i just finished listening to the new jonatha brooke album "back in the circus". very pleasurable listing experience. 2 outstanding covers: god only knows and eye in the sky. both done with very minimalistic insturmentation. the double vocals (think lennon) on "god only knows" are almost haunting. and the acoustic treatment of "eye in thesky" gives it new meaning. a very underrated artist. renny
Renny, she's one of my favorites. I was also impressed by her covers of those two and JT's Fire and Rain, but I am even more impressed by her own compositions, not only on this CD but others. Have you heard "New Dress' from Steady Pull? Tom
I have a couple of her older CDs when she was with The Story - "The Angel in the House" and "Plumb". I also have "Steady Pull". I like her.
I'd like to give a shameless plug for the Steady Pull DVD. I directed the videos on the disc, which, considering the budget (which was zilch), came out pretty well. It was a pretty ambitious project from the onset, especially for an independent artist, but I'm proud to have been a part of it. Jonatha was way ahead of her time with the inclusion of a 5.1 DVD-A Surround Mix. Plus it's a great record beginning to end. Lee
I got this yesterday--it was on sale, and had heard a few earlier songs from a friend. After just once through, I'm quite impressed. Very nice voice, and original songs. Covering Fire & Rain could've been a disaster or just blah, but she actually gives the production enough spice and takes a somewhat different approach to the vocals such that it doesn't suffer as much by comparison as something like this typically would. (Phil Collins & you can't hurry love come to mind.) This looks to be a break-out opportunity in a career that, from what I can tell, has been on a relatively steady build. Where's the break line on her, patty griffin and shawn colvin? i'd prob put my money on patty at this point, but i'm a fan of all 3. it's a mean, cold world out there in the joni mitchell/heir apparent business!
I just got a copy of Paste Magazine with 21-song CD sampler and one of the tracks that stands out on the sampler is Jonatha's "Better After All", good stuff.
I listened to just about her whole catalog (or at least 30 sec. of each song) on itunes last night. She sounds fairly consistent, though the latest has some extra production punch. Her live release is surprisingly strong. I was not aware that there is a european release of "Steady Pull" which includes a couple of remixes and a few songs in French, in addition to the regular songs as in U.S. I was impressed to see both on itunes, and both for $9.99. (itunes is up to 500,000 songs now.) I'll prob get a used "hard copy" somewhere. doug
I picked up the new one and enjoy her very much. Sounds a little like Suzanne Vega at times, does the Steady Pull DVD-A have both a stereo & m/c mix?
Yes, there is both a 5.1 and stereo mix on the DVD-A side of the disc, courtesy of Bob Clearmountain (who produced the record). The DVD-Video side has Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo, as well as DTS. Pretty advanced for late 2000 (when we made it) and VERY advanced for an independent artist. The videos themselves came out pretty well, considering we shot all 7 in one day! As a director, I'm extremely proud of "Lullabye" and think "Your House" and "Digging" aren't half-bad either. Curious to hear what others think. Lee
The Steady Pull DVD-A is available on her website, www.jonathabrooke.com for $20. A real bargain! Tom
Lee, I bought this when it first came out and I must say...you do get your money's worth! Great music/surround mix. Great visuals: I love the footage from Bob Clearmountain's studio and considering the minimal budget it sounds like u had to do the videos...they are very well done and compliment the music nicely! For an independent artist, I give Jonatha Brooke credit for pulling out all the stops with this release! TimW
