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Amazon.com: How do you follow a debut record that achieved out-of-the-blue grandeur on its way to selling a quarter of a million copies? For Maine’s Ray LaMontagne, it’s all about shaking up the formula, evading repetition and delivering the unexpected. Till the Sun Turns Black finds the introspective singer/songwriter complementing his folk-country ways with traces of strings and horns and spooky soulful background voices. Songs like "You Can Bring Me Flowers" and "Three More Days" are the most R&B-influenced, the latter shuffling about ala The Band or Tony Joe White. Despite its brooding lyrics, "Empty" has a rollicking, almost breezy delivery, a perfect balance to either the hushed title track, the unnerving "Be Here Now" or the horn-fortified waltz, "Gone Away From Me." Throughout the 11-song sequence, and especially on the final song "Within You," LaMontagne’s voice remains the record’s most crucial element, as vibrant as it is tattered and as harsh as it is flawless. --Scott Holter Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-05-09
Takes my breath away
Whenever I listen to Ray LaMontagne I am taken away to a different place- a different planet. There are few artists that have the ability to do that for me. His voice, his lyrics, the way the music wraps around everything is simply stunning. There are no other words to truly explain it.
My favorite song on the album is "Empty." I remember the first time I played that song for a friend of mine- he had tears in his eyes after it was over telling me that he could "feel the pain in the song, and that it was beautiful."
"lay your blouse across the chair,
let fall the flowers from from your hair
and kiss me with that country mouth, so plain.
outside, the rain is tapping on the leaves,
to me it sounds like they're applauding us the the quiet love we made.
will i always feel this way?
so empty, so estranged."
Rating:
Date: 2008-05-01
Till The Sun Turns Black
Once you start listening to the first track "Be Here Now," you will not want to turn this album off. I was captivated. Every track on this album in brilliant. Rating:
Date: 2008-01-20
Scrumpcious soul
I love this album! It has a softer, mellower touch than the first, but no less soulful. Of course, Ray Lamontagne's voice is no less stunning. If you want reflective, moody and sometimes dreamy, this will work for you. Rating:
Date: 2007-10-25
Blues Prophet
I had heard "You Can Send Me Flowers" on Satellite Radio several times and knew I had to find this Blues Prophet Ray. His lyrics are so gut-wrenching and cathartic that after hearing the entire CD I felt it had saved me thousands in psychotherapy. Quite a religious experience. Collaborating with people like Michael McDonald didn't hurt his arrangements, either. Ray sounds like Joe Cocker in "Three More Days," and like George Harrison in "Within You." But he lays out his bare soul in all lyrics with the most passion I have heard in a long time, along with great guitar licks, his own unique style, and THE MOST HAUNTING VOICE. A true blues prophet Ray is. I'm so glad he finally convinced himself to find his way out of his manufacturing plant job and into songwriting and performing where he truly belongs. I look forward to his other CDs. Don't miss this one! Rating:
Date: 2007-10-25
harsh critics approve
I would echo the superlatives of many of the other reviews of this CD. It is my first experience with this artist's work and I have had it on constant replay. I am totally incapable of picking a favorite track, though today I'm partial to "Gone Away From Me." Tomorrow it may be something else.
However, the "harsh critics" I refer to are the sleepy high school seniors in my first period Constitution class. Our school begins each day with a period of silent reading and I play music each day as we read. Sometimes they groan. This was the FIRST cd I've played this year from a widely eclectic selection that kids were begging to know who it was, and how to buy it. |
