One of the best from the last few years - I first heard Melissa McClelland on track 9 of Jesse Cook s Frontiers album I was struck by the quality of her voice and the timing in the music. I started looking for her music and found a couple of albums here on Amazon. OW!! Canadian imports at around $24 dollars. Oh well. The more I listened to that track, the more I wnted to listen to more of her music. I bought this album and have not been disappointed. The lyrics are quirky, the music is not run of the mill. A lot of thought went into this album and it shows. I cannot pick out one tune in particular because they are all good. The instumentaion is not typical. It includes a string quartet, timpani, celtic harp, and the more usual guitars, piano, vibes, etc. The sound engineering is excellent, no distortion here. Try this one, you won t be dissapointed.
What a find - I seem to play this CD over and over again. She has a smoothe, lovely voice and her songs have real meaning. This is the type of CD you enjoy listening to while taking a long car ride. The mellow feeling you get each time you pop it into your player is well worth the cost.
New Fan - I purchased this CD after hearing a cut on CBC radio. Melissa is a new artist in my collection and I ve been listening to the CD over and over the past couple of days. It s funky, mellow, smooth, sultry, funny and more. If you enjoy listening to talented female vocalists then I would recommend this as a must try. Great making a road-trip alone music (if you are having to carry on a conversation with someone in the car you might miss out on the lyrics).
Much improved over stranded in suburbia (4.5 stars) - Let me start by saying that I purchased this album and stranded in suburbia at roughly the same time. Therefore my comparison is at face value and I don t prefer one over the other simply for nostalgic reasons.I found Stranded... had several tracks that are very very poppy in that OC sounding way. Not a bad thing necessarily, but certainly not a good thing either. And while the album did have some ocassional fine moments, it quickly found it s way out of my CD player after a couple of listens.Fast forward a week later when I got Thumbelina... in the mail and gave it a listen... and then another listen... and then another listen. This album is simply much better. To use a cliche, it shows maturity- she has discovered a style of music that suits her. Everything is improved- from the music which incorporates solid flavorful blues & country styles (ala Neko Case) to the production of Melissa McClelland s tangy voice, simulaneously sultry and meloncholy (Feist) this album is splendid. In fact, it may be one of the best albums of 2006. If I could give it 4.5 stars I would (of course it s not perfect), but in this case I will err high and give it 5 to encourage people to check out.As an aside, I saw Melissa McClelland perform here on Maui with the Ladybird Sideshow. She was remarkable and everyone I was with thought so too. While this album cannot capture the pressence of her in person, it still easily holds it s own and then some...