Search - Leslie Mills :: Different for Girls

POSSIBLY THE BEST UNSUNG POP ALBUM OF THE PAST 10 YEARS!!!

Larry Davis | NYC/Long Island, NY, USA | 03/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, I'm totally serious!!! WHAT A GEM!!! Why isn't Atlantic promoting the bejeesus out of Leslie's CD?? It's a crime if this jewel gets relegated to dustbins and cutout racks!!!How did I hear this CD when it was underpromoted?? Call it luck or it finding me, I don't know...it's just flat-out GOOD!! I had seen it around, but didn't pay any notice, yet somehow, I had it in the back of my mind to check it out, something about it spoke to me...call it strong hunches, call it telepathy...but I was in a friend's store and found an open copy...so I popped it on my discman...instantly floored after hearing a few second of the first 3 or 4 songs...I just KNEW I was in for a treat...and was I ever, WOW!!THEN...I was reading the credits and saw Paul McCartney's name, and thought...hmmmm!! Then I saw Leslie co-wrote EVERY song, except for the sweet bonus track "Wings", which is fine, as it's a great song...she even co-produced some of the songs!!!Leslie IS multi-talented, that's for sure!!!She's fresh and original, yet strangely familiar, like a new best friend, or a just-found sibling or twin...her voice and melodies are fresh and not cliched, same with her lyrics, which are actually DEEP and relevant and edgy, without being preachy...plus she can be uplifting and fun...a ray of sunshine...Leslie has the ability to comfort you when you are sad, then proceed to cheer you up and put you in a great mood, sometimes within the same song!!! Really incredible. All within pop and powerpop songs that stand up to the best of Paul McCartney and Badfinger!! Yet, she can sound contemporary enough to appeal to fans of Michelle Branch and Hilary Duff!!Basically, Leslie can appeal to many generations at once, aka the parent Beatles/Badfinger/Cheap Trick fans (and older powerpop fanatics, like me, a 36 year old Cheap Trick nut), and current teens + tweens who love Hilary Duff and Michelle Branch, totally nifty and uncanny really!!A rundown of this remarkable record's tunes...
1- "Different For Girls" (not the Joe Jackson classic, but a swell powerpop tune just the same...8/10)
2- "Walk Along" (a gem with a sweet hook...10/10)
3- "Violet" (a lovely pure ballad with killer songwriting, poetic even, gives me goosebumps...10/10)
4- "Swim" (cool powerpop tune with neat lyrics...10/10)
5- "Be My Water" (another rush of a goosebump ballad...10/10)
6- "Radiowave" (OH GOD!! One of the most KILLER of powerpop tunes I have ever heard...seriously!!! Floored me instantly!!!Up there with the best of Cheap Trick and even the Beatles!!!...If it was possible...20/10!!! But I can only do 10/10!!)
7- "Making My Way" (a grower...really cool song...8/10)
8- "Good Life" (a really sweet pop tune...10/10)
9- "Rule The World" (really nice ballad with a good message...9/10)
10- "I Can't Wait" (one of THE best ballads I have ever heard in my life...10/10)
11- "Ready To Rain" (up there with "Radiowave", perfect and bouncy and uplifting, instant-good mood-maker, terrific...10/10)
12- "Far From All The Tears" (poetic and beautiful...10/10)
13- "Wings" (really sweet and the only song Leslie didn't write, but it sounds like she owns it now...9/10)Basically, debut records like this don't come down the pike too often...it's a REAL gem...really special...I just hope Atlantic promotes it this year...too good to fall into obscurity really...Overall...10/10, and one of THE greatest pop albums of all TIME!!! Yes, I am serious...if you love really good QUALITY POP (not the junk played and promoted on radio...REAL QUALITY POP), check it out and like me, you too will be floored and will be picking up your jaw (love at first listen)...don't say I didn't warn you!!! Leslie Mills' "Different For Girls" is both a charmer and a real corker...you can thank me later... ;-)"

What a find!!!!!

Brittney Hinson | Ashford, Alabama | 01/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first thing I had ever heard by Leslie Mills was the song Good Life. For those of you that don't know, that song can be found, not only on this c.d., but also on the What a Girl Wants soundtrack. This beautiful and upbeat song was the one playing as What a Girl Wants begins and it was a lovely and fitting introduction to such a moving girl power flick. But the song that really made me into a Leslie Mills fan was the hauntingly beautiful Wings that you may know as the song that played while the credits rolled on the movie Barbie of Swan Lake. This song instantly became a favorite of mine and I soon after ordered Leslie Mills debut c.d. from...well, where else? Amazon.com!!!!And it was love at first lyric!!!! Leslie Mills songs range from girl power pop, to just plain fun, to the moving and romantic. I luv this c.d.!!!!! So give it a try and help out a promising new artist."

Faceless Music

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 05/15/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I read the excellent reviews for this disc and about her landing a music publishing deal with Paul McCartney & had great expectations for this former lead singer for the band "To the Moon Alice." While she certainly is a pretty lady as the stunning front cover shows, I did not connect much with the music. "Different for Girls" is a plausible rocker that doesn't sound unique enough nor is the groove great enough to make me reach for the repeat button. Australian producer Chris Pelcer cowrote "Swim" that rocks and is one of the more successful tracks with a simplistic lyric, "Cotton candy, spin me 'round the lovin' tree, If I hold out tempting all my sweetness, sticky sticky, so good." "Radiowave" rocks with some great hooks, but the lyrics make it seem sophomoric, "Like a time bomb ticking on the radiowave; & I'm dancing on a table with a strawberry shake, feel like getting down & dirty with a pocket of love." "Different for Girls" comes across as a project by a singer with some talent who needs some good material to sing. Perhaps she should try "Maybe I'm Amazed." Taxi!"