Antje Duvekot - Big Dream Boulevard
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CD Details
Artist: Antje DuvekotEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2006-04-28
Music Label: Black Wolf Records
Soundtracks:
- Dandelion
- Go Now
- Diamond on Your Hand
- Jerusalem
- Sex Bandaid
- Helpless Kiss
- Judas
- Pearls
- South
- Anna
- Hold On
Music reviews of Big Dream Boulevard
Music Review: Happy Endings are Dependant on Where the Film is Cut
Rating: 4 Stars
All right, it has to be supremely frusterating for an absolutely stunning singer/songwriter to attempt a break out with a "professionally" produced CD of material only to have a number of reviewers say, "The old stuff with dubious recording quality and funny little anecdotes between songs and a bare minimum of instruments and backgrounds actually sounded much better." But it did. I give this CD four stars because it is still good and I can't bear to give it any worse of a rating, but some of the re-packaged music really suffers from the unnecessary additions. The production quality on this piece is miles ahead of her other recordings but, unfortunately, it was not produced all that well. The songs are too disjointed with one sounding like soft pop and the next sounding very folksy and the next sounding overtly country. It is disconcerting. Antje sidestepped this problem in her other CDs by keeping it simple with a guitar and her amazing voice so the differences seemed negligible. Here they are glaring. I am going to do what hasn't been done yet for this CD but seems to be a staple of Amazon reviews. I will hit this song by song. I have never done this before and am ususally impatient with it in other reviews, but here it goes.
One of the surprising elements of this CD is not what is here but what is missing. Some of her best music just isn't here. Erin, Dublin Boys, Opium, Reasonland, Merry-Go-Round and what I think could be her true break-out song Long Way are simply missing. But this is what did show up to the party.
1. Dandelion--This is "The Single." It is produced as "The Single" and, as such, was stuffed with so many superfulous instruments, drum machine beats and background vocals that the song loses most of its power. You still get an inkling of how good the song really is, but the upbeat tempo and distracting piano tinkelings mute it rather than accentuate it.
2. Go Now--This is "The Other Single" (you know, in case the first one didn't work). It is shocking in its overproduction. In its original presentation, Antje gives some very personal information about the song's origins and then cranks it out powerful and raw. If you are familiar with this version, the upbeat musical additions and the abhorrant "Oh, oh, oh" background vocals on the chorus completely kill the impact of this tune. This is the one true casualty on the CD.
3. Diamond On Your Hand--The first original on the recording and it is pretty nice. Except for, this time, the "La,la,la" backgrounds are unnecessary and distracting.
4. Jerusalem--Another original and also quite a pretty song without too many flaws. This is the first glimmer of hope that we are going to get somewhere before this is all over.
5. Sex Bandaid--Not my favorite of her tunes, but at least they left this one alone in spirit for the most part. There is some pretty heavy guitar laid down under the vocals which yanks us out of the soft pop and folk arena into actual rockin' rock. I liked it just about as much as the original even with the additions.
6. Helpless Kiss--Another nice original. In fact, this one is even better than Jerusalem and the best we have seen lyrically to this point.
7. Judas--This is one of Antje's "sheer brilliance" songs and finally the studio is doing her some good. Some may disagree with this, but the strings added here actually compliment her amazing lyrics and punch this version slightly above the original. This is really good stuff and in a more enlightened world, this would be "The Single."
8. Pearls--And we take a monster step back. About six seconds into another one of Antje's really good songs, this guitar twangs in and screams, "Ooh, Ooh, This is a country song! This is a country song!" It is so over the top in pointing out its down home country goodness that it becomes almost a stereotype. BUT...Ellis Paul's background vocals are really nice here, even with the offensive pickin' and grinnin'. They also didn't cut out the high velocity, punch you in the gut "dirty word" that shows up near the end. Bravo for that at least.
9. South--The gem of the new songs. This is stunning and feels the most genuinely authentic in lyrics, music and sound. If you are wading through this set and trying to discover what Antje really sounds like--this is what she sounds like.
10. Anna--This is the only "recast" song that clearly surpasses the original in its presentation. I'm not sure why other than it is simple and clear and "true" to its source. Beautiful. THIS is what the CD should have been--a cleanup of production and sound from the original live recordings but a spot on rendering without too much interference. Sometimes, the more brush strokes you add, the more you mess up the painting.
11. Hold On--The last song is also original and also fantastic. The vocal downturn at the end of the lines and the clean and simple production values make this a folk rock jewel. And FINALLY...if you wait a few seconds for the "Hidden track" you finally get to hear Antje speak with the charm and humor that was so much a part of her early recordings. Finally.
Antje is hard to categorize and hard to pigeonhole. The problem with this aspect of the singer/songwriter is that the studio may not know exactly what to do with her. I think that the beginning of the CD tries so hard to conform the unconformable into some sort of package that it misses spectacularly and by the end where they just throw up their hands and leave her alone, the true artist comes through. None of the problems here are the fault of Antje Duvekot. She has already proven herself in coffeehouse recordings. Her music and lyrics and voice are on par with the best. Just don't try to make her fit into the hit machine and let her do her thing and hold the mic steady and clean up any background noise. And send the guy that runs the drum machine and the synthesizer player and the "Lalala" singers out on a tea and danish run. I know it is against evey pie chart and demographic graph but you may just be surprised at the result.
Description of Big Dream Boulevard
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Folk CDs
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