Unlike the caterwauling Yank divas, this woman can sing
o dubhthaigh | north rustico, pei, canada | 04/05/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"and on top of that she has as seductive and direct a tone as you'll ever hear, and is an absoultely stunning, natural beauty. Figures she's a kiwi....
This concert done back home as a one-off in Christchurch NZ is a keeper. It is a pops concert for the orchestra, but unlike Brightman et al, Bic inhabits these songs as though she has just awaken and penned them while last night is still fresh in her memory. Even a tune such as Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee" is delivered with such authority and sexual melancholy that you'd swear she wrote it. It never packed this much punch from him and he was bleeding when he wrote it.
Nick Cave's tune is the only dud, but that's what you get for covering Nick cave. Runga hadnles Bachrach and David's song like it was written for her, and you'll hear odd premonitions of a tune that the insipid MacManus re-worked for Painting From Memory. In the zone of her own compositions, she is unparalleled, and what could have turned into schmaltz, is as powerful a use of symphonic forces as anyone has pulled off in the service of popular song. Understatement, minimalist, and focused, the way Nick De Caro used strings for Gordon Lightfoot, is what all of this texture brings to mind. In other words, she did it right. Apparently there was little to no rehearsal, so everyone had to hit their marks. They did. In spades.
There is an intimacy to Bic Runga that requires you to have gotten way too dangerously inside your lover to really appreciate just how precarious a commitment of the soul can be. I find it unsettling at times, as I hear her voice in Bic's songs. Anyway, a bit like Julie Delpy in Before Sunset....
So, absolutely worth it in every respect. It's great music, a singer who can wring out your soul without twisting her hooters in a knot, and whose attributes have not be enhanced, bleached, imprinted and sampled. She's the genuine kiwi and she has quite a song to sing."
Truly beautiful
jacqui | UK | 03/19/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This collection of tunes is eclectic and enables Bic Runga to shine.Wishing on a star is a revelation and is enough reason to buy, the rest are sublime! Abolutely brilliant,one of my favourite albums ever!"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
