Customer Reviews

Grace in Gravity

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

 

 

Grace in Gravity is a rare find. The album is musically adventurous; its lyrics, intelligent; and its vocals, beautiful. Brooke and Kimball's harmonies are delicious and unusual: often, their voices begin in slight dissonance and slowly drop into true. The result is lovely and almost eerie, especially in the a capella "Over Oceans." Both ladies now have successful solo projects, but Grace in Gravity will have you mourning the duo's breakup.

One of the album's great strengths is its variety. The up-tempo "The Alarm is on Love," is pop done right, while "Dog Dreams," owing its origins to Gary Larson's The Far Side, is just plain fun. "Easier than Sorry" is mostly chorus, and therefore a bit repetitve, but very catchy nonetheless.

While the quality of album's lyrics is generally high, a few songs provide real food for thought. "Damn Everything but the Circus" is an absolute standout, exploring the irrational forces of love with rare objectivity and humanity.

The final track, e.e. cummings' "love is more thicker than forget" works surprisingly well as a song. No doubt, such touches led to the album's being labeled "artsy," but don't let that put you off in the least. Good music has universal appeal, and Grace in Gravity is certainly good music.

My introduction to this group came via an old friend who thought that the song "Dog Dreams" was absolutely hysterical. Because of this, I thought The Story was sort of a kitschy, goofy novelty act until I actually bought the album myself. Now I know that "Dog Dreams" is just one of a golden handful of wonderful songs with angelic, soaring harmonies and a wry point of view.

"Dog Dreams" is a deft, sly song written as though by a dog--actually, a pair of dogs who wreak havoc on the neighborhood in their dreams:

"Me and Rex took the car,
Ha, ha, stay home . . . stay.
We're gonna run over
All the neighborhood cats,
'Cause they tease us from
The other side of the fence.
We're gonna go in the swamp
And you can't hose us off.
Dog dreams, dog dreams,
Please don't wake us up!
No bad dog, no stay,
No basement, no way,
No choke chain, no dry food,
No fetch game, no, no, no . . ."

"Grace in Gravity," the title song, is a meditation on a true story of a black ballet dancer who, after a car accident in South Africa, was paralyzed after the ambulance drivers chose to take the dancer's less gravely injured white companion to a better hospital. It's an astonishing story, beautifully crafted here with The Story's usual minimalist grace. That's the case with almost every song on the album.

"Over Oceans," though it has its moments, is mostly an annoying, a cappella exercise in wandering, abstract harmonies. "Love Is More Thicker Than Forget" reminds me (not happily) of Suzanne Vega's 1980s hey-day. Aside from these two--the last two songs on the album--this is an album of astonishingly good stuff.

I first purchased "Angel In the House" after hearing cuts on our only Public Radio Station in Dallas, which, unfortunately no longer plays music. I couldn't get the haunting, beautiful melodies out of my head and had to have MORE... I stumbled upon "Grace In Gravity" in a used CD store and snatched it up immediately. While "Grace" is a little less "pop" than "Angel" - it is one of those CD's that I go back to, year after year to listen to. It's one than I can leave in my player on "Repeat" for an entire day and still want to hear it again. Few other CD's in my collection have that kind of pull on me. This CD will take to to a dream world that you'll want to return to, time and time again.... Buy it!

Grace in Gravity was the first effort from "The Story", the duet of singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke and feminist, pro-choicer Jennifer Kimball. The album is dominated by Brooke, who wrote most of the material and sings lead on nearly every piece. Brooke's dominance would later contribute to the breakup of the duet. By her own admission, Kimball later quit The Story because `she had no creative place there' -- No loss for Brooke, who has really excelled since the split. Kimball meanwhile continues on as an obscure solo artist.

The album includes the title song, "Grace in Gravity" which begins with a rather lackluster a-cappella harmony. "And our faces" is very strong out of the gate but soon founders, as Brooke and Kimball pile on gratuitous layers of vocals (the chorus of the song also features the strangest percussion effect - something along the lines of a champagne cork popping off in a cave). "Always" is musically reminiscent of early Joni Mitchell, although the similarity is tainted by the sophomoric kings-and-castles lyrical theme. Overall, the songs on the album are decent, but not great. In my opinion, Jonatha's unique and delicate vocals are weighted down by Kimball's heavier voice and breathy harmonies.

There are some bright spots however -- The studio musicians are first rate, the tunes are catchy, and the production is slick, though a little overdone (this style of music is really at its best when it's kept clean and simple).

If you enjoy Adult Album Alternative music or are a fan of Jonatha Brooke, you might want to give it a listen. Better yet, check out Jonatha Brooke's solo albums. She has really developed into a first-rate singer/songwriter since dumping Kimball, and her solo efforts (10-Cent Wings, Plumb, Steady Pull, etc.) are vastly superior to this album.

Simply put, the songs "Always". and "Damn everything but the circus" are incredible. Listen to them in a dark room and I defy you to not be moved.

The vocal harmonies on Grace In Gravity are some of my favorite anywhere--beautiful, complex, unexpected, and dissonant in just the right way. I put The Story in a class by themselves when it comes to duet vocals.

I highly recommend Angel In The House as well.

After loving both of these albums, I was a bit disappointed by Jonatha Brooke's solo albums. While I haven't heard Jennifer Kimball's solo album yet, I have high hopes, since her harmonies are what have always defined The Story for me.

As the first "Story" album, this is an extremely valuable recording not just for Story and Jonatha Brooke fans, but for anyone just discovering their work. This album has the nascent trademarks of the Story - unusual and delicately interweaved harmonies and a deft hand lyrically. Some radio stations did pick up a couple of the tunes, "Alarm is on love," and "Grace in Gravity" - but chances are you haven't heard anything like this since the Roches. BUY IT! And while you're at it, buy "Angel in the House" too. You will not regret it!

Jennifer Kimball of The Story appears with 6 other EXTRAORDINARY musicians including Matt Glaser and Bruce Barth as, "The Wayfaring Strangers". Jennifers unforgettably beautiful vocals that we all know and love from "The Story" permeate the CD.

It is an exceptionally satisfying and beautiful listen and oh so great to hear Jennifer again.

I feel this was a wonderful recording that any Story Fan must have as part of their collection.

In glancing at some of the other reviews here, I'm surprised by some of the negative comments. My impressions are that Jonatha Brooke's early songs, while perhaps tending toward the overly lyrically pretentious and melodramatic in some cases ('Always'), on the whole hold up. I actually enjoyed the ones with literary references ('And Our Faces...', 'Love is More Thicker than Forget') more than the ones dealing with relationships ('The Perfect Crime', 'The Alarm is on Love'). Although Jennifer Kimball seemingly came to resent it, her role is much more than 'backing vocals' here. She perfectly complements Jonatha - the vocal harmonies and interweaving of their voices is mostly spot-on. Particularly noteworthy is the a-cappella 'Over Oceans', where the two ladies trade off and switch phrases seamlessly in the chorus - it's sometimes hard to tell who's singing what, although Jonatha has a more hard-edged voice, while Jennifer has a softer tone.

Solo-wise, check out Jonatha's 'Plumb' from 1995 and '10cent Wings' from '97. I haven't much cared for her more recent efforts. Jennifer's 'Veering from the Wave' from '98 is outstanding also.