Issues + Options

Phil Roy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Or Music
• ASIN: B00008ZZ99
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,690 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

THE NEW YORK TIMES critic Stephen Holden

‘Issues + Options,’ "one of the year’s two or three most satisfying albums by an American singer/songwriter."

Product Description

According to Stephen Holden, of The New York Times "The music of Phil Roy... accomplishes a delicate emotional surgery countless troubadours have tried, but few have been able to carry off. [Roy] describes personal experiences of love, loss and spiritual revelation with a naked honesty untainted by narcissism."

Holden joins the list of prominent music critics to hail ‘Issues + Options’ as one of 2003’s most compelling albums.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars lush and exotic, May 11, 2003

By 

Larry White (AdultPop.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Issues + Options (Audio CD)

This is another fine album of varied and textured, thoughtful and inspiring, by-all-rights-should-be pop music. Roy dares to take on big subjects (he even lists them on the cd insert, those very " 'i's and 'o's" of the title). But his artistry lies in his ability to do it so deftly and without pretense. Whenever a lyric tends toward the cliché or the heavy-handed, Roy balances it with a subtle, understated musical approach. Thus songs with such weighty titles as 'Hope in a Hopeless World' or 'The Have and the Have Nots', even 'God is not Sleeping' provoke but do not preach. Likewise, love songs like 'Amazing', 'My Love Will Find You', 'Melt', and 'The 29th Day' which, in another's hands, could easily become sentimental, even maudlin, are presented without more than a trace of saccharine. The music, like much of Sting's solo work, is lush and exotic. The performances are top-flight, especially those of guitarists Heitor Pereira and Ricardo Silveira. Roy's voice is evocative and pleasingly nasal, reminiscent of one of our favorites, Andy Pratt. If, in these dark days of popular music, Roy, like Pratt, fails to reach the wider audience he deserves, at least we will have been among the lucky ones.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UNDENIABLY AMAZING....., May 6, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Issues + Options (Audio CD)

There aren't enough stars in the rating system at amazon.com to express how I feel about this CD.
I am an avid music listener but I rarely make purchases due
to budget constraints. After hearing numerous songs on my local public radio station I decided to take a chance on "Issues + Options".
I literally have listened to this cd from beginning to end for several days now and still never tire of the lyrics and performances.
My favorites are "Hope In A Hopeless World, Melt, and This Is My Home.
Inspiring and vital. This one's an absolute "keeper".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A++ Classic!, August 31, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Issues + Options (Audio CD)

If you love music, don't miss this album! Phil Roy has done what most singer/songwriters fail to do in this era of the split-second attention span: He draws on real emotion, his own honest experience, a wonderful command of the language, and the best of the traditions of pop writing, to create an album that speaks to everyone young and old in our society. The production is exemplary, reminiscent in sound and quality of some classic Quincy Jones recordings. There is not a bad song on this album. A truly enjoyable listening experience.