Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Review
Alela Diane’s debut album, The Pirate’s Gospel (self-released in 2004, commercially released in 2007), was a collection of vivid snapshots, musings on life, love and mortality, and contemporary fables that seemed to tap way back into collective memory.
2009’s To Be Still was cut from similar cloth, but it also suggested that Diane’s voice – sweet and strong with a hint of a yell and an expressive catch in the throat – could benefit from being pitched against something more than a spartan guitar backing. This is precisely what happens here with her band Wild Divine, which includes husband Tom Bevitori and father Tom Menig, both on guitars. Producer and engineer Scott Litt – who has worked with Nirvana and R.E.M. - was impressed enough by the demos of this album to emerge from semi-retirement and get back behind the mixing desk.
Diane hails from northern Californian’s Gold Rush country, and it feels appropriate that her music is more brooding and introspective than the expansive, sunny sound that one habitually associates with the south of the state. The opener To Begin is a case in point, lyrically based on a session of hypnosis, with its hypnagogic observations like "Her dress is filigree / She tells me all her secrets then I’m back on the street," and the conundrum, "Know you the colour of the end of the end of the end?"
Although the music sounds fresh, there’s a feeling that old American folk forms have seeped into it. The two Toms weave a melodic mesh of picked and slide guitar on White Horse, which, with Jason Merculief’s syncopated drumming to the fore, invites comparisons with The Band.
As well as having a technically impressive voice, Diane wrenches out her song-stories from somewhere deep, investing even her most cryptic lyrics, like Elijah, with emotional heft. This is a vivid selection of songs underscored by a bittersweet poetry. When Diane muses on darker topics like love growing cold and fading away, there’s an energy to her words so that even a line like "Death is a hard act to follow" sounds wry and defiant, rather than mawkish.
--Mike Barnes
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
CD
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Anon
Format:Audio CD
I've never bothered to write a review online before but for some reason I feel I have to stick up for this album, which seems to be getting pretty lukewarm reviews generally. I can't understand it. It may not have as many 'stand out' tracks as To Be Still, but as an album it's more consistent, the song writing is more mature, the lyrics more focussed and the group performances far superior. I personally found the orchestration on To Be Still a bit generic and incidental to the songs, like commercial window-dressing. Here the sound is much more integrated and the production is ace. This is up there with the likes of Neil Young and Richard Thompson in my book. Brilliant.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By P. J. Sharp
Format:Audio CD
Not as good as 'to be still' but then what is? Sounds like country rock Dylan or country rock era bonnie prince Billy, do a country rock version of Alela Diane................. Very good indeed, not sure what some of the newspaper reviews were on about, very nice, mellow and uplifting.
Format:Audio CD
Alela Diane's second album "Alela Diane & Wild Divine" is a great follow up to the Debut album "To Be Still" which was released in Feb 2009. Her powerful vocal has great sound against her band Wild Divine, who bring an altogether different sound to this second album, somewhat more punchy yet still tender.
This album has less of a hook than others in the genre but this is a strong and dependable second album from the girl from Northern California's gold mines.
There is a hint of Laura Marling here somewhere, with that gentle catch in the throat that spins an emotion into the lyric that is both clever and astringent, the darker tone through this album keeps you mindful of a grounding in her work which can sometimes feel ethereal and optimistic, like a chain phrases like "Death is a hard act to follow" keep you on the shadowy side of the folk line.
This album has less of a hook than others in the genre but this is a strong and dependable second album from the girl from Northern California's gold mines.
There is a hint of Laura Marling here somewhere, with that gentle catch in the throat that spins an emotion into the lyric that is both clever and astringent, the darker tone through this album keeps you mindful of a grounding in her work which can sometimes feel ethereal and optimistic, like a chain phrases like "Death is a hard act to follow" keep you on the shadowy side of the folk line.
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've just listened to this album whilst on a flight coming home and think it's up there with the best of the female singers around at the moment. Not heard her other albums but as Country rock is my thing (or one of them at least) I'm now buying the album.
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Much more of a rock feel than her previous two albums but showing the the lady has definitely got talent and staying power.
The haunting and oft time melancholic lyrics of the previous albums are still in evidence but are given a more up beat approach.
Still I think one of the outstanding artists of recent years and her music is the only thing I could thank Bob Harris for.
His playing of Pirates Gospel almost excuses his banal and self publicising radio career.
The haunting and oft time melancholic lyrics of the previous albums are still in evidence but are given a more up beat approach.
Still I think one of the outstanding artists of recent years and her music is the only thing I could thank Bob Harris for.
His playing of Pirates Gospel almost excuses his banal and self publicising radio career.
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
-her songwriting was of the same calibre as her voice. I'm not saying she's a bad song writer, far from it, she's more than competent. Her voice, however, is simply magnificent. I could and would listen to her singing almost anything except opera and rap. The CD on which she was work for hire -Headless Heroes- is brilliant, as is her interpretation of other people's songs. As far as this CD is concerned, it might be her weakest so far because, while pleasant enough, the songs aren't anywhere near earth-shaking.
As for those reviewers who have criticised this album for daring to include the odd bit of electric guitar, I can only conclude that their taste in music is so narrow that they are in danger of vanishing up their own fundament. There's nothing wrong at all with this album except that it underachieves and doesn't come close to being the best that this truly remarkable singer is capable of. That said, I'm still playing it an awful lot.
As for those reviewers who have criticised this album for daring to include the odd bit of electric guitar, I can only conclude that their taste in music is so narrow that they are in danger of vanishing up their own fundament. There's nothing wrong at all with this album except that it underachieves and doesn't come close to being the best that this truly remarkable singer is capable of. That said, I'm still playing it an awful lot.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download
I love the quality of this woman's voice and she has certainly written some great songs. But even so I have to say this new CD is really a bit of a disappointment. As a number of newspaper reviewers have said, it's over-produced and, with some obvious exceptions, the quality of her voice - and so for me the real sense of the songs - gets a bit lost in the mix on a lot of this CD. There are obvious exceptions - The Wind, Of Many Colors and Heartless Highway being my own choice of tracks that are really worth having. For anyone who was really impressed with Alela Diane's skills as a singer/songwriter able to deliver work of the quality of what she did on previous CDs and working with Alina Hardin, this is going to be a bit of a let-down. But if you're looking for a new and improved Sheryl Crow ....
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By William J. Walker
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It was to my great annoyance I missed news of the release of this album as this would normally be one of the few artists whose output would go on pre-order rather than `wait and see'.
I discovered her first album, by chance, soon after it was released and was blown away. I will buck the trend and say I found `To Be Still' a minor misstep as, despite the fact it contains her best songs to date, the production and tone of the album felt wrong (try and hear the same songs on the `Songs Whistled Through White Teeth' EP, if you can, before dismissing my comments). Of course `To Be Still' was released on Rough Trade so got significantly bigger push than the first album and thus a lot of new fans (hurray!). So the backlash begins here.
I read one hilarious review which suggested that a `glossy pop sheen' had been added to her music. Well I suppose if they think Dylan added a glossy pop sheen to his music by plugging in then they must be right, after all `Like a Rolling Stone' was a sizeable hit (sell-out!).
I was relieved to find the reports of 'bland poppiness' were completely wrong and pleasantly surprised to find that this is, possibly, Alela's most accomplished and balanced album to date. The production is excellent and unless you are against the intrusion of electric instruments or a `full band sound' on principle then you will find an album of strong songs that retains a great deal of the folky influence and feel of it's predecessors (I would suggest that four or five of the tracks would actually slot seamlessly into the running order of 'To Be Still'). If I had to compare it anything I would say there is a touch of "Neil Young" or "Dylan and The Band" in some of the arrangements. It almost goes without saying that her voice is as great as ever.... Read more ›
I discovered her first album, by chance, soon after it was released and was blown away. I will buck the trend and say I found `To Be Still' a minor misstep as, despite the fact it contains her best songs to date, the production and tone of the album felt wrong (try and hear the same songs on the `Songs Whistled Through White Teeth' EP, if you can, before dismissing my comments). Of course `To Be Still' was released on Rough Trade so got significantly bigger push than the first album and thus a lot of new fans (hurray!). So the backlash begins here.
I read one hilarious review which suggested that a `glossy pop sheen' had been added to her music. Well I suppose if they think Dylan added a glossy pop sheen to his music by plugging in then they must be right, after all `Like a Rolling Stone' was a sizeable hit (sell-out!).
I was relieved to find the reports of 'bland poppiness' were completely wrong and pleasantly surprised to find that this is, possibly, Alela's most accomplished and balanced album to date. The production is excellent and unless you are against the intrusion of electric instruments or a `full band sound' on principle then you will find an album of strong songs that retains a great deal of the folky influence and feel of it's predecessors (I would suggest that four or five of the tracks would actually slot seamlessly into the running order of 'To Be Still'). If I had to compare it anything I would say there is a touch of "Neil Young" or "Dylan and The Band" in some of the arrangements. It almost goes without saying that her voice is as great as ever.... Read more ›
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
present for a friend
This was a birthday present, and very well received . . . . . . . . . . .
Published 1 month ago by kml
3.0 out of 5 stars
Where has simplicity gone?
I have been at two concerts by Alela Diane in Brussels, one three years ago and the second only yesterday. I regret that she is now surrounded by five instrumentalists. Read more
Published on 2 May 2011 by matilda special, Belgium
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
