Hello Cruel World

 (6 customer reviews)

I saw gretchen perform in New York City last month and she was nothing short of mesmerizing. I bought this CD and have been addicted to it ever since. Highly recommended - it never gets boring. The music is somehow both very exciting and soothing at the same time. Can't wait to hear more of her music.

Gretchen Peters has had a lot to live up to, since one of her earliest songs was 'Independence Day', an enormously emotional and empowering song about a difficult subject. Since than she has constantly produced albums of full of outstanding songs and fabulous production values. But here she has surpassed herself - virtually every song is a classic, the instrumentation is exceptional, her voice is as good as ever. I really did not expect her to make a better album than 'One the Heart One to the Head' (with Tom Russell) but she has built on the 'sound' of that album and the songwriting is exceptional. Difficult to pick out a best song, but the ones that move me most are the title track, 'Idlewild' and '5 Minutes'. Oh, ands there is the Tom Russell co-write 'Saint Francis', and the duet with Rodney Crowell, 'Dark Angel'. I could go on a describe each of these and all the rest, too, but take my word for it, this is an astounding album, easily the best of the year so far, and destined to...Read more

The title track of Gretchen Peters' new CD is gorgeously addictive. It has a delightful midtempo beat, a great melody with the viola and cello giving a depth to the music, "I'm a ticking clock, a losing bet; I'm a girl without a safety net; I'm a cause for some concern; You don't live this long without regrets, telephone calls you don't wanna get, stones you'd rather leave unturned." It's stunning. "The Matador" has a classic Peters melody and her strong lyric laced over a languid beat with Barry Walsh's accordion giving the track a distinctive flavor, "I love like only a woman can, a very complicated man; I bound his wounds; I heard his cries; I gave him truth; I told him lies." Rodney Crowell joins on vocals on the lovely "Dark Angel." "Paradise Found" uses a Garden of Eden metaphor with Peters' vocals seductively tempting. Gretchen's ability as a vocalist shines on the lovely elegy, "Idlewild." While I usually prefer a majority of uptempo tracks such as the opener "Hello...Read more