Far

Regina Spektor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 23, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros.
• ASIN: B00204AA0O
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,499 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #77 in Music > Pop > Adult Alternative

Editorial Reviews

Regina Spektor's gold album Begin
To Hope was honored as one of Rolling Stone's Top 50 albums of 2006. Far, her much anticipated follow-up, once again spotlights Spektor's daring piano pop,
vocal acrobatics and offbeat wit. Utilizing four esteemed producers-Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Traveling Wilburys), Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes) and Garret 'Jacknife' Lee (Weezer,
R.E.M.) Spektor combines rich soundscapes with evocative and intricately structured melodies and a remarkable gift for crafting intelligent, refreshingly honest odes to life. With Far, major stardom draws near for Regina Spektor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Less vocal quirk, more studio work -- But still great, June 23, 2009

By 

R. W. Price "v 3.0" (Suburbia, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Far (Special Edition CD/DVD) (Audio CD)

For those who've gotten to know Regina's music over the past few years, "Far" will not disappoint. Some songs offer thoughtful lyrics; others, a catchy chorus with trademark Regina vocals. It's true, this album definitely has a clean-cut studio sound, which is a sharp contrast to "Soviet Kitsch." But the music at its core is just as remarkable.

The special edition of this album comes with two bonus tracks: "Time Is All Around" is an upbeat track with some not-so-upbeat lyrics, and "The Sword & The Pen" is a somber song that seems to conjure up classical Russian composition. One note of interest is that ten minutes of silence has been tagged on to the end of "Man of a Thousand Faces" before the start of the bonus tracks. I suppose the idea was to keep the bonuses as a separate entity. However, if you rip this album to your computer to transfer to an mp3 player, you may want to trim that time off.

This edition also comes with a DVD featuring music videos for "Laughing With," "Eet," "Dance Anthem of the 80's" and "Man of a Thousand Faces." I'm not a huge fan of music videos in general, but these are worth a few viewings.

It's worth noting that this edition comes with full lyrics for all songs, including the bonuses. I believe the regular print DOES NOT. So if you like knowing all the words, this would be the edition to get.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent album, August 8, 2009

By 

Efrat Pauker (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Far (Audio CD)

I read many reviews before actually listening to the album, which got me to think it's going to be a completely commercialized and soul-less piece. But after listening to it probably 20 times over the past 2 days (I just can't stop listening to it) I think it's an excellent album, complete with creative and insightful lyrics, beautiful vocals and melodies. It might be less raw than her previous work (which she had single handedly produced) but that's just natural. People often expect artists to produce the same product they love over and over and get disappointed when they move on. Only thing is, the artists that do survive trend changes actually flow with them (e.g., Joni Mitchell, Madonna among others).

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where Has This Woman Been?!, July 29, 2009

By 

Stephen D. Arzberger - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Far (Audio CD)

Even though I'm perhaps a bit older than Regina's main audience (I'm 58), I stumbled across this CD after reading an article about it and thinking at the time that this sounded like something I'd enjoy. Well, I was right! This is a terrific CD from someone I had never really heard of before and one of the best I've heard in a long, long time. I can certainly see some Grammy nominations coming her way! A modern classic!