Squee for the evening
May. 10th, 2005 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperI'm about to cross-post this up to the OKP and Gruntland, so apologies in advance if anybody sees this twice or thrice! iTunes. Check. Search for "Russell Crowe". Check. Album My Hand, My Heart. Check. Downloaded. Check. SING TO ME, Russell!
Picoreview: oh my, that's good. I've seen Russell described in reviews of this as a "soulful crooner". The reviews are right.
"Weight of a Man": Dude! This boy's been practicing! His voice actually sounds... clear, sweeter and clearer than he's sounded on Grunts albums sometimes. More of what I saw hinted at in "Painted Veil" back on Other Ways of Speaking. Nice, nice melody. Beautiful trumpet in the background, too; that's Mr. Kirwan making his presence felt.
"How Did We Get From Saying I Love You?": I already knew this one from GBS fandom, so I've got built-in fondness for this one! Ah, sounds like Russell's doing it a bit more up-tempo than The Doyle has performed this ditty, but he's pulled back from the rocked-up version the Grunts did in 2001 in concert. And OH MY, there's harmony on the choruses; is that Alan, there? This is me sitting here grinning hugely just hearing Russell singing a Great Big Sea song, especially if the lead singer of Great Big Sea is in there harmonizing. Must, MUST find out if Alan's singing on the harmony. Russell's definitely doing the song justice, and here again, he's singing much sweeter and clearer than he has in some time. Ooh, and there's Stewart on the trumpet again. Okay, this is almost as rocked-up as I heard the Grunts do it before, only without as much electric guitar. NICELY DONE, Russell!
"Land of the Second Chance": Wow, some of Russell's delivery on the intro of this one hits some rich, round fullness I have never heard out of him before. This boy's been eating his musical Wheaties, clearly! Up-tempo, with a brightness that reminds me of the Happy Version of "Barry Kable". Nice piano, nice trumpet... I can almost hear the Grunts doing this, but I'm missing Billy Dean's guitar. But MORE HARMONY! I have been craving hearing Russell's voice in harmony ever since I first learned he could sing. I'm going to have to listen to this several times just to absorb all of the lyrics. Russell's exercising his tendency to cram zillions of syllables into a line in this ditty, definitely.
"Raewyn": Yeah, I know I downloaded this already, and it's kind of silly to have a second copy, but hey, hitting the "Buy Album" button was faster than downloading each song one at a time. ;) But to recap what I said about this ditty before: beautiful, delicate guitar in the background. I groove on the time signature changes. Lyrics that have a poignant contrast between the death of Raewyn in the past, and the hope of young Charlie Crowe for the future. This song's already songvirused me a couple of times, especially the tail end of the choruses, so I'm counting this as a win.
"Mickey": This is a very odd thing to hear Russell singing. He's invoking some faith in God here, which actually kind of impresses me although I don't profess to Christianity; it's in keeping, though, with what I saw of him in his appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio, when what's-his-name asked him if he believed in God and Russell gave him an unequivocal yes. He also wears crosses a lot, and from what I've heard about him having his kid christened, sounds like he's a Catholic or Anglican of some stripe or other. And I've seen this quote of Russell's posted up on Murph's Place about the song: "It's about a friend of mine, about the fact that redemption is available to anybody if you seek it. Don't matter what colour your God is or what jumper he wears on the weekend, faith will reward you." I'm gratified Russell's got some religious open-mindedness there, it makes me readier to listen to this song with respect. And it's a good melody, too, with Russell having more of that vocal fullness that I'm just not used to hearing out of him! Some beautifully complex lyrics, too.
"Worst in the World": According to Murph's Place article on the album, this song is about "Prince Harry". I presume this must mean Harry of England? That said, this ditty feels awfully autobiographical; every single word here I could buy Russell singing about himself. Maybe that's just making him real sympathetic to Harry? Not sure yet what I think about the melody and the tempo.
"My Hand My Heart": I've heard this ditty described as one you can totally hear being belted out in Irish pubs, and I agree with that assessment; I can definitely hear a bunch of folks in a pub belting this out at the tops of their lungs till the place is just soggy with sentiment. ;) Rather a plaintive downer of a song to have as the title track, though! Not what I was expecting.
"One Good Year": Partway through, and I'm thinking this will definitely be one of the songs I may wind up listening to when I'm in a mood to need uplifting; this is definitely an anthem for those times when you're thinking life just blows and you need something to look forward to to get out of it. Not necessarily a daily repeat listen, but one I'll come back to in the proper mood, along with GBS' "Let It Go". Ooh, I like the trumpet bits at the end of this, especially.
"Mr. Harris": Ah-HA, there's Séan's bodhran and Bob's whistle! And wow, just hearing this kind of song coming out of Russell is kind of mind-blowing. It's so very... Celtic! Russell's almost lost in the overall choral harmony, but if I listen to the very bottom of the melody line, I find him; he's got a great voice for carrying the very bottom of a chord, rock-solid when he hits the notes on the true. Plus, I get kind of gooey-eyed just knowing this song is in honor of Richard Harris; knowing that Russell respected working with that old gent enough during Gladiator to write a song in his honor makes me go "awww".
"I Miss My Mind": I'm amused to hear "Of all the things I lost that year I missed my mind the most" coming out of Russell Crowe. Not sure yet if the melody is grabbing me, but oh, that's lovely trumpet work at the end. Well done, Mr. Kirwan!
Picoreview: oh my, that's good. I've seen Russell described in reviews of this as a "soulful crooner". The reviews are right.
"Weight of a Man": Dude! This boy's been practicing! His voice actually sounds... clear, sweeter and clearer than he's sounded on Grunts albums sometimes. More of what I saw hinted at in "Painted Veil" back on Other Ways of Speaking. Nice, nice melody. Beautiful trumpet in the background, too; that's Mr. Kirwan making his presence felt.
"How Did We Get From Saying I Love You?": I already knew this one from GBS fandom, so I've got built-in fondness for this one! Ah, sounds like Russell's doing it a bit more up-tempo than The Doyle has performed this ditty, but he's pulled back from the rocked-up version the Grunts did in 2001 in concert. And OH MY, there's harmony on the choruses; is that Alan, there? This is me sitting here grinning hugely just hearing Russell singing a Great Big Sea song, especially if the lead singer of Great Big Sea is in there harmonizing. Must, MUST find out if Alan's singing on the harmony. Russell's definitely doing the song justice, and here again, he's singing much sweeter and clearer than he has in some time. Ooh, and there's Stewart on the trumpet again. Okay, this is almost as rocked-up as I heard the Grunts do it before, only without as much electric guitar. NICELY DONE, Russell!
"Land of the Second Chance": Wow, some of Russell's delivery on the intro of this one hits some rich, round fullness I have never heard out of him before. This boy's been eating his musical Wheaties, clearly! Up-tempo, with a brightness that reminds me of the Happy Version of "Barry Kable". Nice piano, nice trumpet... I can almost hear the Grunts doing this, but I'm missing Billy Dean's guitar. But MORE HARMONY! I have been craving hearing Russell's voice in harmony ever since I first learned he could sing. I'm going to have to listen to this several times just to absorb all of the lyrics. Russell's exercising his tendency to cram zillions of syllables into a line in this ditty, definitely.
"Raewyn": Yeah, I know I downloaded this already, and it's kind of silly to have a second copy, but hey, hitting the "Buy Album" button was faster than downloading each song one at a time. ;) But to recap what I said about this ditty before: beautiful, delicate guitar in the background. I groove on the time signature changes. Lyrics that have a poignant contrast between the death of Raewyn in the past, and the hope of young Charlie Crowe for the future. This song's already songvirused me a couple of times, especially the tail end of the choruses, so I'm counting this as a win.
"Mickey": This is a very odd thing to hear Russell singing. He's invoking some faith in God here, which actually kind of impresses me although I don't profess to Christianity; it's in keeping, though, with what I saw of him in his appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio, when what's-his-name asked him if he believed in God and Russell gave him an unequivocal yes. He also wears crosses a lot, and from what I've heard about him having his kid christened, sounds like he's a Catholic or Anglican of some stripe or other. And I've seen this quote of Russell's posted up on Murph's Place about the song: "It's about a friend of mine, about the fact that redemption is available to anybody if you seek it. Don't matter what colour your God is or what jumper he wears on the weekend, faith will reward you." I'm gratified Russell's got some religious open-mindedness there, it makes me readier to listen to this song with respect. And it's a good melody, too, with Russell having more of that vocal fullness that I'm just not used to hearing out of him! Some beautifully complex lyrics, too.
"Worst in the World": According to Murph's Place article on the album, this song is about "Prince Harry". I presume this must mean Harry of England? That said, this ditty feels awfully autobiographical; every single word here I could buy Russell singing about himself. Maybe that's just making him real sympathetic to Harry? Not sure yet what I think about the melody and the tempo.
"My Hand My Heart": I've heard this ditty described as one you can totally hear being belted out in Irish pubs, and I agree with that assessment; I can definitely hear a bunch of folks in a pub belting this out at the tops of their lungs till the place is just soggy with sentiment. ;) Rather a plaintive downer of a song to have as the title track, though! Not what I was expecting.
"One Good Year": Partway through, and I'm thinking this will definitely be one of the songs I may wind up listening to when I'm in a mood to need uplifting; this is definitely an anthem for those times when you're thinking life just blows and you need something to look forward to to get out of it. Not necessarily a daily repeat listen, but one I'll come back to in the proper mood, along with GBS' "Let It Go". Ooh, I like the trumpet bits at the end of this, especially.
"Mr. Harris": Ah-HA, there's Séan's bodhran and Bob's whistle! And wow, just hearing this kind of song coming out of Russell is kind of mind-blowing. It's so very... Celtic! Russell's almost lost in the overall choral harmony, but if I listen to the very bottom of the melody line, I find him; he's got a great voice for carrying the very bottom of a chord, rock-solid when he hits the notes on the true. Plus, I get kind of gooey-eyed just knowing this song is in honor of Richard Harris; knowing that Russell respected working with that old gent enough during Gladiator to write a song in his honor makes me go "awww".
"I Miss My Mind": I'm amused to hear "Of all the things I lost that year I missed my mind the most" coming out of Russell Crowe. Not sure yet if the melody is grabbing me, but oh, that's lovely trumpet work at the end. Well done, Mr. Kirwan!
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Date: 2005-05-11 03:35 am (UTC)BTW, the radio interview that Russell did this morning can be downloaded here...
KGRS interview (http://www.darrinlee7.com/Videos/kgrsinterview05052005.wav)
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Date: 2005-05-11 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-12 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 06:28 am (UTC)And yeah, it took me a while to actually get the thing downloaded, since I had to wait till I got home from work. :)
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Date: 2005-05-11 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 06:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-11 06:37 am (UTC)Or, get a friend to download an extra licensed copy. (As a general FYI, the album's price is $9.90, so it's way cheaper than a physical CD would be.)
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Date: 2005-05-12 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-12 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-12 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-12 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-12 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-12 05:19 am (UTC)Huggles Anna!
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Date: 2005-05-12 05:23 am (UTC)