Katie Melua, mmmm

[SimontY]

Hello all,

Anyone else heard or bought Katie Melua - Call Off The Search yet? Any opinions?

I love this album already, though I've only had it for a few days. Great voice, good songs, and stupendously good sound, much better than the first (and probably 2nd) Norah Jones CD

Some tracks put shivers down my spine and make every hair stand on end (tho not thru my office pc speakers, hehe)! And no significant harshness, yay!

It also reassures me that my system doesn't really need anymore upgrades, lol

Plus, she's a bit of a honey IMO...

[5th element]

Norah's come away with me seems quite well recorded to me?

Anyway Im sorry but I have to dissagre with melua, I am listening to some of her songs now.

Her voice is not the strongest and lacks precision its quite wavery in tone when its not meant to be. She cant do vibrato period, yes there are some bits where she manages it, but shes not really in control of it. She has a nice tonal quality but thats about it.

I just listened to my aphrodisiac is you. This to me is a sorta raunchy song you have to really sing with. As in you need to be able to growl a bit with power and take control of the song, here she seems not to do that sounding kinda wimpy, where she should be belting it out.

I know this is not a good comparison, but give chirstina aguilera that song and shed add the kinda fiesty performance required. Aguilera has a much more dynamic voice which can "harden up", not become hard and harsh, but coarsen and become powerful when required. Maybe another compairson would be to eva cassidy's take me to the river, or clare teal singing wont you teach me tonight.
I dont think melua is a touch on Nora, its a shame because I like meluas songs, just not sung by her. O BTW I dont think aphrodisiac is suited to nora either.

Having said all that I can hear that Melua has great potential, but she needs singing lessons to hone her skills to get her voice properly trained. She would be able to do vibrato and have real power IF she has lessons, yes I know shes 19 so has plenty of time to improve IMO.

[5th element]

As an addition, nora , aguilera and anastacia non of them sound harsh even at very high levels, on my system, which isnt overly euphonic. Seas excels are not euphonic, although they can be made to sound it with the right xover. Neither is a SS97 although its all very smooth.

[SimontY]

Wow! You're so harsh! And so is the Norah CD... no matter what I do to my system every song makes my ears close up... despite everything sounding so real and impressive.

The Katie Melua album sounds beautiful, full stop.

No, she doesn't have a technically good voice, but I think you've missed my point a little: it sends shivers down my spine - Norah Jones doesn't. Perhaps you got it right with "tonal quality" - this may be what I crave and enjoy, but then I maybe like Norah even more in this respect, but I can never get fully into it unless I've had a few drinks to reduce my sensitivity to the harshness.

I do seem to be one of those people, whatever I post, no-one ever agrees with me, lol!

edit: it *could* be my system to blame, but the Norah CD is now one of only a small proportion that have this bad quality thru my system. I've gone to good lengths to reduce harshness.

btw, I agree she could/should get better in time - the slight fault for me seems to be a lack of power, but as you may have guessed, I do like voices to have a listenable quality.

[Luke (Uof Iowa)]

I agree with you.
I downloaded the entire Call Off the Search album and have listened to it several times now. I plan on getting Norah's 1st album probably next week so I can't really compare, but Katie has deep emotion and that's a lot of what I crave.

Hopefully she tours the US sometime, that I can attend.
I'd let her sing to me any night of the week, and maybe all of them if I'm lucky.

[Rarkov]

My review:
Love it!

Gaz

[jleaman]

My Faience 's name is Katie : O)

[Rarkov]

My fiance's names Alison.

Alison Bell if you want the full name!

Gaz

[jleaman]

Congrat's..

[Rarkov]

Originally posted by 5th element
Her voice is not the strongest and lacks precision its quite wavery in tone when its not meant to be. She cant do vibrato period, yes there are some bits where she manages it, but shes not really in control of it. She has a nice tonal quality but thats about it.

I have to say - I totally disagree. I play violin & sax, and at least on the violin, people either can do vibrato or they can't. It's a technique that just happens like turning on a switch. There are two types, one where the whole arm moves, and one where just the hand moves. Again, most people can only do one or the other.

I compare this to voice in that people either can or they can't - but those who can fall into two catagories. Those that try it on every note on the page, and the good singers that oly use it to emphasize a particular note with emotion and fluidity. IMHO of course.

On the rare ocassion that there is a quiver in her voice (like nervousness) I find (for lack of a better word) sweet and femenin.


A genuine "One of the best new artists"!

Gaz