Customer Reviews

Paris Rain

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been seven years since Brenda Russell released her last album, "Soul Talkin'". One listen to "Paris Rain" makes it clear that Russell has spent the last seven years working on her magnum opus. The title track, "Love And Paris Rain", is a heartbreaking ballad and her best recording since "Piano In The Dark". "Expect A Miracle" and "Ideal World" are spiritually moving. "Catch On" is a great midtempo song in the best tradition. If you like Anita Baker, Oleta Adams, or even Melissa Manchester, you'll love this CD.

Hello from England.

Brenda has always been a bit of a 'cult' hero here in England. As welll as releasing her own fine albums she is also known for writing brilliant songs for others. As I have followed her career for a long time I have found myself asking why, oh why, Brenda gave whichever song away..... 'Flame' bt Patti LaBelle being an excellent example. However, with 'Paris Rain' Brenda has kept all the best songs for herself.

From the first track, 'Ideal World', you know that this CD is something very special (I love the way this song builds to anthemic proportions). Every track is of the highest possible standard and it is so very obvious that so much care, attnetion and love has gone in to creating this CD - it shows right through the speakers.

Apart from 'Ideal World' just listen to the quality of songs like 'Expect A Miracle' and 'Catch On' - you won't be disappointed.

So buy the album, and if you get the chance support Brenda at her live appearances.

Finally one word sums up Brenda Russell fro me : GENIUS!!

If there were more albums out that were this good, start to finish, even the Napster/MP3 crowd would be willing to pay good money for the music, if they knew it would support the release of other such artistry. Kudos to artist, producers, & label.

I was going to say a little something about my favorites, but after a few listenings, I realize I'd have to do an essay on each one. When you write great songs & sing them well, all the delectable little subtleties in the arrangement & production just enhance the performance without the need to over produce to prop up the songs.

From the gentle uplifting strains of "Ideal World" through the exquisitely written "She's in love", to the deliciously contagious Catch On, I was already hooked. And that's just the first 3 songs! "Walking in New York"--forget about it! Music & melody working in perfect prosody, balancing the grit & the grace & the sweet subtle dissonances of a walk with Ms Brenda through Nueva York.

It just doesn't stop--for the whole CD. I need 5 more stars & another page to rave about the 2nd half.

Having had the CD for about a month, this has been a steady grower which is now never off my CD player.

This should have been a massively successful a la Ms Bland, Diana Krall.

Each track is a beautifully produced hook-laden gem and Brenda has never sounded better. She has already proved her superb songwriting prowess in the past but on this release she has exceeded her best.

Highlights are "She's In Love", "Love & Paris Rain", which is an exquisitely haunting jazz masterwork, "You Can't Hide Your Heart From Me" & "Move The Moon". "Please Felipe" is positively vibrant and has the definitive feel-good factor.

Stephan Oberhoff makes a fine contribution to the instrumentation and production.

But it's always "Love & Paris Rain" that I play and play.

Buy it - you'll regret you didn't.....5 stars

"In an ideal world
On an ideal day
We could care for each other
In an ideal way"

Brenda loves writing songs that inspire her audience. She is a talented singer, songwriter, arranger and producer with a unique and inspirational world view. Her songs are often inspired by her own experiences, but some are creative mental images. She can literally paint pictures with her lyrics. She is a beautiful woman with an equally exquisite soul. Her music has endured the trends of time. She incorporates rock, pop, R&B, Jazz, classical and Latin into a style all her own.

"Every time you change your environment it affects how you feel about life and it affects your music." ~Brenda Russell

Paris Rain is a lyrical journey through a series of romantic ideas. Each song is sung with passion and is surrounded by spiritual beauty. They evoke a feeling of being "in love" and when you listen on a dreamy day, these songs just make you want to float away. They lift your spirit to new heights and soothe a stressful day in an instant.

This is that escape. The place you go when the world is too much. Your ideal world. Maybe a beach, a walk in New York with someone you love or running in
Paris in the rain. It is about fantasy and love and new beginnings. About miracles that occur when your heart has given up.

"Don't stop believing in love
Believe in love, babe" ~Expect a Miracle, a song complete with thunder and rain.
It is about how we are not alone in the wake of a storm.

Ideal World - Filled with fairy dust and glitter. "Before we reach the planets, let's get it right on earth..." It speaks of care and love and an idyllic world. It is about taking chances and discovering that ideal moment on an ideal day. I cried the first three times I heard this song. It touched something deep in me I can't explain.

She's In Love - Nostalgia, a girl in love, crying just like a child who was lost and then found her way back home. Evokes a smooth sway of a swing on a cloudy day. A woman who is in love and the beauty she feels in her soul shows
in her eyes.

Catch On - Slightly more upbeat. She just needs the stars to shine on her and help her see why we are really here on earth. A sense of unity and awareness.

Walkin' in New York - Free spirited lyrics with a spicy Latin beat.

Love and Paris Rain - Dreamy, laid back. Her voice turns silky as she remembers a misty night walking under Paris lights. The drums fall away on this track and the passionate lyrics drift off into a piano sonata. While I love this song, it doesn't inspire me like "Ideal World."

Please Felipe - Playful and upbeat. The rain stops and she captures Felipe in a song. Cute, wistful love song.

You Can't Hide Your Heart from Me - "Hello it's me...You can't hide your heart from me....You gazed in my direction...But souls have wings...And we were born to fly..." A song about jumping off that cliff into love. Has traces of "Piano in the Dark" somewhere in the music, like a ghost from the past.

Move the Moon - Inspirational lyrics about women being strong, but still needing a man to love her. "If you think I don't need you baby, You're so wrong." There is nothing she wouldn't do, she would even move the moon. Sweet and sassy.

Something About Your Love - Remembrance of life and the paths we take. "I only know that I could not keep you from my mind. " There is something about the newness of love that made her want it all again.

Baby Eyes - Sigh...

Rainy Day Dreams and Romantic Notions. This is just one smooth and silky seduction. It is an intimate collection of songs that are lusciously embraced by Brenda's soothing velvet voice.

Music for a Mellow Mood.

~The Rebecca Review

Dear Brenda, wanna know something? In an "Ideal World", I get an album out of you every 6 weeks!! Care to fulfill that request? Please don't make me wait that long again! I will die! For those of you who have been living under a rock, Brenda Russell is the consummate singer/songwriter/musician/producer/arranger to come along in ages. This woman does everything. Between Brenda's albums, one of my hobbies is to go scouring the net to find out which songs Brenda has written for other artists,(especially to read the lyrics!) where she has recorded a track here or there with someone else...as a means of tiding me over until her next full release. She's done so many appearances that, if compiled, would make up an additional 5 albums at least! I even have her on a Lawry's seasoned salt commercial!! I love this woman's voice that much! Her lyrics are sheer poetry. This woman's music touches the very core of me, and she paints pictures of life's experiences like no other. Brenda, I've never been to Paris, but after listening to PARIS RAIN, I feel like I'm right there with you under those Paris skies--amazing! Every track on this album is a masterpiece. We're talking no skipping here-just play it straight through folks. This CD flows with life's varying themes, that transport you through all that this Universe has to offer, and lyrically, no one taps into this great big Universe better than Brenda.

My favorite track on Paris Rain is...hmmm.. Ideal World, Catch on, Please Felipe(I sing it as Please Believe!), Paris Rain, Walking in NY, Something about your Love, Expect a Miracle, She's in Love, Move the Moon, Baby Eyes, You cant Hide your Love...Gee, is that the whole CD? Like, YEAH!!!!!!!!
Brenda Russell ROCKS! And the woman is so damn beautiful to boot!

In the midst of the world's noise, clutter, and clatter there
is Brenda Russell who is no wailing diva, but a poet/songwriter
who sings and writes with such honesty that the simplicity of her
message will raise the hair on the nape of your neck. You will not
find a favorite song on her long-awaited CD "Paris Rain" because
you will love and yearn for them all. If you ever need a reason
to face another day, simply play Brenda Russell and you will be
reminded of the sweetness of walks in the park, red sunsets, the
comfort of good friends, your first kiss, and Paris when it's raining.

I had the great privilage of seeing MS.Russell perform with Dave Koz and friends this past holiday season front row stage right and she was awesome.She performed some of the titles off of Paris Rain "She's In Love", & "Catch On". I can't say these are my favorites because I love the whole CD each song gets the repeat button at least three times before moving on to the next. I take it with me everywhere.I recently returned from New York and as I was walking up & down Madison Ave with my best friend I was singing "Walkin'in New York" and it seemed like New York just opened wide and received every word and note. When I want to work out and am not in the mood, I put on "Please Felipe" and by the time I finish dancing I've done a complete workout. "Something About your Love" & "You Can't Hide Your Heart From Me" you will need to make separate tapes for those they will be played constantly it sounds like Brenda went to church on "Something About Your Love".The jazzy tune "Baby Eyes" is in a class of its own. It makes you feel like you are in the top jazz club of the 1940's or 50's listening to the #1 singer belt out this sultry sexy steamy tune across a baby grand piano.The best for last "Paris Rain" (which she actually went to Paris to write the words to the already written music).Picture yourself on the top floor of a Manhatten high riser with a big picture glass window over looking the Hudson Bay with a continuous stream of rain hitting against the window pane, baby grand piano to your right and a nice fire going to the left of you. You are with your significant other and you are opening up your soul to this person and telling them why they are so important to you and why you feel you two are the only ones for each other,and as the song breaks to the piano solo you explore every thought and feeling and suddenly find yourselves lost in a world that only belongs to the two of you. THAT'S PARIS RAIN!

One of the great songwriter/singers of the late 20th century, Brenda Russell makes a triumphant return to the public! Paris Rain is a superb CD with all the signature touches that make Russell's music so loved. Strolling down lower Broadway, Flatbush & Dekalb in Brooklyn and St. Nicholas Avenue up in Harlem, I couldn't help but hum "Walkin' in New York" all day long Saturday! There are a few other cuts I love just as much but don't remember the song titles off hand. Her sound is so full and richly textured, it's hard to categorize except to place it in the group of 'GOOD GOOD MUSIC"! Highly recommended

i could not appreciate this album when it was purchased for me. I returned it to the store for another cd......(not important which one)

i later saw the video for "Walkin' in New York" and was totally in love.......and then realized I was a fool for trading-in this cd.

I had to buy it (again) and believe that one of the most severe musical mistakes i have made in my life was letting "Paris Rain" go in the first place. I have no favorites on this cd....i listen to it in its entirety. A good purchase for grown folks lookin' for great music!!!!!!!!!!!!