Harbinger

Paula Cole

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 1995)
• Original Release Date: October 10, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002N2I
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,491 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Following in the footsteps of Sinéad O'Connor and Tori Amos, Paula Cole is an art-rock singer-songwriter who turns her personal wounds into songs full of facile psychologizing and strained allegory with overwrought, humorless music to match. Harbinger, the debut album from the Massachussetts native, is full of grievances against glamorous romantic rivals, patronizing men, insensitive high school classmates and cross-burning racists--all so broadly drawn that everyone can easily join in the complaint. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Harbinger" proves to forcast things to come..., December 18, 1999

By	jordan (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Paula Cole's debut, "Harbinger" is a little known album that reaches the core of her music. The soulful ballads that are present on this album are some of the most candid and revealing songs in pop music. Supported with Cole's haunting voice, the songs of "Harbinger" resonate through the mind and weasel their way into the subconscious. The simplistic beauty of "Ordinary", along with the minimalist style of "Chiaroscuro" add to the complexity and depth of Cole's music. She is completely unprecidented and unlike any other artist. Original melodies and incredible music lend themselves to create the masterpiece that is "Harbinger". If you love songs like "Me" from her album, "This Fire", you will love this album. "Harbinger" is true to its name, in that it is a warning to stand back and accept the inevitable success of Cole's talent and mystique.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of The '90s Best Efforts, January 19, 2000

By A Customer

"Saturn Girl" is still a hit waiting to happen, and this is an excellent, unusually nuanced and marvelously sung record that occupies its own unique artistic space. Cole has made a truly great album (this one), a good one ("This Fire") and a regrettable one ("Amen") but she hasn't yet made her masterpiece. So, onward!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Debut, September 2, 2005

By	Alan Caylow (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Singer/songwriter Paula Cole comes from the same school of passionate music that Tori Amos & Sarah McLachlan do, and Paula can certainly hold her own against her sisters in torchsong. Her debut album from 1994, "Harbinger," is an excellent album, showing off Paula's emotional voice and songwriting that would later make her a star with her acclaimed follow-up, "This Fire." "Harbinger" has such great songs as "Happy Home," "Watch The Woman's Hands," the great rock of "Chiaroscuro," the dark "Black Boots," the beautiful "Dear Gertrude," and the political bent of "Hitler's Brothers." Paula Cole's confessional songs may not be for everybody, but overall, "Harbinger" is a solid debut disc for this very-talented artist.