Hayden - Everything I Long For

Wow... this album really takes me back. I thought that I'd first heard it on cassette tape, but I don't think I ever owned Hayden's first album in that format, so either I'm wrong or I'd borrowed it from a friend. Whatever the case, I'm glad that I heard it.

Looking over the whole of the artist's catalog, this isn't my favourite album; however, it's an essential piece of work as it really sets the stage for what's to come. This is an honest-to-goodness recorded-in-my-bedroom album, or at least that's the feeling it gives off, which is perfect for this sort of gut-wrenching honesty and expression.

I chose to revisit this album tonight after submitting Bad As They Seem as my lead track in a CBC Radio 3 "themed playlist" contest earlier today. Not only is this track the start of this album, but also of my playlist. The song (and album) starts with Hayden clearing his throat and then starting to strum his acoustic guitar with a low-E string that has been tuned way down. This open, trembling, throaty bass note really works with the artist's deep, over-emphasized delivery of the phrases ("Girl of myyyyy dreaaamms, things are as bad as theyyy seeeem..."). It might seem like a bit of a creepy song now (as he talks about being interested in a sixteen year old girl), but at the time Hayden was only 23 himself, so keep that in mind.

This was just the first of what is now seven, full LP, studio recordings that he's released; he's also put out a great double-live album which includes some fun between-song banter. However I heard this album originally, I'm glad I did.

Recommended track(s):	Bad As They Seem; We Don't Mind; Driveway
Worth another listen?	Yes!
Overall rating:	Three Stars

Damien Rice - 9

This is an album/artist that I was introduced to via the TV show, Live at Abbey Road.  In season one, Damien Rice performed a few tracks from this, his second album.  Rice was, as I remember it, the "it singer-songwriter" when his first album, O, was released, although to be fair to this review, I neither have it or am familiar with it.

My inital reaction to this album on this listen was that it's almost too sparce in places.  Almost like a grunge-styled folk album, there are really, really quiet parts followed by really, almost explosive loud parts.  The comparisons to other folk artists like Ray LaMontagne and Nick Drake are obvious, but someone I think they do it better... or, at least more consistantly.

I think that was really my issue with the album: it seemed to lack some sort of flow for me.  The changes in LOUD and soft were, at times, too dramatic for me.  There are certainly some solid singles/tracks on the disc, but as a whole it doesn't seem to work.

Listening again, I now realize how infrequently the female vocalist, Lisa Hannigan, is featured.  On the Abbey Road show, she sung on each of the three tracks they performed, but (on this album, at least) she's only used a handful of times.  It might well have been her presence, or the interaction between the two voices, that really made the songs stand-out for me initially.  That said, in looking up Lisa's name for this post, I realize that she's gone on to do some solo work; her most recent album was even nominated for a Mercury Prize.

So, it's not a great album in the folk-rock, singer-songwriter genre in my mind, but there are some choice cuts here.

Recommended track(s):	9 Crimes, Dogs, Grey Room
Worth another listen?	~Maybe
Overall rating:	Two-and-a-Half Stars