Customer Reviews

Fairytales [Eurovision 2009]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This CD is a great mix of ballads, beautiful violin, and more pop-style music. Fairytales--the name of the CD and one of its songs, is what got Alexander first place in the Eurovision concert in Moscow 2009. Alexander, at only 23 wrote the words and the melody and performed the song with his violin and his own singing. He is very talented and exhibits his beautiful voice and amazing violin playing skills in every song.

Kiss and Tell and Roll with the Wind have a little more beat and are similar to Fairytales (to my untrained ear, at least). Funny Little World, Abandoned, and Horses are more of ballads and have beautiful words and music.

The last 2 bonus tracks are instrumentals and very well played. Anyone who likes Fairytales will LOVE the rest of this CD, each of the songs is beautiful and there are no fluffy filler songs.

I watched Eurovision last year and when I heard the sing 'Fairytales" I was amazed by his talent. But sadly I live in Texas not Europe or Norway, so I have to pay alot of money for a CD, hopefully my family in Spain can just send me it. But if not I would buy it here, because I just love his songs. (Especially "Funny Little World" and "Roll With the Wind".)

I enjoyed listening to this CD. Very good job for a young composer and performer!

First of all, lets get the obvious out of the way: Alexander Rybak is an instant-star in Europe, after the biggest victory in history, in the very popular yearly Eurovision Song Contest (recent years have seen figures of viewers quoted from 100 to 600 million).

The title-song is very catchy (some may argue annoyingly so), and with multi-cultural influence appealed to audiences all over Europe.

Mr. Rybak is a very accomplished violinist and showman. The songs on the cd vary, but my main objections are that the lyrics in part are not very strong, and also his English accent comes through a bit strong sometimes.

That said, I think people with an open mind will enjoy this cd - I certainly did. It has a mix of catchy tunes (#1 is very good), as well as some quiet songs as well. (Personally, I like 13 horses which is quite sad, but very beautiful).

I just ordered the CD and cannot wait to receive it. I watched this year's Eurovision competition and can say without reservation that the music, the lyrics, and the singing of this young artist are just beautiful. You can tell Alexander loves what he does. I enjoyed Fairytale and have listed to it many times. Cannot wait to hear the other songs. I would agree with the other reviewer that perhaps this style of music is not terribly popular in the US but that does not detract from Alexander's musical talents or the beauty of the music.

The young Alexander Rybak proves he's worthy of winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 (which he won with a record high score). Fairytale is gorgoeus and excellently performed, his voice is seducing and his violin a treat for the ears, the rest just falls into place. This raising star deserves all the praises his getting, being the complete and talented artist he proved to be.

Alexander Rybak's first job, pretty good and catchy melodies, lyrics a bit melancholic, and best of all the violin. work that shows that it is a promising artist.

It's a great album and even more that I hoped for. Amazon is a great company through which I was able to get this selection with timely and quality delivery.
I highly recommend this artist as well as Amazon.com.

"Fairytale" is a sweet, beautiful album but not something to be listened to when you are depressed! "I don't want to be abandoned" is beautiful but gut wretching and "13 Horses", about 13 horses drowning one by one in a shipwreck creates the confusion and feeling of abandonment illustrated so realistically that I don't know of anyone and I mean ANYONE who can listen without crying!

In short,this is not an album for everyone and is an aquired taste!

An Alexander Rybak CD titled "Fairytales" appeared in our house at about Christmas time. I asked my wife what it was and she said her mother had probably brought it over for our listening pleasure. Well, that figures. She had just returned from a trip to Russia and the disc is a big hit there. Alexander Ryback had recently won a big Eurovision event in Moscow and had achieved great popularity. Out of curiosity, I finally played the CD and have mixed feelings about it.

The music mostly consists of vocals by Mr. Rybak who accompanies himself on the violin and is backed with a small orchestra consisting of strings, piano and drums. Some tracks have an accompanying vocal chorus. Unquestioningly he is a very talented musician. His music has a very European sound to it, and sometimes reminds me vaguely of gypsy music. At other times it vaguely reminds me of American Country music. Strange mixture. Perhaps I should add that all the vocals by Mr. Rybak are in English, and are easily understood. It's not a bad disc at all, but lies outside the range of music I generally listen to. The CD is very well done, but I don't particularly care for the music and it's doubtful I would play the disc a second time. Some people might well find the music beautiful. I could well understand, but I'm not one of those people.

I'd say that "Roll with the Wind," "Fairytale" and "Kiss and Tell' are the best tracks on the disc, or at least they come closest to my listening tastes. The music here has a good, strong beat and a good vigor to it. A bonus track, "500 Miles," is also another good one. The rest of the album is a series of soft Barry Manilow-style ballads and I find the listening difficult to tedious. "Funny Little World" and "If You Were Gone" border on being sappy and some of the other tracks aren't far removed. "500 Miles" suggests an eye toward the American market. It would be my opinion that the music is not ready for the American market. It's a good start, but needs a lot of polish. At present, the disc is available only as an expensive import.

Gary Peterson