Customer Reviews

Sixpence None The Richer

5 star:		(141)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

You must buy this album, because it is damn worth it. I bought it only having listened to "Kiss Me" before. I put it in my CD player, and it still is in my CD player. It starts off with a continuous three-piece song, beautifully linked together in the most ingenious way. It goes deep into your thoughts, making you think about past experiences - before "I Can't Catch You", I had already thought about my ex-girlfriend, my family, my college life, my future, my... To me, "I Can't Catch You" is definitely the standout track on this album. Equal to this is "Sister, Mother", where Leigh Nash's voice really develops to unbelievable heights. This is an album to think about if you're ready to think about the past, the present, the future. If you like songs with a deep meaning, then this is the album for you...

i have read all of the reviews here, and i am quite honestly appalled. i keep reading one-star reviews saying "Kiss Me is great but no other songs on here are like it. they all need to be like 'Kiss Me.'" could you people BE more shallow? i have been a fan of sixpence for years, and this is easily their best album. the textures are rich and engaging, the hooks are delicate yet very catchy, and the arrangements intricate and fascinating. the fact that the songs are esoteric and different is a GOOD thing, people. why should a talented band make music that is stupid just so they can appeal to you. i have a feeling half of these reviews of this type (if not all) are by those same giggling little junior high people who loved "Kiss Me" just because it was catchy. it's a great song--a GREAT song--but all of you need to learn to THINK about music. which is what this album is about--thinking and feeling. buy the album and expand your heart and mind a little.

Sixpence None the Richer is incredible!I listen to a lot of other music styles like alternative,punk,ska,and some metal,but I still love this disc!All you people who think this cd is bad(or "weird")are just mindless people who bought it for "Kiss Me"(fess up,you know exactly who you are),or don't know music when you hear it.Don't get me wrong,I hated "Kiss Me"until I heared the whole album.Now I love it!Every single song is awesome,though two outstanding songs are "Kiss Me" and "There She Goes".The only song I ever skip is "The Lines of My Earth"(which is still a great song).This is on my top ten best "christian" cds list,one of the very few that I will lable "perfect".Dark but uplifting,Sixpence None the Richer is made up of a rich and well textured style of music with rythmic but subtlely grinding guitars coupled with a miriad of other instrements.Their alterna-pop sound can easily compete with a number of bands in the secular music industry.Anyone who loves good music should love this disc.

After being thoroughly overjoyed by the sublime pop treasure that is _Divine Discontent_, I hastened to collect the rest of Sixpence None the Richer's catalogue. This album, while not as good as _Divine Discontent_, is still a wonderful pop album. Matt Slocum's ear for arrangement and catchy pop chord progressions knows few peers, and Leigh Nash's sweet, sweet voice is sooo perfect. It took me a little longer to appreciate this cd tho', perhaps because of its surprising diversity: from the bluesy funk of "The Waiting Room" to the sparkly pop of "I Can't Catch You" to the Latin-esque polyrhythmic "Peudo Escribir" to the subtle country thread running through "The Lines of My Earth", this album abounds with songwriting gems and each song is different. Then there is "Kiss Me", the enormously popular song that was played to death (and beyond) years back. You've all heard it, of course. Perhaps some (read: most) people have become annoyed by it, yet I am still utterly enamored by it. It remains one of the most perfect examples of popcraft I've heard. The bonus track, "There She Goes", is cavity-inducing sweet ear-candy that, while simple and repetitive, remains delightful. Highly recommended.

Bittersweet, a lot of that you'll be hearing lyrically, musically, and vocally throughout this album. Perhaps that is what makes this cd such a passionate standout. The whole vibe of this cd is pretty magical, one you can really loose yourself in. However, these are the songs I found to be the biggest standouts.


1. We Have Forgotten -I was drawn into this song from the very beginning. Starts out with an entrancing beginning, then softly melts into Leighs dreamy sounding vocals. Beautiful lyrics written here as well.."Horses bred with starlaced wings but it's so hard to make them fly."

4. Kiss Me -The shiney guitars at the beginning. The sparkling romantic lyrics, to the sweet breathy vocals, as overplayed as this track was on the radio, it still tastes of summer in every drop.

5. Easy To Ignore -I adore the violins in this song. You can really hear the emotion echoing out through Leighs voice.

8. The Lines Of My Earth -Really impressive, and it's great to know the lyrics match up with it's brilliant beat. A lot of emotion and passion from vocals, to the fainting guitars softly heard in the background.

10. I Won't Stay Long -Leighs vocals are so sad in this song. Its a bit softer and short, almost seems like an introduction to the next track.

11. Love -The mysterious vibe of this one you might find yourself setting on repeat. The way Leigh sings out "It is rain after the dryness, I need love." You can sort of feel your emotions right next to hers.


I enjoyed the rest of the songs as well. They certainly draw your attention, but my only complaints is that some of them don't draw me in enough to play the whole way through. "The Waiting Room" is a haunting song, but I find it dragging out a bit too much. The song "Anything" didn't really seem to reel me in all that much eitheir. The rest of the songs really ligh it up though. From the angelic sadness of "Sister Mother," the upbeatness of "I Can't Catch you," "Pudeo Escriber," is a unique track, but takes an aquired taste to listen to, and "Moving On" was an inspiring track to me as well, was a great ending finalie on the violins.

Hell this is the first time I've heard they were christan band. I first heard this when I was 13, it was my uncles. I pulled it out of his long library of music. I am glad I did. This is one of the best and most underrated bands of our time. That is sad because this is a gem that you will cherish forever.

From beghining to end it grabs you and wont let go. Song after song your ears are treated by, soft guitar sounds, an angel like voice, and great lyrics. This is one of those albums that is just perfect.

There arnt to many albums I consider perfect and this one is among them. I am sad that they dint blow up like they deserved to. They were like the Coldplay of 90's. Actually this album is kind of like Coldplays first and excellent album Parachutes. Its sad, happy, kind, and soft. Its an album I fell in love with.

Before my uncle left he left me this as a gift. He knew I loved it so much. That was five years ago, and I still listen to it today. Ignore the haters, they hate it because its christain. I had no problem with this. In the end its an undiscovered gem, that deserved much praise.

Picked this album up on impulse because I've always loved those radio-friendly songs There She Goes and Kiss Me, which featured in the film She's All That and TV's Dawson's Creek.
There's something about this jangly American guitar band and their upbeat summer sound - plus singer Leigh Nash has that cutesy, girl-next-door voice that adds to the happy feel good factor that singles out Sixpence None The Richer.
Guitarist Matt Slocum is such a fantastic songwriter - he composed most of the tracks himself. I especially like the song The Lines Of My Earth with its haunting melody and lovely line "This is the last song that I write, 'til you tell me otherwise."
I don't know if the band are still going, as I haven't heard anything from them for ages, but I do hope so otherwise.
Beautiful album that I just can't stop playing.

This cd is very good the only problem is alot of the songs sound alike, but they all sound very good. there she goes, mother brother, and kiss me are my favorites on here.

Since discovering Sixpence None the Richer I am now assured that there *is* hope for contemporary pop-rock. This cd is particular is melodic, rhythmically innovative, lyrical without pretense, quietly intelligent, and deeply meaningful in its overall project. Matt Slocum's songwriting (with some help from Leigh Nash)and production is solid throughout, the musicanship is original and refreshing, and Leigh Nash sings with a sense of phrasing and sincere emotion far superior to any of the current "pop divas." Nash has become one of my favorite singers due to the both the unique quality of her voice (at once confident and fragile) and, more importantly, her ability to invest a song with true feeling.

The songs themselves run from good to brilliant. The "Waiting Room" is the cut that begins to separate this album from the ordinary pack of 90s pop - followed by the tenderly magical "Kiss Me." Some might dismiss this song as run-of-the-mill pop on first hearing, but the more one really listens to the song and its different elements - the gentle guitar structure that moves the song forward, the romantic touches that come through from the various instruments, the sweetly innocent lyrics, and Nash's impeccable delivery - one realizes that this is a first-rate foray into the delights of young love. Compared to the crass explicitness of more salacious pop offerings (the awful "Bootylicious" springs to mind), this is a cleansing breath of fresh air. The song is followed by the honest and heart-felt "Easy to Ignore," a song that, with the simplest of lyrics, captures the other side of the coin - the hesitation and doubt that often accompanies new attraction. From here the band puts Neruda to music, shifting both the musical mood and lyrical emphasis of the cd, and serving as a mid-point between the more romantic first half of the album (save for "Waiting Room") and the more spirtiual second half.

Before moving into the spirituality of the latter half, "I Can't Catch You" offers more rhythmical change up combined with straightforward, tasteful lyrical testimony. But it is with "The Lines of My Earth" that the band really begins to raise this record into a higher plane - both artistically and philosophically. The last three songs, "I Won't Stay Long," "Love," and "Moving On" are the cd's best work, and are among the best music available today, making this recording one of the 3-4 best of the 90s (but there really isn't a weak cut on the recording). "Love" captures the spirit of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinithians with such musical clarity that one has to conclude that the original author of these sentiments would have surely approved. "Moving On" is a powerful and confident expression of eager anticipation and preparation for transformative rebirth. Again, Nash sings both of this songs with flawless delivery - conveying Slocum's intelligently devout message in a way that makes it accessible and acceptable to anyone with a good ear and open mind. Slocum writes with tremendous reverence, but he does so with both the mind and the heart, and Nash presents his lyric with a beauty and clarity not found anywhere else in contemporary pop vocals. She is worth all the mega-stars out there - and more.

This is highly recommended - you won't regret purchasing what I am convinced is among the top albums of the past 20 years - or more.

If you're looking at this in hopes of finding 12 immediately catchy tunes like "Kiss Me", forget it...this is an album full of delicately textured modest somewhat folkish alterna-rock whose charms aren't immediately apparent. If you're willing to spend some time with Leigh Nash's childlike soprano and Matt Slocum's soundscapes though, it could be YOU that comes out the richer for it.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Besides the effervescent "Kiss Me", the brisk "I Can't Catch You" shows a man (Slocum does the writing primarily that Nash sings) who's struggling to discard past mistakes and really embrace intimacy with a new love, "Anything" is a bitter tirade about the music industry ("We're all told to dance, but we never picked the tune/Hanging like puppets, they feed us from bent steel spoons/But we're sealing our lips for the someday when the needle and the vinyl play all the songs of the pain/songs that explain all our circles and strains"), "The Waiting Room" is a look at the vagaries of existence in a world that's far from ideal ("Fight til' your fists bleed,baby/Beat the fate walls enclosing you/maybe God will unlock the cage of learning for you"). "Lines of my Earth" complains of a loss of creativity ("This is the last song that I write/until you tell me otherwise/and it's because I just don't feel it anymore") "Love", relegated to the B-side of the "Kiss Me" single when it was available, has perhaps the most intriguing imagery to describe spiritual reawakening, comparing the process to a "Harvester" who cuts open your skin to "plant a new beginning". Truly beautiful (and the only Christian radio hit here at #16). SOME versions (it was re-issued with the song added after the first several runs of CDs) also contain a lovely version of 90s alterna-hit "There She Goes" (first done by the Las in a fairly similar rendition)

LOWS:
"Puedo Escribir" is obviously a stab at experimentalism and musically it's excellent. But for me, the Neruda poem set to music here seems a bit too pretentious. Reading it (in English) over a small "bridge" section as an intro to "I Can't Catch You" would have been plenty. In "We Have Forgotten", Leigh Nash sings a duet with herself and each voice has a different lyric. Having two voices of the exact same timbre and quality singing two different verses simultaneously makes it difficult to make out the words. Having Matt Slocum take the counterpoint probably would have alleviated that problem. "I Won't Stay Long"'s portrait of depression is a bit trite.

BOTTOM LINE:
This is NOT sunny pop..."Kiss Me" is an anomaly. But give this some time in your changer and it will begin to sink in. The best songs on here are NOT the radio fodder.

3 1/2 stars