Sarah Brightman: Dive
by Andrew Krause.
| Dive |
| Captain Nemo |
| The Second Element |
| Ship of Fools |
| Once In a Lifetime |
| Cape Horn |
| A Salty Dog |
| Siren |
| Seven Seas |
| Johnny Wanna Live |
| By Now |
| Island |
| When it Rains in America |
| La Mer |
| The Second Element II |
Technical:
These discs are the normal 44.1 kHz 16 bit PCM variety, and do not contain any multimedia tracks. The sound quality is fantastic, Sarah Brightman makes me hot....
Impressions:
Every once in a long while, a true artist comes along. Several "musicians" claim to be artists, but lets face it, the product of what the popular media pushes on people is often a poor excuse for freely inspired lyrics seen through the sewage colored glasses of music industry plankton.
But then there's Sarah Brightman. Truly an accomplished artists, which a very wide range of skill and talents. This is not evident in this album, but her extraordinary voice and lyrical skills are. Oddly, Sarah Brightman is often lumped either in "New Age" or "Easy Listening". But in "Dive", her music is clearly quite a bit closer to dance or rock.
The first song, which I must admit, made me fall in love with this album instantly, to note is "The Second Element". The refrain shows the incredible power and control, strength yet smoothness, with which Sarah sings her beautiful ballads. This is a power ballad, and although it starts out with somewhat archetypical synthesized instrumentals, it has some strong beats to punctuate the lyrics, and finally ends in a ripping old school high pitch guitar solo.
Then, if you really want to hear some sharp strings, stay tuned for "Ship of Fools", soulful and sorrow filled lament of lost love (blah fucking blah), which combines strong guitar with deep electric piano.
By the time you make it to "Salty Dog", you'll figure out the theme (and if this when you finally get it, you're about an idiot). While the whole album has a big of a seafarers theme, "Salty Dog" is about "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" with a happy ending.
Did I mention Sarah Brightman is a hottie? She's got a lovely figure (and I don't mean her salary, either), a beautiful voice, and a dolls face. In song 8, "Siren" she basically breathes on the mic like a pervin prank phone caller while pensive chimes play in the background, along with whale song and of course, another vocal track of high pitched siren song. This song rushes headlong into the very upbeat, rhythmic, and danceable "Seven Seas" (almost makes me want to dance, but being manly, I suppress that ludicrous urge).
Skip ahead a few songs to "When it Rains in America", a thoroughly upbeat and sonically confrontational song, which demands to be heard at high volumes through good speakers. This leads seamlessly into "LaMer", almost as if the two were the same song.
Finally, if you liked "The Second Element", then it's back on track 15, for the similar yet, different "The Second Element II". Here, Sarah is quite a bit more restrained, and hushed in her voice. The song is less instrumental, and uses a beautiful country style guitar duo. A folk power ballad is the best way to describe this stunning sonic conclusion to "Dive".
Manufacturer info:
A&M Records
Purchasing Information:
Circuit City is on the hookup. Oh, and she's like, almost nekkid inside the cover. Gawd I'm in love.