Ultimate High

Carly Hennessy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 13, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: MCA
• ASIN: B00005RGNL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,522 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Guilty pleasure, April 21, 2003

By 

Stephen Kohoutek (Plymouth, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate High (Audio CD)

This should not work. A teenaged self-taught Irish girl should not be able to hook up with a couple members of a one-hit-wonder band and record a CD this good. Not to say that it's perfect, of course, but it's still a good CD.

Hennessy has a great voice, and if you didn't know the truth you'd think she's about ten years older and more experienced than she is. She can wail when she wants to, and happily stays away from the flight-of-the-bumblebee stuff that most young singers believe is the sole way to prove their prowess. In the few moments when she does hold out an "oooooh" for some emoting, she can give you chills. This girl is good.

The instrumentals are excellent. Well-played bass, flawless (if slightly overproduced) drums, and spectacular guitar. Songs are generally good, with a few spots of very good songwriting (especially when New Radicals refugees Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois collaborate). Tracks like "Young Love," though, are best if you try to listen to the singing without really comprehending the lyrics.

Best songs are "Beautiful You" (which should have been the first single; maybe then this would have sold more than 500 copies in the U.S.), "I Need a Little Love" (which absolutely rocks), and "All Kinds of People" (imagine Jon Bon Jovi as a 17-year-old Irish girl, and you end up with this song).

Evidently Ms. Hennessy has met with more success in Britain; hopefully MCA didn't completely pull the plug on her American future. This is a good CD, and if you've gotten to the point where you're reading reviews, you'll probably like it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Music Through Puppetry, November 27, 2001

By 

Daniel Jason (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate High (Audio CD)

What a bizarre exercise! The vast majority of this album is written and produced by Danielle Brisebois and Gregg Alexander (of New Radicals) and sounds EXACTLY like Danielle's two albums. In fact, "ULTIMATE HIGH" basically sounds like a new Danielle Brisebois album with her vocals stripped off and replaced with someone else who is trying her best to imitate Danielle's inflections, accent, phrasing, everything. And doing a great job. Of course, since most people have never heard any of Danielle's music, Carly Hennessy may just get away with it, and ultimately, who cares? The songs are immediately ingratiating, the production is delicious and the vocal arrangements, since they are nearly identical to those on Danielle's album "ARRIVE ALL OVER YOU" are a joy to listen to, espcially with Danielle's BGVs. Carly Hennessy is totally unformed as a musical personality, as her imitative performance and complete lack of presence on the one track produced by Steven Dorff conclusively prove. But she's a great puppet, and if you're a Danielle Brisebois or New Radicals fan, already too aware that there is no new material immediately forthcoming from either of those artists, you'll love this. Commercial prospects are seriously in question here, as the first single has already flopped and MCA seems to be ignoring this release.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really Blowing My Mind, May 9, 2003

By 

k. lane "jester1436" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate High (Audio CD)

Stunning. That's all I have to say about this little overlooked nugget of pop genius. From the bouncing opening cut and second single 'Beautiful You' to the mellow closer 'What I've Found', Carly Hennessy released an album that should have been the pop chart revelation of the year 2001, but instead was criminally ignored, and from what I can tell, lost her recording contract, after her debut single 'I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind' failed to set Europe's charts on fire last year.
The album itself is the child of former New Radicals Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois, with their lyrics and production present on every track. Personally, I think this is some of their best work behind the scenes, easily blowing previous Alexander produced acts like Ronan Keating out of the water. Carly's vocals are great, and combined with the excellent New Radicals, the album just amazes.
The singles are what originally drew me to Ms. Hennessy, the first being the extremely infectious 'I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind', a powerful chorus and her vocal made this a perfect pop single. The joyous follow up track, 'Beautiful You', is nothing less than brilliant, a lively proclamation of love that never fails to make me smile when I hear it.
Carly's album is much more than just those two singles, however. Uptempo album cuts like 'You'll Never Meet God (If You Break My Heart)' and 'Get You Off' are cut from the same cloth as the singles, and are just as good too. She can also work a ballad or two, the stunning 'Surface Wound' and 'Rip In Heaven', being some of the slower highlights.
One of the best songs here, 'Just Missed The Train', was originally performed by Danielle Brisebois herself, and sounds excellent here. American Idol Kelly Clarkson has also released the song on her new album, which could mean this deserving song could have another chance at hit status.
A really good album. A really, really good album even, it's such a shame it was so ignored, and Carly will never get the chance to really show people what she's got. Maybe she'll release a second album someday, but if not, this excellent pop record is something to definitely be proud of, a huge smash or not.