Customer Reviews

It's Not About You

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

 

 

You know the Ennis Sisters can really knock you off your feet ~ much like the title and lyrics of their album "It's Not About You", harmonious fifteen tracks of a wonderful release from Rounder Records. We have three talented young ladies Maureen, Karen and Teresa Ennis, who by the way are really sisters. Each at the top in their field ~ Maureen (guitar/composer), Karen (tin whistle/flute) and Teresa (bodhran) all vocalize with the purest harmony on this planet. There is a trace of celtic in their style, as traditional country and folk come to the surface.

Highlights come to mind ~ "SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE", opening has a magic that can last through time ~ "IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU", wonderful melody, with catchy and true to life lyrics ~ "OCTOBER WIND", love the acoustic guitar opening, just remember everything's all right while they sleep tonight ~ beautiful and touching song that lingers when the music ends.

Rounder Records and the Ennis Sisters have come up with an emotional album that takes the listener through musical corridors ~ each passage has love and understanding ~ truly an amazing experience ~ and yes, this is a keeper.

Total Time: 55:16 on 15 Tracks ~ Rounder 11661-7047-2 ~ (4/15/2003)

I've been waiting a long time for the "Ennis Sisters" great music to be available to U.S. audiences. This is a wonderful group and I can't recommend this CD highly enough! Over the years, I've purchased their earlier CDs by having friends buy them for me on trips to Canada, and have been looking forward to being able to buy their new music here in the States. I had the privilege of hearing them in concert a few months back, and they were everything I'd come to expect, and more!

If you're looking for a fresh sound, with amazing voices and harmonies, and great songs, then get this CD. You won't be disappointed!

I took my daughters to the Festival of Small Halls in Palmora, Prince Edward Island. We went on a whim and almost did not get in - FULL HOUSE! We'd never heard of Ennis, but do we know them now! And how! They were fabulous on stage, excellent performers-fun, energetic, charming! We bought 2 cd's - their original and Lessons Learned. My daughters and I played it the entire trip home from PEI. I love hearing my 10 year old singing "High Up There" to herself when she thinks nobody else can hear her. These gals are spectacular - don't know why they have not made it huge in the USA. Can't wait for the next album! So glad we were able to see them live! Gems!

The sisters sound good together, but the songwriting is the weak point. Maureen has said that she doubted her songwriting ability, and she wasn't wrong. Cliched lyrics and meandering melodies that all sound the same are a heavy burden for the sweet harmony vocals to carry.

This is more a function of lack of life lived than anything else. As the years go by she's living more and writing from somewhere deeper, to much greater effect. Meanwhile, leave this cd in the bargain bin where it belongs.

I will start by saying that I am not a fan of country music. That said, I first heard The Ennis Sisters on The Chieftain's CD, "Fire In The Kitchen" and fell in love with the vocal harmonies. Over the past few years I have kept my eye out for one of The Ennis Sisters CDs to try out. Being from the states, I found it a bit tougher to find than I thought it might be. When I found "It's Not About You" for a bargain price, I jumped on it.

Let's just say that I am glad that I didn't pay full price for this disc. Now, it isn't the voices that I had fallen in love with on "Fire"; those are still there and almost as brilliant. The problem that I have is the distance that they have pulled away from their Celtic roots and the inconsistencies in the songwriting on this disc. I found the first half of the CD to be fairly decent, but the second half just dragged.

The Ennis Sisters, to steal a line from Randy Jackson, could sing the phone book and make it sound great. But on this disc, if you take the vocals out of the equation, most of this offering falls flat. The songs that I found to be decent are "Knocks Me Off My Feet", "It's Not About You", and "I'd Never Walk Away". A few others are ok, but the balance does nothing for me.

I don't hear the similarities to The Dixie Chicks, but I do hear a very strong connection to Wilson Phillips, only in a country setting. I would like someday to hear their older material as what I have hear of their new stuff, under the moniker Ennis (with just the two older sisters), just doesn't excite me like the "Red is the Rose" era material.

I am a great fan of Newfoundland music. These girls are incredible, however I was disappointed with most of the material
in the first part of this CD. I have their 2 Canadian albums and they are masterpieces. As they grew stronger and more popular, they became more middle of the road and attempted to become commercially succesful by signing with Rounder. This act was originally an acoustic folk/traditional act with a country influence. I never considered them a country act. Nefoundland music is an amalgam of many styles and is one of the few unique sounds available today. It is a province set up geographically and culturally from the rest of Canada. There first 2 CDS= "The Ennis Sisters" and "3" are better and more folk flavored for sure
On this CD I liked "If only", "I would never walk away" and "Without you" The first 2 songs on this CD are disasters in my opinion and are sell outs of who they are. They have a special talent and should be willing to do "modern folk with a country twinge" I believe if the companies would release songs like "Forever Young" and "Lullaby" from earlier CDS, the world would love them.
Overall this is stilla good cd. It is just not my taste. (...)

Other great acts from ths island are Pamela Morgan, Great Big Sea, Glenn Vincent Breen, Terry Penney and Jim Fidler and the defunct band "Rawlins Cross"

I found the Ennis Sisters in November of 2002, since that time I have become big fan of this trio. Their harmonies matched with talented songwriting create a wonderful CD filled with awesome music. Their music is influenced by country, pop, and traditional sources. You will love how they mix these elements and emotions in their songs that will touch your heart and have you enjoying their music over and over again!

Okay, it's official. Rounder Records, one of the best independent labels for stunning folk, bluegrass, and rock flavored music, has actually released an album that is only below average. While this may seem like a harsh appraisal of the Ennis Sisters' debut, it is fitting in that this record is way below the bar for both the label and the artists themselves.

When listening to the album, the talent of these women is undeniable. Their harmonies are beautiful, tight, and stunning and each singer fares just as well performing on her one. However, it is also obvious that there is a far more unique sound just waiting to break through the bars of conformist, packaged pop that haunts the majority of the album. While they are billed as one of Rounder's usually stunning country acts, it appears that the Ennis Sisters have been more influenced by pseudo-country queens Shedaisy than the likes of Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. Songs such as "I'd Never Walk Away" are as poorly written and generically arranged as most of the pop drivel escaping from Music City as of late, while "Kiss Me" and "Knocks Me Off My Feet" sound as if the sisters are pandering to an audience of middle school pop fans rather than the older crowd that usually turns to the label's music. The fact that the album features "remixes" of three songs from the album does not help their reputation as serious country artists either, as these tracks do little more than make the ditties in question less original than they were to begin with.

But the record does have its moments. The opening track "Turn Up the Radio" is a rockin', uptempo, and--GASP--actually somewhat country song that celebrates the glory of driving with your favorite song blasting out of the car, while "October Wind" and the beautiful "So Many Angels" are fleeting glimpses of what the Ennis Sisters might sound like if they abandoned the glitzy production for acoustic styled music. Even the title track makes for a good listen and profoundly displays the sisters' vocal talent. Other than these songs, however, the album is packed with little more than ordinary pop songs sung by a group that is desperately trying to fit in with the pop/country crowd rather than use their obvious talent to establish a sound of their own.

To music fans, if you like your country music the way it was meant to be served--with plenty of tradition and originality, that is--put your money toward the Dixie Chicks' most recent release, June Carter Cash's amazing album Press On, Elizabeth Cook's major label debut, or any album by a female artist who exemplifies these qualities. However, if you enjoyed the music of Shedaisy, the now defunct trio Three of Hearts, or Shania Twain, you're gonna eat this one with a big spoon. And to the fine folks at Rounder Records, you have never been a label to release mediocre pop music. Why, I ask, must you start now?

listening to this album was like watching someone throw paint on a beautiful painting, like waking up in the morning to the girl you sat up with all night talking to find out in the morning her favorite movie is Jackass and she wants to spend the day cruising the mall. Britany meets and mates with the dixie Chicks. After the intelligence of the songs of the first two albums, the texture of the simple arrangements so evoking their home of Nova Scotia, the stories, the pure and warm vocals this one is baffling in it's adolescent stupidity. "Every Lover knows this song too well" they sing and after the first listening you'll know these the same way, finishing off the rhyme before you hear it. Maureen and some guy named Murphy wrote all the songs and apparently they never met a beat-up hackneyed pop cliche they didnt like or a one syllable word they couldnt rhyme with the most obvious and lazy choice. Feel/Real, free/me and the list goes on and on and on. It could be a glossary of high school rhymes and sentiments. The melodeess have no surprises and follow the path of least resistance. Apparently Murphy was trying to find work for as many of his musician friends as he could and the arrangements include everyone playing his hardest at the same time. Someone obviously stole the Innis Sisters cut their brains in half and threw away the good part. Where is the voice from Red Rose, "and the Moon nd the Stars" After listening to Walk Away, I did and played Red Rrose three times to get the taste out of my ears. This album breaks my heart, dont buy it and maybe they'll return to what they do so well - interpret folk songs.