Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best ever cover of Jolene plus many great originals, September 7, 2003
Matraca has emerged as one of the most important songwriters in country music history, yet her attempts to establish herself as a singer failed utterly for reasons that remain a mystery to me. Following on from Matraca's debut album, Lying to the moon, which yielded four minor hits on the country charts, her second album, The speed of grace, was released in 1991. This album was even less successful than its predecessor. Curiously, only nine of the songs were new - Lying to the moon, the title track of her debut, was also included here. Although most of the songs here were co-written by Matraca, she did a truly outstanding cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene, giving it a new, fresh, almost spooky arrangement. Among the original songs, highlights are Slow poison, I won't let go, Waiting for the sky to fall and River of no return, but I enjoy all the songs here. Following the failure of this album, Matraca focused entirely on her songwriting, although she tried again a few years later, also without success. This collection provides ample proof of Matraca's ability as both singer and songwriter. Her cover of Jolene also proves that she can interpret other people's songs. So the contrast between her success as a songwriter and her failure as a singer remains a mystery. All the tracks from this album and its predecessor were released on the British compilation The masters. As I write this, that compilation is still available in the UK.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
matraca=GREAT writting!, February 23, 2005
my first knowledge of this cd was the lyrics. i bought her cd, sunday morning to saturday night and COMPLETLY fell in love with this womans music. so i checked out the lyrics to her other cds. and they TOTALY amazed me. she has also written/co-written songs that other artist have recorded, artist like, Trisha yearwood, Mindy MCCready, Martina McBride, Suzy Boggus, Pam Tillis, Deana Carter, Dixie Chicks.
there is not a song on this album that i DON'T like. But some songs are better then others. she opens the album with the slow-passed song; slow poison, then she continues with the a little more up-beat song Tall drink of water, that not only sounds great, it also have clever lyrics, the 3rd song is amazing,let's face it! and so the album carries on, with one amazing song after the other, track 5 is her version of Dolly Partons classic; Jolene.
what i love about Matraca Bergs music is the wonderful images she gives the listeners, the words she uses in adition to her voice and the music.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Unknown treasure, March 18, 2009
If only for the cover of Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' this CD is worth buying; Berg's version puts all others in a class of 'second place'...she's made this song her own...I know this because when I listen I forget that I'm 'only' hearing a song instead of eavesdropping on a private (and passionate) conversation. The whole album is like this...wonderful writing from an artist who has released precious few albums. Buy this before you can't . It's out of print. You will not be sorry. Thank you Matraca. Can't wait for more.
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~ Matraca Berg
~ Matraca Berg
~ Matraca Berg
~ Gretchen Peters
by Matraca Berg 
