Paula Cole Album Review:
Compilation of one of the best pure voices in music... at 2006-06-23
I am not quite sure that three albums really qualifies anyone for a Greatest Hits album, but Paula Cole gets a pass simply for her amazing voice, which is one of my all time favorites. And it turns out she has almost enough excellent music to warrant it on this release, Greatest Hits: Postcards from East Oceanside. Its a nice return for Paula, who has pretty much left the commercial music scene and returned to New York City, to raise her daughter, teach yoga, and write music for herself. And more power to her for doing so. The album contains her best work, the ghostly beautiful Hush Hush Hush, the jazzy Feelin Love, the perfect single Where Have All The Cowboys Gone, and the Dawson track, I Dont Want To Wait. In addition to the 14 tracks culled from her three Warner Brothers albums, there are also two new tracks. Tomorrow I Will Be Yours is a standard midtempo elegant love song and Postcards from East Oceanside is a piano based song laced with orchestral strings, and some beautiful singing. The 16 tracks are pulled straight off the originals, it doesnt sound as if the tracks were remastered at all, but overall the sound quality is still good. This record is released by Warner Brothers, and since Paula left the label this was likely a release of her vault of music. So this album is in essence, her swan song as a commercial artist, even if the record wasnt her idea. At least we as fans can still enjoy it. This is an hour and eighteen minutes of pure Paula, and you know what, she still sounds great.
Paula Cole Album Review:
Great, much needed disc, but was Paula involved? at 2006-06-21
I love all the songs here -- of course, I wish Pearl or Oh John or Throwing Stones were also included -- but something about the cover photo and lack of promotion makes me wonder how much Paula had to do with this compilation. Heres hoping she finds a supportive label and puts out another terrific record soon. We miss you, Paula! If youre new to Paulas music, this is a great sampler and the new songs are awesome!
Paula Cole Album Review:
Paula Cole at 2006-06-21
Have been waiting for paula cole new album. This greatest hit seem not getting any attention or promotion. And where is the song Singing out my life ?


Paula Cole Album Editorial:
GRAMMY-winner for Best New Artist in 1997 alt-rock singer-songwriter Paula Cole rose to stardom with her signature hit Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? from her 1996 Warner Bros. debut album This Fire. The acclaimed disc also delivered Me and the smash I Don#146;t Want To Wait a song that amassed global fame as the theme to TV#146;s Dawson#146;s Creek. A key performer in the first Lilith Fair tour Cole#146;s unique artistry deepened on 1999#146;s soulful alt-pop-skewed Amen whose stand-outs include the title track and I Believe In Love. All these and more favorites#151;plus 2 previously unreleased tracks Tomorrow I Will Be Yours and the title track Postcards From East Oceanside #151;make this first-ever Paula Cole compilation an ideal way to explore her distinctive music.

Paula Cole Album Review:
Just not as good as previous efforts at 2003-12-10
Harbinger and This Fire are great- very original. The first time I listened to this CD, I realized that I had stopped listening after the 2nd or 3rd track. The songs were just not as distinct as those on her first two albums.
Paula Cole Album Review:
I Blame Peter Gabriel at 2006-05-08
Waxing pseudo-philosophic ramblings on 1996s This Fire, pondering an unsuccessful acclivity toward a Kate Bush hierarchy, I avoided this like a Jewel CD, and I wasnt alone. At not even platinum, it seems that the 2 million or so who were suckered in by its predecessor [thank goodness for promo CDs] knew better the second [or third, but who heard the first one?] time around. Music masochist that I tend to be at times, I finally decided to dive head first, barely surviving this self-prophecy at its most self-aggrandized. My grade: C-
Paula Cole Album Review:
A for effort, F for execution at 2006-04-28
I understand that some loyalists really appreciate this album, and are unhappy with the more critical reviews. I will preface my review by saying that I respect Paula as a singer, songwriter and producer. I enjoyed seeing Paula live in 1998. I feel that I approach the art of music in an honest way; I dont expect musicians to be hit machines, and I appreciate the urge to try new things, new sounds and new ideas. As Joni Mitchell once said, No one ever said to Van Gogh, Paint another Starry Night, man!Having said all of that, I have to say that, in my opinion, this is truly one of the worst albums I have ever heard. The songs are sonically unfocused and Paulas voice largely seems at odds with the backbeats. The songs are also lyrically weak at best and overblown at worst; LaTonya in particular is a song filled with good intentions but is entirely too earnest and wholly lacking authenticity; Paulas attempt to embody a downtrodden girl from the projects falls flat. I would recommend people unfamiliar with her work to look at her first two releases and keep a keen eye out for her, but to avoid this release like the plague.
Paula Cole Album Review:
This is the one people will remember her for. at 2004-09-05
I had heard Paulas hits and thought I dont want to wait was top-notch pop. She was quite good, if a little too angst-ridden for my taste.But Amen is different. Her other recordings are just collections of songs, though she definitely lets some themes peek through. Amen is a coherent work in which each song lets her joyful spirituality shine through. Its not an exclusively Christian philosophy, but an eclectic one embracing the teachings of Jesus, Buddha and Jung. She is listening to the worlds teachers telling us to love one another and spreading that message.Musically, everything is splendid. The vocals, arrangements, playing and production are all just wonderful. Its a densely layered sound that rewards repeated close listening with discovery of new subtleties. The blend of pop, soul, jazz and hip-hop is always tastefully handled.The coherence of the songs raises this disc into a different category than mere pop collection, one reserved for the breakthroughs that define a performer as an Artist. This is the one people will remember her for.The reviewers complaint about the rap section of Amen makes me think the she didnt listen to the song (stopped at the f word and didnt listen to the rest?). Paula is expressing universal love here: she blesses Reagan along with Gloria Steinem, for example, and Ghandi with Malcolm X. Its not about who needs saving, its about affirming the spectacle of life. Amen for the unity of us all, Amen! Naive? Obvious? Then so were Jesus and Buddha and Gandhi. I find it hard to fault that sentiment, or the other heartfelt and reaffirming expressions on the disc.Paula has been listening and thinking, and this recording is a beautiful expression of the peace shes found in the chaos of life. This is one I have come back to again and again for five years and I have never found it lacking. Its starting to feel like a classic to me.
Paula Cole Album Review:
Amen, Paula at 2005-09-11
Its a shame that Paula Coles 1999 release Amen did not get the same attention that her hit previous album, This Fire, did, because this album is Paulas best work to date. Her songwriting, singing and playing on Amen are outstanding, the songs real heartfelt stuff that immediately grabs your attention. I Believe In Love is an instant winner, with a catchy groove that recalls McFadden and Whiteheads Aint No Stoppin Us Now. The title song is a shimmering and spirited tune. La Tonya has a great sway and beauty to it, while Rhythm Of Life sees Paula turning in a soulful rap against a late-night, strolling beat, and the chant-like Suwannee Jo is simply entrancing. It may not have sold as well as its predecessor, but Paula Coles Amen is a stunning album. Paula is definitely one of the most talented ladies in music today, and I eagerly look forward to her return.


Paula Cole Album Editorial:
Paula Coles third release is a lesson in sticking to what you know. A trained jazz vocalist Cole uses this studied vocal styling with great affect. Never overusing her vibrato she breathes a unique and emotional character into each song with a well-placed whisper unexpectedly powerful crescendo or a desperate aching wail. One moment she portrays a freestyling beat-poet rapper (Rhythm of Life) the next a tragically downtrodden blues mamma (La Tonya). She also knows how to produce a song. On Free sitar uncoils behind a scrim of dark ethereal notions. The title track has bright acoustic-guitar melodies dancing on shimmering synths that resonate like the rim of a crystal water glass caressed by a wet fingertip. Throughout she builds a foundation of sprawling blooming musicality adapted from her preceptor Peter Gabriel. But lyrically Cole slips into her bad habit of harping on the obvious. On Amen a DJs scratch flips a switch in the middle of the song where Cole begins spouting a list of notorious characters in need of repentance citing Saddam Hussein Jack Kevorkian O.J. Simpson and all Reagan-era republicans. Exhibiting a Jewel-esque naiveté on Be Somebody she advises In the face of totality show the other cheek. The lyrics are trite but after a few listens theyre a minor distraction from the mighty-fine body of music contained in this release. Amen to that. Beth Massa