The Way We Are

Fleming & John | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 23, 1999)
• Original Release Date: February 23, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Universal Records
• ASIN: B00000I5JN
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,908 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Twinkle

2. I'm So Small

3. Sssh!

4. The Pearl

5. Comfortable

6. Don't Let It Fade Away

7. The Way We Are

8. Radiate

9. Ugly Girl

10. Sadder Day

11. Rain All Day

12. Devil's Food

13. Suppressed Emotions

14. I Fall For You

15. That's All I Know

16. The Hidden Track

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The birth of a new genre...Quark (quirky adult rock)?, July 2, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Way We Are (Audio CD)

I stumbled on Fleming and John through their incredible rendition of "Eldorado" on the "Lynne Me Your Ears" tribute album to Jeff Lynne. I listened to the sound samples from both of their CDs and bought them both.

Most reviews try to describe this band in terms of other bands. My best guess in describing "The Way we Are" is "Everything but the Girl meets No Doubt and Kate Bush", but that really doesn't do complete justice to this particular CD.

I've decided that this is the beginning of a new genre that I call "quark", for "quirky adult rock".

The beauty of this music is that it's very accessable, but not predictable. It's like everything I've heard before, only different.

To me the trademark of Fleming and John is that they start with a musical theme or idea that is very familiar, and then unexpectedly take you somewhere you don't expect to go, without breaking the continuity of what they've started. It's great fun to listen to.

Add to this Fleming's harsh-but-sweet and amazingly powerful voice plus intelligent, clever, and funny lyrics. But wait there's more! Outstanding recording quality that put's Fleming's voice up-front so you can understand what she's singing. What is there not to love here?

So, I've decided that these two are pop music geniuses, and certainly my musical discovery for 2002.

Still reading this? You should be listening the sound samples!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Grows on You, November 30, 1999

By 

Liz L. (Poughkeepsie, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way We Are (Audio CD)

I bought this CD for Ugly Girl, which is an great song, and liked the album at first. But every time I listen to it, I enjoy it more and more, and find another favorite song. THIS IS A GREAT ALBUM! Don't miss out!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goose bump music, October 2, 2001

By 

Jason A. Hoffman "uvulapie" (Fort Wayne, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way We Are (Audio CD)

Maybe once a year, I hear an album that gives me literal goose bumps. This one gave me goose bumps on my goose bumps. The second release by husband and wife writing team, The Way We Are retains the imaginative pop styling of their first album but with a more mature approach to lyrics and composition. Fleming, the wife, sings, writes the lyrics and creates the melodies which are unbalanced, full of unexpected twists, yet natural and horribly catchy. Husband John creates rich tapestries of sound around these melodies, writing the music, making string arrangements, and playing an astounding number of instruments (aside from drums and orchestral strings, he plays every instrument on the album including such non-conventionals as flugelhorn, balalaika, vibes, flute, oud, saz, dilruba, spacephone, accordion, dulcimer, and the creepy theremin).

Like the music of The Police, their sound is immediately catchy with just enough pop to have wide appeal but with enough musical meat backing this pop to appeal to the die-hard musician. Ben Folds, perhaps their biggest fan, calls their sound "the Carpenters of the 90's with a Led Zeppelin rhythm section". "I'm So Small" opens quietly but with enormous tension that soon floods into a full-out punk-flavored assault of guitars, Indian-flavored orchestral strings and Fleming's voice that can effortlessly glide from a sweet little girl to a screeching banshee. "Sssh!", with it's Alanis Morissette feel and theme of falling for a best friend, is driven along by timpani and spent more than one day in my head. Singing about their marriage, "Comfortable" hits home with anyone who has gone past the infatuation stage in a relationship with it's laid back, Carpenterish sound. The title song finds Fleming wondering if she and John will grow apart or stay "the way we are" against a jazz-influence slide upright bass part that morphs into an aggressive chorus of complex, interwoven vocal lines. "Radiate" can only be described as "The Go-Go's Meet Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass". In "Ugly Girl" Fleming sings "I can't believe you're leaving me for an ugly girl" while John plinks away merrily on the xylophone. Other songs verge on disco, mix R&B with tango, swing with grunge, and dirty blues with Siouxie and the Banshees. In the hands of lesser artists, this juxtaposition of styles would be a sonic mess. With these masters of songwriting, however, the result is absolute perfection.