Customer Reviews

One Bad Habit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This one is one my favourite albums. Superb songs in all the tracks ! Buy this for "On my way home to you" where he sings so effortlessly over some lovely chord progressions. It reminded me of Joao Gilberto's floating style over equally fiendish Bossa Nova chord changes. I think that these two singers have much in common in their unaffected style of fragile intimacy. (You feel as if you've always KNOWN their voices as you know your lover's whisper or your cat's purr.. ). Pure magic !!

I'm a longtime fan who has every one of his CDs (except "Previously Unreleased" which should tell you something from the title - it wasn't that great). However, "One Bad Habit" is wonderful especially if you love smooth grooves and relevant lyricism. It shows that he really cares about his lyrics. Stand out songs are the title cut, "Baseball" and "All Dresed up..." If you're interested in other good CDs by him: "Sleeping Gyspy" is fabulous (my personal favorite) and "The Art of Tea." Also, check out his "Backward Glance," a decent compilation of his greatest hits. If you get a chance to see him in concert, please go for it. You won't regret it!

This album has been one of my favorites, especially the first five songs, which would be side one of the original vinyl release. I think the energy sags just a bit in the second half, but there aren't any clunkers here. You know what to expect from Michael Franks in terms of smooth jazzy songs and sly wordplay. One Bad Habit is Michael near the top of his game.

My biggest disappointment with the CD is that either a substandard master tape was used for remastering, or else the masters have softened up over the years, or the mastering was just careless -- the sound just doesn't have the clarity and punch of the original vinyl, mastered by Doug Sax at the Mastering Lab, if my recollection is correct.

This isn't a major problem. The sound is good, but I thought it should have been more exciting. If you can find a clean vinyl copy, it might actually be a better purchase, if your turntable is good enough to retrieve the extra information from the grooves.

The chord progression and modulation of "On My Way Home To You" reminds me of Barry Manilow and a faint echo of "Ready To Take A Chance Again." "Baseball" is superb wordplay and suggests Michael has a uniform fetish, after listening to this song you'll never look at a baseball uniform quite the same way and will want to develop a fetish all your own. All the songs are happy but a little mellow than we're used to from Michael, "Still Life" is the slowest here, Michael whispers through it making the song oddly sensual. This album is a bit more commercial, it features more of a straight-forward pop feel and with the aformentioned chord progression and string arrangements this album could serve as a movie soundtrack.

Of All the Michael Franks, this is by far one of his best. Even though I have been a fan for years, this cd is still my favorite. The title track One Bad Habit is so smooth and so catchy, here I am still humming it more than 20 years after I first heard it. This will be a favorite on mellow evenings to listen to. If you're ready to kick back and relax, slip this cd on, dim the lights and enjoy!

This is one of the albums that got me into jazz all those years ago. Michael Franks' vocals are as unique as they are beautiful. I think he's especially good for people wanting to dip their toe into jazz because he straddles both the jazz and pop genres. (To perfection, it has to be said).

Produced by the legendary Tommy LiPuma & Andre Fischer, this album features jazz greats like Eddie Gomez, Don Grolnick and Eric Gale. Franks wrote all the songs and they're all pretty enjoyable in their own right but as usual, there are favourites. My two are the unforgettable title track and the wonderful "On My Way Home To You". This one is easily one of my top 100 CDs of all time.

A little more pop-oriented than his earlier work, but no less enjoyable. The album is blessed with well-written songs, great production, ace session players, and the usual clever lyrics we expect from Michael Franks. Not masterpiece-level like "The Art of Tea" or "Sleeping Gypsy" but very good music nonetheless.

This CD is outstanding in my music collection exceeding two thousand CD's. I have heard this music and many years was searching for this not knowing the name of author of this music. I can compare to this music - Al Stewart "The Year of the Cat" and I have to admit both of them Michael Frank and Al Stewart are purely known aertists in our country. If all jazz music would be like this one I would listen ONLY to jazz music...

I only recently discovered Michael Franks but now I have virtually every album . In my view this is his very finest and ranks among the best rock / jazz albums ever. I won't go into all the colorful adjectives here but I think you get the idea. Forget also the age of the recording because this is not simpy an album but rather a complete experience and the recording quality (yes it was analogue) surpases that of any digit recording I have yet heard. An absolute must.

I bought this LP new. What a gem. Catchy melodies and great musicians including one of my all-time favorite guitarists, Eric Gale.