Customer Reviews

White Monkey

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Danielle Spencer is a truly gifted musician. You have to respect a woman who has worked as hard as she to fulfill her musical dreams. The music is outstanding! her voice is incredible! This is a 5 star album all the way!

White Monkey is a delightful compilation of melodies with lyrics that range from simple love ballads to razer-sharp cynicism. Danielle Spencer has a wonderful singing voice, which she uses in a way that never grates on the nerves or sounds show-offey.

Thus far, this album has been highly underrated. It's a little gem that's well worth the asking price.

I, too, feel that Ms. Spencer has been much-maligned by "fans" of her boyfriend. I am a geezer and am thus not familiar with all of the people that other reviewers compare her to, but I enjoyed the album very much. It was a surprise to me because I had heard how "bad" she was in concert, yadda, yadda. I enjoy her voice which is perfect for the music and I would compare the feel of her songs to some of Loreena McKennitt's even though that lady is much more traditional and Celtic. To each his/her own, but I would recommend this album highly.

...foot jigglingly catchy at others but all the while wonderfully tuneful, this is certainly an album not to be missed, and with new material on the way this summer too.

Don't believe the anti Danielle reports elsewhere on these pages. They were simply submitted by jealous Russell Crowe fans (you know the type) who resent Danielle for her engagement with their hero and attempt to plot her downfall in the music industry, by bashing her at any given opportunity, even here. This is the first and only re-release or this album and contains three bonus tracks - 2 demo versions and a remix - as well as a short film about the singer.

The album is a stormer and a brilliant debut release. Comparisons with the likes of Tori Amos and Kate Bush are never far away when this girl is mentioned, but she comes into her own with some of the fantastic production from Vince Pizzinga.

Electronic sounds a plenty, but still poppy enough to stick on the stereo when you fancy a sing song.

The piano notes placed carefully between the layered electronic sounds will leave you wanting more and the cd will get some serious rotation.

The aforementioned Tori Amos comparisons are understandable (she even has a copy herself now!) with the atmosphere on this record not to mention the dark undertones and dulcet vibrations. White Monkey is instantly engaging with the layers of atmospheric vocals and as well as a honeyed singing voice, Danielle also bestows urgent whispers and haunting chants.

Enjoy yourself. Lose yourself in the magical fantasy world of this recording.

Lose yourself for a very long time indeed...

I have eclectic taste but the same standards for every artist/band. There has got to be some substance to their style, and some original approach to material. I usually prefer artists that write/produce their own material such as Bjork. One might compare "White Monkey" to Madonna's "Music", in that the album has kicky beats with personal lyrics, electronic, yet pared down at the same time. Danielle sings without artifice when she does sing (unlike Tori Amos), and is inventive with layered voiceover/unders (like Amos) and harmonies that contribute to her ethereal sound. Lyrics? She's complex and introspective without being morbid "200 Steps", rants "Knocking", questions where she's going "What Now", and sweetly pleading with "Forgive Me". In short Spencer covers the spectrum of "what it feels like for a girl".

Whilst driving in my car I heard Ms. Spencer's Tickle Me, one of the tracks on White Monkey! It is simply brilliant. She is reminiscent of Kate Bush whose work I adore. White Monkey is quite simply a musical gem.

Danielle Spencer, White Monkey (EMI Australia, 2001)

Danielle Spencer is Russell Crowe's on-again off-again girlfriend.

Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, one wonders if her longstanding relationship with Crowe (which goes back some twelve years, to the two of them filming a painfully bad indie film called The Crossing in 1990) has eclipsed, rather than enhanced, Spencer's long and obscure musical career. Over the past three years, she's jettisoned the bands she's been working with and set out to write her own material. White Monkey is the first full-length showcase of the results. And while it's an inconsistent piece of work, the first word that comes to mind is still "brilliant."

The album doesn't really seem sure of where it wants to go. It shifts gears time after time in tone and form and never really comes to rest anywhere. This isn't to say the low points are bad; they're just not spectacular. (Put all of the album's ballads into this category.) There's nothing in them you haven't heard before in many places, and they've gotten Spencer compared to such disparate artists as Madonna, Kate Bush, and Portishead. (I will hasten to add here that anything on this album stands well above Portishead's painful "Nobody Loves Me" or Madonna's... well, take your pick from among Madonna's more empty-headed songs, of which there are a myriad.) The gods must have been smiling on Spencer as she recorded this album, because the low points accentuate the high points. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but having a song like "White Monkey" in a sea of soft rock makes it that much more stunning. It's "White Monkey" and its companion pieces that make this album stand out. They're dark, brooding, nasty, with streaks of lyrical dada three feet wide running straight down the middle. Drum machines straight out of Tricky's best work, ethereal synthesizers, and jagged guitar lines. This is a woman who knows how to package depression for the masses. (She learned from the best; there's a Cure cover on the B-side of the "Blast Off" single.)

Just when we thought girlpop was dead, the last two years have seen a revival of the art in its purest form. Add Danielle Spencer to the list of keepers. *** ½

I bought this CD on a whim. Usually when I do this, I am very disappointed. Not this time!! Danielle's music has rhythm and pizzazz and she has a sure, sweet, fluid voice which is confident and mature. After being won over by the music, I read the lyrics and was even more delighted. My family will have to listen to me singing these songs for a long while. If you are in the U.S., it's worth the extra time (took about a month for me to receive it)and money. When's her next CD due???

After reading Danielle's biography on her official website, the way she described her music, her inspirations, I couldn't wait to get White Monkey! I feared I wouldn't like it, that I had built it up in my mind to be this fantastic album. All fears laid to rest after a few minutes of Blast Off. I loved it from the start, and still do.

I was very impressed by this debut album by Danielle Spencer. Her voice is fantastic. She has a real gift for writing and arranging. The songs are all varied and the album is never boring. Her lyrics are very insightful, but are not obscure and overdone. The music is very good. Anyone that likes Sarah McLauchlin, Paula Cole, and Shawn Colvin will also like Danielle Spencer. I know she is often compared to Tori Amos, but I am not very familiar with Tori's music and cannot make that comparison.