Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than A Page Turner, 18 May 2008
A couple of EPs notwithstanding 'A Book Like This'
is ostensibly the Stone siblings' debut album and
both they and Australia have every reason to be proud.
This highly original and talented son and daughter of
Newport are very fine writer/performers indeed.
In a two-disk marathon the laid-back folksy sheen
belies songwriting of suprising variety and complexity.
Strong melodies, shuffling rhythms and amusingly naive lyrics
keep us generally in sunny, optimistic territory.
Vocal duties are fairly evenly shared. Ms Stone's
diction and intonation scoring somewhat higher than her
brother's on The Wolf's Quirk-O-Meter (Ms Gudmundsdottir
comes occasionally to mind).
Highpoints include 'Stranger' - the winning harmonies are
really beautiful.
The simplicity of 'Soldier' with it's sparse arrangement
and cracked vocal charmingly barmy.
'Wasted's laconically lilting melody a real winner.
'Jewels and Gold' a strong contender for top track (Great Harmonica).
'Horse and Cart' has splendid clarinet and whistling.
(So good to hear that someone can still be bothered to whistle !)
'Mango Tree' is as close to a good stomp as this album delivers.
'Chocolate and Cigarettes' has enormous pathos in it's exposed,
minimal voice/piano arrangement.
'Heart Full Of Wine' a beautiful evocation of lonliness and longing.
'Babylon', current favorite for me but doubtless you will find your own.
Instrumental accompaniment is deftly judged and complimentary throughout.
The judicious use of strings is an occasional delight.
All things told this is a remarkable debut.
Confident, single-minded (well, as single-minded as two minds can be) and memorable.
Highly Recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
summertime... and the listening is easy..., 29 Jul 2008
With every summer comes my annual urge to melt down with some new laid back tunes to try and imagine I'm in a sun-drenched meadow rather than rain-drenched suburbia. Following some good reviews my aerial tuned in to Antipodean siblings Angus & Julia Stone so it's on with the shades and out with the tartan rug.
Tender melodies abound, brushed drums tumble along lazily, pianos tinkle without intrusion, guitar strings are picked and strummed gently, harmonicas are sucked languidly, and words float by wistfully... it's all very, y'know, niiiiiiice...
Vocals are evenly split: Angus possesses a voice so light and airy it's in danger of floating away in the gentle breeze created by his subtle acoustic strumalongs. "The Beast" and "Just a Boy" are just crying out to be played in a beach-bound convertible; "Jewels and Gold" too, possessing a killer melody with a beautifully blissed out early Neil Young vibe; "Bella" is loved up, "Silver Coin" and "Stranger" lovelorn, but the mood is consistently relaxed, though occasionally verging on inertia.
Julia's vocal is a different proposition entirely. Pitched somewhere between Björk and Stevie Nicks, she sounds like the little girl lost - only to be found smoking with the big boys behind the bike sheds. Initially it's a challenging style, mainly because her intonation is all a bit contrived. However, the more you listen, the less the pretensions tend to grate, and to be honest her vocal approach fits in quite well with her more quirky offerings. Her songs are occasionally peppered with histrionic la-de-das and vibrato-soaked vocal leaps but again the mood is fairly light, despite the often naïve doubts and fears expressed (with a certain amount of lethargic laissez-faire, mind) in the lyrics: see in particular "Here We Go Again" and "Wasted". It's not all stoned musings though. We do get the skewed waltz of "Soldier" and "Another Day" plus the swoon and sweep of "Hollywood" to counter the beatific nonchalance of the rest of the album.
The cd/dvd package is a nice little artefact, a hard backed tome with bound pages containing illustrations and hand-written lyrics. But should we judge "A Book Like This" by its cover? (Ah come on now, how could I resist...?) The artwork does seem to reflect and complement the songs - child-like, winsome, and appealing in a hippy-dippy-sunny-day-reflective kind of way. But it is debatable whether there's enough substance to Angus & Julia Stone's perfectly agreeable creation to keep the listener coming back for more. It's like sitting in the sunshine knowing that the dark clouds will be along to smother it and you'll soon be looking to the next ray of light to satisfy your needs. But I think for now I'm perfectly happy to lounge in its warmth. Pass the factor 50...
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Hit and miss, occasionally bland, but mostly charming, 8 Jul 2008
Firstly, the package is gorgeous; more of a little hardback book than a CD!
This is the talented young Australian siblings' debut CD, and whilst it's no classic, there a number of worthwhile tunes here, mostly the ones with Julia's affecting delivery. It's a beautifully enunciated voice, which seems to have its own accent. I'll resist the temptation to make comparisons. The production throughout is excellent, clean and rounded, even if the instrumentation is too undecorated at times.
Favourites: Here We Go Again, Wasted, Another Day
Looking forward this duo's next release, I predict great things ahead.
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~ Angus & Julia Stone
~ Angus & Julia Stone
~ Fleet Foxes
~ Bon Iver
~ Elbow
See all 13 tracks on this disc
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