Ghosts [Import]

Siobhan Donaghy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• ASIN: B000T27XJU
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,861 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2007 sophomore album from this former member of UK female Pop outfit Sugababes. Ghosts is the startling result of a collaborative "vision" from the enigmatic mind of producer/programmer James Sanger (Keane, U2, Brian Eno). Coolly dramatic as vintage Kate Bush, as vocally ephemeral as the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser and as electro-dazzling as 'Ray Of Light'-era Madonna, the album is Pop sophistication at its classiest; dazzling, planet-sized pulsing with loss, pain, fear, forgiveness, running and hope. Features 11 tracks including the singles 'Don't Give It Up' and 'So You Say'. Parlophone.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime, November 9, 2007

By 

Deshae Jones (Ohio) - See all my reviews

"Ghosts" by Siobhan Donaghy is simply outstanding, just SUBLIME! It is so rare for me to gush about a particular CD. Usually I will like a few songs or less on a CD, with one, possibly two being really great. With "Ghosts," however, I cherish every song. This CD, like the editorial review says, certainly is ethereal. But it is not a weirded-out, avante-garde, experimental type of music. I don't like that sort of crap. Rather, this is just simply some of the most beautiful, dreamy, lush and fantastic stuff ever! These songs reach for the heavens with feet on the ground. Dreamy and lush yet accessible and totally listenable! Not one song is disapointing. My favarite is "There's A Place." I listen to it over and over. It's a disgrace and shame that this CD and Siobhan Donaghy are not more well-known (at least in the States.) A crying shame! Please girl, get yourself out there! Get your songs on t.v., get in the media-and please make more music!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, September 4, 2007

By 

J. Glenn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This is truly the best work Siobhan Donaghy has ever done. If you liked Revolution in Me, you will love this. Outstanding vocals and lyrics. 12 Bar Acid Blues was particularly catchy. There is not a song here that I don't love.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lush Masterpiece : Like an Undiscovered Kate Bush Album, April 7, 2009

By 

Cabir Marc Davis (Amazon) - See all my reviews

Too few people know of "Ghosts", which remains an obscure UK release from a few years ago. Its' voice, Siobhan Donaghy, was an ex-member of a semi-popular British girlgroup, and this was her second solo record. I guess expectations were low considering her rather hit-or-miss profile, but "Ghosts" released to poor chart positions (#117 on the UK album chart, which is horrifyingly low for a new release), and till date has only sold a few thousand copies worldwide. Not many people even know of its' existence.

But this is clearly one of the greatest albums of all time. Especially if you are a listener of Tori Amos and Kate Bush. In fact, the Kate Bush comparisons come hard and fast, specifically because Siobhan unabashedly mimics the artists' song structure and melodies - but never does this sound copied or unoriginal. The Tori Amos comparisons are valid as well - this is quirky pop music, with superb production, reminiscent of Madonna's work on "Ray of Light", production-wise. Musically, its a fascinating amalgamation of the rarer Bjork songs, with a bit of Goldfrapp thrown in for good measure.

And then there are the obscure, almost indecipherable lyrics. Consider these artistic lines from the lead title track:

"Full mug my friends certainly familiar
Ah, hear that glitch say search the orbs
Tree-ann said it his seize the circus
Ram's wool that cause way a cricus
Full mug my friends certainly familiar
Warmy funny Anna say say maluska"

And thats just the first verse. In between, the song stops and the chorus is played backwards, then the song progresses, and the backwards portion loops over the forward, with no decipherable message or intention, yet this is poetry of the highest order (research it online). Its this sort of amazing Victorian creativity that places Siobhan miles ahead of her contemporaries, and this album is a quaint, very unique piece of music that defies genre (its like chamber-pop with futuristic elements, but all awash in the England of the 1700s).

If those descriptions allure you, this is certainly the album you should be owning. Its absolutely timeless, and every track is like a meaty piece of highland history. Breathtaking.

Five Stars.