I would love to say that I have known about them forever, but like many people, until relatively recently I had no idea that Antony and the Johnsons even existed. I now know the error of my ways and have bought both albums. (I am a bird now and their self titled debut)
The songs on this album are beautifully written, and his incredible voice tops them off perfectly. My absolute favourite song on the album is 'Bird gerhl', which is just stunning to listen to. Other particular favourites of mine are 'Fistful of love' and of course 'Hope there's someone' (which is the track that initially sparked my interest in the band), and all are hauntingly beautiful to listen to.
The album contains a number of collaborations, and unlike many joint projects they actually add to the albums sense of completeness. I especially like 'you are my sister'; which features vocals from Boy George, partially because I have a sister and the thoughts in the song strikes a chord with me that way, but also simply as a gorgeous song.
It has to be said that this album is not going to be to everyone's taste, and all I can say is that if you don't like it then it's your loss. Also, it is true that most of the songs do sound fairly similar, but listening to a talented person's voice, singing deep and thoughtful songs is never a dull experience, and as chill-out music it works perfectly.Another possible drawback to the album is its length. Like most people, I think the number of tracks you get on an album is one of the key indicators of value for money. This album is short at ten tracks, and some of those are really quite short. ('What can I do' and 'free at last' both being under two minutes long). However, the quality of those and the longer songs goes at least some of the way to make up for this, and perhaps if more songs were crammed onto the album it would detract from the sense of it being a complete work with connections and themes in the songs.
Overall, if you want an album which makes you think and features one of the most striking and talented voices I have heard in a long time, then you may well love this album. If you like the manufactured pop and predictable songs then it's probably not the album for you.
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Jan 24th, 2006
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