"O" My, Damien Rice Saved The Summer
Written: Jul 28 '03 (Updated Jul 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Simple, sweet, gorgeous
Cons: Wish it could have lasted longer
The Bottom Line: Might be the best album of 2003. True, real emotional music that leaves you breathless.
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| e_burrell's Full Review: O by Damien Rice |
With the first few beats, the first wistful strums of an acoustic guitar - the first breathy phrase - I knew Damien Rice's "O" would be one of my favorite albums of 2003. It's not often an album can do this - most of the time it takes repeated listens, days on end for me to get deeply enough into an album to appreciate it on the appropriate level to write anything coherent about it.
Countless times I've had friends come over to play instruments with me. To 'jam' with someone is one of the most personal experiences two people can have with one another. There's always that slightly embarassing moment when either you or the other person has to belt out the lyrics to the song - that instant of uncertainty and anticipation is a lovely thing, and every single tune on "O" expresses the feeling that Damien Rice is sitting right next to you, guitar in hand, spilling his aching heart out onto the hardwood floor. Rice's voice is a thing of beauty - by no means pitch perfect, but it's honest. It incites a stirring in the pit of your stomach, never sitting well, yet always churning up those emotions and feelings that beg to be stirred.
Rice was born in Ireland, and has fronted failed groups in the past, most notably a band called Juniper. He has been a wanderer of Europe. An artist, a poet - and most obviously a lover. Easy comparisons roll off the tongue with names like David Gray, Van Morrison and Jeff Buckley.
Rice is a traditional singer/songwriter in every sense of the phrase. He's an acoustic strummer who pins his heart on his shirt sleeves and bellows about love and love lost. Whether or not he's all by himself, or backed by a full swelling orchestra he commands the listener's ear and mind - each tune building on the last until you feel as if every track is a treasure you'll never be able to live without. At times he's backed by female vocalists like Lisa Hannigan, and then before you know it he's dueting with an opera singer (a moment that strangely fits into the song "Eskimo" perfectly).
"O" has been masterfully packaged in a digi-pack that's actually a hardbound book. The illustrations are lush and the lyrics are hand-written. I always tear through the booklets on my favorite albums, trying to glean any extra information I can from the artist, and Rice's "O" book is one of the best I've seen in years. Like the album it holds, it's a real treat.
Without a second thought I can declare that there isn't a weak tune on "O". I wish the album could have been longer - ten tracks just doesn't feel like enough. Songs like "Delicate", "Cannonball", "Older Chests" and "Amie" are a few of my favorites with the melodies haunting my mind long after the songs have finished. Rising above them all is "The Blower's Daughter", a front-runner in my song-of-the-year category. The aforementioned "Amie" is in the same class, and it evokes the promise of artists like Ryan Adams and the ghosts of artists like Gram Parsons. Rice could be as good or better than both, time will tell.
This is the album David Gray should have made with "White Ladder". You won't find the false sounds of drum machines - the only sound you'll hear is that of your heart as it leaps and bottoms out from tune to tune. If you consider 'Emo' to be the cookie-cutter pop-punk that's infesting the radio these days, you're mistaken. True emotional music can be found - you just need to know where to look for it. Artists like Elliot Smith, Damien Rice and Drive-Thru Records' Steel Train have broken new ground and set the bar high for anyone else who comes after them.
I recommend this album to anyone who loves wonderfully smart, emotional music. This is one of the best I've heard in a long, long time.
OVERALL GRADE: A+
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying
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Epinions.com ID:
e_burrell
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Eli Burrell
Location: Little Rock, AR
Reviews written: 253
Trusted by: 225 members
About Me:
Just trying to walk forward on this big old ball of dirt and water.
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