TELLING TALES - Pauline Berry
$20 including postage, anywhere in NZ.
Reviews
Stylistically it's hard to pin this Auckland singer down. The album opens with Anybody Else, an edgy track with a contemporary country feel. Get Up, which follows, is a slide guitar boogie/shuffle. But just when you think you've got Berry pigeonholed she gets under your guard with the gentle, introspective ballad Talk To Me. What this tells you is that here is a singer capable of a wide range of moods: assertive, pained, demanding, resigned. Influences? There are lots of little k d lang nuances here, as in Love Drowns Your Senses (in which the title and lyrics also betray a lang-style sensibility). But then Berry is capable of sounding like Phoebe Snow too, and even Cyndi Lauper. This is a strong debut album, co-written by Berry and respected session musician Martin Winch, who provides the backing. File under Adult Contemporary ***1/2
Karl du Fresne (EVENING POST)
Working in collaboration with partner, guitarist Martin Winch (who most of us have heard of) Berry has come up with a work of sheer class, from the beautifully presented cover artwork to the musical content within. Berry's songs, if we must put a label on them fall into that adult-orientated middle market, dealing mostly with emotional mind sets, lots of loving and hurting ballads that could, with a little imagination, spill over into the more contemporary Nashville country scene. Winch's superb guitar playing compliments Berry's easy going, fluid vocal style, the whole album mixed and produced to perfection. (9)
Kevin Byrt (REAL GROOVE MAGAZINE)
Sad, sophisticated and full of great guitar and swooping melodies. The guitar and help with the tunes comes from collaborator and co-writer Martin Winch, whose playing is a joy throughout. But so is Berry's voice, along with songs like Anybody Else, Devil I Know and Love Drowns (Your Senses)
Colin Hogg (METRO MAGAZINE)
The lead-in track, Anybody Else, one of several tuneful ear pleasers. It's a good entree to Berry's free-ranging musical palette, where loose stylistic threads channel some uncommonly insightful emotional undercurrents - like Insecurity, Talk to Me, the beautifully poetic Here It Comes Again and Returning. Michael Woods (THE HERALD)
The low profile of original adult orientated music made in New Zealand is hard to fathom, especially as we have a tradition of producing some great singing talent. Pauline Berry is an example of this and she's waiting in the wings ready to take her turn. While the exquisite production initially impresses, it is the songs on this album which really make you sit up and take notice.
John Matheson (MUSIC PRESS)
This album is largely a collaboration between Pauline Berry and partner/producer Martin Winch, who not only co-wrote all the music with her but programmed and sequenced much of this album which was recorded at his Canongate Studio in Auckland. Berry's vocals are rich and strong and undoubtedly the focus of this CD. On songs like Insecurity her double tracked singing sounds like Maria McKee while the lush seamless harmonies on closing track Sell Your Soul and torch song ballad Lullaby reminded me a bit of Enya. When Winch pares the arrangements right back and lets her voice completely dominate - like on the penultimate track Returning, the pair achieve some effective, atmosphere-rich moments.
Andrew Polson (NZ MUSICIAN MAGAZINE)
Pauline Berry's debut falls into the area of confessional singing and song writing mapped out by the likes of Shawn Colvin and Rosanne Cash. Martin Winch's production turns Berry's songs into impressive FM-readymades. But with songs as intimate and thoughtful as Berry's, I find myself wishing for the sympathetic sparseness that Cash found on last year's wonderful 12 song Demo.
Nick Bollinger (NZ LISTENER)
Maori Songs - "Maorioke"
He Koha - The Gift of Music - Essential Maori Karaoke Video CD.
$20 including postage anywhere in New Zealand.
Great Christmas gift for overseas relatives and friends!
This disc was created for the Karaoke industry and the singer can be turned off or on, leaving just the music to sing along with on a karaoke machine.
Stuart Pearce researched all known version of traditional Maori songs and arranged them with accessibility and ease of learning and singing along with, in mind. Blossom Taewa researched the lyrics.
You can also play it on a DVD player - the words up come and are wiped away and you can sing along with the singers. The text appears in front of video images of New Zealand's famous scenery.
Note, you can't turn the main singing off unless you have a karaoke machine. Made to work also on Playstation.
Beautifully recorded with NZ singers both lead and backing vocals performing famous Maori songs in the singalong party style.
Although I don't have any for sale, there is also an accompanying book published by A H Reed, which many libraries carry. This contains the sheet music and lyrics of the same songs.
POKAREKARE ANA
TOMO MAI E TAMA MA
PA MAI (above, example from DVD on youtube)
ME HE MANU RERE
TOIA MAI TE WAKA NEI
PO ATARAU
HEI PUTIPUTI KOE
HOEA RA
HOKI HOKI TONU MAI
PUTIPUTI KANEIHANA E
AND TWO COMBINATION MEDLEYS
A good resource for teaching.
Above also Available in the "just music" CD format - as in audio CD
- $12 including postage anywhere in NZ.
