Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If Only Fools Are Kind, September 19, 2005
"Voice" is an excellent set with Alison Moyet's strong & expressive vocals exploding on a collection of familiar tunes that are polished by her treatment. "Windmills of Your Mind" was the song around which she built the project. Long one of her and her mama's favorites, Alison hugs the melody like a fond embrace. The Michel Legrand melody with Marilyn & Alan Bergman lyrics merits classic status, "Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel, like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon..." It's a gorgeous track, a fine beginning. For many years, Liza with a Z had my heart on the Gershwin classic "The Man I Love." In the liner notes, Alison recounts how her search for material was through sheet music rather than recordings so as not to be influenced by other singers' interpretations. On this track she knew only the first two lines & fills the deep emotions with Derek Watkins' fine horn aching dreamily. Moyet is a major Elvis Costello fan. "Almost Blue" is a melody whose glow grows with repeated listenings while on Costello's Burt Bacharach collaboration, "God Give Me Strength," she brings new shadings and a sense of quiet strength & resolve. "Cry Me A River" has been recorded by artists as diverse as Joe Cocker, Aerosmith, Joan Baez, Jeff Beck & Ray Charles. Its amazing emotional wallop is sometimes overplayed as if by bad actors in a melodrama. Here, Moyet gives the song a bit of tease and sass in nuance while Julian Jackson's harmonica emphasizes the melody's deep sweet sadness. On the bonus track version Alison takes Bacharach's "Alfie" and lets the melody flow through her with the little trill on "if only fools are kind." All of the tracks here are strong from the French songs to "Bye Bye Blackbird." If I had any constructive criticism, I'd have enjoyed a couple uptempo toe tappers to vary the pace a bit. But Alison does an excellent job on this powerful performance. Enjoy!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Album's Anonimity Is A Crime, November 19, 2005
If any aging icon has the inherent right to perform standards, old and newer, it is the impeccable exquisiteness of Moyet's rich and dense texture. Her manly, brooding alto brings deep, nascent understanding of the oft-recorded lyrics; it's almost as if she were borne to sing these. Her `Windmills Of My Mind' is clearly one of the most brilliant takes of this song ever recorded. The rest are deliberately paced, slow-burning and permeated with sense and sensuality. While Rod Stewart continues raping the standards canon with his queasy grasp at quasi-relevance, I'll bask in the glow of Moyet. My grade: A
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
gives me chills !!, January 8, 2006
Recently I been listening to the Alison Moyet's most recent album "Voice" more and more and truely feel its addictiveness.
I have been a fan of hers since I was a little boy as it all started with a group called Yaz (yazzo). Ever since, her voice has been one of the most memorable voices in the music scene for me. After her departure from this synthpop legendary band (Alison Moyet & Vince Clarke) to pursue her solo career, she moved further and further away from the sound she started out with (somtimes good, other times not). With "Voice", its a chapter of her career that shines so brightly. Although only a cover album, its defiantly one of her strongest releases to date. This time she took her voice to another level as she teamed up with Anne Dudley for a twisting ride of dark classical orchestra with a twist of soft soothing jazz that melts so well with Alison's mesmerizing voice. She may have tried something new in terms of style and delivery, but she has succeeded beyond words. Her delivery from "windmills of your mind" to the sexy French singings of "la chanson des vieux amants"...there is no stopping. She has certainly aged like good wine as not only her voice sounds top notch, but so does her looks. She looks more beautiful now than she ever did throughout her long career.
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