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Introduction
 
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Introduction [Extra tracks]

~ Alex Parks
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
Price: £4.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Introduction + Honesty + Fires
Price For All Three: £18.94

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  • This item: Introduction ~ Alex Parks

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  • Honesty ~ Alex Parks

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Product details

  • Audio CD (24 Nov 2003)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Extra tracks
  • Label: Polydor
  • ASIN: B0000WSSDE
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17,248 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in this category:

    #76 in  Music > Bargain CDs > Reality TV

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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.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Maybe That's What It Takes 3:54£0.69
Listen  2. Cry 3:49£0.69
Listen  3. Dirty Pretty Words 3:07£0.69
Listen  4. Imagine 3:13£0.69
Listen  5. Not Your Average Kind Of Girl 3:36£0.69
Listen  6. Mad World 3:03£0.69
Listen  7. Everybody Hurts 5:43£0.69
Listen  8. Beautiful 3:59£0.69
Listen  9. Stones & Feathers 3:06£0.69
Listen10. Here Comes The Rain Again 3:20£0.69
Listen11. Yellow 4:30£0.69
Listen12. Wandering Soul 3:31£0.69
Listen13. Over Conscious 3:37£0.69

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Winning Fame Academy is no guarantee of long-term musical success, so champion Alex Parks wisely lays down the basis for a proper career on Introduction. By cowriting over half of the 13 songs here, she aims to be a bona fide singer-songwriter and not just some karaoke copyist. Of course, there are cover versions--market forces demand it--but they're not just grinning caricatures of the originals. REM's "Everybody Hurts" becomes a rousing torch-ballad, while a sparse, piano-led take on Tears for Fears' "Mad World" draws out all the song's melancholy misanthropy. Less successful are uninspired attempts at John Lennon's "Imagine" and Coldplay's "Yellow", and an inappropriately jaunty shot at Eurythmics' "Here Comes the Rain Again". Really, it's Parks' own tracks that work best. "Dirty Pretty Words" (copenned, like "Cry" and "Wandering Soul", with Boo Hewerdine) with its crunching, filthy guitar is fem-rock from Alanis Morissette's top drawer. "Stone and Feathers" is a storming vocal performance bound for gay-club glory, while the opening "Maybe That's What It Takes" is an orchestral feast of emotion. Parks has far higher ambitions than the likes of Will Young and Gareth Gates--she is aiming both for hits and credibility. She'll get the former, for sure. The latter will come only with time and struggle. --Dominic Wills


CD Description

This is the debut album from 2003's Fame Academy winner Alex Parks. Showcasing her unique raspy vocals mixed with her blend of contemporary rock and pop, the album features seven original tracks penned by Parks herself and six covers including REM's 'Everybody Hurts', Coldplay's 'Yellow' and Tears For Fears' 'Mad World'. Also included is the debut single 'Maybe That's What It Takes'.

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Customer Reviews

87 Reviews
5 star:
 (54)
4 star:
 (16)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (7)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (87 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Seems almost too good to be true, 16 Nov 2003
By A Customer
Alex Parks is not the typical winner or even participant of a pop talent show. (I think the two runner-up contestants were very much the stereotypical talent show hopefuls - nice singing, cute, and eminently forgettable.) I didn't follow Fame Academy from the start since I find such shows usually rather annoying, but I happened to catch her performing on one of the last shows, and was mesmerized immediately. She has such a touching and unique quality, that you almost wonder if she is too good to be true.

I sort of wish they had not rushed her debut CD, and given her (or the people surrounding her) enough time to come up with a CD of all original material. Still, this girl seems to have an uncanny ability to make a song sound like her own. When I first heard her singing Here Comes The Rain Again, I honestly had to think a bit before being able to remember that it had been originally sung by the Eurythmics. I know that sounds daft, but Alex Parks had taken over the song that much. The first single is an original song and it's a real winner.

Believe me I am not a typical teenaged Fame Academy fan, and I'm looking forward very much to how this young woman's career progresses.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Alex is a Godsend!, 24 Nov 2003
By Andrew H. (Cambridge, U.K.) - See all my reviews
I teach classical music at Cambridge and have little enthusiam in pop music. But when I listened to this CD of Alex Parks bought by my wife, I was overwhelmed by its aesthetic values. The pitch and tone are flawless, her interpretation of some of the titles is sensational(e.g. Yellow.), and her emotions touched my nerves. Apart from pure academic appraisal, you can feel the unique character of this artist in a sense that she's not desparate for recognition and fame like many other young performers do. Given the age and life experiences of this young woman I don't know where her emotion comes from, and I doubt very much she has at this stage the maturity to completely realize her gifts in music (just like a 4 year old Mozart performing in front of the Prussian Royal family without knowing how shocking it was!) If she is kept in a right track, the limit of her future development is the sky! As a music lover and teacher I highly recommend this CD.
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99 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An 'Introduction' to great songwriting, 16 Nov 2003
By Scentnoodle (Leeds, UK) - See all my reviews
This is an amazing debut album from Alex Parks. It is only six weeks since she was announced as the (somewhat reluctant) winner of Fame Academy 2003 and yet the self-penned tracks on "introduction" sound like they have been months in the making. From the completely addictive "Maybe that's what it takes" to the rocky "Dirty, pretty words" via the trip hoppy loveliness of "Over conscious", this is superb listening. Plus for the die hard Fame Academy fans, there are some wonderful covers including the brilliant version of "Mad World" and the show-closing reworking of "Imagine".

I assure you, if you buy "Introduction", you will not be disappointed: you will be left wanting to hear more

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic voice.

I do not watch reality TV shows and so when I first saw Alex Parks perform 'Cry' in her fantastic video, I was totally unbiased and unfamiliar, but this song and video had... Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2007 by FAMOUS NAME

5.0 out of 5 stars 18 months and still playing this wonderfull girl's 1st album
My title says it all. I have been listening to Alex's first 'Introduction' album since it came out and it is the first of 6 CDs in my car that I listen to when I am driving... Read more
Published on 31 Jul 2005 by Andrew Letchford

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
I bought this album with high hopes - foolish I know to base my expectations on a reality TV series, but there we go. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2004 by N BATTERSBY

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing new voice
when i saw alex on bbc prime i sudennly fall in love with her VOICE!strong and also delicate!amazing! Read more
Published on 14 May 2004 by mike mex

5.0 out of 5 stars Alex's album is Fantastic and she is going to be a Superstar
I give this album 5 stars. The 1st song of her album, Maybe That's What It Takes, was a great single to kick off her career. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2004 by Thomas

3.0 out of 5 stars Alex Parks - a great talent discovered!
I only give this album a 3 star rating because I feel that Alex Parks is reall talented with great vocal and songwriting ability but the thing I dont like about the album is there... Read more
Published on 29 Feb 2004 by Deano's

5.0 out of 5 stars Great CD
Fantastic Cd. Alex's own tracks are just beautiful and the lyrics are so well written. The versions of Yellow, Beautiful and Everybody Hurts are just amazing..
Published on 25 Feb 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic album from an amazing new vocal talent
Alex Parks is an amazing new vocal talent possessing a distinctive rich husky voice and a an almost matchless ability to convey emotion in her performance. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2004 by Joe Briggs

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful!
As a previous reviewer has said this is pretentious. The latest song especially has nothing going for it.....cry? Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
When I just heard of Alex Parks I thought she had a masive voice, Introduction proves that she can't only sing, but the songs she have writen herself is as brilliant as her... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2004 by buzg

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