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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good video, excellent acoustic performances., March 18, 2004
This review is from: Going Under (Audio CD)
Many a music critic had said that the strongest tracks on Evanescence's Fallen album were the stripped-down, piano-and-vocal tracks. While that's not entirely true -- I think now-departed guitarist Ben Moody was a crucial part of the sound -- it does pay just tribute to vocalist Amy Lee's ability to inhabit a song without the aid of bells and whistles. The point of interest on the "Going Under" single is Moody and Lee's cover of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box", where Lee uses the sensual low end of her crystalline voice, which hasn't been accessed in Evanescence's own material. Moody's hard acoustic strums offer up skeletal support. The acoustic "Going Under" acquires a ghostly campfire quality thanks to Lee's gorgeous performance, looser and lonelier than the studio version. Hearing her employ multiple "characters" with her voice, through technique rather than studio gimmickry, only increases my respect for her vocal ability. There are maybe five music videos I like that were made after 1996, but the one that comes with this CD single is quite respectable. It's still chopped up and doesn't fulfill its potential; Lee and co. commit themselves a great deal in live performance and the video could have captured that better. But the camera and editing trickery are kept to an acceptable level and the energy of the song comes through well enough. This single comes highly recommended.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two excellent acoustic songs by Amy Lee and Ben Moody, February 19, 2004
If an artist gets one song prominently placed in a major Hollywood release they are doing pretty good. But for a new and relatively unknown group like Evanescence to get two songs in "Daredevil," both of which were placed so perfectly within the film's narrative, is clearly an extreme case of lightning striking twice. The group just won a pair of Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist and Best Hard-Rock Performance, and tomorrow night we are going down to see them in St. Cloud. We were supposed to go a while back, but a funny thing happened on the group's tour of Europe and they suddenly had to replace Ben Moody. So the time has come to load up the car's CD player with "Fallen" and assorted singles, including this one, for the ride down to the concert. I suppose some fans will pick this enhanced CD-Single up for the video of "Going Under," but for me the chief attraction here are the two acoustic songs. Moody plays the guitar while Amy Lee shows off her pipes on an acoustic version of "Going Under" and then a cover of Nirvana's "Heart Shapped Box," done for a radio station. Can you imagine that once upon a time you could go see Evanesence for five bucks? But then who would have thought that a 14 year old boy would have heard a 13 year old girl playing a Meat Loaf song on the piano at a Christian summer camp and started writing songs together. There is also a radio edit of "Going Under," so there is also the minor benefit of not duplicating the opening track of "Fallen" on this single. Final Note: There are acoustic versions of both "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal" out there as well for you to track down. They are equally worth the procurement effort.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amy Lee and Ben Moody on a couple of acoustic tracks, February 27, 2004
This review is from: Going Under (Audio CD)
Evanescence won a pair of Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist and Best Hard-Rock Performance, mainly on the basis of two great songs, "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal." Obviously they were helped by having both of those being songs featured prominently (and perfectly) in the blockbuster film "Daredevil." I saw Evanescence in concert a week ago and I am making the argument that "Going Under" is just as great of a song as those pair. Listening to Amy Lee sign that song live was one of two moments in the concert that gave me chills (the other was, of course, the bridge on "My Immortal"). With this CD-Single you get not only a radio edit version of "Going Under," where you can hear Lee's voice soaring above the music, but also a music video, both of which are pretty good reasons to add this enhanced CD-single to your Evanescence collection. But what makes this particular CD-single so attractive is that it has a couple of acoustic songs by Evanescence, harkening back to days when it was just Amy singing and Ben Moody playing guitar. Well, he is gone now and when you hear these songs in concert they have all been given a Goth metal makeover (if you caught Evanescene doing "My Immortal" on Letterman last night and caught how the band comes in with crashing guitars at the end instead of the synthetic strings we hear on the "Fallen" album, or have caught them on their recent concert tour, then you know exactly what I mean). Here we simply have Moody on guitar while Lee shows off her pipes, first on Moody plays the an acoustic version of "Going Under" and then a cover of Nirvana's "Heart Shapped Box," done for a radio station. I have to think that the next Evanescence album is going to be more in the style of their concert performances and less like what went quad-platinum on "Fallen." So for those fans who like the simpler and cleaner versions of these songs, having an acoustic version of "Going Under" will be something special. You can also find acoustic version of "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal" (a guitar version on the latter) that are well worth the tracking down as well.
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