- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
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
Amazon.co.uk Review
It's perhaps the cruellest twist that in trying to distance herself from Chillout's massed ranks, East Anglian songstress Beth Orton has come up with Daybreaker, the ultimate 4 am soundtrack. It certainly wasn't intentional; Orton has never been best pleased with the "Come Down Queen" tag she acquired thanks to the hazy folk and bleery electronica of her 1996 debut, Trailer Park, and her association with dance luminaries such as the Chemical Brothers and Andrew Weatherall. Hence her third studio album steers a path to more traditional singer/songwriter territory. Yet topped with Orton's drunken croon--unintelligible, blissfully lazy and bittersweet--the unhurried country strummings of "Carmella", "God Song" and "Ted's Waltz" are still prime twilight listening. Add the moodier down-tempo moments; "Paris Train"'s haunting orchestrals, "Mount Washington"'s ambient bleeps and the dank beats of the Chemical Brothers-produced title track and it's hard to see Daybreaker doing anything other than reaffirming her "Come Down Queen" credentials. Admittedly there's a shortage of memorable tunes--nothing quite lives up to her previous best, "She Cries Your Name" or "Stolen Car". But even then the vagueness of her melodies, like the vagueness of her voice, merely adds to Daybreaker's gentle, nocturnal charm. --Dan Gennoe
Review
With her third album Beth Orton moves from her folkier roots to a more mainstream sound. As the drumbeat kicks in echoes of Dido come to the fore: is Orton heading for the same commercial market? If you really enjoyed her last two albums however don't be put off by the poppier start as she does return to more familiarform later on.
In fact this album also sees Orton heading off into a few other directions. She dons a Stetson cowboy haton "Concrete Sky" and "God's Song" with Ryan Adams (who is also credited for 'foot stomping') and Emmylou Harris guesting respectively. Title track "Daybreaker" however is nowhere near a Nashville number. I've got a strong feeling that this is the track that the Chemical Brothers got their hands dirty with. Orton appeared on their last album and here they return the favour with one of the album'sstrongest tracks. It's going to be her next single so expect to hear the remixes in the clubsverysoon.
This journey through different genres showcases the versatility of her voice, however the songs Orton excels on are the more acoustic ones where she still manages to tug at the heart-strings. One such track is "This One's Gonna Bruise" which will appeal to those who loved her version of Ellie Greenwich's "I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine" on Trailer Park.
The album is a real team effort with a long list of credits citing some familiar names, including ones from previous albums. The collaborators bring their regular trademarks; for instance William Orbit peppers the album with some of his ethereal sound effects. Ben Watt also reappears as the other vocal producer which seems a natural choice as Orton's voice does share resemblances with his Everything But The Girl partnerTracey Thorn.
With Daybreaker Orton may lose some of her hip credibility, and former fans who preferred her more stripped-down sound, but I'm betting it's going to earn her some new listeners. It's certainly grown on me. --Niky Daley
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something for a Sunday afternoon...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Daybreaker (Audio CD)
I love this album, not as much as Central Reservation - which I still think is Beth's best CD, but the highlights for me are:Daybreaker - an upbeat song, but it's sad, whilst uplifting! Overall, it's definitely worth buying. But also by Central Reservation and Trailer Park! Buy the whole lot!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous, but then its Beth!,
This review is from: Daybreaker (Audio CD)
I must say that on first listening to Daybreaker, I felt that there was nothing there that grabbed my attention - nothing that made me sit up and take note. Nothing to shove whatever I was doing onto the back burner in order to listen to it. However, that could be because i'd just listened to Gemma Hayes' stunning Night on your side for the first time immediately prior to this one, and I was slightly hungover... therefore slightly behind events.Now I've had the chance to re-listen and reconsider, I find myself in possesion of another great album from one of the best singer/songwriters around. While I still prefer Trailer Park for its rawness and the simply beautiful (semi)acoustic melodies, Daybreaker probably beats Central Reservation into third by a hair's bredth - afterall, all three are so brilliant that it is hard to put any of them down. In time this'll be crowned a masterpiece, and if it didn't just slip inside this years Mecury deadline, then i'd definately back it to make the awards shortlist next year... who knows, maybe if it did she'd win it this time!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beth Orton - Daybreaker,
By
This review is from: Daybreaker (Audio CD)
Heralded as being her most withdrawn album yet, Daybreaker proves that is all to the good as Beth Orton sweeps you into introspective bliss. She's also brought some friends along, with the Chemical Brothers, William Orbit and Ben Watt taking turns at production duty, but despite such heavy duty names, the indisputed star of the show is Orton herself. It is impossible to listen to tracks like Concrete Sky or Mount Washington without lying back with an enormous smile of contentment, while darker songs like Daybreaker and country influenced Carmella (Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris contribute frequently) make good the fact that Beth Orton is untouchable. Corrosive strings, trip hop and brass intertwine with joyous guitar and pure vocals that combine to make the something very special that is now to be expected with an Orton release. Starting with a swell of strings on Paris Train and ending on a similiarly euphoric note with the magical Thinking about Tomorrow, this is an album that is at once delicate and strong but always compelling. Lay your hands on it any way you can.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
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!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
