Customer Reviews

Tonight & The Rest of My Life

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

When musicians break away from bands to pursue solo acts, the result can either be a good one or a bad one. The transition for Nina Gordon to go from her previous band, Veruca Salt, to a solo career is an example of such good results. With her solo debut, Nina Gordon displays her strong vocal talents, as well as an ability to write songs that can go from mellow ("Tonight and the Rest of My Life," "2003") to lovesick ("New Year's Eve") to aggressive ("Badway," "Hate Your Way").

Nina sings about various subjects, such as discovering the meaning of love ("Now I Can Die"), the feeling of being out of place ("Horses in the City"), the emptiness of seeing an ex-boyfriend at a party [sample lyric: "I'm here/ The party's all around me/ You're there, indifference has found me"] ("New Years Eve"), and more about falling in and out of love. She also does a fine job with her own rendition of the classic song "The End of the World" [not the R.E.M. version]

This is the type of album where you don't feel like skipping over particular songs, because there aren't any songs to skip over; the whole album is worth listening to. From the rock-out guitar riffs to Nina's airy yet strong voice, you can't help but want to sing along.

Nina is no longer in Veruca Salt, but with this album, she tells us she still knows how to rock...and then some.

you guys wanna hear the truth about this album?

the truth is that it is worth every single penny you slap down on the counter for it. why? because you can just tell that nina put a lot of herself into this music? because she finally chose to do that kind of music she wants to do without having to compromise with louise post? nah...it's just a great. there are very few cd's out there that you can actually buy and listen from begginning to end without having to press the skip button. this is one of those few cd's.

i first heard bout nina gordon from hearing her song "tonight and the rest of my life" just once on the radio...they played it just once and that was enough to get me to search desperately for it. i finally found it online and bought it that very moment. i didn't know that nina used to be a part of veruca salt, i wasn't familiar with her musical talent or style at all. but the first time i heard her cd, i loved it! and why should you guys listen to me? because my opinion is unbiased. veruca salt fans want more of an edge/feministic/angry-yet-sweet album....but that this isn't veruca salt, this is nina gordon who's doing the kind of music she wants and not what anyone else wants ( well with the exception of bob rock...the producer..). you guys gotta give nina a chance, listen to this album as if you've never heard her before, and believe me...you'll be hooked!

Label me surprised. Terrifically surprised. And happily. I had few positive expectations for this debut solo album by the former co-leader of Veruca Salt. While that group's two albums held a few pleasures, they were uneven (to say the least), and certainly did not suggest in any way that there was a repressed power popster in their midst.

But there was, and here's the fruit of her newfound liberation. Imagine a cross between Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield and latter-era Bangles, with a dollup of Joan Jett tossed in for good measure, and you have a good idea of what you'll find herein. Catchy-as-heck songs, big budget widescreen production, big energy, good vibes, good singing, good playing, good gosh. There are a few duff lyrical couplets ("He likes to try on my clothes but not my underwear"...ugh) and a few too many coy plays on the word "blow". Lyrically this ain't Aimee Mann, but that's hardly more than a quibble when the music is this good...

This album is radio friendly in all the best ways, and Gordon seems more than a bit photogenic. With any luck this record will lead the charge against the moronic factory teen pop that kidnapped popular music a few years ago.

Now more than ever, we all need a Nina Gordon at the top of charts.

dap

Nina Gordon's solo debut Tonight And The Rest Of My Life has the former Veruca Salt member distancing herself from the band's catchy indie-rock to a more slickly-produced, mellower sound with Lilith Fair-type confessional lyrics. The entire album is all style with very little substance, but then again, Gordon's output in Veruca Salt, which includes the killer singles 'Seether' and 'Volcano Girls', was never that deep to begin with. What Gordon does possess, though, is a real gift for writing songs with a hook. That's most evident in the soaring title track, which is one of the more memorable songs I've heard this year. Gordon adopts the same songwriting style in other songs like '2003', 'Horses In The City', 'Got Me Down', 'Fade To Black' and 'Hold On To Me'. It's when Gordon chooses to rock out like she used to do in her old band that the album really picks up: 'Now I Can Die', 'Badway', 'New Years Eve', and especially 'Number One Camera' are terrific powerpop songs. At times Bob Rock's heavyhanded production gets in the way, especially in the last three songs on the album: 'Slow To Ride' is a failed attempt at a country-tinged ballad, 'Hate Your Way' is a slow, uninteresting, whiney song, and the nauseating cover of 'The End Of The World' seems to be preparing Gordon for a new career of singing cheesy Disney movie songs. As long as Gordon remembers to stay in the pop rock mold and not have her head in the clouds so much, she'll continue prove she's a genuine talent. After listening to Tonight And The Rest Of My Life and Veruca Salt's bitter, very disappointing new album, it's clear where the real talent in Veruca Salt lied, and it's a good thing that Nina Gordon left the band when she did.

Ex-Veruca Salt co-founder Nina Gordon's new CD is quite the soft mellow mix.

After a few listens of her new CD Tonight & The Rest Of My Life, the conclusion: mellow.

While some songs have that up-beat, Veruca Salt rock sound, most are slow confessional-type songs. Gordon's voice sounds as good as always and the title track is clearly the best choice as the first single for this CD.

However, most of the songs get repetitive and are easily forgotten. Not much stands out on this first solo effort of Gordon's, but it is a nice album to listen to when you wish to kick back, plop on the couch, close your eyes and relax.

Nina Gordon's songwriting abilities are quite impressive, but I'm afraid that fans of her more 'Pop-Rock' sound that she showcased in her previous work with Veruca Salt will be disappointed.

The problem with when bands split up and people go solo, the solo artists is compared with the original band. Sure, in this case, the break up wasn't over musical creativity or a feeling like "we've gone everything we can, let's move on". It's inevitable with Soundgarden/Chris Cornell and again with Veruka Salt and Nina Gordon.

The true sense of a artist expanding beyond his/her comfort zones is the solo album. That's when they can try out new styles of music and mature in their musical career. Does Phill Collins songs sound like Genesis? Not exactly. So, why should Nina be condemned by not putting out a "Veruka Salt" sounding album?

With that said, judging the album by it's merits, the music, the feel, the lyrics, this album is a pretty good start. Sure, there's a portion of the album that leans toward pop sound but there's still a few hard edge songs on it. No, this is not Veruka Salt (and the "new" Veruka Salt is not Veruka Salt, either) although there is still some residual salt in the song "Badway".

Yes, if you expect Veruka material, you will be disappointed. Don't get it if that's what you expect. If you like great lyrics, some deep moody songs to share with that special someone, music to kick back to, and a few tunes to rock to, then this is your album. I have 500 CDs from genres ranging from alternative, metal, punk, blues, etc and this is now on my official top ten list.

Nina Gordon is distinguished by her unfailing ability to connect with the listener in her songs, and her superb melodic sense makes her songs a perfect marriage of emotion and craft, while her singing is a marvel of versatility, ranging from a girlish chirp to a sombre croon, from the power and majesty of her high register to a seductive whisper.

All these elements come together beautifully on Tonight and the Rest of My Life, possibly the sexiest and most expertly crafted pop album of the year so far. This is what teen pop should be: Connecting, romantic, catchy, never falling to mundanity. And though most of these songs are highly accessible to younger listeners, even older listeners who might remember seeing The Beatles first-hand will also be rewarded by the songcraft and emotional expression contained within this album.

Title track "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" contains easily the best lyric hook of the year. Understated piano and mellotron (high marks to John Webster) combine with Gordon's gorgeously understated vocal to form a glittering gem, a song filled with yearning and aching beauty, every bit the equal of Gordon's earlier composition, "Loneliness Is Worse", the brightest gem in the Veruca Salt (Gordon's old band) catalogue. "Number One Camera" is another of Gordon's buoyantly sexy rockers with an instantly catchy signature hook ("I remember you in Polaroid"), the lyrics casting a playful eye towards the details of a relationship, all done with a sense of humour that's disarming ("Playing records and posing in the nude/It was Dirty Mind so it was cool"). "Badway" goes back to the persona Gordon is most famous for, that of the spunky punk-popster (established by Veruca Salt's "Seether"), and "New Year's Eve" sports a verbally agile lyric that showcases Gordon's ability with words. And through it all, it's the physicality of Gordon's voice and songwriting that separates this album from the pack. Somehow she seems able to connect her person to her songs both through her singing and composition, and that also makes her songs intensely personal to the listener in a way that's gratifying in an age where pop music is increasingly manufactured and detached.

Producer Bob Rock was a surprisingly apt choice for this album. Though famous for his hard-rock productions (most famous being Metallica's black album), here his guitar skills, sonic clarity and panache for arrangement are hand in hand with Gordon's inspired performance and songwriting to make Tonight and the Rest of My Life an essential recording for all pop fans.

If you liked Nina while she was in Veruca Salt then you will love her new solo cd. The songs range from slow to rockin. Defintetly check out "Hate Your Way," "Got Me Down," and "Too Slow to Ride." Also, "Black and Blonde" is a cool song featuring a line from a previous recording, "Earthcrosser." There is a song on here for everyone.

I have never been a fan of Veruca Salt and had never heard of Nina Gordon until her recent solo debut. Once I heard the title track on the radio I had to purchase the CD. There are very few CDs inwhich every song stands out. Nina Gordon's Tonight and the Rest of My Life is one of those CDs. Every song is hypnotic and addicting. I listen to this CD continuously and will never tire of it. If you like to listen to a beautiful voice and lyrics, buy it. A Nina Gordon fan forever.

This CD (and Louise's solo record (advertised as the new Veruca Salt)) has shown me that Nina and Louise are capable of making a lot of great music and makes me hope that the out-takes from the Veruca Salt albums will be released someday. As sad as it was to see Veruca Salt break up, its a great consolation to get twice as much music released from these two ladies.

Tonight and the Rest of My Life is much less of a hard rock record than the Veruca albums were, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Some songs, like 'Badway', 'New Year's Eve', and 'Number One Camera', rock as hard as Veruca ever did, but we also get more of the softer, acoustic Nina that was under-represented on Veruca albums, on songs like 'Hold on to Me' and the title track 'Tonight and the Rest of My Life'. This album is more dynamic than the Veruca albums, and at least as, if not more, satisfying.

Nina also seems to have matured as a lyricist on this album. While she still mainly treats the usual subject matter (love, breaking up, and alienation), she brings a new sensitivity and literate cleverness to her words. Taken as a whole, this CD is simply more adult, mature, and developed than Nina's work in Veruca Salt. All of Nina's melodic sense, song structural creativity, and sheer musicality is present and is even better than ever. Veruca fans will not be disappointed.