Passion, Poise and Soul...
D. Gaut | Sweet Sweaty South | 10/12/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"THIS is grrrllll power folks. "Luminous" is the work of a strong independent artist with soul to spare, a lady with the strength to make deeply personal music without hollow bravado or some put on characterization, more like a "lioness laying down her strength".
Jennifer Niceley has brought us a "record" the way records used to be made: with artistic vision, with an eye toward mood and emotion...with strings! If that's nostalgic, just call me grandpa. Oh, and what marvelous arrangements they are...Ms. Niceley and her co-collaborators and have woven together a sensuous, southern meditation on love and life, strung together with the threads of slide guitar, strings, Hammond organ, and languorous vocals.
Is it Blues? Is it Jazz? Is it Soul? It's all of that and more. It's music. It doesn't need a label does it? "Luminous" plays as a whole, each cut melding into the next and complementing the last. There are highlights of course, the brilliant reworking of Blind Woman and the sweetly insinuated, laid back, grooove of Shadows and Mountains come immediately to mind. Luminous, is a well executed artistic vision perfectly paired with sunsets, red wine and love. Beautiful? Oh yea baby...Luminous.
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Luminous indeed.
Van DeLisle | Chicago, Illinois United States | 10/02/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Luminous, luscious, luxurious, lovely and maybe even a little lurid. This is just plain beautiful music. Not unlike her first CD, Seven Songs, this one took a few listens before it all took, but now I can't take it off. Jennifer and Joe McMahan have come up with a masterpiece. Extraordinary from start to finish, I've played this now at least 25 times and I keep hearing something new each time, little echoes of music past that I just can't quite put my finger on. Like the countrypolitan strings on 'Dark Eyes' or the little snatches of Joe's guitar, is that something from an old Al Green song, or what? Every word, every note is perfect. This is easily my favorite CD of the year. It's really, really something."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1