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Tracklisting
1) Headlock
2) Goodnight and Go
3) Have You Got It In You?
4) Loose Ends
5) Hide and Seek
6) Clear the Area
7) Daylight Robbery
8) The Walk
9) Just For Now
10) I Am In Love With You
11) Closing In
12) The Moment I Said It
13) Speeding Cars (Japanese Re-Release Bonus Track)
14) Can’t Take It In (Japanese Re-Release Bonus Track)
Speak for Yourself is the second album from British artist Imogen Heap, and the third she has taken part in including her time being half of the duo Frou Frou, which disbanded sometime between Details and Speak For Yourself. It had two singles preceding its release, Hide and Seek and Goodnight and Go, while Headlock also had a music video filmed for it. The bonus track Can’t Take It In was used in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, while The Moment I Said It was used in an episode of Criminal Minds called Seven Seconds. It was originally released on the 18th of July, 2005.
My, is this really Imogen? I thought I was listening to Frou Frou all over again. In all seriousness though, the album ditches Imgoen’s initial punk/grunge rock sensibility and takes on a much more synthesized, natural sound, similar to the approach that was taken with Details. As such, it really appeals to a much smaller audience, and old fans that started drifting away upon the release of Details could initially be scared off by how different this really is, but once you get past that and listen to the album as it is, there’s definitely a lot to love here. And if this is your first album, so much the better: No shocks for you!
Despite the new sound, the diversity of the tracks is still highly apparent. There’s a pop song in Goodnight and Go and Just For Now, a darker track in Daylight Robbery and The Walk, and even obscure, gentler songs such as I Am In Love With You and The Moment I Said It. The trip-hop, synth-pop elements are still here, and they’ve been put to good use. It’s nice to hear such a diversity of tracks, and there’s so much diversity here that you could pretty much say that it trumps Details in that respect, as Imogen uses a whole different array of sounds throughout the album.
The album is, for all intents and purposes, a love-it-or-hate-it affair. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t a rabid Imogen fan who likes every track on the album, and sometimes the hype of a song will actually kill the potential it initially had to make a huge impact on you. This album is full of this, too, as at least three songs have appeared on The O.C., and subsequently one of these songs started being used all over the place, leading to a bit of over-exposure, if anything.
And while the hype machine has even taken me down a few times before, I have to say: I’ve heard the hype, and honestly, Hide and Seek deserves it. I’m sure we’ve all heard of it by this stage: That dark, foreboding, melancholic a capella song that only features Imogen and the harmonizer. It may be simple, and it may be over-hyped, but the fact that the song is so unique, so open-ended meaning wise, and yet so emotional despite the amount of technological covering in it makes it a rather impressive feat of a song. As much as I love it, though, it honestly seems largely out of place. It may be a diverse album, but absolutely nothing but a Perfume album would be able to contain that song successfully.
And as a whole, it’s because of this fact that a few songs initially trump Hide and Seek. Songs like the painfully mood-stradling Headlock and the dark, powerful Daylight Robbery just end up showing a superior side in the context of the album, though they can’t really be called inferior: All of Imogen’s songs are full of meanings, it’s just that they take it on in a much more conventional manner, which will be easier to swallow for the more mainstream-loving listeners.
The album works extremely well as a whole: The digital yet natural sound of the album mixes the songs together in a very respectable manner, and this manages to connect each song with that one single thread, with the only slight hitch being the lack of a melodic structure in Hide and Seek. A few niggles between the radically different moods and pitches of certain songs could provide a slightly less favorable transition throughout the record, but it all depends on how much attention you pay to that when it comes to whether it ruins it for you or not.
Album Score
A-
Favorite Tracks
1) Headlock
2) Daylight Robbery
3) Just For Now
4) Hide and Seek
5) Goodnight and Go
In some ways, this album is much better than Details. In some ways, it’s much worse. The album has a much more consistent and cohesive sound to it, while at the same time it handles things in a manner that make me see it as slightly more off-putting than its predecessor. It’s in no way a bad album, and there wasn’t a single bad track to be seen here (Well… Maybe Clear The Area.), but I just can’t see it as being as easy to get into for fans or newcomers. Details provides a nice bit of leeway in that it isn’t as digital as this album, so maybe that would be a better place to start, but this is definitely still a highly recommended album.
Tracklisting
1) Let Go
2) Breathe In
3) It’s Good To Be In Love
4) Must Be Dreaming
5) Psychobabble
6) Only Got One
7) Shh
8) Hear Me Out
9) Maddening Shroud
10) Flicks
11) The Dumbing Down Of Love
12) Old Piano (International Bonus Track)
13) Holding Out For A Hero (Australian Bonus Track) (?)
Details is the debut album for the British electronic/trip-hop (so they say) duo, Frou Frou, which is composed of vocalist Imogen Heap (the main reason I’m reviewing it) and Guy Sigsworth, the guy in the back. Both of them wrote, produced and played instruments for different songs on the album, although Imogen is the only one to provide vocals. The track Let Go was used in the closing credits for the movie Garden State, which featured Zach Braff, while Holding Out For A Hero is a cover of the old Bonnie Tyler hit, and was used in the movie Shrek 2, along another cover of the same song. The album was released on the 4th of June, 2002.
Remember how I said Imogen’s solo debut was angsty and soulful? You know, an album with a bit of a punk flair to it while still keeping a bit of the mainstream in one or two songs. Well, Details is a totally different story. The soul is still there, as is the deep meaning. The punk elements are gone, though, and this album is instead made up of ambient electronica. This is when Imogen started moving towards her now staple genre, and probably the one stage where she was best recognised before Hide and Seek from her following solo album was used in just about every existing medium.
So, it’s quite a departure, indeed. The album is rather ecclectic: You have your darker, often times ambient synth pieces (Let Go, Psychobabble, Only Got One), and you have your lighter tracks that are a bit friendlier (Breathe In, It’s Good To Be In Love, Maddening Shroud) and you also have your plain strange tracks (Psychobabble again, Flicks, Old Piano). It’s got a little bit of everything, which is good to hear. The album does a great job at not repeating itself while still sounding consistent. Not every track here is perfect, but as a package, it worked out perfectly. While it is mainly an electronica album, there are a few odd songs that lack that sound (For example, Breathe In has almost none of the elements), but in the long haul, if you don’t like mellow electronica or synth-pop, this really isn’t what you’ll be gravitating towards.
As I’ve said, it does a great job of providing you with interesting, unique tracks. The biggest example I’d like to point out here is Psychobabble. It has those dark, ominous, echoing bell chimes over a mysterious and foreboding synth line with Imogen singing what I could possibly call her strangest set of lyrics yet: The general story is, Imogen talking to herself, as if on a phone, talking to someone frantic and possibly in some situation that gives off a feeling of urgency. It’s a rather mysterious and intriguing piece, if not downright chaotic.
Another of the odd, stand-out tracks is Flicks. While this isn’t exactly a stand-out for me, it has a rather odd lyrical composition to it, and the arrangement carries a sort of semi-Arabian atmosphere to it. Honestly, I can’t make any sense of the lyrics though, so I can’t even begin to wonder what it could be about, but it has a rather atmospheric, ethereal feel to it that helps set the mood. The ad libbing was a nice touch from Imogen, too.
However, just to even it out, there has to be a bad track or two. The biggest dunce, I would say, has to be Madenning Shroud. The verse structure just seems a bit too childish for my liking, and the chorus isn’t much better. It’s very repetitive, and while the atmospheric noises are nice, it’s just not very appealing. Old Piano tends to drag quite a bit, as well, and ends up falling flat halfway through due to the odd nature of the song itself.
And, on a final note, who can forget the subdued, blending in songs: Only Got One and The Dumbing Down Of Love, which happen to be two very good songs even with this quiet nature: Only Got One, a song about living your life as you want since “you’ve only got one”, works as one of the uppers of the album, while The Dumbing Down Of Love would be more akin to a dirge or ballad of kinds.
And what’s an album without its song about not doing drugs: Breathe In takes this title, and it’s also one of the brighter tracks on the album. It’s kind of odd, as it’s hard to tell whether she’s berating, approving or just indifferent.
Album Score
A-
Favorite Tracks
1) Psychobabble
2) It’s Good To Be In Love
3) Hear Me Out
4) Only Got One
5) Let Go
It was rather hard to contain this review into a less-than-1000-word limit. There’s a lot to say about it, as it’s not exactly the kind of album you’d run into every day. It takes the electronica twist and adds it to otherwise ordinary songs to give them a unique twist to make them stand out, instead of turning it into club or house music. It was a rather interesting experiment, and in my opinion, one of the best things to happen to Imogen: This style of music was a brilliant change for her, and it did nothing but help her next album. So, nice job, Imogen and Guy~
Tracklisting
1) Getting Scared
2) Sweet Religion
3) Oh Me, Oh My
4) Shine
5) Whatever
6) Angry Angel
7) Candlelight
8) Rake It In
9) Come Here Boy
10) Useless
11) Sleep
i Megaphone is the debut album from British artist, Imogen Heap. It is also her only solo album under the Almo Sounds records, as she eventually created her own record label known as Megaphonic Records. The album title is an anagram of Imogen’s full name. It was released on the 16th of June, 1998.
Imogen Heap has always been a rather ecclectic artist when it comes to her sound. i Megaphone is probably the most radically different of any of her releases, being the only album in her discography to use a grungier rock sound instead of a more ethereal synthesized style of music. It’s also the first real show of how deep and soulful her songs can get, despite this one being heavier on the angst than her next albums.
The album does a pretty good job of providing you with songs that are a bit more serious, songs that are a bit lighter and songs that are just plain fun. And, in one case, insane. The only real song that tries to bend itself between these multiple lines is Rake It In, a song that uses a lighter, higher-pitched sound with a darker lyrical message relating to physical and mental torture of various kinds. The main precursor of the eventual dark twist in the song is in the chorus: In the background, you can distinctly hear some Gregorian chanting, making a much spookier effect. It’s nothing compared to the hectic arrangement and screaming about two minutes in. Sweet Religion also tries to bend things a bit, and is actually quite catchy in the process; It’s got a really intriguing arrangement to it.
Away from this, there’s a lot to like throughout this album. In fact, I’m rather hard pressed to find a single bad song, arrangement-wise. There are lighter songs like Whatever, which uses a slightly overdriven electric guitar to give it a distinct sound through an otherwise calm arrangement; and Oh Me, Oh My, a slightly more ethereal song with a surprisingly out-there sound. There are also darker songs like Angry Angel, an aggressive, angst-ridden song full of religious terms relating to self-suffering; and Shine, a calmer take on the sound that uses a rather uncommon melody progression that helps makes it stand out on the album, despite not being the greatest song. There’s even Come Here Boy, a heartfelt piano ballad that stands out shockingly on such a dark album.
However, there is one thing wrong with this album: It has the token angst-ridden, out-of-tone vocals from Imogen herself. That’s not to say she’s a bad vocalist: She has one hell of a voice on her, and she does sound rather good when she isn’t trying to shout along to the angst. However, when she is, it just sounds a bit too grating at times. I’m glad to say that this album is the only case of it in her career, and she does show some fantastic vocals in Come Here Boy. Also, there are some nice moments in songs like Whatever and Oh My, Oh My, but it could take a bit of self-control and growing to get past the vocals in the initial stage if you aren’t already a fan of that style.
That aside, though, the album flows surprisingly well despite using these three distinct levels of tone in the moods of the songs. The united grungy, indies sound the album has helps tie it all together into one neat package, and the amount of soul that you get in the deeper songs is only strengthened by the fact that Imogen had a large role in the production of the album: Once again, though, it isn’t quite as much as we see in Speak For Yourself, and the amount we’ve heard of relating to her upcoming album Ellipse.
Album Score
B+
Favorite Tracks
1) Whatever
2) Oh Me, Oh My
3) Come Here Boy
4) Rake It In
5) Angry Angel
This was a fantastic debut for Imogen. Sure, it’s not her best album, but we all know how badly many artists have debuted in their times. While it’s not exactly the best place to start with Imogen, it’s a nice listen for exitsing fans of her, or people not looking to make an opinion of her as an artist and just enjoy her music. It’s not as enjoyable as her later works, but don’t pass on it because of that, because you’ll be missing out on quite a lot. As a side note, I rather like the anagram title of the album. I’m actually quite surprised they even got an anagram out of it.
So instead of Be The Voice, I decided I’d add two artists I liked and thought were a bit more consistent. And to avoid another NEXT LEVEL fiasco (although no one has more annoying singles than Ayu, so that’d be unlikely anyway), I’m going to use some special circumstances for them.
YES, yes, I have decided to finally go ahead and feature one Nami Tamaki. I feel like one of the few people that can even stand GIVE ME UP, and I absolutely adore her upcoming digi-single Negai Hoshi, so I thought “Why not give the girl a bit more recent love?”.
As for where I’ll be starting, I’ll be initially reviewing GIVE ME UP and moving onto Negai Hoshi this week, MAYBE. I’m kind of debating it since it’s a digi-single and all, but we shall see, I guess.
Also note that if I decide to go through with my “reviewing past albums” idea, Nami shall be part of it as well. I’ve heard good things about her past music (with the emphasis going to her Make Progress album), so it’d be a nice way to force myself to see what all of the fuss is about.
This feature is a bit more… Controversial.
But you know what?
I don’t care.
From now on, I shall be featuring Imogen Heap on my blog, hearby making her the first English artist to be completely and fully featured here at Vitamin Drop. I’ve been in love with this woman and her music for many, many years. Remember how I said BONNIE PINK was my favorite artist? Imogen Heap is my number one English artist. My absolute favorite, and she very nearly tops BONNIE herself. I still can’t decide myself.
Since she’s an English (Literally from England, lulz) artist, I’ve decided that I will NOT review her singles. Since there’s much less of a focus on singles and more of a focus on recut singles in English countries, I will only be reviewing Imogen Heap’s albums. As such, I will start with I Megaphone, move on to Details, despite it being a Frou Frou album (Imogen was in the band, so I’ll do it anyway), and then I shall move on to her latest album, Speak For Yourself, and finish off with her upcoming album, Ellipse. Look forward to it~
Also, check out my reviews for MEG’s BEAUTIFUL and BONNIE PINK’s ONE albums. They now have their scans added in, made by yours truly. If you want either set of scans, feel free to ask and I can give you the mediafire link to the rars. All usages of them must include a credit to me, though, lulz.
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