- Paula Cole Amen CD
- Artist: Paula Cole
- Format: Audio CD
- Release Year: Sept 28, 1999
- Record Label: Imago / Warner Bros / Wea
- UPC: 093624749028
- Genre: Rock and Pop
- Playing Time: 51 minutes
Paula Cole's third release is a lesson in sticking to what you know. A trained jazz vocalist, Cole uses this studied vocal styling with great affect. Never overusing her vibrato, she breathes a unique and emotional character into each song with a well-placed whisper, unexpectedly powerful crescendo, or a desperate, aching wail. One moment she portrays a freestyling beat-poet rapper ("Rhythm of Life"), the next a tragically downtrodden blues mamma ("La Tonya"). She also knows how to produce a song. On "Free," sitar uncoils behind a scrim of dark ethereal notions.
The title track has bright acoustic-guitar melodies dancing on shimmering synths that resonate like the rim of a crystal water glass caressed by a wet fingertip. Throughout, she builds a foundation of sprawling, blooming musicality adapted from her preceptor Peter Gabriel. But lyrically, Cole slips into her bad habit of harping on the obvious. On "Amen" a DJ's scratch flips a switch in the middle of the song where Cole begins spouting a list of notorious characters in need of repentance, citing Saddam Hussein, Jack Kevorkian, O.J. Simpson, and all Reagan-era republicans. Exhibiting a Jewel-esque naivete on "Be Somebody," she advises, "In the face of totality, show the other cheek." The lyrics are trite, but after a few listens, they're a minor distraction from the mighty-fine body of music contained in this release. Amen to that.
Track Listing
1. I Believe in Love
2. Amen - (with DJ Premier)
3. La Tonya
4. Pearl
5. Be Somebody - (with Tionne Watkins)
6. Rhythm of Life
7. Free
8. Suwannee Jo
9. God Is Watching
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