31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware, February 25, 2005
This review is from: Zipless (Audio CD)
A friend once burst into my home and said "YOU MUST PLAY THIS CD NOW," which made me groan a bit inside as she ran to my stereo. I expected to have to feign interest and approval. Instead I felt connected to Ms. Daou's music instantaneously. Six years later I'm still playing this disc at least once a week. Close your eyes and imagine tasting chocolate for the first time. I advise you to beware as this very unique sound and mood is the aural equivalent of superglue to the ear. If you've ever had an evening with a special person where you thought you'd literally die if you didn't kiss them, and you finally did, and it was everything you thought it would be, this is what it sounded like. "Long Tunnel of Wanting You" is that first kiss, and one of the most perfect three and a half minutes of music I've ever heard. The musicianship on every cut is brilliant, this band can play, it's like jazz from a foggy, sensual Twilight Zone. This masterpiece swings, it haunts and it exhilarates. A treasure. Special praise must go to Peter Daou for the clean, understated, intimate production. Got a new lover you want to keep? Forget the roses, give them this CD, and then expect to go places with them you've never gone...
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EROTICISM AT ITS PEAK, August 29, 2001
This review is from: Zipless (Audio CD)
A blend of trip-hop, funk, cinematic ecstasy and poetry, ZIPLESS is probably one of my favorite concept CDs of the last three decades. Six years after its release, it still sounds fresh and vital, and it baffles me how this gem remains overlooked by the mainstream (well, I take that back - look at the thoughtless, whiny, mindless junk they are buying and watching). Just last night I pulled this one of the collection and slid it into the CD car player and took a spin through the countryside with the sunroof down under the stars. Vanessa and her piano-wizard husband Peter made the 40 minute ride almost as good as sex.
Vanessa and Peter sustain a pulsating, shimmering, funk-laden cosmos for almost 40 solid minutes. The "songs" are tight and well-conceived, hummable, even the ones with spoken lyrics. Vanessa adapted the poems of 70s feminist/writer Erica Jong into an infectious, moody song cycle; husband Peter supplies the instrumentation...a swirling, thumping, driving, undulating mix of synths, saxes, piano and infectious percussion.
Highlights abound, but "Becoming a Nun" "Sunday Afternoons", and "My Love is Too Much" are about as steamy as mod pop gets. I only wish Peter had extended Erica Jong's reading of her own "Smoke" beyond its tease of 2:15. When I get some techware, I'll remix it myself to last 7:00. It's a superb groove.
SLOW TO BURN, Vanessa's followup funk-and-jazz based CD went largely ignored, also, and remains out of print, which is startling. I've heard her dismissed as a modern day Claudine Longet, which is [not true]. Vanessa is an artist, a lover, and in modest ways, a visionary. It's a shame Krasnow Records couldn't sustain her initial forays, and if there is any justice in LabelLand, a big outfit will eventually reclaim her.
Listen in: this is the lonnnnnnnnnnnng tunnel of wanting you.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great background music for..., December 19, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Zipless (Audio CD)
I heard this at a restaurant bar while talking to a friend and was so immediately entranced I had to find out what it was. It's one of those rare finds. You can carry on a conversation or vacuum or ... to it, then you're like, "Waitaminute, stop, I just have to hear this one part...." You can play it when friends are over cuz its cool, jazzy, little-bit-tech vibe is not at all intrusive. Your friend will suddenly inquire, "Did she just say what I think she said?" Bawdy Jong lyrics set to most evocative music that is moody, but not dreary. After a few listens it makes you secretly long for those troubled relationships you had when young that were frought with longing, doom and lust. Like those liaisons, from the very get-go with Vanessa Daou's Zipless, you will be HOOKED.
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