Customer Reviews

Open Season

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Folk-popster Leslie Feist garnered a lot more attention with her second solo album, "Let it Die." Now she follows it up with "Open Season," which is basically a lot of odds and ends -- remixes, B-sides, and alternate versions. Sure, not everything is absolutely perfect, but it's a good little album of bits and pieces.

It opens on a quiet note with a piano version of "One Evening," which is basically a pretty, downbeat little instrumental. Things start to kick off with the acoustic-driven "Inside and Out (Apostle of Hustle Unmix," which brings it down to gritty guitar-driven melodies. Okay, whatever, but not exactly my cup of tea.

But the remixes are good stuff -- "Mushaboom" gets done over and over, whether it's a perky pop melody, a heavier techno-laced one, an almost wordless mix by VV, or the peak of the album -- Postal Service's delicate trip-hop remix. There's also the murky "Lonely Lonely (Frisbee'd Mix)," a jazzy "Gatekeeper" remix, and a funky redone "When I Was a Young Girl."

There are also some songs that haven't been heard on her regular album: the dreamy "Snow Lion" with Readymade FC, the trippy French "Tout Doucement," the taut ballad "Simple Story" with Jane Birkin," and the naughty-edged "Lovertits" (well, what did you expect with that title?) with Gonzales.

Most albums of B-sides and remixes are pretty much half-and-half. Fortunately, Feist scores higher with an almost perfect array of remixes, and four excellent individual songs. Don't expect the same sound as "Let it Die," though -- the folkpop sound can only be found in a couple of songs here, like the full mix of "Gatekeeper" and the unmix of "Inside and Out."

Instead, we get all sorts of remixes -- jazz, funk, trip-hop, hard electro, and even "One Evening" pared down to a single piano melody. And the songs get a bit of a twist, with everything from skipping vocals to crunching snow to scratching vinyl. Sometimes you'd hardly even know they were the same song, except for the occasional cry of "Mushaboom!"

And fortunately Feist never gets lost in all this remixing, unmixing and reworking. Her clear, fresh voice cuts through all the beats and extra instruments. But she sounds best in the four original songs, with rippling piano, harp and some blippy sound effects. "Tout Doucement" is especially charming -- it sounds like a French cafe at happy hour.

"Open Season" won't give anyone reason to fire at Feist. Her odds and ends sound wonderfully polished, with only a few rough diamonds left over.

"The evening was long
My guesses were true
You saw me see you
That something you said
The timing was right"

Playful in beauty, Feist's Open Season is a mingling of richly orchestrated sounds and remixes. One Evening (solo piano) is striking in its ornate textures even in the straightforward solo version. The Remix later in the album is hardly recognizable and the mood more sultry.

Inside and Out has dreamy lyrics, but is edgy in acoustic musical exploration. Snow Lion reminds me of Magnet's laid-back albums and the beauty melts into a subtle discordance on a moonlit landscape. The Mushaboom Mocky remix seems the best of the versions on this album, but I still prefer the original song from the Let it Die album recorded in Paris.

"You treat me like a vision in the night
Someone there to stand behind you
When your world ain't working right
I ain't no vision, I am the girl
who loves you inside and out"

A better introduction to Leslie Feist would be the Let it Die album, but this one might make you curious and interested enough to listen to all her music.

~The Rebecca Review

I'm a fan of Feist, I had never heard any of these remixes when I picked up this CD. I have to say that while I was pleasantly surprised by some, others left me feeling flat or annoyed. I don't think that the weight of a few songs makes this a great album, it's "Okay" and even as a fan I was left feeling a bit jilted by the experience to be found in Open Season.

The opening is beautiful, you cannot argue with a piano solo...well maybe you can but really why would you? It set the tone for what I thought the rest of the album was going to be, only to find myself relatively disappointed by the large. Some of these are very club centered, others appear to add nothing to the song only detract from the original beauty. I was particularly disappointed in the remixes of Gatekeeper which is to me a very beautiful song, while the first remix (One Room One Hour) wasn't terrible, the latter (Do Right) left a sour taste in my mouth.

When I Was A Young Girl was almost completely impossible to listen to for me. This was depressing because it's one of my favorite songs from Feist. The lyrics are so washed out by the heavy base line that it stole from the song instead of adding. The few tracks I really enjoyed, One Evening, Snow Lion, Lovertits (which reminded me of Katamari Forever heavily) weren't enough to carry this album up in acclaim.

For those who have never heard of Feist please do not start here, and if you are a big fan of Feist this still may not be for you. If you really enjoy remixes and how they can change a song from something you knew well into something entirely different this may be an interesting foray. For a remix album this isn't terrible, it does provide a pretty broad swath of changes to songs you may already know and love.

I tend to want my remixes to provide a different way to view a song, this felt more like a regurgitation instead of an inspiration and for that it's only a 3 star album. I'll listen to it again, but I'll be skipping most of the CD to get to the few tracks that really appealed to me.

"The evening was long
My guesses were true
You saw me see you
That something you said
The timing was right"

Playful in beauty, Feist's Open Season is a mingling of richly orchestrated sounds and remixes. One Evening (solo piano) is striking in its ornate textures even in the straightforward solo version. The Remix later in the album is hardly recognizable and the mood more sultry.

Inside and Out has dreamy lyrics, but is edgy in acoustic musical exploration. Snow Lion reminds me of Magnet's laid-back albums and the beauty melts into a subtle discordance with the beauty of danger on a moonlit landscape. The Mushaboom Mocky remix seems the best of the versions on this album, but I still prefer the original song from the Let it Die album recorded in Paris.

"You treat me like a vision in the night
Someone there to stand behind you
When your world ain't working right
I ain't no vision, I am the girl
who loves you inside and out"

A better introduction to Leslie Feist would be the Let it Die album, but this one might
make you curious and interested enough to listen to all her music.

~The Rebecca Review

I bought this CD by accident and I'm really glad that I did. These remixes are point on and I'm glad that Feist had a hand in this collaboration instead of the whole disc being a lame attempt at making money off of someone else's abilities.

I am a bit weary of remixes. While they are often marketed as an aperitif to an upcoming release to placate fans, I see them more as a shameless cash grab meant at boosting record sales without boosting song selection. It is merely a case where the context bothers me regardless of the content, even though there are many eponymous remix albums out there worth trolling over to the local record shop and grabbing. Still, the majority of remixes to which the mainstream has access are crap, as recent examples from Madonna and Elvis Presley - rest his soul - exemplify. Therefore, when Feist's brand new collection of ragtag b-sides, remixes, collaborations, and demos entitled Open Season: Remixes and Collabs surfaced, a literal question mark emerged above my head, wondering why Feist felt the need to release a pseudo-new album in between the brilliant Let it Die and one due in January. I definitely hoped the quality of the remixes and collaborations would dissipate my contextual red flag, and to be honest, I was genuinely excited at the prospect of new material from Feist. Yet after digesting each song half-a-dozen times, I fail to comprehend why, for any other reason than money, this album was released at all.



There are some great songs on this collection, but very few of them differ from Let it Die. The few examples worth noting are the gorgeous, solo piano take on "One Evening" provided by Gonzales, "Snow Lion," which is unique to the record, and a lovely interpretation of "Mushaboom" by lo-fi wizards The Postal Service. The heightened digitized tempo juxtaposes perfectly with Feist's languid croon, producing a rendition as good as, if not better than, the original. Lastly, the soft-spoken, acoustic version of "Inside and Out" with Apostle of Hustle is a laggard treat, differing from the electro-pop-tinged original by stripping down the arrangement and featuring Feist's gorgeous pipes even more. Her voice is so good that often next-to-no accompaniment at all is best.



But that is about it. "Mushaboom" is featured an astounding four times while you get "One Evening" and "Gatekeeper" twice, adding up to more than half the record. No matter how much you love Feist, four versions of the same song, done in a reasonably similar fashion each time, is tiresome. In addition, other than the aforementioned, there is no other track on Open Season that outshines Let it Die or takes the track into different terrain. Two versions of "Mushaboom" almost butcher the song, most notably on a confusing, hip-hop-infused remix with K-os that adds nothing lyrically. Furthermore, "Tout Doucement," another lovely, Parisian-fuelled ditty, is so close to the original that I believe they just copied and pasted the track from one album to another. It is not that Open Season struggles musically, because that is not the case. No matter what Feist sings, it comes off sweeter than acid-laced tupelo honey, but on its own merit, it is not a worthwhile collection. Let it Die is mesmerizing; Open Season is just leaching off its predecessor's popularity. I am still weary of remixes. -Shain Shapiro



www.JamBase.com Go See Live Music

Amazing CD! I absolutely love it! There's not a bad song to be found on the CD. I highly recommend purchasing this!

I love Feist's music, I think the true formula for her succes are great music pieces combined with awesome lyrics, saddly most of this renixes disrupt the lyrics and the music leaving a black hole where the essence of Leslie Feist's songs are lost. Yet if you are a fan of feist and remixes there are a couple of songs that sound great, but rather than buying the album I would buy those songs digitally.

Excellent album. This one is a little more sexy, groovy and electronic than "The Reminder", but just as good. Her voice is great. A good listen anytime.

These are remixes from Leslie Feist's album Let it Die, plus some other b-sides. Here is my album rundown.
*One Evening (Solo Piano Version) [Instrumental] -- 10/10 A lovely interpretation of the song; great for dinner parties.
*Inside + Out (Apostle of Hustle Unmix) -- 9/10 A nice and simple song to chill to.
*Mushaboom (Mocky Remix) -- 10/10 It has a slight hip-hop feel to it, yet Feist still channels her inner peace with alternative.
*Gatekeeper (Full mix) -- 10/10 This is by far better than the original; this version has far more substance to it.
*Lonely Lonely (Frisbee'd Mix) -- 9/10 This is a very serene song.
*Mushaboom (K-OS Mix) -- 7/10 K-OS's remix is pretty much the only downfall; the beats were very overdone.
*Snow Lion -- 10/10 I absolutely love this track! It is very calming and brings to mind winter.
*Tout Doucement -- 8/10 There could be a bit more to it, but it's interesting that the track is sung in French.
*The Simple Story -- 7/10 I don't like this track as much, it's a bit boring.
*Lovertits -- 10/10 This is a slower-paced dance track, yet all the energy is still there. Love this one!
*Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix) -- 9/10 The downright quirkiness of Postal Service makes this one a hit!
*Gatekeeper (Do Right Remix) -- 9/10 I love how this almost seems like a modern jazz type track.
*One Evening (Remix By VV) -- 10/10 THE PERFECT REMIX!! Exactly as it should be. Nice and fun, funky and fresh.
*When I Was A Young Girl (Remix by VV) -- 10/10 Once again, better than the original.
*Mushaboom (Remix by VV) -- 10/10 VV delivers yet another groovy mix, this time for Mushaboom.
Overall album rating -- 10/10 This is a must-have for your collection; whether you're a Feist fan or not! These are superb mixes.

*My favorite tracks: 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15