Left of the Middle

Natalie Imbruglia

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 10, 1998)
• Original Release Date: March 10, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B00000638L
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (318 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,417 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A cross between Alanis Morissette and Kylie Minogue, you couldn't engineer a more likely late '90s pop star than Natalie Imbrugila if you tried. Blessed with a stunning bone structure and a passable voice, Australian soap star Imbruglia and producer Phil Thornally turned Ednaswap's gritty "Torn" into a swirling pop confection. Nothing else on her debut quite matches it, in part because Left of the Middle hews closer to the center than it cares to admit. Imbruglia manages to touch on a wide range of female styles--angry ("One More Addiction"), electronica ("Big Mistake"), and yearning ("Smoke")--without leaving her fingerprints on any of them. --Steven Mirkin

Product Description
Italian digitally remastered gold CD reissue of 1998 album, packaged in a digipak. 2001. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Debut...That Everyone Bought For the WRONG Reason!, March 6, 2003

By	Rudy Palma "The Writing Fiend" (NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Who can believe it's been 5 years since this one? I know I can't. In any event, it is still as excellent as it was then, and it is one of the most enduringly listenable discs in this reviewer's lengthy collection. It is a real shame that her sophomore album, released almost a year ago this week, did not sell nearly as many units and was almost completely commercially ignored. That just goes to prove one thing: No one bought this album for the right reason!

The fact is, though "Torn" was a cover song, the rest of the tracks were written by her (except for the catchy but unnotable Don't You Think?) and are all as good or better. The true highlights here are...

ONE MORE ADDICTION "One more addiction floating down the river out of sight forever from my world It's the only thing I know how to do"

WISHING I WAS THERE "Can't leave things well alone understand I'm accident-prone Me? I break free Every night the moon is mine But when the morning comes Don't say you love or so say you need me I really don't think that's fair I'm not so dumb But when you leave me I'll be wishing I was there"

SMOKE "Mum's lookin sad What's up with that?...Bleeding is breathing I saw you hiding beneath the smoke in the room"

INTUITION "Intuition tells me how to live my day Intuition tells me when to walk away Could've turned left Could've turned right But I ended up here Bang in the middle of the real life"

CITY "Doesn't really matter where you wanna take me...away from the city I wanna start again I wanna take it back I wanna start again"

LEFT OF THE MIDDLE "But it's something I can't say Though it seems the other way And it's a game that I can't play...not today I need to tell you Trying to get through Is not always easy left of the middle".

This is truly an awesome debut. Her lyrical and vocal prowess speak for themselves. Natalie somehow slipped between the cracks of the US market, and as a result she may well be on VH1's Top 100 Greatest 1-Hit Wonders List one day (not in the UK, where the hits still come), and for reasons not deserved. "Left In the Middle" is nearly 5 years old now, and has absolutely proven itself to this listener an album that defies age.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MUSIC ARTIST OF THE YEAR!, January 22, 2000

By	A Movie Viewer (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

I've had Natalie Imbruglia's left of the middle ever since December 1998! I LOVE this CD! It has powerful lyrics, unique sounds, and Natalie has an awesome voice. Compared to Alanis Morisette, I like Natalie better. Why? Well, Natalie's music seems better pieced together and has a more well-rounded meaning, while Alanis's music is downright ANGRY! Some of Natalie's music has strong angst lyrics but sweet music (like Pigeon and the Crumbs). My favorites are Torn, Wishing I was there, Smoke, don't you think?, intuition, and city! Actually, I LOVE all her songs on this album. IT'S AWESOME AND IT'S A MUST-HAVE!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars natalie! good job!, February 1, 2005

A Kid's Review

I absolutly love this album. I will give you an perscription of every song, the best way I can:

1. Torn: The song everybody knows as the perfect pop song. Does not matter if you like the other material on the album: Torn is enough to satisfy you even if you don't like left of the middle.

2. One more addiction: Good lyrics, but some power is missing in this song. It dissapointed me, because I expacted something like torn, and One more addiction was very differend.

3. Big mistake: This is one of the best songs ever. Probably the best song after torn. It is very rocky, and somewhat Alanis-a-like, but it remains extremly good. The video is awesome aswell.

4. Leave me alone: It is suprisingly differend from the first 3 songs. A very paranoid song, but it has good lyrics and a powerfull, catchy tune at the chorus.

5. Wishing I was there: It is a crossfade between torn and big mistake. It was a top 40 song, just like torn. The opening sound always scares me, because it is so loud. The rest of the song is okay.

6. Smoke: This is one of the best songs you can ever hear. The piano is wonderfull, and the opening sound is calm. However, it is a song you really need to ''listen'' to. It is not a song you should put on when cleaning the house. The lyrics are about a childhood abuse, but not Natalie's own.

7. Pigeons and crumbs: This is the perfect song to put up when you can't sleep, and not because it is boring, no, because it is very dreamy and gives you a calm feeling. Reminds me of a christmas song though. Lyrics are fun.

8. Don't you think?: One of the most rockiest songs of the album. Not one of my favorites, but the lyrics really get to you. It wakes you up after Pigeons and the Crumbs though. I normally skip ''don't you think''.

9. Impressed: Love this one! The opening tune is very addicting, and continues the whole song, except for the end. I don't like the end, because the rhythem is gone. She sings somewhat acoustic then. I think they should have left that out of the song, but the song remains good. It is very differend from the other songs. Some lyrics may seem strange at first, but they are about a place where she use to go out. Like: ice cream beauty means a beautifull girl witch al boys like.

10.Intuition: Very Alanis-a-like. Does not sound like Natalie at all in the chorus. Lyrics are really good though and they are very personal. They are about Natalie's choices in life.

11.City: She wrote this one when she was very depressed. This reflects in the tune and the lyrics of the song very much. It makes you feel like you want to be there with her when she says: ''Step inside'', you would want to go straight with her. However, it gets boring afer listening to it to much, and it lasts like 9 minutes. 5 minutes are empty at the end.

12.Left of the middle: Starts of with Natalie's voice straight away. A good acoustic song, but the lyrics don't make sense to me. It's kind of a sad song.

She has released White Lilies Island what I think is not as good as Left of the middle. If you don't have Left of the middle, go buy it. You will not regret it, promise. Soon she will release a third record, named Counting down the days. Lead single will be called Shiver. It will be released in march, 2005. Some tracks could already be previewed. I hope her third album will be very left of the middle-a-like.