From Amazon.com
All My Life: The Best Of Karla Bonoff
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I think Bonoff is one of the greatest song writers of all time. She doesn't sing to bad as well.
Intimate Elegance
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: For me, the four standout singles on this CD are (i) Someone to Lay Down Beside Me, which is a much warmer,emotive version than Linda Ronstadt's (and I love Linda Ronstadt!). In Karla Bonoff's version you can't help but feel the pathos and desperation that the lyrics speak of(ii) All My Life, which is a less busy version than the duet between Ronstadt and Aaron Neville,(iii) Goodbye My Friend, which should not be listened to if you are prone to sadness,and (iv) Personally, which is a controlled,yet teasing song which becomes quietly sexy without doing too much.
Karla Bonoff may not be greatly known as a singer, but there is no doubt she is an artist.
Very Good
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Listening to this CD brought back many memories of the typical angst of young love, loneliness, and growing pains. (Glad those days are over!) But, Karla Bonoff is a true poet and I look forward to hearing new middle-age material from her someday.
A great easy listening companion...
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I'm only 27, so I didn't grow up with this or even come to this until I was around 21, so I'm not an expert. However, after having her song 'Goodbye My Friend' played as a farewell song at a camp, and hearing it in an episode of 'The Wonder Years', I was sold. I kept that song in my head, not knowing who it was or the title, though I had a good idea. In the end, a search on the old 'Napster' for the title of that song came up with the one I was looking for. I saw the CD at Borders and bought it immediately. After reading the liner notes, she mentions that the aforementioned song was written for a cat she had that she lost. Although it's cheesy, I've always thought it was a perfect song for any wonderful pet. I hoped that when my favorite pet passed on, I'd be able to play it for him. Just yesterday, he passed, and I was lucky enough to share it with him. It's a great memory, a great song, and the entire album is great easy listening. I'll take her over Linda Ronstadt any day...
great compilation of a great, expressive artist
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Listening to this terrific compilation, it really seems Karla Bonoff had a magic touch. Her songwriting on track after track is incredible, & her singing is beautiful & complements the material perfectly. If you have records in your collection with her name on it, but don't have any of her own recorded work, then for goodness sake this is a terrific CD to get! Granted, it's not that hard to compile a Karla compilation in the sense that, as of 1999 when this came out, she had only put out 4 solo albums, along with one album as a member of the group Bryndle (they have since released the album "House of Silence" in 2003). Her lone solo composition from Bryndle's self-titled 1995 album is here, but otherwise everything's from her solo albums. Of the 16 tracks included here, there's very little to complain about. Her greatness is on full display all over the place--the haunting "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me"; easy riding, ultra catchy tunes like "I Can't Hold On", "Baby Don't Go", "Tell My Why" (clearly superior to the carbon copy Wynonna Judd version), & "Isn't It Always Love"; & moving love ballads like "If He's Ever Near", "Lose Again", "Falling Star", "Restless Nights", & "Wild Heart of the Young". I do feel it was an unwise move to place the bouncy "Isn't It Always Love" after the mournful "Goodbye My Friend"--it's a jolting transition, & not pleasantly so, even though each of those individual tracks are great. Having "Restless Nights" & "Isn't It Always Love" simply trade places in the track listing would have helped the flow, but they're great tracks all the same. There are a couple of losers in the track listing that put the impersonal, unsatisfying version of Karla Bonoff on full display, & as far as I'm concerned, these tracks are not the REAL Karla--they feel like they come from a completely different "artist". Thankfully though, it's just two tunes. Karla admits in her liner notes that the dull, sappy "All My Life" wasn't a personal song, & that it was initially written for a movie, & it sure sounds like it. Then, there's the inescapable inclusion of "Personally", however, I give Karla thumbs up for burying this annoying hit at track 15, the second to last song on the CD. The disc ends with the traditional "The Water Is Wide" which features James Taylor--there is other essential Karla material missing that easily surpasses "The Water Is Wide"--it's okay, though, & it seems to be a fan favorite, & it's a respectable way to close the album--it's certainly a heck of a lot better than "Personally", & there's some nice accordian on it. As another reviewer pointed out, Karla did do some songs that weren't on her albums, like "Somebody's Eyes", which is a fine tune (although she didn't write it) that's on the "Footloose" soundtrack--it would have been nice to have on here in place of "All My Life". However, the lion's share of what you do get on this disc is the REAL, sincere Karla & is mostly marvelous. 7 tracks are from her 1977 self-titled debut--a handful of essential songs from her second album, 1979's "Restless Nights", are missing, but the album is still well-represented by its title track & "Baby Don't Go". If you're a big fan of the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne, you simply can't go wrong with this CD. With great sound quality, & cool liner notes including Karla's self-written comments for each track, this is a terrific CD that any fan of Karla will be delighted to have in their collections!
Purchases
1 Someone To Lay Down Beside Me
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