Comfort of Strangers

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-06-29 rating:
The Queen of Miserablism shines
Unfairly known as the `comedown queen', Beth Orton has been mining a particular furrow of the frail chauntese for a decade now. Or, more accurately, as the credible female singer-songwriter for whom massive commercial success has always eluded her. Singer-songwriter. What a dreadful phrase that is- Dylan's a singer-songwriter.hell. Even Robbie Williams is a singer-songwriter. So the phrase is itself absolutely redundant.

Meanwhile, Beth Orton seems never to make great commercial inroads or revolutionise the music world. This isn't due to talent (1x Beth Orton = 51 x Joss Stone, according the alegbra of taste), but due to the simple fact that Orton has never been able to transcend the era in which she rose to public prominence. Healthy, but never earthshattering sales, and a preference by cloth eared editors to prefer simpler, more pliable female stars to sell as eye candy on the front cover of their monthlies and radio 2 flagships have meant that Orton sits left of the spotlight.

Two years on from the contractual-obligation "Pass In Time", and "The Comfort of Strangers" is well, yet another Beth Orton album. There's no stylistic evolution from previous records - then again, if it aint broke, why fix it? The template of previous albums, the gentle, understated music and the fragile vocals sound like your hangover at the exact moment you start to feel completely sober. Delicate, battered, and wise.

Where Orton shines is tapping into that particularly British mood that bands like Pink Floyd, Coldplay, and lesser lights have trademarked - a sense of exhausted, exasperated, quiet desperation coupled with a vague sense of distanced reserve from everything. With a dash of regretful sex, which seems to be Orton's unique selling point - intelligent, sorrowful lust.

"Concieved", and the title track manage to convey this sense well : the feeling of the morning after. (and this is nothing new, `Central reservation' carries much the same), but the mogadon pace fails to convey much sense of life until "Shadow of A Doubt" and "Shopping Trolley". The rest of the album manages to indulge in a sense of vague British regret at something, at everything, and nothing in particular at the same time.

Which, if that's what you want "Comfort Of Strangers" is perfect. If you want something that doesn't sound like a dinner party with an ex-lover, you may want to look elsewhere.

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review by: date: 2007-01-23 rating:
Still enchanted
There are some albums that I love. I bought these albums and listened to them intensely for a couple of weeks. After that I still enjoyed them but my enthusiasm wained. Then there are a few albums that I have owned for a year or more and they still send a shiver down my spine. Comfort of Strangers is one of the latter. This collection of songs is a poignant, mature, haunting offering and I guarantee that it will linger with you. Track 13 in particular is so good that it makes my soul ache.

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review by: date: 2006-09-13 rating:
Bland
I love Beth Orton and her unique melchonic, fragile voice but this album has left me cold I'm afraid to say. I find it bland, soporofic and obscures her vocal talents. Drab songs delivered in a drab way. Strangely, I had a similar feeling when I heard Ryan Adams' "Cold Roses" album. Is it some musical fashion statement I'm just not getting? Surely anyone can just pick-up a guitar and sing meanlingless songs and a soleless way like that - but these artists are supposed to have talent.

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review by: date: 2006-09-08 rating:
EMI spyware
Bought this CD from Amazon not realising it came with EMI's copy protection system, which means I can't play it on my PC without installing the EMI software which comes on the disc. Based on what I have heard in the media about the problems caused by these programmes, this is not something I am willing to do. Very disappointed that Amazon did not indicate that this CD was a copy-protected / limited use disc on the item description page.


review by: WM date: 2006-09-02 rating:
What They Said
It's hard to find praise for this album that hasn't already been left by its other reviewers.

For me it took a few listens to really get into it, but Beth Orton seems to have such a confident, open, and optimistic approach to singing about her emotions that it's incredible to listen to. Lines like 'didn't ask to be conceived in a loveless embrace' are rare and brave. And the laughing/crying feeling that Shopping Trolley carries all the way through it is amazing - how does she sound so upbeat as she sings 'my head's hanging so low I'm kicking it as I walk down the road'?

I can't recommend this latest great Beth Orton album enough - it's inteligent, emotional, and addictive.

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