From the first note, Now grabbed my attention and hasn't let go. Besides the multi layers of musical color Corinne paints with, the lyrics are just as vivid. These songs are so catchy and so interesting, I find myself listening over and over again. And each time I do, it just sounds better. This is my new favorite album!

If you haven't heard Corinne's amazing guitar licks and fabulous voice, you're in for a treat on this album. Her style has matured and solidified here, and the album includes simple and beautiful tunes such as "Lyrical Girl" and intense, complicated, introspective songs such as "Is There Anyone Out There?" You can hear the echoes of the artists Corinne lists as influences, but the sound and sentiment is all her own.

To be musically complex and elegant is a rare feat. And this is exactly what Curcio achieves with this CD. From the whimsical, yet deceptively deep, "Lyrical Girl" to the wistful "Say Goodbye" to the angst-ridden "Is Anyone Out There?", Curcio's music is a multi-layered tapestry, woven seamlessly with the rich sounds of British Rock, Traditional, and World Music--to mention just a few of the genres evident in her playing and composing. Curcio's guitar licks are easily in the same league as Patti Larkin and Bonnie Raitt. In addition to her excellent musicianship and carefully textured vocals, Curcio is a masterful arranger, whose tasty counterpoint remains a delight to the ears time after time.

CORINNE CURCIO:"NOW" From the cover of "Now", her second CD, gifted singer/songwriter/musician Corinne Curcio-- wearing John Lennon sunglasses-- beckons her listener from a kaleidoscopic/psychedelic background. Before you even listen to a single note of "Now", you can pretty much guess from the CD's artwork that she's been influenced by '60's-style classic rock and folk. In a priceless bit of bio from her website, Corrine states, "My family was never well off enough for me to take any kind of music lessons. The Beatles were my teachers-- so I learned to play by ear, and by perusing song books." This may explain not only her musical influences... but in addition, the years of self-training may have been responsible for her tendency to keep her guitar work and voice the dominant forces in her music. To this day, the resultant richness of her basic music skills comes through, bolstered heavily by her distinctive lyrics, which are awash with depth and story. Corinne Curcio indeed retains a fondness for past musical styles and sounds, as well as a '60's folk-influenced tendency for more ethereal themes in her lyrics. Specifically, these themes tend to be the meaning of life and its assorted challenges, such as love (Corinne explores the vision of ideal love so well in "I Close My Eyes".) and faith (with "Is There Anyone Out There?"). Cynical music critics may argue that many modern folk-influenced artists tend to be overly nostalgic, and that their lyrics tend to lean towards "fluffy" and overly saccharine. Almost as if to rebuke any preconceptions, Ms. Curcio's music never sounds lost in the past. Her artistic influences notwithstanding, Corinne's instanty accessible lyrics and musical arrangements on "Now" sound timeless and very real. In fact, she states quite clearly in the title track of her CD that she's got her eye on the future: "You can feel like time rushes by way too fast, You can try with all your might to hang on to the past, You can hope for the future but it's not going to last... The moment is here and it's... now!" Although she's got dreamy melodies and auras on her CD that evoke nothing less than the feelings of freedom and abandon (Perhaps best represented by the delicately haunting "Let It Go"), to dismiss "Now" as strictly feel-good music would be ignoring it's much deeper realm of emotions underneath. Draped with light and layered guitar melodies, the first track "Now" is a great opener. But for a second song, "Scandal", Corinne gives us a very different kind of style. She adopts a heavier sound and harder edge as she presumably confronts a potential love interest. On "Scandal", Corinne adopts a persona that's more in tune with the sexy-yet-tough, "no nonsense" images of women in rock, like Melissa Etheridge and Janis Joplin; as well as the ladies of country music like Reba McIntyre. It's also an excellent showcase for Ms. Curcio's voice, which can range from sultry and strong to delicately high. "Lyrical Girl", the third song, is an instantly captivating, light-as-air tribute to an apparently magnetic but complicated subject: "She's a study in contradiction, Optimistically filled with doubt. Though life is bittersweet, she won't crumble in defeat... She's completely Lyrical Girl." We have little doubt that both "Lyrical Girl" and the fictional Queen of the next track "Her Name" ("Who does she think think she is, or does she want you to believe? Everyone agrees, she's practiced years to deceive... She took a chance, she drew a hand, now she's the Queen of broken hearts. No fame or fortune at her command. Make way as she departs...") were inspired by real-life characters that Corinne has known. Inquiring minds want to know, Corinne! In the quietly powerful "Is There Anyone Out There", despite a catchy melody and such playful accents as the harmonica, she deals with issues of spirituality and the challenge of keeping your faith ("Cold hard logic can make you cynical, but superstition will do you worse. I still believe in miracles, in this random universe. But still, I need to know... 'Is there anyone out there?'") In the CD's best display of her multifaceted picking skills, she gives us an acoustic guitar-only track with "That's How I Feel", which progressively becomes more intense until it expodes with triumph. I've seen Corinne Curcio perform live, and she can more than hold her own armed with just her voice, guitar, and lyrics. One can argue that any combination of these three elements would produce a great CD, but I doubt that many musicians could coordinate all three elements as flawlessly as Corinne Curcio does on "Now". Accenting her vocal and guitar skills with bass and occasional other instruments-- and with drums/percussion courtesy of Kevin Hainey-- Corinne Curcio has created a sound that's all her own. By the time we reach the aptly-named last track, "Say Goodbye/Off She Goes", we're already yearning for more. But, hey, this is one CD that was meant to be listened to over and over again. Each time its played, the listener is guaranteed to hear beyond the pleasurable sounds and experience the wealth of life, love, and lessons that Corinne Curcio has chosen to share with her listeners.