Following in the footsteps of Sinéad O'Connor and Tori Amos, Paula Cole is an art-rock singer-songwriter who turns her personal wounds into songs full of facile psychologizing and strained allegory with overwrought, h... more »umorless music to match. Harbinger, the debut album from the Massachussetts native, is full of grievances against glamorous romantic rivals, patronizing men, insensitive high school classmates and cross-burning racists--all so broadly drawn that everyone can easily join in the complaint. --Geoffrey Himes« less
Following in the footsteps of Sinéad O'Connor and Tori Amos, Paula Cole is an art-rock singer-songwriter who turns her personal wounds into songs full of facile psychologizing and strained allegory with overwrought, humorless music to match. Harbinger, the debut album from the Massachussetts native, is full of grievances against glamorous romantic rivals, patronizing men, insensitive high school classmates and cross-burning racists--all so broadly drawn that everyone can easily join in the complaint. --Geoffrey Himes
""Saturn Girl" is still a hit waiting to happen, and this is an excellent, unusually nuanced and marvelously sung record that occupies its own unique artistic space. Cole has made a truly great album (this one), a good one ("This Fire") and a regrettable one ("Amen") but she hasn't yet made her masterpiece. So, onward!"
"Harbinger" proves to forcast things to come...
jordan | 12/19/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Paula Cole's debut, "Harbinger" is a little known album that reaches the core of her music. The soulful ballads that are present on this album are some of the most candid and revealing songs in pop music. Supported with Cole's haunting voice, the songs of "Harbinger" resonate through the mind and weasel their way into the subconscious. The simplistic beauty of "Ordinary", along with the minimalist style of "Chiaroscuro" add to the complexity and depth of Cole's music. She is completely unprecidented and unlike any other artist. Original melodies and incredible music lend themselves to create the masterpiece that is "Harbinger". If you love songs like "Me" from her album, "This Fire", you will love this album. "Harbinger" is true to its name, in that it is a warning to stand back and accept the inevitable success of Cole's talent and mystique."
Honest
Ashareh | Nashville, TN United States | 12/07/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"_Harbinger_ is an honest and passionate album, with a bare-boned intensity. Paula Cole expresses the angst of being *different,* overlooked, underappreciated. Each song contains within it a little world that captures a particular essence or quality of some moment of existence where you realize what it means to grow up. Paula Cole acknowledges the little sacrifices, the major and petty disappointments. Overall, this is quite a satisfying album."
Great Debut
Alan Caylow | USA | 09/02/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Singer/songwriter Paula Cole comes from the same school of passionate music that Tori Amos & Sarah McLachlan do, and Paula can certainly hold her own against her sisters in torchsong. Her debut album from 1994, "Harbinger," is an excellent album, showing off Paula's emotional voice and songwriting that would later make her a star with her acclaimed follow-up, "This Fire." "Harbinger" has such great songs as "Happy Home," "Watch The Woman's Hands," the great rock of "Chiaroscuro," the dark "Black Boots," the beautiful "Dear Gertrude," and the political bent of "Hitler's Brothers." Paula Cole's confessional songs may not be for everybody, but overall, "Harbinger" is a solid debut disc for this very-talented artist."