Melissa Ferrick - Valentine Heartache

List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $9.50
You Save: $5.49 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.40 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of Valentine Heartache

Music Review: realized potential
Rating: 4 Stars

Valentine Heartache is a splendid album, a rare find. It is "intense" and "raw" and many other somewhat cliched critical terms. In my opinion, however, it is primarily the reaching of a benchmark. Finally Ferrick is behind the wheel and has made an "essential" album. While the prior release, "Freedom," is also excellent, "Valentine Heartache" sounds more comfortable, more at ease. It is a pleasure to listen to.

It is true, Ferrick's lyrics tend to cover old ground: love, betrayal, change, growth. She sings about hurt in a way that many will dismiss. However, the combination of power and musicianship sets this album above her others, and on par with or above many of the artists she once shared a label with. She also plays the trumpet on this album (she went Berklee College of Music for her trumpetmanship) and experiments with slower tempos in more successful ways than on previous albums.

There is no substitute for a Ferrick live show; she is *that good* live. However, look to either this album or "Skinnier-Faster-Live at the BPC" for an introduction to her music. Stand out tracks include the roaring "One Night Stand," the dedication of sorts to her fans "Welcome to my Life," the trumpet-filled treatise against earlier labels "E-mail," and "Mercy."

Description of Valentine Heartache

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Folk
• Pop
• Rock