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Product Description
The Grammy nominated singer-songwriter from Nashville calls Hello Cruel World her "most close-to-the-bone work, written at a time when I felt absolutely fearless about telling the truth." The title is a pun on the famed exit line — a joke that, like the lovely melodies and deliciously textured arrangements framing these 11 songs — sweetens this captivating music spun from a year of turmoil. Peters is of course joined by a cast of top musicians including Will Kimbrough, Vicktor Krauss, Barry Walsh and a guesting Rodney Crowell.
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CD
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
My last encounter with Gretchen Peter's was with her 2009 recording with Tom
Russell 'One To The Heart, One To The Head', a delectable listening experience.
'Hello Cruel World' finds her alone again and on very fine form. Ms Peters
has the kind of world-weary voice which manages to combine both warmth and
pathos in equal measure. There are eleven new songs in the set some of which
stand among the best in her esteemed career. The album has an overall ambience
of melancholy and even when things get a tad more raucous, as they do on
'Woman On The Wheel', her predilection for minor keys never becomes morose.
There are some truly beautiful compositions on offer here. The tender 'Saint
Francis', co-written with Mr Russell, sports some gloriously restrained harmonies;
'Camille', delivers some jazzy late-night trumpet and painfully poignant lyrics ;
'Idlewild', a song which touches on both deeply personal and universal themes
and final track 'Little World', performed with heartrendingly focussed reverence.
The sublime 'Five Minutes', however, gets my vote for top track; the bruised candour
of its imagery and plaintive melody makes the very air stand still around it.
'Hello Cruel World' is yet another unimpeachable addition to Ms Peter's fine body of work.
Essential.
Russell 'One To The Heart, One To The Head', a delectable listening experience.
'Hello Cruel World' finds her alone again and on very fine form. Ms Peters
has the kind of world-weary voice which manages to combine both warmth and
pathos in equal measure. There are eleven new songs in the set some of which
stand among the best in her esteemed career. The album has an overall ambience
of melancholy and even when things get a tad more raucous, as they do on
'Woman On The Wheel', her predilection for minor keys never becomes morose.
There are some truly beautiful compositions on offer here. The tender 'Saint
Francis', co-written with Mr Russell, sports some gloriously restrained harmonies;
'Camille', delivers some jazzy late-night trumpet and painfully poignant lyrics ;
'Idlewild', a song which touches on both deeply personal and universal themes
and final track 'Little World', performed with heartrendingly focussed reverence.
The sublime 'Five Minutes', however, gets my vote for top track; the bruised candour
of its imagery and plaintive melody makes the very air stand still around it.
'Hello Cruel World' is yet another unimpeachable addition to Ms Peter's fine body of work.
Essential.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Just prior to Christmas 2011, Bob Harris played a track from this new album by Gretchen Peters. I was struck by that track enough to look for the album, but had to wait until the end of Jan for it to be released. However that wait was well worthwhile. On the first few listens, I was a little unsure about the last four tracks, which are very much downbeat, but repeated listening to the lyrics has lifted them in my estimations. The overall package is simply superb. Gretchen Peters as it turns out is an accomplished songwriter. Her lyrics are intelligent and thought provoking and on a par with any of today's great songwriters such as Tom Russell or Mary Gauthier. The first seven tracks are just simply stunning, and as I have already indicated the last four are good but take a few listens to get under your skin. For me however the second song, Saint Francis (Co-written with Tom Russell) is the albums centre piece both lyrically and musically. Two of the songs had me thinking about where I had heard a similar melody and after a few listens they came to me. Song No5 puts me in mind of Ode To Billy-Jo and song No 6 is similar to one written by a local N Ireland singer songwriter by the name of Junior Johnston (The title escapes me at the moment).
I can only urge you to get your hands on this superb album. One reviewer has stated that this album is essential and I do have to agree with them. If your tastes are along the line of Kathy Mattea, Mary Chapin Carpenter or even Rosanne Cash I suspect you will like Gretchen Peters. Musically this is a folk / rock mix with a slight touch of country thrown in. She is touring Ireland in March of this year and I would suspect GB would be included. I have already got a ticket to go see her in Belfast. Another reviewer has indicated that she is great live, so I am looking forward to that.
I can only urge you to get your hands on this superb album. One reviewer has stated that this album is essential and I do have to agree with them. If your tastes are along the line of Kathy Mattea, Mary Chapin Carpenter or even Rosanne Cash I suspect you will like Gretchen Peters. Musically this is a folk / rock mix with a slight touch of country thrown in. She is touring Ireland in March of this year and I would suspect GB would be included. I have already got a ticket to go see her in Belfast. Another reviewer has indicated that she is great live, so I am looking forward to that.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Glenn
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
If mature self-reflection and classic American confession is to your taste, then this is an album of both, augmented by cover-to-cover musical confidence.
I had the pleasure of seeing Gretchen Peters playing live a few years ago and she is simply a great artist. This album is distinguished by the intelligence of the lyrics and the assured strength of Peters' vocal. On playing this recently the performances had a power to make me concentrate and hear rather than just listen. I hope that deceptively pat line carries the true weight of its simple but heartfelt message.
'The Matador' is heated in its storytelling with the haunting accordion and metaphor or real killing; 'Dark Angel' is enhanced with the accompaniment of Rodney Crowell and the hardly original but convincing oxymoron of the lyric 'and if there's no hereafter/oh and there is only here/life is still a beautiful disaster', and the Bobby Gentryesque string-infused southern blues of 'Paradise Found' is as sultry as a swamp. This album is highly recommended.
I had the pleasure of seeing Gretchen Peters playing live a few years ago and she is simply a great artist. This album is distinguished by the intelligence of the lyrics and the assured strength of Peters' vocal. On playing this recently the performances had a power to make me concentrate and hear rather than just listen. I hope that deceptively pat line carries the true weight of its simple but heartfelt message.
'The Matador' is heated in its storytelling with the haunting accordion and metaphor or real killing; 'Dark Angel' is enhanced with the accompaniment of Rodney Crowell and the hardly original but convincing oxymoron of the lyric 'and if there's no hereafter/oh and there is only here/life is still a beautiful disaster', and the Bobby Gentryesque string-infused southern blues of 'Paradise Found' is as sultry as a swamp. This album is highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Absolute Gem
Let me tell you how good I think this is, I bought this cd one week, went to the concert at The Lowry in Manchester on the following Saturday, and within a month I'd bought the... Read more
Published 7 days ago by R. G. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gretchen Peters - Hello Cruel World
I have every album this lady has graced us with, and this is the crowning glory, everytime I buy her new album I cannot believe it could get better, but it does , and Hello Cruel... Read more
Published 13 days ago by mike h
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent album by one of the US's best singer songwriters.
I had the great pleasure to see Gretchen perform live in Bristol a few weeks ago before, as it turned out, a packed house. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Michael Wadge
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hello Cruel World
Bought as a present - it's fine. Nothing more to say just filling out all the words necessary to be able to submit feedback
Published 2 months ago by davvi
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gretchen peters gets better
A great album from a great singer gretchen has put a lot of work into this and it shows, a must buy.
Published 3 months ago by baz443
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning.
I bought this album because there was a good chance that I was going to see Gretchen Peters at a festival I was attending in the summer. Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. Sweeney
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gretchen fan
I have a number of Gretchen albums and although this one was not as good as her other albums I would recommend you buy it.
Published 4 months ago by ian cowen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Album of the year 2012?
A bit early for the annual accolades, I know, but this is an album of such outstanding musicianship and lyricism that I would be surprised if another surpassed it this year. Read more
Published 13 months ago by F Arnold
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
This is the first Gretchen Peters album that I have bought. I therefore can't say how it compares with her other works, but I love this one from start to finish. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Dr D
5.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD PRODUCT
PURCHASED THIS FOR MY HUSBAND ON THE STRENGTH OF HEARING ONE OF HER SONGS ON THE RADIO. HE WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THIS CD.
Published 14 months ago by BuntyJ
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