Porcelain

Julia Fordham | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000000WH4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,872 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One slick chick, August 7, 2000

By 

Marc Kloszewski (Indiana, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Porcelain (Audio CD)

I'm not normally a love song-type of guy; most of the claptrap that passes for balladry on the radio nowadays is overarranged and filled with tired sentiment; those who think Celine Dion is just the best should try Julia Fordham's CD "Porcelain" (to begin with) and be converted. These are unabashedly direct love songs of joy, heartbreak and yearning (save for "Genius", more of an hymn to nature, to a samba beat) and they sound great, owing to the impeccably clean and intimate production style, and Julia's beautiful and soulful alto voice. It's pretty slick-sounding. My favorite is probably "For You Only For You," because it is a real torch song which harkens back to the days when girl singers were backed by orchestras rather than synthesizers and drum machines, though there's tasteful, minimal technology here throughout as well. "Did I Happen to Mention?" has a wonderful emotional sweep to it, detailing Julia's plea for more than just friendship from her beloved (you have to imagine that she would NEED to coax, I guess)--it reminds me of Anita Baker--they share a similar style. "Lock and Key" and "Manhattan Skyline" are the uptempo side starters, and how Julia can sound so elated while singing about how "broken" she was is a wonderful mystery to me. Just beautiful. The ballads are uniformly excellent as well--I suppose you can tell the talented songwriters from just mediocre ones from small touches like how she adds a beat in her rising melodic line in "Towerblock" to prolong the poignancy of the lyric just a tad longer. Sweet. Of course, she's not that popular in this country; another small injustice to popcraft that gems like these don't have much of a place on even the easy-listening stations. There--end of sermon. You can help--go out and get this one! And enjoy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Songs for the Distant Lovers, July 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Porcelain (Audio CD)

A friend of mine has just gone through a relationship turmoil that causes a lot of distress. It happens that her partner is not the one for her and finally she accepts this harsh reality.

Now that I am playing this album and I suddenly realize while I'm searching for books in Amazon, I decided to write a review of how wonderful this album is. From the start of Porcelain to Towerblock, the string of tunes with extraordinary vocals just remind me about the pain in her heart. Just like my friend's. I think about her when I listen to Towerblock and Island, or simply For you Only For you, I wish she could listen to the songs and how she can relate to the "stories" in Julia's tunes.

Whatever it is, the album is such a gem amongst the today's standard of top forty albums. I bought this one two years ago in a local record shop, in the used bins in the mint condition. How the previous owner decided to sell this one is beyond my logic. Even now his loss is truly my gain. I own this copy and the Julia Fordham Collection, and I often wonder how she wrote all those emotional tunes. she has to be a "Genius"

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tell your girlfriend about her, June 16, 2004

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Porcelain (Audio CD)

Julia Fordham's second album stepped ahead of her smoky, intriguing debut. She reached for some universal themes in her songwriting and came up with ten great songs that spanned the range from lonely desire ("Did I Happen to Mention") to the humorous (the Brazilian inflections of "Genius"). All these are tied together by the strength of her voice, which mirrors both Sade and Annie Lennox.

The problem then becomes that, in a world where subtle intimacy is often passed by for brash and obvious, an album like "Porcelain" will frequently slide through the cracks. Julia was fortunate enough to be a VH1 artist of the month back when the channels actually believed in music, and as such, remained something of a cult figure for fans of female singer songwriters. One of her best known songs can be found here, the coast-to-coast romance of "Manhattan Skyline."

"How could I resist, your American arms and your French kiss?
From New York to London, London to New York,
With this broken heart, so British?"

This is music for a rainy day, when you can sit with the windows open and listen to the sound of the rain and the stereo at the same time. I can't recommend "Porcelain" enough for fans of current Dido and Norah Jones' Cds.