Links to album reviews:



http://blogcritics.org/mu...y-rae-the/
http://www.npr.org/templa...=122767014
http://www.expressnightou...he-sea.php
http://www.dailystar.co.u...e-The-Sea/
[Edited 3/1/10 8:22am]

She's my newest musical interest.

I never thought much of her before. I knew of the song "Put Your Records On" back when it came out, but didn't care for it. I thought her vocal style was a bit strange, too. I wrote her off as being just another boring neo-soul artist.

Last week, though, I happened to watch the "I'd Do It All Again" video on a blog, and it all clicked. I thought the song was sad, yet stunningly beautiful. After listening to the album preview, I know I'll have it on rotation for a long time to come. It's a solid record, and I've gained an appreciation for her voice and songwriting. "Feels Like The First Time" is another favorite.

I need to go back and give her first album another chance, as well as check out her live set.

Identity said:

She is a breath of fresh air, and I'm loving her new single. Glad she made a great comeback from her setback!

Performing a sultry rendition of "Closer" on the Today Show (Jan 26).

I love her rendition of Free on Marcus Miller's cd.

From my recent (redundant ) thread on her...

Got the new material today, and I'm currently checking it out.

My ...

Certain smoky, soulful moments like "Closer" were expected and absolutely welcome. And, given Corinne's life over the past two years, I anticipated both the darkness of songs like "Love's on Its Way" and the sort of cathartic tributes to an absent loved one that we hear in "Are You Here" (an utterly gorgeous immediate favorite ), "I'd Do it All Again" (a close second favorite), and the title track. But a lot of the album is surprisingly spry... even cheeky. The opening bars and refrain of "Feels Like the First Time" bear all the bad-ass vibe of a Fiona Apple track, and more than a few of Corinne's latest songs feature a rock-tinged soundscape of aggressive drums and guitar! This is really gonna surprise some of her fans, for better or worse.

By way of critique, Corinne's childlike pitch, fragile vocals and lazy enunciation can be a little frustrating here and there -- and it's perhaps more noticeable now that it is unchangeable across 2 or 3 genres that might be less flattering to it than her debut CD's torchy R&B. But somehow it feels so genuinely her. Corinne's is a delicate, organic, if slightly grating, sound -- and her lyrics are still darned smart.

Corinne has shared that her husband's death looms as a weighty inspiration for this latest set. Perfectly reasonable -- and it's heartening to find she's not stuck in gloom. The Sea runs the gamut of emotion from personal grief and yearning to global lament to indignation to hopefulness. It marks a process of recovery -- and as stupid as this might sound, it comes off as... I dunno... really "healthy," maybe?

The Sea hasn't entirely swept me away... yet. But it is solid, sincere, healing stuff -- and I can already see that it's definitely growing on me with repeated listens.
[Edited 1/27/10 18:02pm]

Identity said:

Loved it.

I have been so busy with school this week but as soon as I have a chance to calm down I will listen to this album.

On first listen Are You Here?, Feels Like the First Time, The Blackest Lily, I Would Like to Call It Beauty and The Sea truly stand out.

Corinne Bailey Rae is a beautiful angel..


That being said, I actually do like this album. "The Sea," "Closer," and "Paris Nights..." are the standouts for me.

Corrine's North American tour dates have been confirmed.
They are as follows:




April 2010
9 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
11 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
12 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
15 - San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom
17 - Indio, CA - Empire Polo Club
22 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
28 - Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda
30 - Boston, MA - House of Blues

May 2010
1 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
3 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
11 - Atlanta, GA - Center Stage
13 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
14 - Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live

Seeing her on Tavis Smiley solidified my fandom. She just did her second interview with him:

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/t...0127.html#

Identity said:

I'm not above driving for this... and even having my daughter miss a 1/2 day of school for the trip. But I hope she fills in a day before or after with a Toronto stop.

JackieBlue said:

Thanks!
I recorded it on DVR but I hadn't had the chance to see the playback. I'm enthralled with the songs she wrote for the new album.

Identity said:

I did the same and haven't watched it either. My DVR is always piled up.

I love love LOVE this cd. "Paris Nights/New York Mornings" is on repeat 4 me. Is there any other way I can get the 2 bonus songs 4 those who preordered the album from Itunes? My only computer access is from work,& downloading anything is a big NoNO! What other avenues can I use 2 get these songs in my ear drums?

Just watched Tavis. She performed 2 songs. Charming as always.

just finished the sea for the first time . her voice is so dreamy on this . are you here, i'd do it all again and closer grab me the most right now, but all the songs sound pretty decent . paper dolls is the only one i'm kinda on at the moment, but i'll bump it again and see. really nice
[Edited 2/3/10 16:00pm]

Video premiere of "Paris Nights/New York Mornings."




Live version.

Identity said:

Her smile is gorgeuous, its good to see again.

She is ok gotten much better which is good to see, but she still has this flatness when singing live, it was really evident during the Beatles tribute a few years back when she and that dude from Razorlight performed, "The End" the both of them were clearly in way over their heads on that song and fell badly as a show closer.

This album is so truly great from her. I hate that she went through the horrible things she did, but it did produce some really great music this time around.

I can't get enough of this album. I just got her first album, too, and it's pretty good, but this newest one is the real stunner. I love the deeper, beautifully melancholy vibe throughout the set, though I'm sorry it was born out of a personal tragedy.

Identity said:

That's it? Pffft.

Anyone have a TV schedule?

Edit: The only TV appearance I've found past some in January is March 8th on Jimmy Kimmel's show.


.
[Edited 2/14/10 15:37pm]

She will be on Letterman March 1st and Leno April 4th.

Feb 2010

Talking Shop: Corinne Bailey Rae

Soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae was riding a wave of success with breezy singles like Put Your Records On and Like A Star when her husband died suddenly in 2008.

Scottish-born Jason Rae, 31, had taken an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol. His wife was told the news over the phone in the back of a taxi.

At the time, she was writing the follow up to her debut album - a process which came to a halt as she grieved for the man she has since described as "utterly irreplaceable".

Now, Bailey Rae is ready to face the public again with a searingly personal record, The Sea.

Its opening lines, dedicated to her late husband, are: "He's a real live-wire, he's the best of his kind, wait till you see those eyes".

Speaking to the BBC, she is understandably reluctant to discuss her personal tragedy, but reveals that recording the album helped her deal with the pain.


It's been four years since you released anything, does it feel like a long time?

It doesn't feel like a long time to me because I was touring right up to the middle of 2007. And in 2008 I was at the Grammys and I was working with Al Green on his album and recording with Herbie Hancock.

Then I started recording my album towards the middle of the summer in 2007 towards the start of 2008, so it doesn't feel like a big break for me.

Obviously I've been recording in the last year so I kind of feel like I've been working continuously. But it's great to be back playing my new album, I'm really enjoying that.

How this album differ from your last album?

The main difference was that I was co-producing this record so I felt like I had a lot more control over how I wanted it to sound, I knew I wanted to work with live musicians.

I wanted to record in the room with them at the same time, I wanted there to be a lot of movement and conversation between us and I knew I wanted to it to be a heavier and more aggressive record.

I wanted to work with people I knew, because you can go in somewhere with a big name producer and it just becomes about them and their sound.

How are you feeling about the release of the record?

I don't really have any expectations about it, I feel artistically I'm happy with it. I'm happy with the songs, I'm really happy with the sound of it, I feel like I was able to try new things that I wasn't able to on my other album.

I recorded with this huge liturgical choir in Leeds on one song, we used a lot of strings, we used more unusual instruments like the auto harp and the harmonium.

There's just a real mixture of sounds on it. Musically I'm really happy with it, but I don't know how well it's going to do, it's up to whether people like it or not.

I feel with this record it's all on my shoulders as to whether it does well or not. I've made all the decisions about the album, so it's exciting and fun to be in that position.

Obviously the last few years have been very hard for you, have you used music as therapy?

I felt that it was important to express myself. With the music I'd written before and more recently, self expression seems like the most important thing in music.


It's the thing, I guess that drives me, you want to get your feelings out and also it's the thing that comes through that you don't have so much control over.

Why have you wanted to change the direction of your music?

Touring round with my first album, I felt like a lot of the songs were sweeter and more intimate and I really loved that.

But I felt that I did so many gigs and there was this new amount of people turning up. I'm used to playing to 150 people and suddenly there's 3,000 people turning up.

I really wanted to do something to match that energy and have more of a conversation between the audience and the band. I guess I just wanted something that was more live, dynamic and had more contrasts.

Has it helped you get to this stage now?

I feel really excited about the live band because so much of the album is live anyway. It hasn't been a case of playing people the album and then going lets learn this.


We worked in a room and it would be me, and the drummer and the bass player. We'd be recording the songs together and we'd sort of build on that.

I knew for this album I didn't want to do any demos because I feel that you lose the original excitement if you do that so.

The album is more explosive hopefully so I feel really excited about playing live with the band.

They're all really accomplished musicians who I worked with and they're all people I've been fans of since I was 18. It's a really good mixture of people I've known for a long time. I feel like I can really trust them.

Any plans for a third album?

I haven't really thought about the third album yet. I like the fact it could go in any direction. I feel pleased with this record.

It is so different from my first album, I feel like I've established that I'm not this careerist who is trying to cash in on the success of the first record and do something similar to it.

I've really tried to do something different with it and something that's true to me.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h...498941.stm