Customer Reviews

Voyageur

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is physically a beautiful CD. The packaging is gorgeous. The artwork by Darren Booth is really lovely. The music - well, I consider myself kind of a fringe KE fan. I love her voice but don't quite connect with the songs.

Kathleen Edwards has one of the most distinctive voices in popular music - hot and smoky. To me it sounds like she is still trying to find herself as a songwriter and an artist. She is good at the one-liners but I haven't yet found a KE song that I consider great from start to finish. The best songs on this CD are two of the collaborations, Pink Champagne with John Roderick and Sidecar written with Jim Bryson. Sidecar is the liveliest song on the album, and it is perfectly placed, just when I was beginning to think the whole thing was a little sleepy.

Most of the buzz around this album revolves around the fact that it is co-produced by Justin Vernon AKA Bon Iver, KE's current significant other. I hear his influence particularly in Pink Champagne - in fact, I read a quote by KE that if it wasn't for him, she would have given up on the song and it would not have appeared on the CD. That would have left a definite hole to fill - there are only 10 songs on the finished product. Vernon plays on most of the tracks, sings on a few, and unmistakably leaves his imprint on the overall sound of the album. Edwards has moved away from the alt-country sound of her earliest albums, into a Bon-Iver-like gauzy landscape. I think it suits her. I am not totally in love with this CD yet, but I expect it will grow on me. Definitely worth a listen, and a look - really one of the prettiest CDs I have ever seen.

I wasn't sure what to expect four years after the excellent "Asking for Flowers", but "Voyageur" was worth the long wait. Much has been made of the album's production values and less-rocking nature. I'm fine with both. I think the production on Kathleen's first two records wasn't up to the level of "Asking for Flowers" and "Voyageur." As good as "Failer" and "Back to Me" were, I thought some of the songs needed a little something extra.

And if "Voyageur" is missing stereo-crankers like "Six O'Clock News" and "Back to Me", that's OK. She's already done them, and they'll always be there to listen to. No need to shoehorn similar-sounding songs on this album if she felt there wasn't a place for them.

"Voyageur" is an outstanding album, and I'll be curious to see where she goes from here. I just hope it won't take another four years.

This is a good album. But it is different, she is leaving her slight country sound behind. The general feel of the songs are most definitely Kathleen Edwards, but slicker and with a little less of a rock edge.

If you like KE, you'll like this as well. I prefer her previous albums, but this one is still a keeper.

Have been looking forward to this release and it does not disappoint.

I was a little surprised that it is such a change from her earlier albums - much more polished and produced than I had expected.

However, the lyrics, some of the tunes and just the way it sounds overall leaves it with sufficient ties to the past to please long time fans while hopefully opening the door to a lot of new fans.

Overall it is definitely Kathleen Edwards and it is a great evolution. She deserves all the success that this new album will hopefully bring her.

First of all let me say I have been a big Kathleen Edwards fan. She for me is like a female Neil Young, another Canadian singer-songwriter, and for me that was a good thing. I own all of her music, including a number of live bootleg stuff, and have seen her in concert. Always fun to see a female strap on an electric guitar and play the way she does.

She has always been in that what I would call folk/rock vein, which I admit up-front is what I love. Acoustic stuff combined with rocking electric guitar music, and she is a trained violinist. She and her band were a pleasure to hear, and her recorded stuff was top notch.

With this latest CD she has to me totally changed her focus. Bon Iver, who she had been touring with, dominates this CD and has made his sound hers. That is great I guess if you are a Bon Iver fan, and he has many. I just don't happen to be one of them. I was a Kathleen Edwards fan.

I have read one or two great reviews of the CD, including Entertainment Weekly, which gave it an A-. Perhaps they were not acquainted with her previous work, I don't know. If they were they would know what an about face her new music is. It's all lushness and her roots have disappeared.

I understand that "artists" have to progress with their work, but this work is such a huge divergence from her past work that it like listening to a totally new person. It is like The Beatles recording a Barry Manilow type record. If you listen to this her voice isn't even the same. She is singing like an octave higher than normal. It is just all very disappointing to me. She seems to have lost all of her "attitude" which is what made her so appealing. One song in particular which she was playing live before she released it on this CD is the Chameleon/Comedian song. Sparse, perfect and beautifully done when heard live solo in concert and totally unrecognizable on this CD.

I sure she will continue to have fans with this work, just not me. I hope she makes more fans than she loses.

Sorry Kathleen, just one fan's opinion. Please listen and decide for yourself.

I have all of Kathleen's CDs and she has clearly improved with each. This time she really nailed it. Voyaguer is a bit more up-tempo and less folksy than some of her previous work. The writing is outstanding and there are no clunkers here. I, for one, am looking forward to her next one.

A softer side of Kathleen Edwards. Very nice and yet I'm thinking to myself that this restraint isn't coming naturally. Time will tell...meanwhile, enjoy! You won't be disappointed if you buy this CD.

I bought this album after listening to an NPR interview with Kathleen Edwards. Other than "Pink Champagne", I was unfamiliar with her work. Sometimes you get lucky, I guess; this album was a great find. I liked it so much I sent it to a friend, too!

This was an impulse buy after listening to her on NPR. She writes and sounds great with great backup friends supporting her. I hope she does well with this CD.

There is no doubt that, a year from now, Voyageur will be on my list of the 10 best CDs of 2012. This is simply great music that continues to grow on me with each listen. Pay no attention to the (very few) naysayers who are stuck with a myopic vision of what Kathleen Edwards is "supposed" to sound like and rate this CD poorly because it's different from that vision. Yes, it's a new sound for Kathleen, but this is still Kathleen Edwards' music: her beautiful voice, her lyrics with attitude, and her catchy melodies, all with a slightly new and fresh sound from the addition of some keyboards and background vocals. I very much love her older work too, but this is becoming my favorite Kathleen Edwards CD. What a collection of great songs, from the pop of "Change The Sheets" to the straight-ahead electric guitar rock of "Mint"! And the instrumental ending of "Going To Hell" just blows me away -- very cool! Every day I catch myself singing snippets of lyrics like "every time... every time... I don't need a punchline", or "I'm going to hell in a basket that I made", or "God doesn't know you like I do." Well done, Kathleen; you keep growing and getting better!