Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Welcome Return From Natalie!, May 2, 2005
Natalie Imbruglia's comeback this year has been very impressed and proved critics wrong who said she had no future in the music industry. After making her pop debut in late 1997 with the massive hit single "Torn," Imbruglia went on to become an international pop superstar with her debut album "Left Of The Middle," which sold millions of copies. She took a long break and returned in 2001 with her second album "White Lilies Island," which pretty much flopped in comparison to her debut. People had moved on, and Natalie, I suppose, wasn't considered a top pop star.
That all changed this year when she returned with her third album "Counting Down The Days." It went straight to No.1 in its first week of release, and has brought Miss Imbruglia a whole new fanbase. I bought this album on a whim about two weeks ago, and was surprised to find that I really like it. It's nothing too complex (I look to Radiohead, Bjork and Tori Amos for that) and is basically just catchy pop music with traces of rock. Natalie has a distinctive voice which works well with the twelve songs on the album.
The album opens with the brilliant "Starting Today." This song is a short intro-type to open up the album and set the tone. It's a catchy, bright, life-affirming song that will grow on you by the second listen until you're humming along. "Shiver" is the album's first single and has gone on to become one of this year's biggest radio hits. This song is, yet again, a real grower and takes a while to impress you, but once it does you really can't stop singing to it. The video is also great and Natalie has never looked better. "Satisfied" is one of my favourite songs from the album and a contender for one of the singles to be released from the album. This song sounds like something Texas would do, because it has uplifting guitars and funky drum sections. Natalie's vocals are strong here and the lyrics sing a story about a love which cannot be complete because the guy is only just satisfied with what Natalie offers. "Counting Down The Days," the album's title track is slower than the other song's we've heard up until this point. It features a piano that builds the choruses up perfectly, until the drums kick in and work in harmony with Natalie's high voice. A great song that does take a while to grow on you.
"I Won't Be Lost" is another fantastic song and probably the best ballad on the album. The verses have a sort of lullaby style to them and Natalie's vocals are beautiful, especially on the section where she sings, "Don't let me go." This is a great summer song and one of those emotional break-up songs that you really understand because of the lyrics. "Slow Down" is another piece of catchy guitar pop that is rather mid-tempo in pace. The chorus is catchy but takes a few while to grow on you. The ending of the song is really beautiful though. "Sanctuary" is one of the fastest songs on the album and sounds a lot like Texas again. This is a great piece of power pop and has a catchy chorus where Natalie cries, "I wanna be your sanctuary, set you free, set you free!" The next song is "Perfectly," which I didn't really like to begin with, but I really like now. The chorus has a great build up, instigated by the drums. The lyrics are about a troubled relationship, and Natalie does that - arguably - better than any of her rival female rock/pop contemporaries.
"On The Run" is probably the darkest song on the album and features a haunting piano riff that will intimidate the listener. Natalie's vocals are very strong in this song as she sings about mental distress as she runs away from herself - again. It's a rather ambiguous song but works better because of this. "Come On Home" is a great mid-tempo song that has a real epic feeling to it. I think this song tries almost too hard to be Radiohead's "Airbag" with the stuttering guitars in the verses, but alas (and don't get annoyed) it's no where near as good as the Radiohead song. It still is a great piece of pop music, however, and has a great plodding drum beat all the way through it. "When You're Sleeping" is probably my least favourite song on the album, but it does have quite a lovely, relaxing feeling to it. As Natalie sings about the sun in the first verse, the violins create this feeling of a sun rising. The album closes with "Honeycomb Child," which is seen by many as a Bjork-esque type of track. I am a know-it-all on the music of Bjork, and I can confirm that this song does indeed resemble the Icelandic genius somewhat! This is set about by the violins, chimes and bells, but the lyrical content is just too 'normal' to be anything Bjork would record. This song is a real grower and one of my favourites on the album; it's very sparse and direct. A great closer.
OVERALL GRADE: 9/10
Natalie Imbruglia has made a great return to the music industry with this album and I think 2005 will hold even more success for her with the singles that she releases from this album. This album is one of those growers that doesn't sound very much to begin with. Infact, I thought a lot of these songs were just bland and insipid to begin with, but if you actually make the effort to like it, then I'm sure you'll see a whole new side to the music Natalie has worked so hard on over the past two years. A beautiful album from a beautiful woman!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Natalie is back with her best work ever, April 1, 2005
Starting Today: I think this was planned to be the first single, since she always pickes the first one of the album to be the first single. And also because she first was against making 'shiver'. I regret listening to the snipplet so much. I think that infected the way I feel about this song in a wrong way. The catchy guitar tune is the closest to Torn than any other song before. Not saying it's her best after Torn though, because it's not(in my view anyway). I do think this will be the second single. 9/10
Shiver: It has a classic tune. Slow at some points, witch doesn't make it a really good choice for a first single. It's not really that catchy. Video is fun though. It's a song you like to listen to on the radio but never really wonder who it is. 8/10
Satisfied: Written by Daniel Johns, not by Natalie. The song is okay. I don't like the build up chorus. It's definatly not one of my favs...6,5/10
Counting Down The Days: It's a bit between a slow song and a pop song. The chorus is nice and upbeat, but the start of the song is decieving. It gives the idea it's really a slow song. It's an average track on the album, I think. 7/10
I won't be lost: I think it's the best slow song Natalie ever made. It's just wonderfull the way she sings the chorus. Too slow to be a single, but definatly worth obtaining. 8,5/10
Slow Down: This is the point where she made a small mistake. I won't be lost is quite slow and Counting Down the days wasn't a really fast track either. She should have placed a faster track here, not the slowest. Slow Down is a good track though. I listened to the snipplet too much, again...7/10
Sanctuary: The catchiest track on the whole album I think. It's my favorite. I definatly think this will be a single. It's a mix of WLI, LOTM and CDTD(new style). Great song. 9,5/10
Perfectly: Again a great track. Will be made a single for sure. It's like Torn a lot but yet has the poppy-nes of Wrong impression. It will do great in the charts. I listened to the clip(snipplet), but it was bearly a difference. It just seems more acoustic because the snipplet was poor quality and had some noices on the background because of this. 9,5/10
On The Run: A song that really reminds me of smoke: The paino, her voice and the lyrics. 7/10
Come On Home: Written by someone else than Natalie. I think the chorus comes too early. She sings it with full power though and the instruments are good. 7,5/10
When you're sleeping: A nice track to listen to in the car. One of my favs. The opening of the song is very very classic and beautifull. 8,5/10
Honeycomb Child: I don't really like the toy sound at first, because I listened to it late at night and it kreeped my out. I grew on me and I like it very much now. But the song is still scary. Could easily be used in a horror movie cause of the scary tune. 7/10
Singles will be(what I think):
1. Shiver(as we all know)
2. Starting Today
3. Sanctuary
4. Perfectly
These are the best tracks aswell, including 'I won't be lost'.
to me, the points are this:
10: One of the best songs I know
9: I definatly will play these a lot
8: Impressive
7: Pretty good
6: Okay
5: Not so good
4: Horrible
I don't give lower points for a song. There are exceptions but never with Natalie(she remains above 6).
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Counting down to this, November 8, 2005
Apparently married life suits Natalie Imbruglia.
After getting married in 2003 to the Silverchair frontman, the Australian pop singer/actress seems much happier and more secure. The evidence: "Counting Down the Days," her third album. Apparently the child-voiced singer is no longer "Torn," as she was in her debut, but is now "Satisfied."
"Starting today/I'm not gonna waste another moment/Even if I had had the chance before/I would have blown it," she sings at the start of the album, over a simple, upbeat little pop tune that is half keyboard, half acoustic guitar. That note carries over to songs where she talks a lot about home, "falling apart together," and the loneliness of long-distance relationships.
Those songs give Imbruglia's music a more , not the sort of "I met a guy and I'm crazy about him" love songs. The exception is "Shiver," a catchy song obviously destined for singledom. "Cause I shiver/I just break up/When I'm near you/It all gets out of hand." Catchy, yet rather trite.
Not every song focuses on marital bliss, however. "Satisfied" exposes worries about the future: "This knot could come undone/no matter how we try to keep it tied," she sings over a deceptively perky pop backdrop. Well, I gotta admit, who likes an all-happy collection of love songs?
It must count for something that the producer for Blur and the Doves, Ben Hillier, did work on "Counting Down the Days." The pop songs here tend to stick to ordinary guitar riffs, many of them acoustic-based -- a nice change of pace from the majority of light pop. Additionally, they are given some bells, organs and electronic flourishes.
Imbruglia's voice hasn't changed too much -- she still has that girlish Kylie-Minogue kind of voice. Not much of a range, but not unpleasant to the ear. She's able to carry off most of the songs here, though the writing descends to unpleasantly gooey in places. "You talk so much sense/when you're sleeping"? Adoring-the-sleeping-lover songs are overdone enough, without a line like that.
Expect a happier -- yet slightly insecure -- Natalie Imbruglia in "Counting Down the Days." Has several writing weaknesses, but a pleasant enough listen.
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