Customer Reviews

This Is The Life (Exclusive Amazon MP3 Version)

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The most wonderful things happen when you least expect it. I was absentmindedly listening to an English radio station on the internet and suddenly I was in a happy place thinking that I was hearing a classic Fleetwood Mac or Eagles track. But it dawned on me, I hadn't heard this before. The tune was Mr. Rock and Roll. I totally flipped out, caught the name of the singer and hunted the internet to find out more. My twelve year old daughter came to my rescue got me to YouTube and we watched the video. After that I was hitting the play button again and again like a chimpanzee being rewarded with grapes. I couldn't get the tune out of my head. Then I began to feel uncomfortable. The vocals didn't give it away. Amy MacDonald was nineteen when she recorded This Is the Life. Was this the start of a mid-life crisis? Thankfully, it turned out that the album has resonated with the middle-aged, with apparently many sharing the joy with their kids. Besides Mr. Rock and Roll, the majority of the remaining tracks are just as catchy and melodic, sung with a voice that is rather hard to describe, peaches and grapefruit is about the best I can come up with. The acoustic guitar is addictive.

This is the absolutely the most enjoyable rock or popular music I have experienced in a very long time. Listening to this album certainly is the life.

A friend of mine from England recently sent me this CD and I'm finding myself listening to it daily. There's a spate of talented female singer/songwriters deservedly coming to the fore in the UK right now, names such as Duffy, Adele, Kate Nash and Amy Macdonald.

Amy is a 20 year old Glaswegian who released this, her first album, in July 2007. It entered the UK album charts at No. 2 and stayed in the Top 10 for a while before gradually slipping down the charts. Then, for some reason, it came back around Christmas time (probably when everyone was buying it as a present for friends and relatives) and in early January 2008 it went to No. 1 for one week. Amy wrote all the songs on the album herself and plays acoustic guitar on every track. Her voice somehow sounds much older than that of a 20 year old. She also seems to have an "old head on young shoulders" as her subject matter is very mature.

There's one song called "Footballer's Wife" where she asks where all the real stars have gone, like James Dean and Fred Astaire, when today reality TV contestants and footballer's wives all think they're stars of the same calibre, which is partly the fault of the public who are prepared to settle for making overnight stars of them.

Macdonald recently supported Paul Weller (formerly of The Jam and now a renowned solo artist) on tour and he has named the track "Run" from this album his favorite song. In fact, Weller would stand in the wings every night and watch Macdonald perform the song.

"Poison Prince" is a song about Pete Docherty of the band Baby Shambles (and drug-addicted boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss). Macdonald met Docherty on one occasion and found him to be very charming, intelligent and poetic but hated the fact that all of these qualities are obscured from the public's eyes because of Docherty's notorious drug addiction and frequent wild behaviour.

This is an excellent CD overall and one of the best I've heard in a while. Be sure to get this version and not the international release as this version contains the brilliant extra track, "The Road To Home" and the wonderful hidden track, "Caladonia".

This is the debut album from much talked about Amy MacDonald. Currently the female music scene is full of `The Streets' equivalents such as Kate Nash/Lilly Allan, and then there's Rihanna who seems to be on the radio 24/7. So when this 19 year old from Bishopbriggs came onto the scene with her catchy folkish acoustic pop songs; it felt like a breath of fresh air.

The album title `This is the Life' is appropriately named as it reflects the theme of the album as a whole. The songs give you the impression, she never had any doubt about what she wanted to do with her life and that she has always had the drive and ambition to achieve it. You can almost picture her when she was younger sitting in her bedroom with her acoustic guitar dreaming of making a career out of music. Unlike many who continue to dream, she did something about it and penned her thoughts about her dreams and ambition in to her songs. In fact the tune, `Lets start a band', is like seeing Amy's thought process in how she decided to make music. The song starts off with trumpets, singing about dreaming of being in a successful band and appearing in Rolling stone magazine. Furthermore she would only enter a band with someone if they wanted the same things as her. The middle section of the song goes into a kind of opera style singing which acts as a good build up because it gathers the momentum of the song leading to its climax; chanting "Let's start a band", repeatedly, you can feel the excitement.

Another song which echoes the theme of dreams is the joyful `Barrowland Ballroom'. For those of you who don't know `The Barrowlands is a legendary venue in the East end of Glasgow. Its one of those venues many artists aspire to play and from this song, it shows Amy is no different as she sings; "I wish that I was on the stage". In this song, Amy captures the essence of `The Barrowlands' brilliantly, "The lights outside are as bright as the sun, their much brighter than everyone". To me the song also implies that Amy's influences are from the 70s and 80s rather than more modern music through the lyrics:

And I wish that I saw Bowie, playing on that stage,
I wish that I saw something, to make me come of age

However her `My Space' page shows that most of her influences are modern, with bands like Guillemots, Kings of Leon and Arcade fire, to name but a few.

As well as the feel good chirpy folk/pop songs; Amy gives an insight into the other side of her song writing through `Youth of today' and `Footballers wives'. These songs are lot more scaled down, as if Amy is making people hone in on the lyrics because the issues covered are ones she feels more strongly about. In `Footballers Wives', Amy vents her annoyance about footballers wives getting lots of press coverage just because they are married to a famous footballer, e.g. `she thinks she's some kind of star, yes you know who you are, I don't think so'. While in the `Youth of Today' she sings about the older generation not giving enough respect to the younger generation, e.g. `It's just your one sided opinions that keep getting in my way'. These songs show that MacDonald is not afraid to say what she thinks and turning them into songs which convey powerful messages.

Having not even mentioned the superb hit single `Mr Rock n Roll' and her great take on Dougie MacLean's `Caledonia', which reflects well on the strength of the album as a whole. From this effort, it is more than apparent she has an abundance of talent, and at just 19 years old; I get the feeling the best is yet to come...

Young Amy Macdonald is no stranger to millions of fans in Europe as she is a 2 time platinum selling and award winning artist. She started playing guitar and writing music/lyrics at 12 in Scotland, gigging at 15 and the rest is history, albeit a brief one so far. The 1st US release, which hits the street on August 19th, 2008, titled, "This Is The Life" has an acoustic folk/pop sound starts out well with the tunes, "Mr. Rock & Roll", the title song, "This Is The Life" and "Poison Prince" which very well may be an ode to good pal, Pete Doherty of Babyshambles/Kate Moss fame or someone like him. However, the sappy song, L.A.; an admitted ode to Jake Gyllenhall and "Footballer's Wife" are quite vapid.

Gotta remember, though that this is a girl of 19. She writes about teenage angst and therein lies a bit of a problem. Amy's voice is unbelievably mature beyond her years and is somewhere juxtaposed between Joan Armatrading, Judy Collins, KT Tunstall and Lilly Allen. Yeah, I know... Odd combination.

The tracks seem to gradually get a bit muddied with "Youth Of Today" being my least favorite on the CD. But the song, "A Wish For Something More" has a timeless story of a woman who happens to be best friends with a man but wishes for something more in their relationship. This is probably the best track on the CD in my opinion.

I believe that as Amy matures, so will her lyrics and approach to music in general. Plan to see many great things from Amy in the future. I am sure she will have the great success she has had in Europe and be received very well right here in the U.S.A.

This album was a big surprise to me. I'd never heard of Amy Macdonald before I received this promo Album to review. I receive quite a lot of CDs to review, but this one definitely set itself apart.

Amy has this amazing distinctive Scottish voice... although I have to say that she sounds a bit Irish to me too. The music is a catchy complex layered mix of elements from country, folk, rock, and some modern elements thrown in. It's raw, acoustic, warm, subtle, deep and edgy at the same time. But the most important element it has is heart. Everything about it is amazingly polished... surprising when you take into account her young age. Do not make the mistake of judging her by that...she sings with a maturity way beyond her years. I can't say enough good things about this album. It really is a superb album with each song worth listening to. I hope she gets the attention and radio play she deserves. If I had to describe it in 3 words... it's Catchy, Acoustic, and Amazing!

Imagine if Dolores O'Riordan were the lead singer of 10,000 Maniac's, and that would be about an 85% accurate description of this CD. (Yes I know O'Riordan is Irish, but it's at least comparing apples and pears.) If my comparison didn't ring a bell for you, think of a folk/pop singer/songwriter with a collection of songs that range from upbeat and peppy to more yearning and pensive.

Vocally, MacDonald is likely to be polarizing. Her Scottish accent comes through in much the same way that O'Riordan's Irish accent does. It is noticeable but not distracting. However there will be some who are put off by it. I personally found that it gives a nice variety and is one of the things that distinguishes her work from other artists that I listen to. While she doesn't have a transcendent voice, I think that she holds her own within the folk genre.

Lyrically, she does show her youth with lines like this from Poison Prince, "why would a genius be trippin on me". This is shows through even more on the following track, "Youth of Today" where MacDonald addresses the generation gaps that have existed between youth and adults for as long as there have been youth and adults. Her youth in songwriting also shows in some of the style of lyrics she writes. Specifically some songs are on the repetitive side. Run has sort of a split multi-chorus of nine lines where each of the first four contain the word 'know' in metrically the same place while the remaining five have the word 'until' in metrically the same place. Another example follows on Let's Start A Band as it concludes with the words of the title repeated four times in succession. It may seem that I am being overly critical of her songwriting, but I think this is the area where she will grow the most over time. Not every song is lyrically flawed. With Mr. Rock & Roll, MacDonald does a good job of putting her spin on people who meet too late to fall in love. Also Barrowland Ballroom is fun ditty about a small concert venue in Glasgow where a lot of big and small names have played - including Ms. MacDonald.

Instrumentally, I think this CD is well done. There is a good blending of acoustic and electric guitars along with the traditional folk staples of fiddle and banjo. The rhythm section supports the other pieces well without ever taking over. I also really like the use of piano on the more up tempo songs such as Barrowland Ballroom.

Overall, this is a nice first effort from Amy MacDonald. While she has some room to grow lyrically, I think she has a lot of potential to be a solid folk/pop performer in the years to come. If a combination of 10,000 Maniacs and Scottish folk music sounds interesting to you give this a spin.

Download this: Barrowland Ballroom

Upon first receiving this CD, I popped it in the computer and played it on my M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Powered Speakers while I cranked out a bunch of emails, using the CD essentially as background music, but I kept finding myself getting distracted by the CD and losing my focus on my writing. This is a really catchy CD, extremely upbeat, and fun to listen to.

I ran through it 4 times before finishing my writing, and I realized that this CD really deserved a closer examination. Admittedly, this is not one of my genres that I can claim to be an expert on (classical music, opera, and rock are my strong suits), but I found in Amy Macdonald's video on this site the best explanation of how to characterize this music (I highly recommend watching that video).

I was also struck by this young woman's voice. It's got a punch and resonance that is truly surprising, though it still has a warmth that draws you in. I think her voice will take her far. Also, her ability to vary her musical styles at will gives this album GREAT variety.

My disappointment is pretty much in the same area as others' -- the lyrics. She clearly needs to grow in this area (some a bit trite, and where one would expect new verses, there is much repetition), and, given the fact that she's only 21, I'm sure she will.

If she'd team up with another singer/songwriter with a bit more lyrical skill, they'd make an incredible folk/pop/whatever singing duo, as most of her songs have voice-over harmonies, so why not have two different voices singing the different lines?

All in all, I'm thrilled to have received this CD. It's not one I really want to lie back and scrutinize and listen to the words and chord progressions carefully, because therein I am underwhelmed. But as a CD to put in a mix in a carousel (or mp3 player if you're into that -- I'm too old school) for a social gathering, it will please most everyone with the upbeat styles and variations of those styles. Very pleasing if not put under a musical and lyrical microscope.

My musical tastes range all over the place -- from breakcore to southern gothic. And I'm a sucker for a good, clean pop album, and "This Is the Life" sure feels like that.

Amy Macdonald, a 20-year-old Scottish import, is certainly a soulful songwriter for someone so young. And yet she never fully loses the guilelessness of youth (witness the unaffected naivete of "Let's Start A Band"). She even takes a sharp shot at phony, fifteen-minutes-of-fame celebs with "Footballer's Wife." Her ideas thankfully never come with a fake Lavigne-like anger.

I think she has a little Jack White and P.J. Harvey in her. No matter the subject, her songs (which are never overproduced) have a velocity and impel you along.

There's not a single beat song on the CD, but "Barrowland Ballroom" is a brilliant standout. If this song doesn't inspire you to move, dance, something, then check yourself for a pulse.

"This is the Life" is a terrifically fun and entertaining debut.

I put on this CD as soon as I got it. We have a 3 week old baby, in addition to our other four children (ages 6, 4, 3, and 19 months) - we were having a moment where the baby fusses, the kids whine, etc etc, and the mailman rang the bell. So a new package was great, and the CD, whether I liked it or not, would at least distract me.

What a pleasant surprise! I like it! A LOT! Amy Macdonald seems to me to be a cross between Alanis Morrisette and Allison Krauss. She has a sweet voice, but with more strength that Krauss, and a lovely soft rhythm to her songs, but again, nothing wimpy, which is more Morrisette. I also enjoy the Proclaimers a lot, and some of her songs reminded me of their beat. All that is to say that the mix on the CD is a good one. The kids ran outside to play, and the 3 week old was settled down as I swayed to the lovely lyrics and melody.

If you are a fan of folk, or anything off beat, but still soothing and interesting, you will NOT be disappointed. It's a huge plus that I don't have to censor this music while children are around. They sing and twirl to it already. Wonderful! Buy it!

Sra. Gose
Author of Spanish Fun Activity Calendar

This CD was at times alternatingly lilting and ethereal, folksy, and yet something I could easily see being played in the top 40's list on most modern rock stations.

It's polished, it's great music, and a few of the riffs and melodies immediately remind me of one of my favorite bands, Steeleye Span. From track 1, I was pretty well hooked into this CD. My portable DVD ran out of juice a 3rd of the way through it, so I rushed it back to my room to plug it back in, as I found myself WANTING to hear the rest of it. Not just so I could review it, but to finish experiencing it.

I'm glad to have heard this CD. If you like folksy, modern pop, you'll probably like this CD quite a bit. Maybe it's just me. I think it's generic enough that anyone (older or younger) could probably find something to like on it. It's just all-around good music!

People should probably start requesting this CD be played on their local radio stations. I think it's worthwhile and could easily make top 40 with a few of he songs.

Give it a listen and a few tracks to win you over. You'll see what I mean. I think you'll enjoy it! I'd rate it a definite "Buy!"

Addendum 8-25-08: I was in Borders on the morning of my birthday looking up some books on martial arts, and I heard a great folksy song come on, then I realized it was Amy MacDonald's "This is the Life." Before I completely recognized it my ears had already perked up, and I was humming along. I really do like the songs on this album. They're catchy! Glad to hear some of the album getting air time already!