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Track Listings
| 1. Small Town Moon |
| 2. Oh Marcello |
| 3. Don t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas) |
| 4. Firewood |
| 5. Patron Saint |
| 6. How |
| 7. All The Rowboats |
| 8. Ballad Of A Politician |
| 9. Open |
| 10. The Party |
| 11. Jessica |
Editorial Reviews
What We Saw From The Cheap Seats was recorded over an eight week period during the summer of 2011 in Los Angeles. Spektor wrote each of the 11 tracks on the album. She arrived at the session with a collection of new compositions, but others were pulled from earlier periods. She and Elizondo fleshed out instrumentation and sought to make each of the songs stand alone sonically. Most of the songs were recorded live with Spektor on piano and vocals, while additional instrumentation was added to these original takes. Of working with Spektor, Elizondo says Regina Spektor is that rare artist that continues to surprise. Just when you think you have her figured out, she knocks you out with something completely different. It s that spirit that drives this record. Each song takes you on a journey that only Regina is capable of providing. She has truly outdone herself.
Spektor studied classical piano and garnered a loyal live following in New York before self- releasing two albums. Her breakthrough album, Soviet Kitsch, was released by Sire Records in 2004 followed by Begin to Hope in 2006. The album included worldwide fan favorites "Fidelity," "Samson," "On The Radio" and "Better" and is certified gold in the U.S. Spektor followed up with far (2009) and Live from London (2010), which was recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater during the far tour.
Spektor studied classical piano and garnered a loyal live following in New York before self- releasing two albums. Her breakthrough album, Soviet Kitsch, was released by Sire Records in 2004 followed by Begin to Hope in 2006. The album included worldwide fan favorites "Fidelity," "Samson," "On The Radio" and "Better" and is certified gold in the U.S. Spektor followed up with far (2009) and Live from London (2010), which was recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater during the far tour.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Regina Spektor's last album, 2009's Far, found the singer-songwriter at her most accessible. This move seemed to put off long-time fans; Spektor's appeal before finding her way to VH1 was her offkilter songwriting. With WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS, Spektor has returned to the fun, strange songwriting that initially brought her into the spotlight. This album was produced by Mike Elizondo (who also worked on FAR): perhaps most well known for taking Fiona Apple's EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE and giving it a streamlined and focused spin.
WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS is hard to predict. Not only do songs range in tempo, tone, and mood from one song to the next, these shifts can happen mid-song (notably in the album opener "Small Town Moon.") Listeners can, however, expect the impulse-driven piano pop that mixes blends of genre, nonsense, and convention. The changes in style never feel like Spektor is aping a genre or playing the chameleon; instead, it feels as if Spektor's imagination is running wild in the studio. The result is an interesting, fun album.
The opening "Small Town Moon" begins as a conventional piano pop song, but it soon gives way to typical Spektor mannerisms (starts, stops, repetition, etc...) before ultimately opening up into a stomping chant of "Everybody not so nice, nice." It's hard to really describe it, but it's great fun to experience. "Oh Marcello" is similar in its unpredictability, ranging from wild falsettos to beatboxing from Spektor. This is followed by "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)," a song that incorporates hints of tropical music with horns and a Russian chorus. Not all of the songs on the album are quite so wild; "Firewood" is a simple, soulful song composed Spektor's piano and a drumset -- it makes for one of the most inspired passes of Spektor's lyricism. The only real problem I have with CHEAP SEATS is that it feels scattershot. Some of the songs feel less developed than others (compare "All the Rowboats" to "Ballad of a Politician," for example). While the album gets a strong start, the Beatles-esque closer, "Jessica" doesn't quite feel like a good way to wrap up the album.
Recommended sampling: "Small Town Moon," "All the Rowboats," and "Oh Marcello". Fans of Fiona Apple and Feist will probably find a lot to like here. If you like any of Spektor's previous releases, this album is worth you time and money.
ADDITIONAL RELEASE INFO: A deluxe edition of WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS was released. If contains three songs that didn't make it onto the album. These songs are: Call Them Brothers (feat. Only Son), Old Jacket (Stariy Pidjak), and The Prayer Of François Villon (Molitva). These songs are good, but "Call Them Brothers" rises above the rest and is definitely worth seeking out. The other two are covers of Russian songs; they feature Spektor alone with her piano.
WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS is hard to predict. Not only do songs range in tempo, tone, and mood from one song to the next, these shifts can happen mid-song (notably in the album opener "Small Town Moon.") Listeners can, however, expect the impulse-driven piano pop that mixes blends of genre, nonsense, and convention. The changes in style never feel like Spektor is aping a genre or playing the chameleon; instead, it feels as if Spektor's imagination is running wild in the studio. The result is an interesting, fun album.
The opening "Small Town Moon" begins as a conventional piano pop song, but it soon gives way to typical Spektor mannerisms (starts, stops, repetition, etc...) before ultimately opening up into a stomping chant of "Everybody not so nice, nice." It's hard to really describe it, but it's great fun to experience. "Oh Marcello" is similar in its unpredictability, ranging from wild falsettos to beatboxing from Spektor. This is followed by "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)," a song that incorporates hints of tropical music with horns and a Russian chorus. Not all of the songs on the album are quite so wild; "Firewood" is a simple, soulful song composed Spektor's piano and a drumset -- it makes for one of the most inspired passes of Spektor's lyricism. The only real problem I have with CHEAP SEATS is that it feels scattershot. Some of the songs feel less developed than others (compare "All the Rowboats" to "Ballad of a Politician," for example). While the album gets a strong start, the Beatles-esque closer, "Jessica" doesn't quite feel like a good way to wrap up the album.
Recommended sampling: "Small Town Moon," "All the Rowboats," and "Oh Marcello". Fans of Fiona Apple and Feist will probably find a lot to like here. If you like any of Spektor's previous releases, this album is worth you time and money.
ADDITIONAL RELEASE INFO: A deluxe edition of WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS was released. If contains three songs that didn't make it onto the album. These songs are: Call Them Brothers (feat. Only Son), Old Jacket (Stariy Pidjak), and The Prayer Of François Villon (Molitva). These songs are good, but "Call Them Brothers" rises above the rest and is definitely worth seeking out. The other two are covers of Russian songs; they feature Spektor alone with her piano.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Music
"What We Saw" is an excellent continuation of Regina's unique approach to her craft. If you're a fan of her quirks and eccentricities, her guttural stops and starts are still here, although to a lesser extent than is found in the previous efforts "Far" and "Begin to Hope". The same could be said about her playfulness at the piano, which appears toned down (reined in?) here as the songs take on a more traditional structure. That's not to say that the songs are flat, each contains Regina's unique vocal delivery. Her vocal impressions (impersonations?) are still abundant. On "Far" Spektor infamously impersonated a dolphin, but on "What We Saw" she limits her impersonations to staccato percussion on "Oh Marcello" as well as on the frantic, rollicking "All the Rowboats". On "The Party", Spektor does her best impression of a trumpet.
There are several standouts, beginning with the album's opening track, "Small Town Moon", a song that sounds as if it would easily have been at home on her excellent "Begin to Hope" album, at least that is until the song changes tone and goes off in a new (and not unpleasant) direction 90 seconds in, before returning. Equally strong are "All the Rowboats", "Ballad of a Politician" and "Firewood", which wasn't originally a favorite of mine until one lyric really stood out. Many songs deal with aging/getting older, and the verse "You'll want to go back, You'll wish you were small, Nothing can slow the crying, You'll take the clock off of your wall, And you'll wish it was lying" certainly resonates, but it is a preceding line that really conjures up mental images, and it made me smile while listening to it: "Someday you'll wake up and feel a great pain, And you'll miss every toy you ever owned". Sweet, bittersweet and heartbreaking all at once.
"How" is a delicate, vulnerable post-break-up, how-do-I-go-on-without-you song, a topic that lyrically has been mined to death, but Regina pulls it off spectacularly, and it's one of my favorites on the album. Musically, (and thematically, to an extent) the track is reminiscent of Sam Cooke's wonderful "Bring it on Home". "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)" takes on a decidedly Carribean tone, complete with a marimba, an instument somwhat similar to a xylophone in that it consists of wodden bars struck with mallets. The track easily could find a place on the next Jimmy Buffet album. If there is one song to pass over, it is "Oh Marcello", which finds Spektor, with her Russian accent, singing in English, affecting a faux Italian accent. It's as messy as it sounds.
The album ends with a dramatic departure with "Jessica". If you're familiar with her excellent "Live in London" album (and if you're not, you should be!), you'll know it ends with a twangy, countrified "Love you're a Whore", which really stood apart from the 21 other tracks on the album. "Jessica" is as radically a depature from the rest of "What We Saw" as "Love is a Whore" is on "Live in London". It is a simple, stark closer, gone is Spektor's trademark piano, replaced with an acoustic guitar. It's a fine song, but at less than 2 minutes long it doesn't resonate too heavily.
If there is one complaint, and I do feel it is a valid one, is that the album is FAR too brief. At 11 tracks, the album clocks in at a paltry 37 minutes. Of the 11 tracks, 5 of them fail to crack the 3-minute mark. Not that song/album length dictates quality, but the inability to extend songs beyond two-and-a-half minutes leaves many of the songs feeling incomplete or not fully fleshed out. Many could use another verse to fully explore the ideas, particularly "Ballad of a Politician" which just leaves you wanting more. Regina gave an excellent interview, where she stated she has "dozens and dozens and dozens" of old tunes banging around. She went on to say "I always had this feeling like there's a giant pile of songs and they're all waiting for their turn to be worked on, to be cared for, and be noticed". Regina began her career using free studio time given to her by a friend. Being Jewish, Regina recorded snippets of songs on Christmas day, a time when the studio wasn't booked. Due to time contraints, often tracks were recorded in a single take, so it's because of this Regina has felt a compulsion to revisit her back-catalogue. She has repeatedly gone "back to the well" and revisited songs from her past (see "Samson" from Begin to Hope which originally appeared on the album "Songs" as well as "What We Saw's" "Don't Leave Me" which was also found on "Songs"). It is precisely because of this fact (Regina's claims to have a backlog of songs, as well as her willingness to re-visit older material) that "What We Saw's" brevity is so frustrating. If you're a fan, you'll want MORE, and will be left feeling that "What We Saw from the Cheap Seats", while being a worthy effort, is somehow incomplete.
There are several standouts, beginning with the album's opening track, "Small Town Moon", a song that sounds as if it would easily have been at home on her excellent "Begin to Hope" album, at least that is until the song changes tone and goes off in a new (and not unpleasant) direction 90 seconds in, before returning. Equally strong are "All the Rowboats", "Ballad of a Politician" and "Firewood", which wasn't originally a favorite of mine until one lyric really stood out. Many songs deal with aging/getting older, and the verse "You'll want to go back, You'll wish you were small, Nothing can slow the crying, You'll take the clock off of your wall, And you'll wish it was lying" certainly resonates, but it is a preceding line that really conjures up mental images, and it made me smile while listening to it: "Someday you'll wake up and feel a great pain, And you'll miss every toy you ever owned". Sweet, bittersweet and heartbreaking all at once.
"How" is a delicate, vulnerable post-break-up, how-do-I-go-on-without-you song, a topic that lyrically has been mined to death, but Regina pulls it off spectacularly, and it's one of my favorites on the album. Musically, (and thematically, to an extent) the track is reminiscent of Sam Cooke's wonderful "Bring it on Home". "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)" takes on a decidedly Carribean tone, complete with a marimba, an instument somwhat similar to a xylophone in that it consists of wodden bars struck with mallets. The track easily could find a place on the next Jimmy Buffet album. If there is one song to pass over, it is "Oh Marcello", which finds Spektor, with her Russian accent, singing in English, affecting a faux Italian accent. It's as messy as it sounds.
The album ends with a dramatic departure with "Jessica". If you're familiar with her excellent "Live in London" album (and if you're not, you should be!), you'll know it ends with a twangy, countrified "Love you're a Whore", which really stood apart from the 21 other tracks on the album. "Jessica" is as radically a depature from the rest of "What We Saw" as "Love is a Whore" is on "Live in London". It is a simple, stark closer, gone is Spektor's trademark piano, replaced with an acoustic guitar. It's a fine song, but at less than 2 minutes long it doesn't resonate too heavily.
If there is one complaint, and I do feel it is a valid one, is that the album is FAR too brief. At 11 tracks, the album clocks in at a paltry 37 minutes. Of the 11 tracks, 5 of them fail to crack the 3-minute mark. Not that song/album length dictates quality, but the inability to extend songs beyond two-and-a-half minutes leaves many of the songs feeling incomplete or not fully fleshed out. Many could use another verse to fully explore the ideas, particularly "Ballad of a Politician" which just leaves you wanting more. Regina gave an excellent interview, where she stated she has "dozens and dozens and dozens" of old tunes banging around. She went on to say "I always had this feeling like there's a giant pile of songs and they're all waiting for their turn to be worked on, to be cared for, and be noticed". Regina began her career using free studio time given to her by a friend. Being Jewish, Regina recorded snippets of songs on Christmas day, a time when the studio wasn't booked. Due to time contraints, often tracks were recorded in a single take, so it's because of this Regina has felt a compulsion to revisit her back-catalogue. She has repeatedly gone "back to the well" and revisited songs from her past (see "Samson" from Begin to Hope which originally appeared on the album "Songs" as well as "What We Saw's" "Don't Leave Me" which was also found on "Songs"). It is precisely because of this fact (Regina's claims to have a backlog of songs, as well as her willingness to re-visit older material) that "What We Saw's" brevity is so frustrating. If you're a fan, you'll want MORE, and will be left feeling that "What We Saw from the Cheap Seats", while being a worthy effort, is somehow incomplete.
19 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By Josh
Format:Audio CD
I don't normally write music reviews because the matter is so subjective, but I wanted to draw attention to the bonus track titled Call Them Brothers, which I didn't learn about until after I bought the 11-track version of What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. I like this song more than all the other songs on the album. The track is included with the Deluxe Version of the album, and Amazon offers it as a separate MP3 download. Amazon also sells a different version of Call Them Brothers as an MP3 download that features Spektor.
The reason I rated What We Saw From The Cheap Seats three stars is because some of the songs are too polished for my liking. For example, I strongly prefer the version of Ne Me Quitte Pas on Songs (2002) to the version on What We Saw From The Cheap Seats.
I thought some of the songs on Far (2009) were too polished as well, and I was hoping What We Saw From The Cheap Seats would have a more raw sound like Spektor's earlier albums.
The album Live in London (2010) includes performances of songs from Far that I think are better (less polished, more raw) than the studio recordings. Hopefully, Spektor will release a live album that includes songs from What We From The Cheap Seats.
The reason I rated What We Saw From The Cheap Seats three stars is because some of the songs are too polished for my liking. For example, I strongly prefer the version of Ne Me Quitte Pas on Songs (2002) to the version on What We Saw From The Cheap Seats.
I thought some of the songs on Far (2009) were too polished as well, and I was hoping What We Saw From The Cheap Seats would have a more raw sound like Spektor's earlier albums.
The album Live in London (2010) includes performances of songs from Far that I think are better (less polished, more raw) than the studio recordings. Hopefully, Spektor will release a live album that includes songs from What We From The Cheap Seats.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for everyone
This is an eleatic sound where sometimes the music and voice do not match....while I enjoyed it is not an album we play often.
Published 5 hours ago by Theresa Karr
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not her best, but very fun
Not her best, but very fun. Each song is a mini story. But I kind of miss the songs where she has something overt to say.
Published 4 days ago by Amanda
5.0 out of 5 stars
No CHEAP SEATS Here
Russian-born émigré and Bronx, New York resident Regina Spektor has been one of the most eclectic talents on the music scene since her 2002 debut album SONGS. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Erik North
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
Regina Spektor did not have to redo Ne Me Quitte Pas, period. Maybe because a lot of the songs are not new songs, but the whole album doesn't seem to flow as a whole. Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. Gorey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Listen
She is got a great voice and the songs are fun and I enjoyed it tremendously on my first listen.
Published 1 month ago by Agnes
5.0 out of 5 stars
BRILLIANT
I have been meaning to buy one of her albums for a while, I adore Regina Spektor. When I first heard this, I was instantly in love! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Angel Em
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Album!
The album arrived quickly, and to my relief, not bent up!
The vinyl is red, nice surprise!
This is my favorite album of hers. So sweet and upbeat! Definitely buy it!
The vinyl is red, nice surprise!
This is my favorite album of hers. So sweet and upbeat! Definitely buy it!
Published 1 month ago by Jamie Lynn Boehm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful
Regina Spektor has such a beautiful and unique voice, paired with her lyrics and piano, it makes for one wonderful album! Buy this!!!
Published 1 month ago by Amber Danforth
2.0 out of 5 stars
A lot of promise, but doesn't deliver.
I decided to try this after hearing her duet with Ben Folds. She has a great voice and her songs are mostly good, but it seems like each one has some weird quirk that ruins it.
Published 2 months ago by Christopher R. Porter
5.0 out of 5 stars
I heart Regina.
I love Regina Spektor. This album was just as high quality as her other albums, absolutely love the way she sounds. I never have had a bad experience with her albums. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tiffany Ann Weber
Listmania!
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