Vox

TUNES - 4

UPDATE: Changed music - these are gone.

Picked up a new CD I have been wanting (I know, "don't buy stuff for yourself so close to Christmas") so I am going to feature it for this weeks Radio.Blog. Yep, another jazz chick - I'll give you something else next week.

Renee Olstead

Here is the SG song of the day.

Here is the whole thing.

BTW: she is all of 15 years old...

REVIEW: Her voice has a bit of the sweetness of Ella Fitzgerald, with an edge of cute like Blossom Dearie. It is still a young voice, which you can occasionally hear as she goes into her nose in certain ranges, but it is spectacular. Can't wait to hear how it sounds as she matures - especially if she finds a new producer.

This album, unfortunately, suffers from the David Foster effect - he has stripped almost all the cool out of the songs..and her voice. She will benefit from the increased exposure, but the resulting recording is less than it should be. His production and arrangements here are just so much pablum, just like on most of his songs.

There are a few standouts: A Love That Will Last surpasses his talents, Renee manages to keep Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby? hip despite some pedestrian kicks he's thrown in, her voice is perfect for Midnight At The Oasis - though it is an awfully sultry song for a 15 year old.

The duet version of Breaking Up Is Hard To Do that is on the album is so bad I removed it from the Radio.Blog, but I will give you the option to download it for a day if you are interested. (removed)

On the word of mouth scale:
her voice ~
the album ~

Posted by Vox at November 28, 2004 12:44 PM | RadioBlog