Oh the Stories We Hold

Anna Fermin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Undertow Music
• ASIN: B0000TB09G
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,059 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next Nora Jones?....No..Anna stands on her own!, November 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Oh the Stories We Hold (Audio CD)

From the time Anna Fermin starts singing on track one (are you going to miss me too)until her haunting begining vocals of the Steve Earl cover (down the road)....you are captured by her voice and her delivery of these songs. This is the album I have been searching for...an album that gives me what I want...strong ballads and toe-tapping tracks...this lady and her band give the listener everything that the Nora Jones album lacked. The mood of this album reflects heart-ache and searching for that special love...I have found my special love...and that is Anna Fermin.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive country/rock band from the Windy City, July 2, 2005

By 

Vito Minerva (Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oh the Stories We Hold (Audio CD)

I confess I bought this CD out of curiosity: a country band coming from the Windy City and fronted by a Philippine-born female singer! To make things more exotic, I also found out after reading the booklet that the album was mixed and mastered in Oslo, Norway. But apart from these trifles, Trigger Gospel has the chops to deliver plain country/rock/pop numbers in the finest form.

The album opens with "Are You Gonna Miss Me Too", a slow song with a gentle acoustic guitar accompaniment and a nice yodel in the refrain. The second track is an energetic country/rock tribute to Fermin's hometown ("In my town I do what I please"), one of the album's highlights. To avoid sameness, the CD alternates between slow and uptempo songs; in the former category there are the languid "Chance I Can't Afford Not To Take", the imploring "Baby Want You Please Come Home", the piano-based "Dragging On" and "How Do You Judge Me", whose relaxed sound verges on bossa nova rhythms.

Among the uptempo songs, apart from "My Town", are tracks 6 , 9 and 11. "Is That All" is another brisk country/rock number, addressed this time to a disappointing lover. "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" is a pop song from the 60s, brought to fame by Doris Day. Anna Fermin makes the song her own and a mandolin solo gives a touch of country, too.

"Down The Road" is a Steve Earle cover from the album "Guitar Town" (1986). Earle's a cappella opening was almost embarrassing (he doesn't have the right voice for that), while Fermin's powerful and gorgeous voice is perfectly up to the task. Also, the inclusion of the fiddle and a more vigorous rendition by the whole band give this song new life.

The only drawback is the experimental "White Birch". The song isn't bad, but Fermin's voice sounds metallic, artificial. I'd prefer listening to the original, unmixed voice. In all, though, the album is very good, a little gem of 37 minutes, which deserves to be known far beyond Chicago city limits.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What sophomore jinx?, March 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Oh the Stories We Hold (Audio CD)

Things to Come, Fermin's debut CD, was well played, extremely energetic, somewhat overproduced and suffered from a lack of focus. This CD is a lot better. Fermin still covers a lot of styles, but makes them all her own.

There is a little of that noir-ish, reverb-drenched thing going on that made Neko Case's Blacklisted so popular but the songs never get bogged down in it. (Although IMO Fermin's voice and songwriting skills far eclipse Neko's.)

I applaud Fermin for not being afraid to show a feminine vulnerability, especially on the lovely Baby Wont You Please Come Home, although I doubt the song lyrics will garner her an invitation to tour with Lilith Fair. Dragging On, My Town, Down The Road and Are You Gonna Miss Me To are highlights, but there isn't really a throw-away track on the entire CD.

There are a lot of 'alt.whatever' female vocalists on the market right now. Anna Fermin is one of the best I've heard. Effortlessly enjoyable. Now if she would just tour the West Coast.....