Cons: "Nothing Everything" pales in comparison to the rest of the album.
The Bottom Line: Amanda Leigh is a fantastic pop album. Light hearted and sweet but also elegant and musically interesting this album strikes a great balance between accessibility and artistry.
Monnie1976's Full Review: Amanda Leigh by Mandy Moore
Some of you may not remember Mandy Moore. Back at the very end of the 1990’s there was a massive pop explosion resulting in the rise of such stars as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. These were the first string players so to speak. Then we had second string acts like Jessica Simpson and 98 Degrees. Finally we have those who only occasionally got off the bench. Mandy Moore was one of those. She scored hits here and there but never even came close to reaching the same kind of pop star status Spears and Aguilera enjoyed. There was good reason for this. For the most part her catalog consisted of mediocre, saccharine pop songs. Her first hit “Candy” which was released in 1999 was cute enough but certainly had very little substance.
Mandy Moore decided to take a different route. She first of all decided not to get all trashy and took the hits where she could get them. For example, I still enjoy listening to the innocent and sweet strains of “I Wanna Be With You”. She also decided to move into acting. Yet the roles she ended up grabbing weren’t disasters like Britney’s debut in Crossroads. Instead, she decided to star in well regarded films like the beautiful love story A Walk To Remember or the pointed and humorous Saved!. She also slowly began to evolve as a true artist. Jumping off the manufacturing line and into her own ideas of what she should sound like was the best thing she could have ever done.
Mandy Moore has a beautiful, soft voice that can deliver a melody. In 2003 she surprised many when she came out with an album full of covers aptly titled Coverage. Covering artists from Carole King to Irish Celtic band The Waterboys, the album was quite enjoyable and found Mandy Moore declaring her influences. Even though these were all cover songs she also put her stamp on every single one. The only cover faring badly from this was Blondie’s “One Way Or Another”. Wild Hope would find her taking those influences and making her own entry into the pop world. An album that was uniquely her she received some help from songwriters like The Weepies (who I adore) and Chantal Kreviasuk. While it was a admirable album I didn’t feel she reached her full potential quite yet.
This year she released Amanda Leigh. This is the album where she finally reaches the place I always knew she could go; pop perfection. My praise may seem a bit over zealous but you have to hear this amazing little gem. Her influences, her past as a wannabe pop princess and her knack of finding the heart and soul of moments all come together and Amanda Leigh is a gorgeous atmospheric little album.
The album opens up with the lilting strains of the simple “Merrimack River”. Structured almost like a waltz Moore’s voice (which is better than ever) is showcased mainly by a guitar but slowly other instruments join the dance including a string bass and sweeping violins. The whole affair is elegant and lovely yet also manages to have some decidedly country undertones at times. The beautiful grace of this song is immediately followed by the percolating and churning groove of Fern Dell. The influences are decidedly seventies with bursts of vocal harmonies over dramatic explosions of sound. It’s a fantastic song. Her current single “I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of The Week” is a song that quickly grows on you coming from a land where Carly Simon and The Partridge family happily coexist. The song is cheerful but also has a backbone as Moore declares she is more than capable being a heartbreaker despite her seemingly innocent persona.
There isn’t a single song on this album I dislike. In fact, I love almost all of them. “Pocket Philosopher” is adorable with its stroll in the park feel that borrows bits and pieces from Chicago but infusing them with a girly whimsy. The stings are enchanting, the melody is the very definition of catchy and her performance is fantastic. “Song About Home” reminds me of what would happen if Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Van Morrison all had a jam session. The song capture everything there was to love about the folk movement of the seventies with its positively gorgeous instrumentation and sophisticated melody. “Indian Summer” opens with piano that is so quintessentially Tori Amos before settling into something more reminescent of Carly Simon. Even though I’m name dropping I love how Mandy Moore takes these influences and turns it into something that is just as obviously her. For example, “Everblue” musically has shades of other artists like Sarah Mclachlan yet in the end Mandy Moore owns it. Her vocals are undeniably her own even when she does pay homage to her influences. I would know any of these songs as a Mandy Moore song.
“Nothing Everything” is the only song I’m not too crazy. Mainly because you are spoiled by the rest of the album. The arrangement seems pretty ordinary compared to the rest of the album. The melody is pretty average and the plodding keyboards throughout most of the song takes away from her vocals. It gets more interesting towards the end but for me the song is only okay.
This is a wonderful little album and just might be one of my favorites of the year so far. I’ve found myself listening to it far more than I ever expected. If you have a respect for the seventies artists like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon you’ll like this. There really is very few people to compare her to in present time. Yet, that is what makes her so amazingly individual. She proves just as much or more to offer than many of the artists who supposedly surpassed her back in the day. I also think as she experiences more and more in life her album will just keep getting better and better.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.