Customer Reviews

When I Was a Boy

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off, as usual, ignore the Rolling Stone blurb above -- "funereal, bewilderment, resignation" ????? Puh-lease. And as for "spooky obsession" -- well, the only thing that comes close is the Boy George look she's adopted for the cover. Otherwise, this album is as beautiful and life-affirming as it gets. It includes two immediately accessible songs of love -- Love is Everything and The Gospel According to Darkness. The latter comes just after another of much more intense conflicted love -- Sweet Incarnadine. She adds to the mix a deathbed celebration of a life fully lived (her own? her mother's?)-- The Vigil and the wonderful duet with k.d. lang Calling All Angels (also availabile on the Until the End of the World soundtrack) and closes with a harmony reprise of Love is Everything. Somehow this CD slipped into the back of my collection for a few years, but heard again on this drizzly Saturday morning and two weeks ago on a perfect early spring day, it goes with both and has the feel of a lost classic rediscovered. Very, very impressive. The only thing it lacks is another song about hockey as in Hockey on Bound by the Beauty, where in two lines Siberry perfectly captures both a moment and the breadth of potential futures: "he'll have that scar on his chin forever someday his girlfriend will say hey where.../he might look out the window...or not...". If you haven't discovered Siberry already, start now!

I was first introduced to Jane's work back in 86 by a friend. I went out and bought "No Borders here" She made me snicker alot and also made me sad. Not many recording artists can do that. I later boguht "The Walking", which at times is utterly confusing. Then "Bound By The Beauty" which had a great folksy sing along feel to most of it. Brian Eno called it a masterpiece. "When I Was A Boy" is also a masterpiece. It has elements of her earlier works, but with a much more serious tone to it. The songs here deal for the most part, very directly with love, loss, and death, but you don't come away feeling depressed. "The Vigil" is about the only really conceptual piece here. It seems to be about the death of her mother. I have no idea if her mother has passed or not. Maybe it's just dealing with the loss of anyone's mother. The duet with K.D. Laing on "Calling All Angels" is pure magic. I bought this on cassette for my mother a few years back and told her that this is not typical pop music and about the suject matter. 6 years later she's still hooked on it as well as Joni Mitchell's "Turbulent Indigo" which I bought her the following year. My mother is now 64 and has thanked me repeatedly for introducing here to artists of this caliber. She doesn't play Celine Dionne much any more.Thank God! I'm digressing too much here. This is a must have for anyone who likes Joni Mithchell, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush or Sarah McLachlan. It simply transports you to places you might fear to tread, but you come back feeling better for it! This year, I sending Mom Jane's sort of Christmas CD, "Child" along with The Chieftains' "The Bells Of Dublin". A far cry from dogs barking "Jingle Bells"

I first heard Siberry in 1991 singing Calling All Angels with K.D. Lang in the Wym Wenders movie Until the end of the World, a sci-fi movie aptly passed the Y2K. I thought her vocal was so emotional and secluded at the time but not since the song is called up as the Sydney Olympic theme song this year that I bought the CD When I was a Boy .

For some time, I have held Sarah Mclachlan's Fumbling towards Ecstacy as my all time favorite CD for meditation. After listening to Siberry's vocal extravaganza on When I was a Boy, I was simply amazed at her power of musical expressions through songs of utter joy, beauty and sadness. In The Vigil, which is a song of tribute to her father, she went through this musical and cinematic journey that leave my soul completely letting go after each and every listen, and eventually lost in the moonlit darkness.

This conceptual CD is not an easy listen (not with the likes of Ms Dion, Carey or Enya) but it will grow on you time after time and lead you to a new place at the end of each journey. A must have CD for casual music lovers and audiophiles alike, and a super-fix for myself.

This is doubtless one of the finest compilations in the music world. Exploring love from all perspectives: ups and downs, in and outs and from beginnings(mmmm...gimme) to (especially) endings, this a true masterpiece. The songs are moving and the production is flawless. The kind of album you want to listen to in the dark and be carried away. It upsets me to see this CD in the used stores, because I wonder how could anyone trade it in? I've given it myself to friends and family alike, simply because it is a jewel to be treasured. Her voice is beautiful and her articulation delicate. "The Vigil" brought even my mother to tears! The song "It Can't Rain All The Time" from "The Crow" soundtrack is cut from the same mold. I only hope she returns to writing and producing original music. I think there is still a lot of emotion residing there yet to be shared by her admiring fans.

This record has always captivated me since I bought in in 1996 even though it is an extraordinarily difficult listen for anyone, especially in a country like Australia, where its autumnal tone is so antithetical to a culture obsessed with the beach and ridiculously hot weather.
However, Siberry is a highly expressive singer and this album was positively beautiful and lushly expressive. Her lyrics, in contrast to the worldy themes of previous albums, were focused on spirituality and coping with darkness. Indeed, occasionally ("All The Candles In The World") the lyrics are almost religious, yet Siberry shows she can rival Kate Bush as "The Sophia of popular music", especially on "Temple", "The Gospel According To Darkness" and the k.d. lang duet "Calling All Angels", all of which stand out as beautifully moving pieces after many listens, aided by the melodic viola and cello fighures that complement Siberry's songs to great effect.
The standout songs were the opener "Temple" on which Siberry expressed with wonderful internsity the pain of unrequitted love, "The Gospel According To Darkness" a beautiful and lush anthem about not finding love, the danceable "All The Candles In The World" and "An Angel Stepped Down", and "Sail Across The Water" a highly melodic tune about loss of wisdom of remarkable beauty. On these songs, Siberry sung with a beauty approaching that of Karen Peris, yet at times her voice had the depth of a gospel choir. Despite her intense spiritual focus, she did not give up her ability to depict the everyday observations of nature that she had concentrated on during the 1980s, as shown on "At The Beginning of Time".
However, many of the longer songs are just so difficult to get into that even years of listening does not permit them to be easily appreciated. The album also contains an unnecessary mix of the underproduced "Love Is Everything", which certainly needed more atmosphere for Siberry's voice to function at its best.
This is a fine companion for a fan of Kate Bush or Karen Peris, despite the fact that it takes almost n listens to appreciate.

I had never heard of Jane Siberry until about a month ago. I discovered her quite by accident while station surfing my cars FM dial. Heard a guy on the radio say: "And now, Jane will perform another song for us. Ladies and gentleman, live in studio, once again here's Jane Siberry". A gentle melodic piano started .....and then a high and airy voice broke in. The song went on about how "Love is Everything" they said it would be. Halfway through, my eyes started burning from the tears building up and I knew right then and there that I just HAD to have a copy of this song. Got home and looked her up at CDNOW, saw the song was on the "When I was a Boy" disc and imeadiately put it into my shopping cart. It is now my favorite CD.

Listen folks. Take it from one who is not easily moved by silly love songs. This CD is pure bleepin magic. There is just something about her voice (technically not all that good) that reaches right into your heart and soul. There really isnt a bad song on "When I was a Boy".... some are just nicer than others. I dont know if any of her other work is better or even as good as this, but I certainly am looking forward to finding out.

There are very few artists in this world that can evoke such wide ranging emotions as sadness, desire, and joy quite as effectively as the cherished Jane Siberry. This piece of round plastic entitled 'When I Was A Boy' has the power to rip your heart open if you give it the chance; if it had a rallying cry it would be 'bring me your tender, your lonesome and heartbroken'. The most incisive and heartbreaking tracks here are the threesome of 'Calling All Angels', the gorgeous, poignant 'Love Is Everything', and the enchanting 'Sail Across the Water'. The rest of "When I Was A Boy' is never less then dream-like, beautiful and inventive in it's intense explorations of love, spirit, death and pain. A harrowing, but ultimately life affirming and rewarding record.

The eternal feminine drives us on...

Well, it does seem that women artists do often manage to go places inaccessible to their male counterparts. I've been hearing about Jane Siberry for years and have (inexcusably) put off listening to her work until just recently. Like Kate Bush and Laura Nyro, she creates an entire poetic universe that you enter into willingly but not without some risk.

Interesting how this album builds. On first hearing, I found the first couple of songs ("Temple" and "Calling All Angels") instantly captivating but found much of the rest of the album, challenging. The songs seem to become a bit more amorphous as the album progressed, with some of the later tracks sounding more like aural collages than true songs.

But with each additional hearing, the album gels more. The more "difficult" songs don't seem quite so formidable as one gets accustomed to their subtleties. "Angel Stepped Down," "Vigil" and "At the Beginning of Time" are darn near brilliant in fact. After several listenings, I find the album is a near perfect whole, with each track leading into the next almost seamlessly.

I'd rate this Siberry effort right up there with such classics at Kate Bush's THE DREAMING, Nico's THE MARBLE INDEX and Laura Nyro's ELI AND THE 13TH CONFESSION. Which is to say, Jane Siberry rates pretty high in my own personal pantheon. Now on to the rest of the Siberry oeuvre.

all i know is that on more than one occasion, i have seen individuals burst into spontaneous tears upon hearing this album. i have never understood it--even though it happened to me, too, when i first heard it. is it the sheer beauty of the sound? is it the depth and sincerity of the lyrics? is it jane's voice? is it the harmonies? is it the almost-haunting coming-and-going of those voices in the background? through the years, i have given this album to many people i love. one classic response was, "terry, i can't listen to it. it makes my chest hurt." yeah, i know. there's something so very special about this. it's like that one book that one finds that changes everything....for that reason, i'll always equate it with "a prayer for owen meany." sound silly? perhaps....but both that book and this album changed everything for me. i have avoided writing a review of this album, simply because i really don't have the words to describe it. it's frustrating to even try. it's just beautiful. it's intense. it opened my eyes. it exposed my soul.

On When I was a Boy, Jane Siberry crafts some of the best music of her career -- with a little help from her friends.

Among the high-profile talent that appears on Siberry's sixth CD are veteran producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads), and fellow Canadians k.d. lang and Holly Cole. The ensuing CD is nowhere near the stylistic mismatch that one might expect. Maybe that's because Siberry's music and poetry are so strong that no amount of outside talent can upstage them.

From the disc's opening "Gimme" on "Temple", Siberry's lyrics impart previously unrevealed assertiveness and sensuality (just listen to "Waitress" on her second CD "No Borders Here" for a stark comparison). Siberry who, on her earlier records, mourned lost love and loneliness is succeeded by one who dumps her lover on "Love is Everything" because she "can't wait 'til you make the whole kingdom come."

The sensual (and sexual) imagery continues over the expanse of the CD. On "An Angel Stepped Down", Siberry urges, "Come on baby come on give me" and the aggressive vocal on "Temple" implores, "Come on come on/Let me into your temple." Is it getting hot in here?

As always, Siberry's music is a thing of beauty, especially in the moving "Love is Everything", the CD's first single. Her high and broken-hearted vocal floats above the sparse instrumentation and it's nothing less than magic.

Overall, there isn't one misstep on When I Was a Boy. The songwriting, musicianship, and production make it a CD that is well worth owning, and one that seems to get better with each listen.