Rolling Stone review of Harmonium

[Unicorn]

Vanessa Carlton
Harmonium
**


As the Wayans brothers' movie White Chicks made hilariously clear, Vanessa Carlton's 2002 hit "A Thousand Miles" is, like, the whitest song ever. This year, our huffy ivory-tickler delivers another spazzy, arpeggiated single, "White Houses," which is not about the real White House but does kind of conjure the Bush twins jamming in a drop-top. Smartly produced by Third Eye Blind frontman (and Carlton squeeze) Stephan Jenkins, Harmonium has the appealing empty-auditorium sound of a Fame rehearsal-session finale. And once you get past the "Chopsticks" pounds of "San Francisco," lyrics such as "I know what you did/Like a boy of summer gives his first kiss" could charm Dawson from his creek. But though Carlton's a better lyricist than faded contemporaries such as Michelle Branch, that fussy piano tends to muscle her out of her own songs. It works OK on the Tori Amos-style diary-hurler "Annie," but it's nice when, on the chorus of the boppy "Private Radio," those little hammers get some rest.

LAURA SINAGRA
(Posted Nov 25, 2004)

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/6587676/vanessacarlton?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=triple1


WHATever.  :roll:

[amberbeads]

Spazzy, eh?
Uh huh, sure.

They called Michelle a "faded contemporary"... lol

[TurnOnTheStars]

its true vanessa is a better lyricist than michelle branch

[Xenophanes]

its true vanessa is a better lyricist than michelle branch

Indeed. However, the comments about the piano...the Rolling Stone writers must be on crack. :roll:

[Jophess]

Those biznatches. *shakes fist*

[dashbranch]

Rolling Stone is such crap. They diss the good musicians and praise Britney Spears and those other "pop tarts" because if they don't they will get bitch slapped.

[loveplasticlove]

WTF did she not hear AWBTW? or papa? bitch is on crack if you ask me!

[kaysha]

assholes.

[jlmusicchick]

pah. Rolling Stone has criticized so many awesome artists. i'm convinced they dont' even listen to the cds, they just decide to sit down and make up something that sounds good to them.

[nosticker]

It is rare that RS gets anything right(maybe the 5 star review of Brian Wilson's Smile?)If VC was black, they would praise it to the high heavens.  These reviewers--and there seem to be plenty--have already made up their minds that Vanessa is----gasp!----a pop singer, and they will not give her a fair shake.
 
Even more of them are hella-impressed(thanks Katia) with their own prose and style.  I've got news for them...inserting 'like' into a review is far, far from clever.  Been done a thousand times.

True, Vanessa is not an Elvis Costello or Neil Finn, but, as she thankfully lacks the pretense of a Tori, she cuts through.  And she is improving.
Alas, Rolling Kidney Stone has been dead to me since 1987 or so.

Makes a great bird cage liner, though.  Strangely, the mag began arriving on my doorstep last September, but I never ordered it.  What are they trying to tell me?

Dan/NS

[loveplasticlove]

I'll buy you some birds, Dan!

[Lord Star]

it's okay!