Customer Reviews

Pretty Little Stranger

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Joan Osborne's "Pretty Little Stranger" has some shining moments. The self-penned title tune has an excellent beat, a throbbing bass line, and Joan's powerful vocals connecting with the band, "There is a Spanish boy who also rides the A train. I want to tag him like a tiger so I can track him as he moves around the city so I can guard him like an angel." This is a stellar track, on a par with Joan's best work. The beautiful melody of Patty Griffin's "What You Are" is polished by Joan's lovely vocals, "Do you wish you were the silence of the moon? Nobody knows but maybe you will be soon." Joan's "After Jane" is a delight with the vocals passionate and the music cranked, "Will I rise up again? Will I ever know a friend like my Jane!" There are other beautiful moments like Beth Nielsen Chapman's gorgeous tune of "Time Won't Tell," given a country twang with pedal steel guitar and Vince Gill on harmony. Rodney Crowell's "When the Blue Hour Comes" is a lovely ballad. On a few tracks like "Brokedown Palace" & "Shake the Devil" the band seems sleepy, unable to keep up with Joan's vocal fireworks. Most of the CD is excellent and deserves to be embraced by Joan's fans, old & new. Enjoy!

I have to admit that I was apprehensive about buying this new Joan Osborne album, because I was disappointed with her "How Sweet It Is" from a few years ago (I am not really into soul music, per se). Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with this new CD. The music has a country-rock feel to it, and her voice is exquisitely expressive. The girl can SING.

This CD is similar to albums by Emmylou Harris and Rosanne Cash (the song "Who Divided" sounds like it could have been lifted from an early Rosanne Cash album, while Osborn's remake of Kris Kristofferson's "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends" features delicious, tender, just-ahead-of-the-beat phrasing one would expect from Emmylou Harris).

A thrilling aspect of this album is that Osborne has returned to recording songs she has written! After her last two CDs of mostly covered material, I am excited to get some more nuggets from this talented songwriter (wait till you hear "Pretty Little Stranger" and "Who Divided" -- perfection!!).

Overall, this is a terrific albumn for fans of music by country-rock women like Lucinda Williams, Matraca Berg, Emmylou Harris, Juice Newton, Linda Ronstadt and Rosanne Cash. Highly recommended!

There's a direct connect between what Joan did on the Funk Brothers' "Standing in the Shadow of Motown" film and this new album.

It's bare.

No frills.

Backbeats to die for, even on the so-called country tunes.

And thankfully, none of the over-production by engineers that compromised her several previous works. (Send the orchestra home, thanks.)

Actually, I wish Joan would just sing the phone book, or Dixie cotton field slave songs, or just scat any Robert Johnson guitar riff - "a capella."

That would be the ideal venue for this woman's roots soulful spirit.

Less is always more with Joan.

The music industry moguls have to be truly reviled for not promoting her when she had her moment....

But this new CD is testimony that Joan's still one of us....

When is the tour behind this album happening?

I hate to give this a negative review because by many standards this is a decent recording. The songs are adequate, the arrangements are solid if uninspired, the song choice is at least thoughtful, and Joan can sing out of the phone book and still sound good. But...this is so far below what she's capable of and what she excels at that it is a serious disapointment to fans of the swampy back woods blues of "Relish", still one of my favorite CD's. There's nothing here to rival "St. Teresa", "Ladder", "Spider Web", "Right Hand Man", or even "One of Us" which I never need to hear ever again.

I was only alittle aware of Joan Osborne, before I heard "Who Divided" on the radio as I was driving home very late at night - - I liked it so much, I actually pulled off to the side of the road and wrote down the title and artist so I wouldn't forget! I NEVER do that .... "Who Divided", which Joan wrote, is still my favorite song on the CD, but there are no duds here!! It's a great listen from start to finish - - Lightning 100, here in Nashville, is playing it, and I hope it does well for her all over the USA - - it's an EXCELLENT CD.

I really miss the intensity of Joan's voice on previous albums. This is more thoughtful, pensive. Less heartbroken or fired up. I always catch myself thinking about her earlier music, "how does so much soul & heart come out of such a tiny little woman?" The gritty voice, the emotion, the imperfections.

Well, not to knock this CD, it's good stuff, just not what I love about Joan's music.

I've always admired Joan Osborne's vocal gifts but was never won over by her material. Sure, "One of Us" was a big hit, and "St. Theresa" was interesting, different, but I didn't want to play them over and over again. And I'm not really a fan of the over-polished AAA Americana format that makes up 10 of the 12 tracks on this latest release. But tucked away in the middle of this disc are 2 cuts that will break your heart over and over again--Kris Kristofferson's "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends" and the Harlan Howard/Beth Nielson Chapman gem "Time Won't Tell." When Joan Osborne decides to go country, she REALLY goes country, sounding an awful lot like Emmylou Harris on "Pieces of the Sky" or "Luxury Liner." I know that Joan Osborne can sing whatever she damn well pleases and tear it up. But when she sings pure, unadulaterated country music as she does on these 2 songs, it makes me tear up. Joan, please, get back to the country.

It's been much too long since Joan released a new cd. This cd is a bit country/twangy but she does a very sweet version of the Dead's Brokedown Palace. This is a nice set to listen to on a late summer afternoon with a glass of wine. Personally, I like my Joan a bit rougher and bluer-nothing compares to her live "Early Recordings". This is Joan and her band at their best-I want to FEEL the music as well as hear it.

Who expected Joan to do a country album?? Well, who cares! This is a very nice album. There are some covers tunes here, none of which I've heard before, mixed in with some new songs, my favorites being Who Divided & the title track (love singing along to "I wonder who will the next fool be"). Along with these two songs, my other favorites include the heart-tugging When The Blue Hour Comes and Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends. Oh, Brokedown Palace, a Grateful Dead song apparently, is gorgeous. I had virtually no idea the Dead had songs like that. Anyway, so glad for new Joan! I admit that I'm kind of afraid of "country" music, but don't let something like that deter you from checking this album out. I've enjoyed it a lot.

So Joan goes to Nashville and works with country alumni to get a more alt.country feel on "Pretty Little Stranger", right? Well, not quite. Instead, Joan creates a natural, almost seamless blend of blues country, and it works very well. In fact, it works better than her last album of covers, 2002's "How Sweet It Is". This is interesting when considering that "Pretty Little Stranger" only contains 6 songs written by Osborne.

Of the Osborne originals, "Pretty Little Stranger", "Who Divided", "Shake That Devil" and "After Jane" stand out. Of the 6 covers, Patty Griffin's "What You Are" is excellent, and perhaps the best, followed by Kris Kristofferson's "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends", Beth Nielsen Chapman's "Time Won't Tell" and Rodney Crowell's "When The Blue Hour Comes".

As always, Joan's vocals are impeccable. The arrangements are pretty good, and the album as a whole just might be one of her best. However, I would like to see her return to a more experimental rock album similar to 1995's "Relish", but I've enjoyed all the musical guises Joan has tried over the past decade. If you like Osborne, you will not be disappointed by "Pretty Little Stranger".