19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good!, November 17, 2006
This review is from: Strung Out on Pearl Jam: Mad World- String Quartet (Audio CD)
I had no idea what to expect from this album. I found it while I was walking around through an electronics store looking for something to buy with the last $15 on a gift card. As a long time diehard PJ fan, I figured that I'd give it a shot, and if it wasn't good then no big deal... it wasn't my money.
I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised by this album. When I first listened to it, I laughed at nearly every song - not because they were bad, but simply because hearing string renditions of some of my favorite songs made me feel like I was meeting old friends again. The songs were different from when I first heard them years ago, but I could still recognize them, and it was really, really good to hear them.
Most of the songs are well done. I simply love "Betterman", "Daughter", "Elderly Woman", "Jeremy", "Rearviewmirror", "Corduroy" and "Evenflow". To me these are beautifully done, and seem to be poignant tributes to their namesakes. "Dissident", "Alive", "Once", and "Last Exit" are fair, and I think mainly that they don't translate that well to a string arrangement. "Go" is an insteresting choice for strings, and I'm just not convinced that it works. It's hard to capture the power of that song with a string quartet! "Given to Fly" is a disappointment, as it seems to have lost most of the original song's resonant melodies (you would assume they would be even more prevalent when arranged on strings). Finally, I was very disappointed by "Release". When I saw it on the track listing, it was the one PJ song that I was sure would be beautiful in a string arrangement. Much of the original song's ambient sound has been lost, replaced instead by individual string melodies that don't seem to even fit together.
As a whole, this album is pleasant to listen to, and I'll definitely listen to it when I need to mellow out. I'm also a classical music fan, and I can easily see this album working its way into my rotation of classical favorites. If you're a PJ fan and aren't allergic to classical music, this album is definitely worth having. If you're a PJ purist who finds classical music boring, you'll likely think this album deadens the power and verve of the songs you've come to know and love.
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