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| Track list: 1. Fidelity 2. Better 3. Samson 4. On The Radio 5. Field Below 6. Hotel Song 7. Après Moi 8. 20 Years Of Snow 9. That Time 10. Edit 11. Lady 12. Summer In The City Running time: 47 minutes Released 2006 |
I got into Regina Spektor late - Far too late - and it wasn't until Live in London that I really fell for her work. Picking up her other albums I found her maddeningly inconsistent. When she is good she is wonderful, but I find there is a tendency there to go weird and awful too often.
Some of my favourite tracks originate on this album but I am only really familiar with the live versions. I am looking forward to this, but with a certain trepidation. How many hits? How many duds?
I often think of Regina Spektor as a female counterpart Ben Folds - and as such someone I really should have got into sooner: a slightly nerdy piano-driven genius. They should collaborate more (I am aware of one track which will come up when I start mainlining Folds in a few discs' time); my nerdgasm would be massive. Anyhow, Fidelity is one of those tracks that I love from Live in London, and I find this recording quite hard to listen to as a result. The balance between voice and instrument seems to be wrong and there is not quite the impact in the singing. The song is the kind of number that sends my mind racing all over the place to my detriment, but it is such a beautiful sentiment that I would forgive it much more.
My impression is that this album may be her most consistently good work but I am basic that off the 5 I know well. There are 7 other tracks here that I have not paid much - indeed enough - attention to in the past. Better is the first of those. It is likeable enough here but it leaves me with the feeling I need to hear it a few more times if it is going to grow on me. This project and the culling of tracks that are not up to standard is good for getting me to pay attention to the vast array of tunes that I have accumulated, but it is not really very good for making informed decisions. These days I find that new material needs time to bed in and build an impression, being better with each listen until I am familiar enough to make more informed judgements. Still, there has to be something there to warrant returning more than once.
I digress about that because Samson and On the Radio are both also on Live... and second nature to me now as that disc is a regular when I am driving. On the Radio in particular offers a very simple pleasure, plinky in places it has a childlike nature to it that is really appealing. In both cases I prefer the live version, though I guess that is only to be expected given the level of familiarity I have with them. Field Below is new to me (though I have apparently scrobbled it a few times before), unrecognised. I rather like the soft singing, but the jingly nature of the piano in places is off-putting. In all honesty I find the track too slow for my current mood, sapping the energy I had to start this piece. I think, though, that in other circumstances I would really appreciate it.
OK, so that recording I like. Hotel Song is nicely put together and the differences from the live version are interesting this time rather than slightly flat. A punchier rhythm/percussion is a nice touch but it is the muted backing to Spektor's voice that adds depth which I really like, it sounds like a choir but could be any number of other things. It is a little too soft for me to find it distinct but I don't mind that. Après Moi is a song that I don't overly like most of, but it has always had magic to it when she starts singing in Russian - I believe I saw somewhere that it is quoting a Russian author or poet, but I don't recall... I find it fascinating and incredible to listen to despite not understanding a thing. Her inflections and voice help, but largely it is, I suspect, the musicality of what is, to me, an impenetrable language shining through.
I thought initially that was the last track here that I recognised but now I notice That Time is on here, too, making it a 50/50 split between those I know well and those I do not.That song is not a favourite and I certainly do not need both versions. I don't need 20 Years of Snow - playing now - either. These two tracks are definitely Spektor veering into the weird and not so wonderful, indulging herself. Trading on quirky is one thing, but for it to be worth trading on quirky needs to be backed up by more. Thankfully for us, it is, just not - generally speaking - on the same tracks that the quirks come out in force. Edit may change that... using percussive staccato forms and an almost spoken vocal this track blends her strengths with the sometime weaknesses and forms a pretty, compelling track that feels like it has purpose (and that is a trait that quirky can often ride roughshod over). The song does get a little repetitive by the time it draws closed but I like it.
Last couple now, neither of which I am overly familiar with. Lady, like Field Below earlier, feels a little slow for what I want just now but it has a lovely lilt to it, the composition feeling semi-classical in places, the delivery evoking crooners, old time singers in smokey bars - an effect that is magnified by the saxophone notes that come drifting in over it in. When the vocal gives over to the brass for the denouement the track loses much of its atmosphere - I don't think the piano plus sax works as a primary pairing. The final track is also a slow number, very simple notation with the singing carrying most of the interest; I don't mind that at all.
All told, this was a nice 45 minutes or so. Given the choice, I probably wouldn't listen to the album versions over the versions of any of the 6 tracks from Live in London, except Hotel Song, so I think to trim down is acceptable there, and 20 Years of Snow will go too. The other tracks though I need to listen again at some point to really appreciate.
I often think of Regina Spektor as a female counterpart Ben Folds - and as such someone I really should have got into sooner: a slightly nerdy piano-driven genius. They should collaborate more (I am aware of one track which will come up when I start mainlining Folds in a few discs' time); my nerdgasm would be massive. Anyhow, Fidelity is one of those tracks that I love from Live in London, and I find this recording quite hard to listen to as a result. The balance between voice and instrument seems to be wrong and there is not quite the impact in the singing. The song is the kind of number that sends my mind racing all over the place to my detriment, but it is such a beautiful sentiment that I would forgive it much more.
My impression is that this album may be her most consistently good work but I am basic that off the 5 I know well. There are 7 other tracks here that I have not paid much - indeed enough - attention to in the past. Better is the first of those. It is likeable enough here but it leaves me with the feeling I need to hear it a few more times if it is going to grow on me. This project and the culling of tracks that are not up to standard is good for getting me to pay attention to the vast array of tunes that I have accumulated, but it is not really very good for making informed decisions. These days I find that new material needs time to bed in and build an impression, being better with each listen until I am familiar enough to make more informed judgements. Still, there has to be something there to warrant returning more than once.
I digress about that because Samson and On the Radio are both also on Live... and second nature to me now as that disc is a regular when I am driving. On the Radio in particular offers a very simple pleasure, plinky in places it has a childlike nature to it that is really appealing. In both cases I prefer the live version, though I guess that is only to be expected given the level of familiarity I have with them. Field Below is new to me (though I have apparently scrobbled it a few times before), unrecognised. I rather like the soft singing, but the jingly nature of the piano in places is off-putting. In all honesty I find the track too slow for my current mood, sapping the energy I had to start this piece. I think, though, that in other circumstances I would really appreciate it.
OK, so that recording I like. Hotel Song is nicely put together and the differences from the live version are interesting this time rather than slightly flat. A punchier rhythm/percussion is a nice touch but it is the muted backing to Spektor's voice that adds depth which I really like, it sounds like a choir but could be any number of other things. It is a little too soft for me to find it distinct but I don't mind that. Après Moi is a song that I don't overly like most of, but it has always had magic to it when she starts singing in Russian - I believe I saw somewhere that it is quoting a Russian author or poet, but I don't recall... I find it fascinating and incredible to listen to despite not understanding a thing. Her inflections and voice help, but largely it is, I suspect, the musicality of what is, to me, an impenetrable language shining through.
I thought initially that was the last track here that I recognised but now I notice That Time is on here, too, making it a 50/50 split between those I know well and those I do not.That song is not a favourite and I certainly do not need both versions. I don't need 20 Years of Snow - playing now - either. These two tracks are definitely Spektor veering into the weird and not so wonderful, indulging herself. Trading on quirky is one thing, but for it to be worth trading on quirky needs to be backed up by more. Thankfully for us, it is, just not - generally speaking - on the same tracks that the quirks come out in force. Edit may change that... using percussive staccato forms and an almost spoken vocal this track blends her strengths with the sometime weaknesses and forms a pretty, compelling track that feels like it has purpose (and that is a trait that quirky can often ride roughshod over). The song does get a little repetitive by the time it draws closed but I like it.
Last couple now, neither of which I am overly familiar with. Lady, like Field Below earlier, feels a little slow for what I want just now but it has a lovely lilt to it, the composition feeling semi-classical in places, the delivery evoking crooners, old time singers in smokey bars - an effect that is magnified by the saxophone notes that come drifting in over it in. When the vocal gives over to the brass for the denouement the track loses much of its atmosphere - I don't think the piano plus sax works as a primary pairing. The final track is also a slow number, very simple notation with the singing carrying most of the interest; I don't mind that at all.
All told, this was a nice 45 minutes or so. Given the choice, I probably wouldn't listen to the album versions over the versions of any of the 6 tracks from Live in London, except Hotel Song, so I think to trim down is acceptable there, and 20 Years of Snow will go too. The other tracks though I need to listen again at some point to really appreciate.
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