Customer Reviews

First Night

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I went to several Jane Oliver concerts in the 70's. For this young man she was a totally new kind of experience. She did music in a way that I had not heard before but somehow knew of. "First Night" and "Turn Away" are two powerful and poignant ballads. I'll not play a Jane Oliver CD for months and then get into the mood to hear her. All the intensity of hearing Jane for the first time comes back instantly, and I wonder why I haven't been playing her music all along. I'm not as thrilled by Jane's "up" songs as I am by her ballads. Her re-make of "Better Days" is terrible. This song was so beautifully done by Melissa, and had so much potential here. Of course "Vincent" and "Some Enchanted Evening" are blistering in lyrics, vocals and arrangements. Here she becomes that eternal, elusive songbird one cannot get enough of. These two songs came from deep within a hungry, hurting soul with great capacity and in need of great expression. Jane has been said to be the American "Piaf". I don't like either Piaf's voice or style. When Jane is trying to be "French" and "light" she reminds me of Piaf. However, when she becomes that darkly and enchanting songbird of "Vincent" she soars on her own wings, and needs no comparisons to Piaf. If Jane is the American "Piaf", then she is the Piaf I hear in Elaine Paige's studio "Piaf" (Jane should do this kind of recording). I so wish she would record again.

There is more than enough room to argue that Jane Olivor's First Night is the finest pop album ever made by a female singer. Olivor may be too dark/intense for some, but for those who love divas in the lineage of Piaf, Garland and Streisand, there can be no better choice than she. It's obvious that Olivor is thrilled to be singing and this comes across in every song. Her rendition of "Some Enchanted Evening" totally reworks the song and makes it her own, forever, spinning you off into the heavens. I wish Columbia had done a better job of mastering this superb, astonishing album, which, by the way, won Stereo Review's Album of the Year in 1976.

Jane Ollivor was recommended to me through Amazon.com when I was shopping for a Linda Eder CD. What a pleasant surprise! I'd never heard of her. But, I bought the CD and could not (1) stop playing it and (2)wait for her new CD, "Love Decides". Now "Love Decides" is my favorite. I've turned her on to several friends incluing an English bloke here on holiday. Can anybody tell me if she's touring or has plans to do so? Particular interest in the Houston area.

This was the first of Jane's albums I heard. The clarity of her voice, the haunting emotion, touched something inside me. Dark, sometimes, but there is something uplifting about what she does with a song. On covers, she's terrific. On original songs and allowed to let her voice flow, she's incredible.

This is by far my favorite rendition of Enchanted Evening. Having been in the audience at a small music hall, there is more to her fluid voice than a CD can ever capture. Twenty years have not lessened my wish that she was still recording

Jane Olivor's first two albums, "First Night" and "Chasing Rainbows" are as good as vocal music gets. "First Night" is a bit more upbeat and Cabaret-style; "Chasing Rainbows" is more melancholy. Both feature Jane Olivor's marvelous voice, which seems best described as a cross between Edith Piaf and Judy Garland.

Jane's exquisite turn of a phrase makes ordinary lines unforgettable. Two of the best are "Ragged men in ragged clothes, a silver thorn, a bloody rose" from Don MacLean's marvelous song "Vincent." Another is "I would trade the moon... for a string with an orange balloon" from the cynical, world-weary cabaret tune, "One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round." Jane's "Some Enchanted Evening" is perhaps the best version of this standard ever recorded. Oddly enough, I don't like very much her signature song, "C'est La Rose" which seems a bit affected to me.

Back in 1976 this album was cited as the best of the year by "Stereo Review." I wouldn't disagree much, although I think her later album "Chasing Rainbows" may be even better.

Smallchief

A wonderful album...perhaps her best work. "Some Enchanted Evening" will move you to tears.

The only voice that doesn't pale in comparison to Jane's is Celine's. You're cheating yourself of quality vocal talent, sung with amazing passion -- for perfection, if you pass up this or any other Jane Oliver CD. With unsurpassed breath control, range, pitch and tone, the only way to explain Jane's lack of
superstardom could be poor management. She's as awesome live as she is on record; it's hard to not believe her live performances
aren't being lipsynched. Her versions of many of the songs she covers set new standards for all vocalists, as her renditions are better than most of each song's original artist!

This album is truly unique. Oliver has a haunting voice which stays with you and brings you back. While "Some Enchanted Evening" is wonderfully original, the song I cherish is her moving interpretation of "Vincent." She paints his pictures with her voice! These two songs alone make this album worthy for anyone's collection.

My father, me, my daughter....the music transcends the ages. You cannot be disappointed. You'll flip thorugh the songs, you;ll end up letting a couple play, you'll then find yourself either humming them or waking up wanting to hear them and that's when you know that sometimes musical quality is simply overlooked when not sensationalized. It tells you something that the album was Stereo Review's album of the year.......

Being a fan for almost 30 years, what can you say about an artist that is the ultimate in emotion and expression in singing a song?