Extra Virgin

Olive

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 1997)
• Original Release Date: August 26, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002X40
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #112,290 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There are all the standard trip-hop ingredients--two guys who could probably stand to get out of the studio a little more often, lots of keyboards, drum machines, and samples. And there's a female singer, who's been compared to Sade--rather unfairly, since Ruth-Ann can manage more than a monotone and still be sultry. But there's also guitar and--wait for it--real strings. And, um, songs. Granted, they're not your conventional verse-chorus-verse, but like an insect bite, they get under your skin until you're scratching away and can't ignore them. --Chris Nickson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Etherial trip-hop & acid jazz electronica!, February 27, 2000

By A Customer

Upon hearing the captivating and etherial track "You're not Alone" I contemplated over and over as to if I should buy the whole cd or not as it had been the only song I had heard from Olive and absolutely LOVED it! However, it wasn't until I discovered that Ruth-Ann (Olive vocalist) contributed vocals on Enigma's "Screen behind the Mirror" cd that pushed me to give in and by this cd. I don't regret it for one moment! I have always been a huge fan of Sade and and ambient/electronica music, and this cd combines the sound of both, not to mention Olive has filled the void of Sade being absent from the music scene for several years now. I am eagerly awaiting Olive's next release, which I hope will be soon, as Ruth-Ann really has such passion and sensuality in her voice, and the rhythms and melodies of Olive are simply remarkable!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A CD for people who think and feel dance music, July 12, 1998

By A Customer

Olive is one of those groups who should be more widely known than they are. I purchased this album back in February, during the deep freeze here in New England, and it's a perfect album to listen to if you're stressed out and want to chill and read a book or something. It's soft, hypnotic, seductive, eerie, spacey, and also gently rhythmic. It combines the spacey sounds of New Age with light (very light!) hip-hop and trance beats. Beautiful, lush soundscapes dominate the record. Best of all are "Miracle," a wonderfully constructed trancey song with sighing, longing vocals; "This Time," with a "Justify My Love (William Orbit Remix)" funk vibe that's "clearer than clarity itself"; "Safer Hands," a tribal-lite excursion; "You're Not Alone," a spacey song about trying to mend a broken relationship that has a sound and feel similar to "Frozen" by Madonna. In fact, I'd purchased this album upon hearing "Frozen" on the radio for the first time. If you liked "Ray Of Light" by Madonna, this album goes a bit more in the direction of "Drowned World" and "Little Star." This is intriguing hypnotic music intended for an audience that feels music as well as listens to it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A page from Lamb, a pinch of Swing out Sister..., November 27, 2004

By	Daly Mavorneen "Brimstone" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

I can't believe I waited eight long years to purchase this cd! Everyone told me to, as they knew I was deeply into triphop, spinning the likes of The Starseeds, My Scarlet Life, Portishead, Lamb, Baxter and the later discs of Swing Out Sister, early every morning and late into every night.

The horns are stark, the melodies reminiscent of Mono, the bossa nova arrangements fit right in with the last two Swing Out Sister CDs (especially, "Where Our Love Grows"), and the breezy vocals are nothing if not an homage to Lamb's vocalist, Lou.

My favorite track is the last one, "I Don't think So," which also includes after a 5 minute break of silence, a lovely a capella version of "You're not Alone." "I Don't think So" is for all the doubters---that a band that takes so many pages from other triphop bands could produce something solely original, as opposed to only pastiche. Well, when this track breaks over you, you will know, you will know.

Don't wait as long as I did.