Pretty Little Stranger

Joan Osborne

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 14, 2006)
• Original Release Date: November 14, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B000ICLRAM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,520 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Though Joan Osborne has referred to this as "my version of a country record," the music is likely to find more favor in coffee shops and on NPR than with honky-tonks and the Grand Ole Opry. It conjures comparisons with Rosanne Cash's artistry after her country hitmaking days, as if Osborne came to Nashville to make the sort of music that Cash left Nashville to make. While it may not achieve the commercial success that Osborne enjoyed with her popular breakthrough, "One of Us," it's the most consistently compelling album of her career. Produced by Steve Buckingham (Dolly Parton), with harmony support from Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, and Rodney Crowell, Osborne mixes six strong originals with six choice covers, rarely overpowering the material through displays of vocal technique, as she occasionally has in the past. Much of the material deals with the aftermath of relationships (including one with a woman on "After Jane"), with results ranging from a mixture of resilience and vulnerability on the title track through the insistent groove of "Who Divided" and the eternal optimism of "Till I Get It Right." There's also a folkish rendition of the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace" that Osborne makes her own, and some live-wire slide guitar from Sonny Landreth on "Dead Roses." The closest she comes to classic country is a bittersweet reading of Kris Kristofferson's "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends," while the closing balladry of "When the Blue Hour Comes" (with co-writer Rodney Crowell on harmonies) is pure heartbreak. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Minimal Funky Joan, December 5, 2006

By	heavymanners "jahlives" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

There's a direct connect between what Joan did on the Funk Brothers' "Standing in the Shadow of Motown" film and this new album.

It's bare.

No frills.

Backbeats to die for, even on the so-called country tunes.

And thankfully, none of the over-production by engineers that compromised her several previous works. (Send the orchestra home, thanks.)

Actually, I wish Joan would just sing the phone book, or Dixie cotton field slave songs, or just scat any Robert Johnson guitar riff - "a capella."

That would be the ideal venue for this woman's roots soulful spirit.

Less is always more with Joan.

The music industry moguls have to be truly reviled for not promoting her when she had her moment....

But this new CD is testimony that Joan's still one of us....

When is the tour behind this album happening?

29 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tepid set from stellar artist, November 20, 2006

By	Mike S. Smutny (Brooklyn Park, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I hate to give this a negative review because by many standards this is a decent recording. The songs are adequate, the arrangements are solid if uninspired, the song choice is at least thoughtful, and Joan can sing out of the phone book and still sound good. But...this is so far below what she's capable of and what she excels at that it is a serious disapointment to fans of the swampy back woods blues of "Relish", still one of my favorite CD's. There's nothing here to rival "St. Teresa", "Ladder", "Spider Web", "Right Hand Man", or even "One of Us" which I never need to hear ever again.

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where'd Joan go?, November 14, 2006

By	MtnRider - See all my reviews

I really miss the intensity of Joan's voice on previous albums. This is more thoughtful, pensive. Less heartbroken or fired up. I always catch myself thinking about her earlier music, "how does so much soul & heart come out of such a tiny little woman?" The gritty voice, the emotion, the imperfections.

Well, not to knock this CD, it's good stuff, just not what I love about Joan's music.