Customer Reviews

Ladyhawke (Special Edition)

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In case this review turns up on other editions of Ladyhawke's CD, this is for the "Ladyhawke(Special Edition)" version of her debut album. Besides new cover art, you also get several new songs. There's two new songs("Oh My" and "Danny and Jenny"), and acoustic versions of "Paris is Burning", "Dusk till Dawn", "My Delerium".
It's worth buying the cd even if you have the previus version, if only for the acoustic rendition of "Paris is Burning". It's even more amazing than the original version. :D

Not a bad song on this set, she would definitely give the female pop artists on the top 40 a run for their money talent-wise. The arrangements both beautiful and simple, and her singing voice is really lovely. I really hope that she has a bright career ahead of her in the music industry, but stays herself and not fall for the common trappings inherent in the industry.

I immediately ordered my copy of Ladyhawke Special edition when Ladyhawke won the "Best Breakthrough Artist" category at the 2010 ARIAS(Australian Recording Industry Awards).
I had already heard some of the songs ,"My Delirum" ,written Hana Robinson by had had a fair bit of airplay on the Aussie charts,the bass-driven song came in on the top end of the alternative-type songs,the mainstream allows ,but I never who knew the artist was.
Then one night heard "Paris is Burning" came on the radio in McDonald's.I was a homeless artist sipping a coffee at the time and the tune with Eighties-type optimism and synthesizers, caught my ear.It felt worldly and cool and Phillipa Brown has a such divine voice and when I found out she was a New Zealander I was stoked.Every decade the number one New Zealand artist seems to make there timely appearance in Australia ,they just seem to appear out of nowhere,fresh-faced ,innocent with bucketloads of talent ,bringing us to that 'feeling place',and hearing "Ladyhawke" I knew that the time had arrived!
( In reality though she had been touring/slogging it out in Australia/US in previous band formations since 2003 unbeknownst to most us mainstreamers )
There are some great tracks on this album my favourite is the short and sweetly desolate heartbreaker "Love Don't Live Here",where she maps the isolation of rejection so succintly.(Could relate to that.)
Love the guitar licks,awesome drums on the more up-tempo tracks ,like "Dusk Till Dawn" which Brown does so well, with her rythmic,teasing vocals. (sent me crazy anyway!)
She evidently began her musical career as hardcore drummer,and knows her way around Gibson electric guitars-'The Firebird' being her preferred weapon of choice.
As a musician she is in essence a total package-voice-guitar-drums and more.
The Collaborators on Ladyhawke are not to be underrated either,the awesome Belgian musician-producer-songwriter Pascal Gabriel is a force.One half of the band "Peaches" Gabriel's extraordinary career spans from the eighties to now,and his collaborations of the past are a virtual Who's Who of major recording stars of the UK of every era.He has worked from everyone from New Order to Soft Cell to Dido He takes the honours of producing Ladyhawkes outing and like Phillipa he plays an array of instruments on it.
There are no less than 7 good drummers,5 good guitarists,and 7 wicked keyboardists/synthesize contributors pumping away away on this this baby.
The bonus of the Ladyhawke Special Edition are the 5 acoustic songs where Phillipa(aka Ladyhawke)'s fine harmonies are matched with not only guitar but Cello and violins etc. giving them an interesting edge tracks like "My Delirum" more of a frantic,crazy feel,"Paris Is Burning" more optimism.(You can here the bubbly buoyancy in her voice) and "Dusk to Dawn works well in this format too.
Plenty to keep you interested don't you think?

After hearing the hit singles hit single "Paris Is Burning" on main-stream radio on the Gold Coast Australia sitting in Mcdonald's last year ,2009,I was immediately on a high!
Who is this???
Good New Zealand artists are always welcome in Oz,as they are usually refreshing quirky and upbeat and "Ladyhawke"(a.k.a.Phillipa Brown is no exception).
This is SUPERCOOL MUSIC.
I wish I could wax lyrical on the musical attributes of this array of absolutely emotionally inspiring,edgy songs but I lack the musical intellect to do that.
All I can tell you is the effect the work has had on my art.
I use music to paint by and I believe I have just done the best painting of my life riding on the feeling generated by Ladyhawke's masterpieces.
The melody on "Paris Is Burning" on the first pass was dynamic,uplifting ,wordly and ubercool.You know those moments you here a song for the first time where suddenly for that moment life is awesome,full of potential and it feels so goddam good to be alive?
It was not until I bought the CD ,only recently,in better times Jan,2010 that I saw the lyrics for song "Paris Is Burning" and how it describes youth ,wild abandon and joyful recklessness in a foreign country,famed for its joie de vivre ,namely Paris ,which quite different from the story I imagined when I first heard it . i.e These songs morph on repeated hearings!
And here's the rub after a multitude of repeated listenings(Baby have I smashed this thing on my player!)It still comes up trumps.
The array of songs show the integrity of depth of musicianship and lyricism(check out her musical pedigree on Wickepedia!),deep emotional expression,gritty harmonies,sweet soulful voice with a cutting,almost grungy edge.
The mood of the songs morphs from avant guarde globetrotter,international love affair type feel to sweeping moods that make me want to cry.
The feel is this lass has been burnt and hurt by her wild heart's journey but sheaint gonna stop and has a certain edge of street smarts because of this.

"My delirium" which got wide airplay in Australia as well is a bass-driven volatile
frantic paced ride.
"Dusk til dawn is an awesome ballad that describes a woman being taken over by the
Infutuation with her flame is upbeat,,sweet edgy harmony,a wild ride a wild beautiful ride.
"Back of the Van" moved me so much ,fueled my creativity.
Basically loved ALL of the tracks.
Love your work Phillipa!
Yes this album is the best thing I have heard in ages
Thumbs up!
Recommendation if you buy one CD this year grab it!

This album is quite addictive if you love synth pop/rock music. It is a trip back to the 80s, as each song is crafted to sound like it could've been released then. But it's more than your average retro album trying to recapture the time period. Rolling Stone commented that it has an emptiness to it like other artists jumping on the 80s bandwagon. I disagree, I think this is one of the few that doesn't have that empty quality. It's top-notch.

This is also one of the few albums released in the past 10-15 years in which I actually like every song on it. Some tracks were favorites the first time I heard them, others took a little time to grow on me. The album offers a variety of sounds and takes directions you wouldn't really expect. You can tell that Ladyhawke enjoys 80s music as it shows through her writing, performance, and choice of material. She was influenced by Stevie Nicks and Kim Wilde a lot, and it shows. Her voice and style are very similar to theirs, and also a little like Aimee Mann from 'Til Tuesday. The album is consistently good, there isn't any filler. Even the songs that are not as great as the "big" tracks are better than 99% of what you hear on mainstream radio.

Magic-Sets the tone of the album. It sounds like it could be the theme song to an 80s teen movie or fantasy film like Labyrinth. Probably my favorite on the album, but it's hard to choose. 10/10
Manipulating Woman-Seems to be about a person who doesn't care about anyone but herself and will lie and use friends. It's catchy but took a few listens to grow on me. The keyboards at the beginning and end are my favorite part. Reminds me of an 80s soundtrack song again, like The Goonies or something. 8/10
My Delirium-A big catchy song that gets stuck in your head right away. Never a dull moment. I love the instrumental break--totally 80s. 10/10
Better Than Sunday-I wasn't too sure about this one right away, but now I like it. It's very different and unusual. 9/10
Another Runaway-It took a few listens for this one to grab me, now it's one of my favorites. It has sunny, shimmery keyboarding. 10/10
Love Don't Live Here Anymore-A little slower than the others so far, but has an intensity to it. Like an 80s power ballad. 10/10
Back of the Van-The opening keyboards remind me of the Perfect Strangers theme. That's never a bad thing. 9/10
Paris is Burning-It's catchy and memorable, reminiscent of Gary Numan's Cars, but it isn't the best on the album imo. 7/10
Professional Suicide-About bands that give up their sound to sell out to what's in and boring. Somehow she manages to sound like Gary Numan (the music) and Joan Jett (the vocals), oddly enough. It works. Very new wave sounding. 9/10
Dusk 'Til Dawn-Very catchy and different. The opening is great. It starts out slow then picks up the pace. One of my favorites. 10/10
Crazy World-Another of my favorites. Combines all the elements of a great 80s song-intense verses building up to a big chorus, sounds like it could be from an 80s movie soundtrack, like The Breakfast Club, catchy and memorable with great hooks. The chorus also sounds a lot like Everything-era Bangles. This could've fit on that album. I like how her songs can remind you of many different things all within the same song. 10/10
Morning Dreams-The only real ballad on the album. It's good but I prefer the upbeat tracks. 7/10

Bonus tracks-
Oh My-This one reminds me a lot of Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. Very early 80s, 1982-ish vibe. 10/10
Danny and Jenny-Even the title makes you think of the 80s with popular names of the time. Catchy fast-paced song. 8/10
The acoustic tracks are good, but I prefer the regular ones. To me the best out of the 3 is My Delirium. There are a couple of really good remixes of My Delirium and Paris is Burning from her cd singles, and it would've been nice to have a couple of those instead of 3 acoustic tracks. That's just my opinion.

Definitely one of my favorite albums. When music got so incredibly boring in the late 90s, I longed for an album such as this to be made and didn't think it would be possible for someone to release one like it ever again. Ladyhawke does 80s fans proud with this one. I hope that she tries a harder rock sound because I think it would work well. More electric guitar and drums would be good. But I look forward to more music from her. I'm sure that it will be entertaining.

The music on this album is great. However, the special edition CD I have sounds awfully distorted. I don't know if this is just my copy. I am going to get a regular edition CD and let you know....

I've had approx. two dozen albums in queue with Amazon for a while (most were Amazon recommended)trying to prioritize which to order first after some track sampling. I just ordered the Special Edition version yesterday.
The music is infectious, love the guitar in "My Delirium". That video @ youtube reminds me a bit of the animated rock movie - "Heavy Metal".

This album's like a venus flytrap - just a sample and it's over. Enjoy...