From Amazon.com
Cool Vocalizing !
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Cool singing of the Lady and fundamental sound of the instruments with upright bass, etc.brings much fun for your ears !
A very special pleasure I had with the version of my so much beloved early sixties`title, SHAKIN`ALL OVER !
Beautiful music
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Eilen Jewell is a great writer. She has a beautiful,unique voice. The band is great especially John Sciascia on upright bass and six-string elecric bass.
Hypnotic!
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Eilen Jewell is one of those few performers who is so unique they defy categorizing. The combination of her mesmerizing voice, slow dance rhythms, and alluring, surgical guitar work makes her music so compelling, you can't stop listening to it over and over. The music is fresh, but familiar. Also noteworthy are the song lyrics, which she writes. Unlike so much music today that is filled with tired cliches, Jewell's songs grab you. She is a gifted lyricist who can be both gut wrenching and evocative at the same time. Her lyrics could stand alone as modern poetry. I hope she keeps writing and singing for a long time and keeps the same crew. It's like they were born to work together, complementing each other perfectly.
BIG DISAPPOINTMENT
Album Rating: (2 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: If you were expecting more perfection as was Letters From Sinners and Strangers, you'll be disappointed. Most of the time the music drowns out Eilen's vocals and by the end of the fourth track, you'll be bored to tears by the lack of variety in the arrangements. The album sounds more like an electric guitar album with vocals than a great singer's vocals with some electric guitar. The best song is "One of Those Days," but aside from that, the rest are a bummer.
Five Star Torch and Twang ...
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Sea of Tears delivers - big time - on the promise of 2007's Letters from Sinners and Strangers. Expanding on the nostalgic torch and twang of the previous album's Too Hot To Sleep, this is, for me, the best record of 2009. (It's not quite June as I write, but it will be tough to beat.)
While the style and sound consistently recall the 50's and early 60's, this is no rote imitation. Eilen Jewell has absorbed her influences and transcended them. Vocally, she walks a fine line of understatement without ever losing a smoldering intensity. She makes it sound easy, with the seemingly casual approach of someone singing on the front porch, and it's this combination of nonchalance and slow burn that make her voice so compelling. (She retains some of the careworn Billy Holliday style that marked Sinners and Strangers, but the influence is less noticeable with this material.)
Jewell is a major artist, as both a singer and songwriter. She wrote three quarters of the material, and there isn't a weak moment. The three borrowed songs are each a perfect fit. There's vintage Loretta Lynn ("The Darkest Day") and there's obscure Van Morrison ("I'm Gonna Dress In Black", a folky Them track, not a Morrison original). Most impressively, there's Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over", a classic piece early British rock'n'roll that, in most hands, would be corny. Jewell's version is slinky and sexy, and sounds like it was written for Sea of Tears.
Where Sinners and Strangers showcased Jewell's versatility, Sea of Tears is a more appealing record for its consistency. (The band, guitarist Jerry Miller especially, can take their share of the credit for this.)
Not since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road can I recall a singer-songwriter in this broad genre hitting the mark with every track. At 30 Eilen Jewell is a complete talent but one whose best, hopefully, is yet to come. It remains to be seen whether she can emulate the stunning originality of the mature Lucinda Williams, but all the ingredients are there.
Tell your friends about Eilen Jewell. They'll thank you.
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