Cafe Naturale

Cafe Naturale Artist: Wendy Matthews
Label: Bmg
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 828766117820
EAN: 0828766117820
ASIN: B000286Q26


Release Date: 2004-06-03

Cafe Naturale


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Tracks:

  1. All I Need
  2. Early Morning Rain
  3. Love & Happiness
  4. This Time
  5. Short Note
  6. Slave
  7. All That It Takes
  8. Moon Beneath My Feet
  9. Kiss To Build A Dream On
  10. One
  11. Protection
  12. Wing & The Wheel

Album Description

The Australian adult alternative singer/songwriter's sixth studio album. BMG. 2004.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars "Cafe" Offers Blended Music in A Naturalistic Setting.......2004-12-15

Prime Cuts: A Dream to Build A Kiss On, Early Morning Rain, The Wing and the Wheel

In today's parlous pop music where tedium seems to be its middle name, Wendy Matthews' sixth studio album is a breath of fresh air. To say the least "Café Naturale," an album of covers, is unique in its song selection. Who would have thought consonant on one album could be a cross pollination of avant-garde rock (Grateful Dead, Matt Finish & U2), New Age electronica (Olive, Massive Attack), jazzy American standards (Oscar Hammerstein), soulful classic R&B (Womack & Womack & Al Green) and country tinged Americana (Nanci Griffith & Gordon Lightfoot)?

Deconstructed from their original arrangements by Matthews and producer Michael Szuowski, these covers were then adorned with an acoustic arrangement augmented by Matthews' trademark sonorous alto making them sound like Wendy Matthews' originals. As a multi-platinum Australian artist who has cut her teeth on adult contemporary slanted pop classics like "Let's Kiss (Like Angels Do)," "The Day You Went Away," "Token Angels" and "I've Got to Have You" it is encouraging to see her expand her repertoire to include such a diverse cross-genre covers.

From the tingling of the first few piano notes of "All I Need," you know you are in for a great listening euphoria. Like the sonic cousin of Norah Jones, Matthews reaches into her soul to articulate her deepest wants on this jazzy ballad. Of these 12 covers, Oscar Hammerstein's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" perhaps is the most widely recorded. Here accompanied in parts only by a guitar, the spotlight is deftly on Matthews' engaging vocals exuding an intimate and romantic vibe. While Al Green's evergreen "Love and Happiness" is given a New Orleans' bluesy makeover. With Matthews' engaging performance, you might have mistaken her as a resident of Bourbon Street. Equally ear grabbing and careened with a childlike innocence is Matthews' performance of the lullaby "Moon Beneath My Feet."

Interestingly, U2's religious and social sensitive "One" is given such a stripped down "natural" feel that you would not have guess the group who rock stadiums once recorded it. The same goes with "This Time," a track written and once performed by British dance duo Olive. Though not as poignant as "One," it's passable. Similarly, I am not too keen on Australian rocker Matt Finish's "Short Note." Despite its title, the song just drags on and on.

Even more unlikely cover is Nanci Griffith's underrated "The Wing and the Wheel." Somehow a dark plaintive narrative that ends with a spark of optimism, it is indeed a nifty cover as Matthews gave this ballad a sensitive and thoughtful read. Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain," also covered by the Grateful Dead, is one of music's most truthful exposition of loneliness. Despair had never been more eloquently phrased: "On In the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand/ With an aching in my heart and a pocket full of sand/I'm a long way from home and I miss my loved one so/In the early morning rain with no place to go."

Music Album:

  1. Elk-Lake Serenade ~ Hayden
  2. Long Hard Ride ~ The Marshall Tucker Band
  3. I Hear Talk ~ Bucks Fizz
  4. Cruise Control
  5. Wild About You-a Tribute to Australian Rock...
  6. Oriental Journey ~ Express Brass Band
  7. 25 Thousand Days ~ Boomers
  8. A Tribute to the Darkness ~ Various Artists
  9. The Greatest Tribute to the Offspring Ever ~ Various Artists
  10. Great Classics ~ Todd Rundgren

Music Album

Music Album

Music

Interrupteur/Tautologos 3 ~ Luc Ferrari

Travelcard ~ Simon Fisher-Turner

Garage Inc. ~ Metallica

Leave Them Alone ~ Twenty 4 Seven

Kuikawa ~ The Makaha Sons

Radio Indochine: Live ~ Indochine

Alma De Tango ~ Hugo Del Carril

Kelly Chen BPM Dance Collection Volume 4 ~ Kelly Chan

Sevillanas ~ Solo Compas

Far From the Maddening Crowd ~ Chicane