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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
New Favorite is the first album released by Alison Krauss and Union Station since their role in the megahit soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?--an album that's done more to advance the cause of bluegrass since Bill Monroe first conjured the music out of the hills of western Kentucky. While their previous full album, Forget About It, showcased the more contemporary part of Krauss's musical equation and the O Brother soundtrack spotlighted the more traditional, New Favorite combines the approaches in balancing the softer sounds with the rougher-edged material. Krauss' soft and intimate vocals particularly shine on the soulful title tune of love gone cold. However, it's mostly the older sounds that you'll remember from this largely sombre album, one that telegraphs uncertainty, doom, and the promise of bloodshed throughout much of the repertoire. On "Momma Cried", a song about a child-snatching that tore a family asunder, Dan Tyminski's tenor vocals rise above a wailing dobro, a driving banjo and a thumping, anchoring bass to convey unspeakable pain. Too many of the pop-minded songs fall flat in comparison, but although this may not be the group's best effort overall, no other crossover bluegrass band begins to meet their mark either musically or emotionally, as New Favorite so amply shows. --Alanna Nash
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A complete classic,
This review is from: New Favorite (Audio CD)
I am so pleased I bought this record.I saw this band on TV, having inadvertently tuned into the Country Music awards late one night. The first act I saw perform live on stage was Alison Krauss and Union Station. They played Lucky One, I listened and was hooked! Amidst the glitz and pretence inherent with American awards ceremonies shone this band as one true, honest and highly skilled. Shining also was their modesty with Alison Krauss capturing my attention from the first note. I bought the album for my girlfriend. A treat which goes up and down in tempo and style yet maintains its sheer quality throughout. Its one of those albums you end up showing off to all your friends because you discovered it first! Everyone I've played it to have also loved it and have since asked me for its title...they want it! I think you would have to be an individual of little heart or soul and lacking almost completely in personality to not like this record. One that will see the inside of my CD player for many years to come.
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
IS THIS THE PERFECT COUNTRY ALBUM?,
By
This review is from: New Favorite (Audio CD)
Let me run my opinion up the flagpole before I start, and say that I think "New Favorite" is arguably the best and most important new folk recording of the new millennium to date. That's a sweeping claim - you'll have to decide for yourself whether I've justified it.Firstly, performances. Ms Krauss was a virtuoso bluegrass fiddle player by her teens and on the strength of her current form she would by now be a legendary country musician even if she'd never sung a note - but amazingly her singing has surpassed even her instrumental virtuosity. Pure, tender and with perfect phrasing, she may now have the best living voice in any branch of country. Add to that the increasingly famous voice and guitar of Dan Tyminski (justly Grammied for his lead singing role on "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"). Stir in the ever-breathtaking slide dobro of Jerry Douglas and three-part harmonies to bring you out in goosebumps. . . and you have one of the best sounding albums of all time in any genre. Secondly, compositions. Of the 13 songs on the album, only one fails to sound like an instant classic. Of the other 12, it is difficult to know which is best - my opinion changes from day to day. The lyrics are as good as the tunes, and the new arrangements of two traditional folk songs are as fresh and rivetting as the new material. Thirdly, presentation. In one sense this is an album of two halves, one set of hushed introspective ballads and one set of traditional up-tempo bluegrass workouts. But the way the songs are sequenced, the album never gets set in an atmospheric rut - it remorselessly takes you up and down from the first note to the last. The end result is more than just a collection of 13 songs - it's a manifesto from the strongest country group act of this generation that bluegrass is going to break out into the mainstream (an agenda that "O Brother...", "Down From The Mountain" and so on are in on). This is high musical politics, and the fact that "New Favourite" earned three Grammies (best bluegrass album, and best country song/best group performance for "Lucky One") alongside the closely related awards for "O Brother..." (in which AKUS are of course heavily featured) is a sign that the strategy is working. Fourthly, integrity. There's no relentless glitzy studio production, just beautifully crisp detailed sound. No toadying guest appearances to broaden the album's market artifically. No electronically sequenced break-beat percussion (in fact there's hardly any percussion at all, but the soft numbers don't need it and the fast numbers pound along like an express train without it). Performance, composition, presentation, integrity. A vibrant cross-fertilisation of bluegrass and new country. Modern production with traditional values. An album like this is a one-off - we could have to wait a decade for anything else in the same class.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful surprise!,
By Anna (anna_sandfield@hotmail.com) (Birmingham UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: New Favorite (Audio CD)
Firstly I would like to say that I am totally gripped by this album and that I would recommend it to anyone interested in traditional music, country or folk. I received this album as a surprise Xmas gift and would have not chosen it independently, however I instantly took a shine to the lighter tracks where Alison sings lead, like 'Let Me Touch You For a While' and 'The Lucky One' (though more accessible these are nonetheless touching, quality songs). I am growing increasingly fond of the rougher edged sound of Dan Tyminskis lead vocals, though I found these tracks more difficult intially. I would suggest this album to anyone prepared to give a chance to this pleasant mix of sounds and styles.
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