Holly Cole "Night"; First English Language Review

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sambamaster, Nov 14, 2012.

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  1. sambamaster

    sambamaster Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Thought I would share this since no other pubs (English language) seem to have reviewed this new Holly Cole yet. Looks like it may finally be released in Canada next week, after releases in Japan and Germany over the summer. It is available on vinyl in Germany...

    It's a great record, by the way!

    http://www.soundsgoodtome.us/2012/11/12/spend-the-night-with-holly-cole/
     
    MilesSmiles likes this.
  2. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
    Thanks for the link.
     
  3. Great, many thanks for the link.
     
  4. autodidact

    autodidact Forum Resident

    Ha. I don't really think bleu cheese is such a good analogy for Holly Cole (re the review linked by the OP). She really isn't that unusual. And I personally don't think you have to be in the extreme love or hate camp with regard to her music. I certainly don't feel that strongly.

    I was wondering about this CD I've seen titled Girl Talk. I didn't see it mentioned in the other Holly Cole threads. The info on amazon is that it was recorded live to two track with one microphone. That's about as purist as one can get.

    What is the audiophile opinion on this project? Did it come out well, sonically speaking? Or artistically speaking, for that matter?
     
  5. Mike B

    Mike B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I agree with above that her singing isn't that weird but some of her song choices and arrangements are. Each album will have one or two big WTF moments on them. But that's cool, I guess. At her best though, she's great and I look forward to hearing the new one.
     
  6. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid

    I really like this record.
     
  7. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Haven't heard anything from her for a while, but Temptation was a great album. (Her version of 'The Briar and the Rose' has been a firm favourite ever since I heard it.)

    I may have to delve further into what she's been up to for the last twenty years.
     
  8. Mike B

    Mike B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Ok so this album is just not being sold in the U.S.? What the heck? I had to order the CD as an import from the UK on amazon marketplace. It's not even the U.S. iTunes story, just the Canadian one.
     
  9. dat56

    dat56 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    SW Missouri
    Pretty good review. Thanks for the link. My "Night" is on the way!

    I too, would not describe HC as a "love her or hate her" type of artist at all. I think she's amazing, but I can see how she might be a bit of an aquired taste for some.
     
  10. SteelyTom

    SteelyTom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, Mass.
    I'm very, very late to the Holly Cole party, having just bought APO's excellent SACD of Temptation. Why isn't this singer far more prominent in the US? There are so many bland, cookie-cutter female jazz vocalists out there who are content to regurgitate the same standards, over and over. Then, there's an artist like Cole, with her daring song choices and singular vocal delivery.
     
  11. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
    http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/20/holly-cole-talks-about-night

    Not everyone can say recording their latest album was held up by a natural disaster.

    But Canadian jazz-pop singer Holly Cole was in Tokyo on March 11, 2011 -- the day of the 9.3 earthquake and subsequent tsunami -- recording her first album in five years, Night.

    "That was a life-changing experience in so many ways," says Cole, who tours frequently in Japan.

    At the time, the 49-year-old artist was in her 11th floor hotel room, in a bathing suit and robe, getting ready to go swimming.

    "The part that I'll never forget that struck horror and fear in my heart, I opened the drapes and I looked and they've got big skyscrapers in Japan and they're (moving). ....And I was thinking, 'I'm going to die. My band's going to die. The crew's going to die.'"

    None of them did, returning home safe and sound - if traumatized - four days later.

    We caught up recently with Cole at her Toronto home.

    Q. Was surviving the earthquake reflected at all in the making of the record?

    A. There's nothing directly speaking about it but it was something that happened to me that was extremely profound and changed my life that occurred in the middle of the making of the record. So it made me put everything on hold for awhile.

    Q. Why is the new disc called Night?

    A. That came about during the making of it. ...And then I went, 'Well, that's an idea.' Because I'm the night owl of the century. It's just a time of creativity for me. And you're left alone. The only people who phone you are drunk.

    Q. Could you have predicted covering the James Bond theme, You Only Live Twice, on Night and releasing it during Bond's 50th anniversary year.

    A. I didn't even know it was the anniversary but it is fortuitous. And I've often thought about doing a Bond record, like a record of Bond themes. I would love it. The Bond themes, they're always well written, they're varied, but especially the older ones, they're always sexy, they are filled with intrigue.

    Q. Why cover the Gordon Lightfoot song, If You Could Read My Mind, which has been covered by so many others?

    A. I have loved that song since I was a child. And he's such a brilliant songwriter. And that song's been a mystery to me since I was a child. Because his lyrics are so creative and so very uniquely him and so at first I didn't want to do the song because it feels so specifically him that even though other people have covered it too I'm wondering what many of the images exactly mean.

    Q. And what about the inclusion of Viva Las Vegas?

    A. My best friend is subtext. And I love to imply things. Subtext implies something and the best part about that is that everybody will interpret that differently because it's implied. So you can take it whatever way you want to. And I find that really intriguing and provocative. And that song, I'm thinking, 'Here's this singer and she finds all these Cajun musicians and she drags them to Las Vegas.' And it helps me find my place in it.
     
  12. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Exactly.

    Someone nominated "If You Could Read My Mind" in the thread that wanted us to nominate "simple songs" and I replied that this wasn't a simple song. Then later, another member nominated the same song. I gave up at this point.
     
  13. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
    Finally got the album yesterday. There's three listings on Amazon, and I ended up with the basic 11-track CD. Very nice record, much better than her self-titled from 2007. "Love Lies" is my favorite song so far. I like the moody stuff.
     
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