Reviews of ’Half The Perfect World’

Well, now that Madeleine’s new album ‘Half The Perfect World’ is available for downloading, here are my first thoughts: it is an absolutely excellent record and will obviously be monopolizing my CD player’s time for weeks to come.

‘Half The Perfect World’ also has the tremendous challenge of following up one of this young century’s very finest musical offerings – her earlier ‘Careless Love’ album, which was a masterpiece of modern jazz and folk fusings.  Since its release, I must’ve recommended that album to over 50 people in the last 2 years, and no one who heard it said anything but positive words about it.  It featured jaw-droppingly stunning cover versions of songs that were almost total reworkings from their initial musical arrangements, but delivered in Madeleine’s sultry, playful and intensely romantic stylings, it was nearly impossible not to be floored by her the purity of her emotion and stupefying musical talent.  “Dance Me To The End Of Love” and “Don’t Wait Too Long” became household hits, her cover of Bob Dylan’s “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” was revelatory.  And her versions of “J’ai Deux Amours,” “I’ll Look Around” and “This Is Heaven To Me” are perhaps the most exquisite romantic ballads yet performed by anyone in this young century.  (The extraordinary power of Madeleine’s musical spell was such that she could take a song about romantic breakup, like “No More,” and turn it into a ballad of seduction – with her seducing us, her audience.)

I imagine many people will be just as enchanted if not more so by ‘Half The Perfect World.’  But at first listen, while I can certainly call it exemplary, and Madeleine still sings and plays like no other jazz musician today, I unfortunately can’t call it a masterpiece.  And admittedly, I mostly attribute this to my already intense familiarity with so many of the songs in the album’s tracklisting.  Madeleine and her band cover Sinatra’s “Summer Wind,” Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talking” (made infamous from the ‘Midnight Cowboy’ soundtrack), Joni Mitchell’s dour ballad “River,” and Tom Waits’ barroom folksong “(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night,” as well as Charlie Chaplin’s rather sentimental “Smile.”  It’s not that the songs are bad, per se, only that Madeleine’s earlier choices for cover songs seemed a little more inspired to me.  As for the new covers, her decision to slow down “Everybody’s Talking” into a torch song is daring and enchanting, and definitely one of the most rewarding cover versions.  As for the other tunes, it’s not an offensive selection, and Madeleine’s covering is pleasant enough (how couldn’t it be), but did we really *need* another cover of “Summer Wind”?  I’m not sure this song, like several of<