Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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195 of 204 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Is Heaven To Me, September 17, 2004
How true! Musicians take a lifetime to prepare their first CD, then are expected to have an equally brilliant release in a few months. The process rarely works. Rarer is an artist so dedicated to quality that eight years passes between a highly acclaimed debut and sophmore CD. Even more unusual is the artist who scores perfectly both times, so far apart.
Then again, nobody with ears could call Madeleine Peyroux typical. She's a genuine gem amongst the clutter composing today's musical spectrum. Thank goodness she's faithful to her remarkable vocal stylings.
Talent aplenty, Ms. Peyroux's voice and delivery strike your memory in familiar ways. Comparison to world-famous blues and jazz females are tempting, perhaps justified. Nonetheless, Ms. Peyroux's never derivative but rather refreshingly comfortable in an all-new manner.
Ms. Peyroux also has smarts enough to work superb material. She easily intreprets standards by such great tunesmiths as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, and W.C. Handy into her own repetoire. She ain't a bad writer herself.
Ms. Peyroux invested time wisely since her 1996 introduction. Hope we don't have to wait as long for her next CD, but surely I'm willing to if it takes that long for another perfect CD.
The title of the closing track precisely sums it all up: "This Is Heaven To Me!"
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146 of 161 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Soulful, Romantic, Fresh, and Full of Spice, February 6, 2005
Madeleine Peyroux, just the name forecasts a feeling of the French, of someone who has lived life and knows how to sing about it. And, we listen to "Careless Love" and we realize we are listening to someone special who has an innate understanding of how to sing these songs. How can this be when Madeleine is in her late twenties and an American to boot? She is a special find and we intend to keep her.
Madeleine was born in Georgia, but grew up in Paris and New York. She got hooked on French culture and began to sing with street musicians. She learned her craft by listening to the greats and then singing the way she knew best. She was found in a small club in New York and was signed by a major record label.
She loves Billie Holliday, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Edith Piaf. She has a voice of her own, sometimes husky but always dreamy. Larry Klein produced this album, he is known for working with Joni Mitchell and Shawn Colvin, and once again has proved his worth.
The songs on this CD are glorious and each one has its own story.
"Dance Me To The End Of Love" is a love song found on Leonard Cohen's last CD. Great words and music.
`You're Gonna Make me Lonesome When You Go" is one of Bob Dylan's songs that brings back the image of love and loss.
"Don't Cry Baby and "Careless Love' were sung by Bessie Smith and reminds me of New Orleans and the jazz of life.
"No More" sung by Billie Holiday brings us the reminder of love and tragedy.
"Between the Bars" is a tribute to Elliott Smith and his remarkable songs and tragic life.
"Don't Wait Too Long" is an original song with Jesse Harris. Jesse Harris helped Norah Jones with her first successful album.
"J'ai Deux Amours" sung by Josephine Baker in her particular French drama.
"Weary Blues" sung by Hank Williams is a true country flavor.
"I'll Look Around" a Billie Holiday favorite.
"Lonesome Road" has a background of gospel and folk.
"This Is Heaven To Me" gives us a feeling of freedom and life.
Madeleine Peyroux will be a name to be reckoned with. Her voice and timing with her words and music brings us a fresh clear view of life. Wonderful CD and highly recommended. prisrob
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Careless Love" is One of the Year's Best Releases, October 3, 2004
As labels and critics search for someone to declare the "next Nora Jones", I'm surprised that few have turned to Madeleine Peyroux one of her precursors. The French expatriate Peryoux released her first album, Dreamland, on Atlantic Records in 1996. The cd was well promoted and ended up doing quite well for a jazz oriented release.
Ms. Peyroux didn't seek instant fame and promptly dropped out to spend the six years on a spiritual quest and to spend time with friends and family. To her credit, career amibition was not at the top of Madeleine's list of priorities...she had better things to do. Lucky for us, the venerable indie label, Rounder Records has enticed her back into the studio for another set of music and a cd that is getting the same kind of word of mouth praise that launched Nora Jones' career.
Those less educated in jazz idioms may compare her to Billie Holliday...her timbre and pitch are just very similar. Those with a nuanced ear will here strains of Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Peggy Lee and a host of other torch singers, even Joni Mitchell, who was one of Madeleine's producers for Careless Love.
One of the songs Peyroux interprets on the new CD was sung in 1940s Paris by another American-born artist, Josephine Baker. The sweet melody saluted bonds between America and France while expressing the bittersweet emotions of the expatriate.
Her takes on Elliott Smith's Between the Bars and Hank William's Weary Blues are superb,but her reading of Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" is so remarkable, you will find yourself replaying it over and over. She captures the ambivalence of the lyrics in a way Dylan never did. As much as I spun and respun the Dylan tune, I was in nirvana upon hearing Leonard Cohen's "Waltz Me To The End of Love", in which she fully renders the unblinking fatalism of Cohen's lyrics. Peyroux is to Cohen's music what Dionne Warwick was to Burt Bacharach's music... the definitive interpreter who sets the standard for all.
Singer Madeleine Peyroux moved to France at age 15. She honed her vocal talents on the streets of Paris, busking with groups with names like the Riverboat Shufflers and the Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band.
Madeleine's live shows have proven her to live up to the current hype. Her pronunciation so clear and the word nuances so well united with her use of facial expression, seeing her in person is really necessary for a full appreciation of her art. In performance she has the aura of a Parisian muse in the tradition of Jeanne Moreau or Isabelle Adjani. I hope very much that a live performance video will be spawned by the album so that her wider audience will have the joy of seeing all of this.
Madeleine, in her own quiet, unassuming way is as much bigger than life as any of her heroes. Though she's compared to "Lady Day" ; Billie Holliday is just a point of reference for Ms. Peyroux. You might as well be comparing the Rolling Stones to Chuck Berry, or Bob Dylan to Woody Guthrie. The similarities are there but dissipate very quickly upon hearing enough of her music.
"Careless Love" is one of the best releases of this year, and an enduring classic for any year. If you like jazzy female vocal stylists don't miss this one.
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