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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Biography in song, November 3, 2007
These past few months have created a glut of gorgeous music much to the dismay of my credit card. I've vowed--due to space and ecological considerations--to start buying singles instead of whole CDs, but "Awakening" is very much worth having in its entirety. Besides, in this case, the samples are way not enough to get the feel of the entire song.
This isn't easy music to listen to. Melissa Etheridge has learned some hard lessons in her life and
"The Kingdom of Heaven" is probably the hardest to listen to. It's Etheridge's cut-to-the-bone take on the war. So, is "What Happens Tomorrow." There's no 'us' in them.
But what Melissa Etheridge is doing best on "Awakening" is sharing much of the deepest parts of herself--both good advice and hard-fought lessons learned. It takes a lot of guts to do this, but the lady's one of the bravest and strongest in the business.
"An Unexpected Rain" apologizes for her regrets--the lover who tried suicide because of their breakup, the meaningless encounters. It takes a strong person to make those kinds of admissions public in the hopes to make others stronger.
"Heroes and Friends" is the message that you need to continue to dream and try despite pain and failure:
You can't take a trip if you don't first say goodbye
You can't find a star if you don't look in the sky
You can't find the light if you don't know where the dark is
"The Universe Listened" is probably the strongest song (we don't start living til we've almost died). This haunting story song will stay with you for a while.
I could go on writing about this CD for pages, but what it all comes down to is what you feel when you hear the music. Listen, but be prepared to be swept into the songs and possibly shed tears.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Melissa's "career" album, September 27, 2007
Simply the finest work ever from this multi-talented singer/songwriter/musician. There is an ease and depth to the lyrics that is stunning. No didactic preaching, simply one woman telling her story and urging us all to wake up. Ably supported by her band, in particular guitarist Phillip Sayce, Etheridge croons, wails and soothes through an amazing song cycle. Intensely personal yet universal at the same time, this could only have been created by someone who's taken the best and worst life has to offer and come out the other side even stronger.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Concept Album - And That's Okay!, December 9, 2007
From my title you might surmise that I'm not real big on concept albums. I like the concept of concept albums, but in execution I usually end up thinking they're more annoying than anything else. The Awakening is definitely an exception.
I've been a Melissa fan ever since I first saw her riveting performance of "Bring Me Some Water" on the Grammy's when she was up for best new artist. But even though I knew she'd released a new album I hadn't heard anything about it yet. Then I saw The Awakening for sale at the grocery store for $10 and thinking, "Hot damn!" I snatched up a copy. I then did what I usually do with a new CD, stuck it in the CD player in my car and listened to it the next few times I was driving. Don't do that with this album. I kept going, "Huh?" and scrambling for the cover to look at the song list to try and make sense of what was going on, which isn't good when driving! This one you'll want to put on at home, get comfy, and really listen to it uninterrupted.
My initial responses were things like, "Hmmm...'California' has a catchy tune, but it seems kinda like a retread, is this album gonna be a dud?", "What's with all these short little ditties?" and, "Am I losing my mind or are we on a different song now?" So after getting to the end of the album it was clear this wasn't a normal CD and I immediately played it through again with adjusted expectations and a more open mind. (Then after the second listen I finally read the liner notes, which of course helped further.)
After my second listen through I was thinking, "Hey this is pretty good stuff." By my fourth listen I was totally blown away. I especially like "I've Loved You Before" because I dig the whole loving through many lifetimes idea and the lyrics are quite moving. I like that she's mixed up music styles a bit more, with the really nice bluesy guitar on "An Unexpected Rain" and the playful, country flavor of "Threesome". There's also some very nice electric guitar work on several songs. "The Kingdom of Heaven" is probably my second favorite song on the album so far, quite powerful. The ending suite of songs is totally amazing and gets better each time you listen.
The Awakening is a very strong album with several songs that I'd consider to be classic Melissa in style and content, then moving through to the more political and spiritual stuff. Somehow they do all end up going well together and even the short interlude pieces add a little something special. Breakdown and Skin are still hanging on as my two favorite Melissa albums, but The Awakening is making a strong bid for favored status and is arguably her best album to date. Those who have called it brilliant and a masterpiece aren't wrong. The Awakening wouldn't be a good choice for a Melissa neophyte to start with I don't think, but for any fan it should definitely be added to the collection.
I'm finding it interesting that, despite how initially enraptured I was with Melissa's debut album, it's her later albums that are my favorites and the ones I listen to with the most frequency. Most artists for which I have multiple albums it's their early music that first engaged me that remains hard to beat and what I most prefer to listen to. But Melissa has been totally bucking that trend.
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~ Annie Lennox
~ Bruce Springsteen
~ KT Tunstall
~ Joni Mitchell
by Melissa Etheridge 
