Customer Reviews

Something More

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ginny Owens first burst onto the scene in 1999 with "Without Condition." The depth and honesty of her lyrics combined with her voice and music earned her the Dove for New Artist of the Year and quickly made her one of my favorite artists. This is her first CD since her debut, and it was well worth the wait.

It opens with "Prelude." I was expecting a nice soft piano piece or maybe a hymn intro like her last CD. But instead it's a quick little song that sets the stage for the rest of the CD. She shares that she set out to share her faith, but life forced her to step back and recommit to God. The rest of the CD flows out of this premise.

"With Me" is a fun, upbeat track focusing on the fact that God is with us no matter what is going on in the world around us. It's simple, but there are days when I need to remember the simple things.

"I Am" takes the stories of Moses, David, and Mary to remind us that God is the one that works through us in spite of our weakness.

"Simply Love You" really hit me hard. It's a prayer to return to our first love for God, something that I need to be constantly reminded to seek. Along those lines, "All I Want to Do" is a simple prayer of rededication to God.

Style wise, this album is a bit more pop oriented then her first one was, but it has really lost none of the flavor of the first and still includes some soft piano ballads. It took a listen or two for me to get used to the new sound on a couple songs, but now I'm thoroughly enjoying them.

I have been listening to this CD almost constantly since I got it, and I'm still catching new things in the songs. There isn't a weak song to be found, and I am sure I will be enjoying it for many years to come. Buy it today and enjoy one of the best female artists in Christian music today.

Ginny Owens seduced me with "Without Conditions" (see my review for that album) and I purchased the follow up as soon as it became available. It's on constant play since I received it.

Ginny's voice sounds as good, if not better, than on her first effort. It's good to see that the production let those vocals shine through the orchestration (which never draw the voice under a flood of beats and instruments). Her compositions and thoughtful lyrics are up to the standard she set on "Without Conditions". In a word, I loved this!

The upbeat songs ("With Me", "Something More") gave me smile and that curious inner joy that goes will with a ray of spring sun. The mid-tempo songs ("Run to you", "I am", "I know someone", "Simply love you", "The hand", the autobiographical "True story") and ballads ("Prelude", the angelic jewel "Be still, My soul", "This Road", "All I want to do") highlight Ginny's vocals - she remains totally unaffected, simple and natural. She proved again that she is a great songwriter and an endearing performer. She is definitively among my favourite artists and I hope to get much more from her in the future.

If you loved her first album, rush to this one. If you do not know her yet, buy both. They equally deserve a space in your collection. This is pop with a touch of class and a lot of heart.

Anyone who remotely knows me or my musical tastes knows that I thoroughly enjoy piano-based female artists. Cindy Morgan and Nichole Nordeman are my two favorite artists who write reflective lyrics and beautiful music to accompany those lyrics. Well, Ginny Owens is another such artist and shows she is more than capable of holding her own on her sophomore outing, Something More. It has been nearly three years since Owens released her debut recording, Without Condition, on Rocketown Records. She burst onto the scene and managed to rack up two number one singles and a Dove Award for New Artist of the Year in 2000. She even saw success in the mainstream market as her hit single, "If You Want Me To," was featured on television shows such as Felicity and Roswell. She even managed to snag herself a spot on the Nashville stop of the final Lilith Fair Tour. All this success does not seem to have hindered Owens' growth as an artist. On Something More, Owens manages to surpass Without Condition by leaps and bounds. After a short prelude, the album kicks off with a great up-tempo number, "With Me", that shows Owens is not afraid to dabble into some new sounds. She infuses her trademark introspective lyrics with sounds that are new to Owens, such as modern pop programming. "Run to You" and "Something More" both display Owens' flirtation with urban/R & B sounds. However, this would not be a Ginny Owens record without her trademark piano ballads that made her so popular in the first place. "This Road" tries to provide answers to questions that were asked on "If You Want Me To," and "All I Want to Do" leads in the same direction that "Own Me" did on her first album: utter and complete dependence on God. Ginny Owens has a knack for writing lyrics that not only question God, but also try to provide answers to those questions. Take "I Know Someone" for example: "I was not there in your past / But I know someone who was / I can't heal what lies within / But I know someone who can." Also, "This Road" questions the direction that God is taking Owens, yet states that she will continue on the path, because she knows it is God's will for her life. Often times, her lyrics can relate so much to other people's life that they feel they know Owens personally. That is not a small feat for just any singer/songwriter. Meshing together her typical piano-based pop with some modern R & B sounds without losing her credibility as a strong writer, Owens created what is perhaps the finest record I have heard all year. This album comes highly recommended.

Others have already said this, but it is true: if you are in the midst of a battle? get this CD and then really listen to it. Admittedly, this is not some spunky, hanging around the house CD. This CD will change the direction of your thoughts that day and turn them towards God and how your relationship is with Him. I absolutely love this album. "I Am" is what I first heard and I had to hunt the album down because no one knew who did the song. The rest follows suit. Thought provoking and engaging. You will find yourself singing the songs long after the CD player is turned off. She really grabs you with her lyrics. The music does take a bit getting used to. It's quirky and sometimes unexpected. Still, it all fits together really well and once you get past it? You'll never imagine the song sounding any other way.

I love this album! For a young artist, Ginny Owens shows a remarkable maturity in dealing with the difficulties of life. As someone who has recently gone through one of the darkest valleys in my life I can so appreciate the songs on this CD - especially "I Am" and "This Road". I highly recommend this album to anyone, but especially to those who are going through some difficulties, or have recently gone through some - in other words, EVERYONE! Ginny will walk with you through the questions that come, and yet point you back to the Lord and the answers that only come from Him.

Ginny Owens has the most beautiful, crisp, clear voice. Her lyrics are inspiring and very emotionally touching.

This is such an awesome cd. I havent heard her other albums so I cant compare what is better but if they are better than this cd...they are awesome too! I love this cd and "I Am" is my all time favorite song! By far! It has a lot of meanings in it and you can very easily relate this song toyour very own life and that is awesome! I highly recommend this cd...she deserves it!
Love in HIM
Jess
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This is my first, (and only so far!) Ginny Owens Album! Her lyrics caught my attention on Christian Radio! Eventually I found out her name is GINNY not JENNY owens :) I ran to the store to get this album! I absolutely love it! From cover to cover!! One of the few cd's i play all the way through! Ginny is blind, and her references to it in her songs are an amazing testimony to her faith and full reliance on God! She challenges me through these tidbits of truth! :)
ENJOY!

Ginny Owens has written some very pretty songs for this CD. Some of them have been turned into rock songs with a good groove, and some let be. She is obviously drawn to the melodic, simple, sparse, heartfelt ballads.

The most remarkable thing about Ms. Owens songs are her lyrics, which are sincere, meaningful, and relate directly to her experience with God. They are not all 'nice', and many reveal real struggles which have only been partially overcome. Some are quite inspiring. She uses absolutely no jargon, which unfortunately many Christian artists fall back on. She carefully picks her words and phrases to impart exactly what she means, and will not change them around even if they don't quite fit right in the musical phrasing.

The above positives would warrant this album 3 stars, maybee four.

However, The sad thing is that Ms. Owens has been drowned out by an atrocious job by the producer. A producer should compliment and build-up the artists strentghts, not draw attention to himself, or worse, completely change that character of the songs. The producer here has a completely drowned out Ms. Owens' delicate, heartfelt songs with all sorts of intrusive, incongrous, loud and out-of place sound effects, rap-style drum loops, beats, and other noise that borders on the bizarre, as if to say "look at ME! Look what I can do on this mixing board!!". As an example, the strongest song, "I am" has running loudly in the background a typewriter, which periodically will return loudly. On other songs there are Crickets chirping, and the producer must have picked up at a garage sale whatever machine it was that played the melody in the theme from the Star Trek tv show, because that's in there too. At times he tries to make her Janet Jackson, and at times Allanis Morriset (sp?). Some of the arrangements are just laughable. One cannot help but think what could have been had say, Sting, lent her his producer...

I was given this cd from a friend from my local library and took it home to listen to it. I am not that up on Christian music so this is new to me. I think about as much gospel music that I have is Amy Grant. But to me this cd is like if Dido met Natalie Merchant and went to Church. It is very new age/rock/dance in style and form. The best songs for me are "Prelude" ,"Be Still My Soul","Simply I Love You", "Run To You" and "True Story". I really liked her voice and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.