Carnival

Kasey Chambers

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 22, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000GH3PP4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,203 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #69 in	Music > World Music > Australia & New Zealand
  #89 in	Music > Indie Music > Country > Country Folk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
With her fourth album, Australia's Kasey Chambers is expanding her realm. There are bigger sounds, including a flurry of electric guitars, and she has winningly created a whole new set of mysterious tensions. Eschewing the softer sound that had defined her earlier work, Chambers' innocent sounding voice is now set against a world of shadows and acute angles. The band also eases into a range of sophisticated grooves, from the noir-infused "Light up a Candle" to the barn burning "Got You." Chambers can still churn out catchy melodies, which she does at every turn (the chorus to "Sign on the Door" is unstoppable), though she keeps them from ever becoming cloying. Also with the expansive arrangements there's a dynamic quality to the album as a whole, as density gives way to open spaces. Indeed, Carnival is an apt title for this three-quarters of an hour that is filled with bright colors, movement and surprise. --David Greenberger

Product Description
Kasey Chambers' fourth solo album, Carnival, marks the singer-songwriter's most contemporary, edgy and rocking album to date. This Carnival is worth the price of admission.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Divine, September 24, 2006

By	J. Gemmill "Fan of music, movies and more." (Oreland, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a phenomenal album that grows stronger w/each listen. From the opening, hypnotic "Colour of a Carnival" to the closing, heartfelt "Don't Look So Sad," there's nary a weak track. And while it's true that Kasey has eschewed some of the alt.country underpinnings of her previous works for a more mainstream approach, there's still plenty of twang here - "Light up a Candle," "Hard Road" and the hypnotic "Railroad," which chugs along a la Lucinda Williams' "Joy," wouldn't be out of place on her earlier albums. Other highlights include the rollicking "I Got You Now" and the absolutely divine "You Make Me Sing" ... plus "Dangerous," which - as all the songs here, actually - features a mesmerizing vocal. Perhaps that's why the change in sonic colourings almost seems a moot point. Her voice is such an expressive instrument that, regardless of context, you come away entranced. I do, at any rate.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lonely don't live here anymore, September 23, 2006

By	David T. Steere, Jr. (Annapolis, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kasey is back with a new cd. She's stepped farther way from her country and alt/country roots and approached the rock-tinged, singer/songwriter sound with her considerable song writing talents intact. She's accomplished this with more success and sincerity than either the Dixie Chicks or Allison Moorer did in their recent releases.

Kasey's voice is as expressive and varied as ever--she can purr and she can wail (much like one of her most important influences-Nanci Griffith). She can be sad, she can be sexy, she can be exceedingly poignant. Nash Chambers has produced again and given Kasey a backdrop of electric guitars and percussion to sing against. She never gets lost, staying front and center on every song. Acoustic instruments do make strategic and affecting appearances-keyboards, strings and a harmonica.

Kasey's favorite themes are here--delivered with particular verve and originality: feisty happiness ("Sign on the Door," the sexy "You Make Me Sing"), contemplation of what could have been ("Colour of a Carnival," "Dangerous"), dealing with the bad men in her life ("Light up a Candle," "I Got You Now"), enduring the tough times ("Hard Road" which includes a lovely duet with Bernard Fanning, "Nothing at All," and the intoxicating but strange "Railroad"), and finding a brighter tomorrow or the hope of one ("The Rain," "Surrender," and "Don't Look So Sad").

Kasey remains an original and a treasure.

"I got a sign on the door that says Lonely don't live here anymore."

16 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Over the line, October 27, 2006

By	Paul Schaffner "PFSchaffner" (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I own no fewer than 24 Kasey releases (including most of the singles, some promos and EPs, and all the Dead Ringer CDs), some of which I count among my favorite albums. But I didn't warm to this one much. Partly it's the move away from roots to sometimes boring and ugly sounds--about a third of the tracks I can barely listen to at all--; partly it's the increasing opacity of the lyrics that don't even make an effort to make sense (aka singer-songwriter syndrome); and partly it's a new prominence to her streak of calculated offensiveness. 'Edginess' is what they call it, I guess. It's still Kasey (which is why it still gets three stars), and she's very much in control of every song, but I fear where she's going.

"Sign on the Door" is the most infectiously upbeat tune, but it is also the one that for me crosses the line to unacceptable. Julie Miller (for example) can get away with comparing her God and her man ("I need somebody more than a lover / in my bed / I need somebody here with me in my head") because we know her heart is in the right place; but Kasey's sly blend of blasphemy and gratuitous anti-Americanism--'God might be king in the Land of the Free / But *you're* the Blessed Saviour, *you're* the one I need'--comes across as just nasty, and gives the whole album a sour taste. She's entering Madonna territory here and (speaking as a friend) that's not where I want to find her.