Posted February 11, 200718 yr Greetings all. Thought I would post my review of this amazing album by Lucie at last. I have been meaning to do so for some time. This is more of a musical review than a lyrical review. These are my opinions of the songs and I am very picky where music reviews are concerned. I am using the version I have. Says "Special Edition" on the front and got it in the UK. Keep all comments as constructive as possible or Dazzle and Natalie will get the whip out. :P Feel free to share yours, rate the tracks out of 10 or comment on my review. If you have not listened to the album recently or want to refresh your memory on some of the tracks it is well advised to listen to the album again. Track One Don't Look Back: - Beautiful gentle piano intro to this track with matching gentle vocal. Picks up gradually through the song until the chorus when it picks up real fast. Up and down musically, I would have appreciated a musical bridge in this song. Abrupt ending. This track is very deserving of its status as a single release, though I would question it being the last. Track Two The Game Is Won: - Easily my favourite of the singles released from this album. Should have been the first release instead of third. Lovely gentle piano intro again, with a matching vocal. How deceptive as we will see. The chorus is again where the music picks up pace and is very impressive sounding to me. The pace is then maintained musically though it sounds gentler. Another up and down track with the chorus again being lively spot. Again I can imagine a bridge being a worthy addition to this track. Excellent use of backing vocals, not a single bad point except the lack of a bridge. Gentle ending. Track Three Last Man Standing: - Right chaps this is where we all leave the firing range based on the title. :lol: Bit of a gentle beat to this intro, the gentle vocal is maintained. Seems to pick up and then the chorus goes gentle. Bit of a contrast to the other two as this is mostly a gentle (by comparison) track. Very steady, it is not too repetitive. The only drawback from this is the lack of emphasis on the title. Vocal and music matches perfectly to me. Track Four Forget Me Not: - Back to the gentle piano intro with matching vocal for this track. The vocal becomes more powerful, which unfortunately does not match the music. Beautiful small bridge in this track, which to me makes it memorable. Very gentle ending, which matches the track perfectly. Track Five Breathe In: - The second single has the rockiest intro yet on this album which comes as a major surprise to those listening to it for the first time. The beat is maintained for this lively track Music and vocals match perfectly. Gentle ending which is a contrast to the track as a whole. This is a clear example of why it is so hard for record companies to decide on the order in which to release singles. How long they must have agonised over this can only be imagined. Track Six Nothing Else Matters: - An orchestral intro which is very gentle with matching vocal. This is Lucie's European only release. Gentle use of backing vocals in the chorus matches the orchestral music in this track perfectly. It is a bit of a suppressed track which adds to its appeal to me. Matching gentle ending, why didn't the UK get this as a release? Track Seven Without You: - Slightly livelier intro with a gentle vocal. The music gets livelier with matching backing vocals. It seems slightly more disjointed than the rest of the tracks we have heard so far. The music and vocals are at match, but it just seems that this track stops whilst they change direction. Not a smooth transition. Gentle ending. Track Eight What You're Made Of: - Lucie's first single here in the UK has a deceptive gentle intro with matching vocal. Here's another example of the headaches record companies have. This song picks up in beat and the vocal matches perfectly. A bridge would have been a suitable addition to this track. Decreases in pace and then picks up towards the end. Abrupt ending which does not match the nature of the rest of this song. Track Nine Twisting The Chain: - Guitar intro here with a rockier feel to the track. The beat and vocal do not sit very well together initially though this situation improves with the chorus and the introduction of strong backing vocals. This is then maintained where it might have been better to start off with the backing vocals. Abrupt ending which is perfect for this track. Lively track which is a contrast to Lucie's piano based songs. Perhaps more of this type to show her diversity will be a welcome addition to her repertoire. Track Ten No Defence: - This has a gentle, almost fragile intro which matches the title and the vocal is equally gentle. The music picks up in emphasis, but this is a very gentle track on the whole. Music and vocal matches perfectly on this track. Could have had a gentle bridge which would have improved this song. Suitable gentle ending. Track Eleven The Longer We're Apart: - Very different type of intro here, quite long musically, which matches the title partly. Initially guitar based with the beat, then there is a beat which is matched by a slight vocal. The gentle vocal starts properly after nearly a minute. The backing vocal does match the pace of the music. The music needs to be more dominant where Lucie is singing with backing vocals initially. This seems to have been remedied later on in the track. Kind of a repetitive backing vocal, which brings this song further down in my estimation. Track Twelve Like You Love Me: - Another gentle intro, with a gentle vocal. Music and vocal matches perfectly. Very lively track this turns out to be where I expected a gentle sad song. Towards the end it becomes gentle and finishes gently. Track Thirteen Seven Veils: - Gentle piano intro again with a matching vocal. First word matches what I expected of this song based on the title. It picks up in pace slightly musically though this is not matched vocally, again this is remedied as the track progresses. The backing vocal matches the music perfectly though lyrics and music do not sit very well together. Gentle ending. Conclusion An excellent album on the whole. My usual complaint about albums is not really valid as it is clear that they have tried to spread the singles evenly throughout the album except for the first two tracks. Perhaps a suggestion would be to make absolutely sure that the singles are all evenly spread on every album. For me, it is very tempting to just listen to the singles if they are all clustered near the beginning. So, apart from that and the few drawbacks highlighted above an excellent album. Thanks for taking the time to read it.
February 12, 200718 yr Excellent review Flatcap. I agree about the singles, I prefer them to be spread out evenly on the album, which the first two singles were. Thought I was the only one who was bothered about stuff like that :)
February 18, 200718 yr Author ^ You're not alone. :lol: Anyone else with a review, comment or rating the songs out of 10? Just because I did this version does not make the reviews confined to the version.
February 20, 200718 yr A brilliant review, I especially agree about the singles being spread out, as it bugs me when they aren't aswell :lol: such as Gwen Stefani's LAMB, the first four, then track six (possibly seven?), were the singles. I ended up not really bothering with the rest of the album which was a shame.
March 8, 200718 yr Author ^ When everyone has it. Has the Dutch version got different songs on it from the one I reviewed Marloes?
March 8, 200718 yr Well.. it just hasn't got 'Seven Veils' on it, as that was a UK bonus track.. But other than that, it's exactly the same!
