Anderson (ex-NRBQ) and Levon Helm have cameos on guitar and drums. "The Deep End" is, however, a record that is greater than the sum of its parts. Christine's songs come straight from the heart; songs about wild lust ("Bring It With You When You Come"); songs about obsessive love ("There Ain't No Cure"); songs about personal loss that pour down in buckets of pain ("The Gone Of You"). The organ intro to "Cry Baby Cry" signals the listener they have entered the Church of Christine; they just don't sing 'em like they used to as Dion and Christine testify on this Deep Soul rarity. "Like Honey" is an original song that could be mistaken as a cover of Ruby Johnson or Otis Redding as it evokes the spirit of Stax Records and the Memphis Horns. The punch and funk of "Everybody's Got A Heartache" (think Sly & The Family Stone and the Isley Brothers) shows that Soul has no color. The title track is a bitter-sweet testament to the power of enduring love; it has the feel of Springsteen's "Darkness On the of Town." Christine uniquely combines her influences, writing songs that make her a true original. "The Deep End" hit this listener hard on the first listen and improves with each listening. An album that will be a favorite for years to come, "The Deep End" comes with this listener's highest recommendation.

I had late night work to do and "The Deep End" is what kept me pumping, last night! There is something that is so beautiful and moving and touching and powerful yet vulnerable and relatable about what Christine Ohlman does. Her voice pops out of the album and takes on personalities of its own. Hervoice makes me believe in a God. I can see why there is no religion on earth that does not use music to help people reach a higher plane. Bravo to your brilliance! And, thank you Christine for touching hearts!