Romantically Helpless [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
2000 album from the jazz/ pop chanteuse, a collection of 12 covers of choice jazz & pop songs. Includes her renditions of Paul Simon's 'One Trick Pony', Randy Newman's 'Ghosts', Sammy Chan & James Van Heusen's 'Come Fly With Me', Ralph Bass & Lowman Pauling's 'Dedicated To The One I Love' and Stephen Sondheim's 'Loving You'. The first single from the album, 'Make It Go Away', is a re-working of a track from her 1997 album 'Dark Dear Heart'. No domestic release has been scheduled and her last four releases were import only. Standard jewel case.

Tracks:

One Trick Pony
Romantically Helpless
I'll Be Here
Ghosts
Come Fly With Me
Dedicated To The One I Love
That Old Black Magic
If I Start To Cry
Loving You
Make It Go Away
Don't Fence Me In
Same Girl
Bonus Track

Album Description

2000 album from the jazz/ pop chanteuse, a collection of 12 covers of choice jazz & pop songs. Includes her renditions of Paul Simon's 'One Trick Pony', Randy Newman's 'Ghosts', Sammy Chan & James Van Heusen's 'Come Fly With Me', Ralph Bass & Lowman Pauling's 'Dedicated To The One I Love' and Stephen Sondheim's 'Loving You'. The first single from the album, 'Make It Go Away', is a re-working of a track from her 1997 album 'Dark Dear Heart'. No domestic release has been scheduled and her last four releases were import only. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Romantically Hopeless.......2002-10-14

Now don't get me wrong - I love Holly Cole. Having caught her live act and locked much of her catalogue firmly in my CD collection, Holly is always able to take a dose of sultry vamp, add a few comic barbs, a smooth jazzy twist, and make an intoxicating music cocktail. Love, love, love Holly Cole.

BUT something just went wrong with this one.

Having stuck with the jazz format for years, Holly had begun to stray further a field in recent years with Temptation and the simply stellar pop gem, Dear Dark Heart. Having loved her new direction, I couldn't wait to see her take DDH a step further or at least pull it off again.

But with Romantically Hopeless, Holly apparently took over two years to make the record and it shows. Holly's strength has always been taking covers of overlooked songs and making them her own. For some reason here she seems to have lost her inspiration, going back to a lot of stale well-worn jazz standards like Come Fly With Me, Don't Fence Me In, and That Old Black Magic - and doesn't do much with them to make you forget other versions. She even does an unnecessary remake of Make It Go Away from her last album. A couple tracks like If I Start to Cry are standouts but do little to make this one a must buy. Hopefully next time out Holly can regroup and bring back more of the magic.

Romantically Helpful.......2001-11-11

I'm procrastinating. Wasting time before I have to do what I have to do so I'm checking out what other people are saying about one of my favourite albums ever. Certainly this is the best Holly Cole album. A perfect blend of her jazz standards and new found love of pop. Her voice has an incredible timbre, perfectly showcase in songs like "one trick pony". Her sense of humour is still strong like in the title number. She more then aptly covers a sondheim song and I could just go on. She sings every song like she wrote it herself. Why is this an import in the States? I don't understand how the music business works but a country denied Holly Cole has some serious issues to deal with!

Pales by comparison to "Dark Dear Heart".......2001-09-01

I was excited when I first found that Holly Cole had (finally) released another album. Her prior "Dark Dear Heart" was excellently executed, so I was anxious to hear "the next phase" in her musical evolution. Unfortunately, she seems to have taken a step backwards. It always makes me wonder when an artist does a cover of a song that she has already recorded. In this case, she covers "Make It Go Away" which was the song from "Dark Dear Heart (DDH)" that garnered much attention for Ms. Cole. On the DDH version, the song is appropriately done as a "solo" as the song is the plaintiff plea from a woman to her lover, seeking relief from a personal burden. On "Romantically Helpless", she covers the same song, but with a swelling chorus of back-up singers (that come perilously close to drowning her out at times). The song loses the personal feel that its author surely intended. Ms. Cole also does two versions of "Romantically Helpless" (only one of which is listed on the jewel case insert). The first involves a heavy-handed synthesizer (also in danger of drowning out Ms. Cole's vocals) while the second version has a light, bouncy instrumental accompaniment, which seems to better fit the song's lyrics and feel. Overall, a good album, but if you don't already have "Dark Dear Heart", I'm confident that you will like it MORE!

Back to the good stuff.......2000-10-18

How can you not love early Holly Cole? But DEAR DARK HEART and TEMPTATION where interesting, but not my favorites. When I saw this CD online I thought "Oh no, another I-wish-I-were-a-huge-pop-singer CDE." Then I noticed the track listing: Arlen, Porter, Sondheim! and some great Paul Simon and Randy Newman thrown in to mix things up a bit. Finally Holly Cole is back to what she is amazing at. She's good at a lot of things, but she's amazing at reinterpretting classics like no one else. This CD came in the mail and has stayed in my CD player since. No one else is getting air time at my place!

Expensive taste.......2000-10-14

As pointed out by many of the other reviewers this CD-album of Holly Cole is one of the best CD's you can buy if you like the fusion between pop (sometimes country) and jazz; as a singer she is one of the best in the genre, there is no doubt about that. I don't want to review every song into depth, but One Trick Pony, Ghosts and Same Girl stand out as wonderful depictions of the original, not strangely enough most reminiscent to the songs she did on Temptation. The accompinament is wonderful, also due to the stunning sound quality. But then there is one thing I was quite surprised about: the total playing time hardly exceeds 43 minutes! I think there is no excuse worthwhile to justify such minimal achievement at the expense of the buyer (this import CD is very expensive)!

Average customer rating:

Romantically Helpless
Holly Cole
Manufacturer: Tradition & Moderne
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DENKD
Release Date: 2004-03-29

Tracks:

One-Trick Pony - Kevin Breit, Tory Cassis, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, Mark Kelso, George Koller
Romantically Helpless - Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, Mark Ferguson, David Gray, Mark Kelso, George Koller, David Piltch
I'll Be Here - Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, David Gray, Mark Kelso, David Piltch
Ghosts - Kevin Breit, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis
Come Fly With Me - Kevin Breit, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, David Gray, Mark Kelso, George Koller
Dedicated to the One I Love - Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, David Gray, Mark Kelso, George Koller
That Old Black Magic - Kevin Breit, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, Steve Ferrera, Mark Kelso
If I Start to Cry - Luc Boivin, Kevin Breit, Tory Cassis, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, David Gray, Mark Kelso, George Koller
Loving You - Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, Mark Kelso, George Koller, Kim Ratcliffe
Make It Go Away - Luc Boivin, Kevin Breit, , Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, David Gray, Mark Kelso, George Koller, Gerry Leonard
Don't Fence Me In - Kevin Breit, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis, Mark Kelso, George Koller
Same Girl - Kevin Breit, Holly Cole, Aaron Davis,

Music:

Music

Music