author: Stacey Van Pelt
I saw these ladies at Indigo Crow and loved them! They were great at the jazz workshop this past summer and I couldn't wait for their new album. It was worth it. Thanks for making such beautiful music ladies!
Read more...
One "Suite" Treat!
author: Robby
Finally, a “Buy One, Get One Free” deal you can believe in! Whether you buy Charmed’s new CD Bitter Suite 7 for the talents of Alicia Ultan (vocals, viola & guitar) or Bambi Jackson (vocals, piano, synth & bass), either way you’re getting a one heck of “two-fer.” Charmed has grown leaps and bounds both vocally and instrumentally from their first CD Beautifully Twisted. And that CD was a minor masterpiece. The addition of several accomplished musicians contributing lead guitar, drums, cello, saxophone and oud has really enhanced the Charmed sound and Bitter Suite 7 is nothing short of sheer genius. And that means “kudos” to producer John Wall for his recording and mixing talents in putting it all together. Repeated listening to this CD will not only have you asking what will Charmed do next, but when! To me Bitter Suite 7 is like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup; two musicians with two distinct styles creating one delicious sound. I’m not a musician but I know what I love and I love Charmed. Take a bite!
Read more...
Truly Charmed Follow-up
author: Tee Ell Ess
This is a first-rate follow-up to the "Beautifully Twisted" CD. It shows the two songwriters expanding and stretching their talents even further, and their forays into the personal take on the cast of the universal. Highly recommended -- an essential addition to any list of the best music of 2008-2009.
Read more...
Bitter Sweet Victory...
author: James Mahoney
Charmed’s second release is a shocker, in a few ways. Not only is it a tighter, better produced fusion of, say, Central European passion and bare-boned Celtic clarity, but it’s everything a band’s next album ought to be, and so often isn’t – a significant deepening and furthering of the songwriters’ crafts. Love is always the center of their stories, winning or losing, repairing or despairing. What feels distinctive about this work is not only its gorgeously improbable weavings of Brothers Quay film music, Stephen Foster ballads, Tony Hillerman’s spaces, and nuances of Kris Kristopherson, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Fleetwood Mac, and points farther east – Turkey, Iraq...
What’s (secretly) radically new about this work is how accomplished these musicians have become in establishing a continuing sense of mutually-supported trance. Like those in a lucid dream, this CD sustains a rich series of visions, whose vital presence, emotional immanence, and necessarily entertaining beauty, open out to living mysteries. Buy this one right now, no problem.
Read more...