Customer Reviews

Let's Go Bang

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've always liked Jennifer Love Hewitt as an actress. I recently purchased her "Bare Naked" CD to see if her singing was equally entertaining. I liked it so well, I bought her other two CDs (including this one). Listening to her sing, it's amazing she was only 16 when this album came out. Her voice is impressive. And I'm not some teeny-bopper, either. I'm 32, and I can honestly say this is really good stuff. Every song on this album is very infectious. It is a nice combination of ballads and upbeat, danceable songs. Hewitt sings both with equal virtuosity. It's a shame she hasn't received a lot of attention as a singer. I think she's much more talented than artists like Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and Christina Aguilera, who get much more airplay.

Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of the most overlooked vocalists of the nineties. Vocally, the girl has more talent than Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, or any of the other young teen stars in the business today. Heck, Jennifer launched her musical career while Britney was still trying to make it in the Mickey Mouse Club ... but sadly, her album fell flat on arrival. One wonders what things would have been like had she released a record circa 1998/2000, the time of the "young female teen singer" explosion ... the success of her rocky "How Do I Deal" single from 1998 would certainly suggest that perhaps she would have done better around that time.

Technically, this was Jennifer's first album (I don't count the abominable Japan-only release "Love Songs", comprised of mass slaughterings of classic tunes such as "Dancing Queen" and "Heart Of Glass" with MIDI-sounding backings). Understandably, this makes the overall sound of the album quite inconsistent. We can't be sure whether she wants to be the next Janet or Celine Dion. The opener, "Kiss Away From Heaven" is certainly very "Rhythm Nation", but quite an average attempt. Further into the disc, "Can't Stand In The Way Of Love" is somewhat better (very catchy, but less-inspired vocals), but it all comes off sounding rather tripe. Jennifer's attempt at an interlude ("The Garden") is a blatant rip-off of the spoken word part of Janet's "That's The Way Love Goes" ... hmmmmm, not good so far Jen.

Then of course, we have the bluesy Jennifer. Whether she had been listening to too many Frank Sinatra records, we don't know, but it certainly created some interesting results. The first single from the album, "Let's Go Bang" ("bang" being a style of dance) is very catchy with some great vocals (but rather silly lyrics). "Free To Be A Woman", however, is a poor version of "Let's Go Bang" with cringe-worthy lyrics ... and don't even get me STARTED on her butchering of the David Gates classic "Baby I'm A Want You". Elsewhere, she tries her hand at some Celine Dion material with varying degrees of success. "In Another Life" is a gorgeous piece, with a string-based introduction and easily the most amazing vocals Jennifer has ever captured on record. She soars and swoops in true diva style on the chorus, and sounds angelic to say the least. Quite a masterpiece, that track. However, "Couldn't Find Another Man" (also a single I'm lead to believe ... good choice Atlantic Records, NOT) is quite possibly the most vomit-inducing song I have ever heard. Laden with "I'll love you forever" lyrics and a sentiment about as deep as a paddling pool, this song is why stereo manufacturers invented the "skip" button.

There are two very good reasons to buy this CD though. "You Make Me Smile" is a 50's-styled jazz tune with a doo-wop influence. The result is something of a divine experience. The lyrics are simple but heartfelt, the melody inspired ... absolutely brilliant. Also, "The Difference Between Us" is quite possibly Jennifer's best song. A nineties-styled funk number, it comes off as both quite sweetly sentimental but a little dark and mysterious at the same time. Very atmospheric, and worth the price of the album alone.

So what went wrong, Jennifer?? It's fairly simple. The girl couldn't work out where she wanted her music to go. The styles on "Let's Go Bang" don't gel particularly well, and the overall sound is somewhat patchy and inconsistent. There are some really great songs on this album which highlight Jennifer's surprisingly high level of vocal ability, but there are also some clunkers. For Jennifer fans, this is a must-have just for the sake of completeness, and for fans of pop music in general it is certainly very listenable and still more sophisticated than Britney's first effort, but for everyone else perhaps this is not your bag. Luckily, by the following year Jennifer had well and truly perfected her sound, churning out one of the best albums of the nineties. "Jennifer Love Hewitt" is a soulful, R'n'B-tinged affair with much better songs, almost tailor-made for Jennifer's vocals and sound. That album is a far wiser purchase.

This is a really cool cd. Love is a very talented actress as well as singer. I enjoy the songs "The difference between us","In another life",and "Everywhere I go". "The garden" is kind of weird. She says this weird saying. Over all I recommend this cd to all Love fans.

She, much like other actors who act like musicians, needs to stick to the big or small screens. The overall quality of the songs is quite poor and the lyrics are relatively shallow.

The one thing that I can't understand is that my friend Doug can't get enough of this album. I theorize that he likes to dream about associating the title of this album with his "Party of Five".

Jennifer Love Hewitt can stick to giggling and "acting" but this cd was a tad to much for me. Yes, I think that "Lets go bang" has a good beat and we could all dance to it, but come on. This cd's target audience is about 7-11 years old!

And with a great voice! This album is Madonna-of-the-80's style, with many dance songs. In some moments of it, if you close your eyes, you may think it's Madonna singing, but when you look at the cover of the CD, you'll see a prettier face. Romantic tracks like "Couldn't Find Another Man", "In Another Life", "Everywhere I Go" will please most of the listeners. "You Make Me Smile" is the best song in the album, JLH sings like the succesful middle-aged ladies of the romantic music scene, and the background-sang melody is surprisingly creative. Percussionist Sheila E. appears on the title track, which is a plus.

All I have to say is who thought this was an appropriate title for her CD? I mean she was what 15, 16 when she made it. I can't believe somewhere along the line no one was like, "Hey, maybe that's not the greatest title for a Cd 10 year olds are gonna listen to!"

PS: Yes, I realize it's not meant "that" way, but it's pretty easy to mistake.

I'm amazed that a lot of people still enjoy this album, despite that it sounds just plain awful. Jennifer is certainly not a good singer on her debut album, and this music is so preteen 90210 (the third track "The Difference Between Us" is the only good one, and probably "Stand In The Way"; everything else, however, is just bad). Even Britney Spears threw her copy of this album in the trash when she heard it. The only people who like this album and give it five stars are fans of JLH, even going as far to say that it's the best album they've ever heard. Wake up, people, this album is horrible.

JLH singing surprised me. This young girl is something to be heard. I love the album-titled song Let's Go Bang. It's edgy and completely nothing like what one would expect from JLH.
I really enjoyed the saultry ballad 'You Make Me Smile'. My favourite slow song is 'Everywhere I Go'.
The only problem with this CD, (like her second one) is that there is not enough musicality variety. Most of the songs are slow, and do not carry punch. She does excellent pop music, as demonstrated with 'Let's Go Bang', and I think she should experiment more with that type of music.
Inexpensive and a great listen. Look for her 3rd album coming out soon.

I thought one of the songs in this cd showed the side of jennifer that i see, a person who is soulful,a real earth girl! Although the song wasn't that great, i know she can do better! I can tell she is still trying to find herself in the music bizz. by the way she changes her style. It's suttle but if your a real music fan you know what i'm talking about! p.s. wish i could sing like her!