The Sweetest Illusion

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Customer reviews

review by: fallen121 date: 2004-11-16 rating:
You'll Never Know A Better Day
It is true that 'The Sweetest Illusion', which is Basia's third studio album, failed to generate the sales of the earlier albums 'Time and Tide' and 'London Warsaw New York'. Nevertheless 'The Sweetest Illusion' represents Basia's most creative work to date. It is a definite move away from the 'Matt Bianco Sound' with which she will always be associated, but which is not truly representative of the bulk of her solo work. Basia never seemed truly happy with producing songs purely for commercial gain and this is evident in her live performances, where the likes of singles such as 'Prime Time TV' are always noticeable by their absence.

My personal favourite from this album is 'Drunk on Love' purely because of the melody and the inspired lyrics. Basia truly speaks from the heart when she sings of love, and the sadness of her tone generally speaks much of unrequited love or of passion which has not endured the test of time. But 'Drunk on Love' is a much happier song as it tells of the feelings associated with the first flush of new love. Another favourite is 'More Fire Than Flame'. The song has punch, and it's not just the tempo. I am always amazed that this was never included as part of the set for the live concert featured on the 'Basia on Broadway' album, but I guess this lady has too many good songs and this one just missed the cut.

Some of Basia's more commercial work has rapidly dated, but such is the quality of the old standards that these albums will never go out of date. If you drive as much as I do you cannot do better than to have 'The Sweetest Illusion' in your CD player.

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review by: matthewjarrett71 date: 2003-08-22 rating:
Polished but perfect
I have to profoundly disagree with the previous reviewer. Basia's vocal talents are never in doubt, but what about the amazing craftsmanship of her songs, and also the heartfelt lyrics which so effortlessly tell the stories of life to which we can all relate so easily? There is not a song on this album which is overproduced; indeed it is the perfect production which is one of the strengths of this album.

'Third Time Lucky' is surely one of the best pop songs ever made, from the opening whistles to the latin guitar intro, and Basia's unmistakable humming, to the opening lyrics 'First one, it's a shock / second helping, not good enough / third time lucky and you've arrived' - all about the rewards that can be reaped from never giving up on your hopes. 'Yearning' is also an amazingly beautiful ballad, surely one of the best by a female vocalist ever. In fact, the album is worth the money for these 2 songs alone, so why not listen and judge for yourself?


review by: date: 2003-05-25 rating:
POLAND CAN KEEP BASIA...
Basia, the Polish chantuese, has an excellent singing voice, and this CD has good production values, if you like your music over dubbed and over produced. Unfortunately, Basia has failed to capture my heart, as I simply did not enjoy her music. It reminded me of nightclub lounge music, which has never been my cup of tea. There is not one track on this CD that I would listen to more than once. That is not to say that Basia is not talented. On the contrary, this woman from Poland can sing. It is just that the music she sings does absolutely nothing for me. Sorry, Basia.

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