Customer Reviews

Toshi

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw Toshi and Big Lovely at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in August and they were my favorite band of the festival. I danced the entire time they played and was completely mesmerized by their strong, contemporary, rocking, and unique sound. I was completely impressed and that is why I searched for their new cd to purchase. If you love rock, funk, soul, blues, you will love Toshi Reagon and Big Lovely.

I caught Toshi and her band live at the Winnipeg Folk Festival this year. First, in a small workshop stage where she traded songs with other artists and generally brought down the house and kept the energy of the session up nearly single-handedly. Later, she opened the final day of the main stage show.

She is a powerful woman who drives that power through her voice and her guitar, reaching into your gut and making you dance like a marionette, rage like a lover wronged or cry like little baby.

Her backing band members support and expand her talent. From the screaming funk of lead guitar to the enourmous presence and steady drive of bass guitar, the band is tight enough for you to feel why they are called Big Love.

Her pedigree only begins to tell you about the soul of this woman. Toshi is gospel, funk, soul. Toshi is a force to be reckoned with.

This broadly gifted and incredibly down-to-earth dynamo has a few albums out, and this is the third in a row to knock my socks off. Toshi Reagon has a big voice and a perceptive mind-her music is rock, folk, blues, beautiful. There are tracks like "Slippin' Away", "I Hate/I Love", "Positive Information", and "Big Love"and "Oh No No No" that really rock and pop. Then there are tracks like "Mountain Top" and "Ballad of the Broken Word" that start of fairly folksy, then build and boom, and blues-belt. The lyrics (her own with a notable exception) are full of meaning, insight, rage, love, and truth.

The last track is a cover of a Cars song; "Just What I Needed" is pure pop in its original, but Toshi's cover is slow, sobering, gentle poetry--like a still fountain by candlelight.

Toshi Reagon is a particularly gifted artist, and this album is arguably her best yet-and certainly a strong indication of good things to come. There's a song for many different moods here, so you can keep it in the player for days.

I heard this album about a year ago from a friend who is a prolific music collector (I'm NOT). It grabbed me immediately and every track seemed better that the last. I had never heard of this artist and I have no idea why she is not a major superstar yet. Maybe because she doesn't look like Sheryl Crow. At any rate, I decided I had to have this CD and it is still one of my favorites. Toshi has an amazing voice, along with some great harmonies. The sound is very unique, but not challenging to listen to. "Slippin' Away" is a great track, and the cover of the Cars "Just What I Needed" was a nice surprise.

I'd never heard of Toshi Reagon before a friend passed on this CD to me. It was nice to find such a great singer with so much new music for me! I've since picked up a couple of CDs and I am in love. She's got a great big wonderful voice that fills you up to the brim. Give the samples for "Big Love" and "Mountain Top" a try. You'll be glad you did.

Toshi is a very awesome woman and an awesome artist..im definitly gonna purchase all of her cds:)

Toshi is a very awesome woman and an awesome artist..im definitly gonna purchase all of her cds:)