EVA CASSIDY - a tribute to her life.

Advantages: An angel that died.
Disadvantages: died too young.

...This is the month when we have been asked to write musical reviews. I wrote a review on Songbird, a record by Eva Cassidy, though feel it is not enough to write about her record. Her life mattered to a lot of us, and without her songs, my life would not be as it is today. This is my tribute to a short life that left its mark on me. Eva Cassidy was born on the 2nd February 1963 and died on the 2nd November 1996. She grew up just outside Washington, and came from a musical background, her father teaching children with learning disabilities and part time musician. She was a child that loved music from a very early age and formed a band with her father and brother, and went on to be a backing singer for more well known artists who recognised the quality of her voice. I cannot put into words the kind of music she sang. It was a cross...

thingywhatsit 23.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of Eva Cassidy

A Definite Songbird

Advantages: A great mix of tracks
Disadvantages: None

...Eva Cassidy is a woman who had an amazing voice but it would not be until after her sad death from cancer that she would become world known. She spent years singing in pubs and recording backing vocals for more established singers and finally one of the producers at a studio she had sang at recognised what an amazing voice she had and would record heart every available opportunity. Eva made her first album in 1996, title The Other Side' but it would not become known publicly and outside of her community until after her death. Due to the amount of song she had recorder in the studio further albums have been made using these recordings and this one I am reviewing is called Songbird. This album has been made up using song which have already been released on albums including, The Other Side, Live at the Blues Alley and Eva by Heart...

sewbizzie 10.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

"Somewhere over the rainbow"

Advantages: Great songs
Disadvantages: She tragically died

...I have loved Eva Cassidy`s voice since I discovered her about two years ago. She has the voice of an angel. She tragically died of cancer before she realised how her talent would be adored by millions. I have listened to Songbird so many times that I am scared that the cd will wear away, let me tell you about it I am sure you will want to listen to it once I have told you all about it. The cover is brown with a picture of Eva Cassidy in the centre of it, I get a lump in my throat when I see her picture as she was such a beautiful woman who`s chance in life was taken away by cancer. She had a talent for playing the guitar as well as singing, this is very apparent when you listen to her music. FIELDS OF GOLD *************** This song was sung by Sting originally but I think Eva`s rendition of it is much more heart warming. It...

maz76 13.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

Soulful Poetry....

Advantages: Slow, soulful, chilled, sublime, beautiful... the list goes on!
Disadvantages: For me?.... None!

...Eva Cassidy ~ "Songbird" £8.99 on Amazon and via iTunes Used versions of the album can be purchased for less. I swore to myself about a month ago that I wouldn't review this album, as I had read a review on it on Ciao that I felt I possibly couldn't better, but it is truly a great album that never fails to move me ... not too far, just a couple of feet across the room as if by magic. I haven't trawled back through my "Exceptional" ratings to see who wrote the review and what their comments were, as it would not - in my opinion - allow me to write a review based purely upon my thoughts and feelings if I re-read the piece at this stage. Anyway I thought, it's not about "bettering" someone else's review but more adding additional weight to existing views, which will allow potential consumers to make a more balanced buying decision...

newty1977 29.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

TRIBUTE TO A SONGBIRD.

Advantages: Beauty and sincerity in an angels voice.
Disadvantages: She died young.

...I have just listened to this album again today and it has such an emotional effect on me that I really feel what I have written cannot say enough to describe her voice, the power of her emotions, the very essence of who Eva Cassidy was. Please read and if you do not know her music, try it. EVA CASSIDY How can I begin to write a tribute to a woman with the voice of an angel that died before her time, and before she knew that the world would find her to be a source of inspiration, somewhere to go when they need uplifting, or somewhere to go when they need to cry but just can't make it happen. Her voice is enchanting. Her naturalness seeps through the songs and there is no pretentiousness at all. This is the voice she was born with, a true gift from God, not a tutored voice, not a voice that has to struggle to reach the high notes...

thingywhatsit 10.09.2003 (06.03.2005) · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

Tragically Wonderful

Advantages: Beautiful music, consistently excellent.
Disadvantages: She died too young

...a complication of tracks from three separate albums. Five tracks are taken from the album 'Eva by Heart' (Wade in the Water, Wayfaring Stranger, Songbird, Time is a Healer and I know you by Heart). Four songs are taken from a live album entitled 'Live at Blues Alley' a showcase of her songs sung accompanied by her own guitar playing (Fields of Gold, Autumn Leaves, People Get Ready and Oh Had I a Golden Thread) with one song, Over the Rainbow, taken from an album of duets with Chuck Brown entitled 'The Other Side' It was only when reading the insert hat I found out that Eva Cassidy died of cancer in 1996. The album 'Live at Blues Alley' was recorded in January 1996, and Eva returned to Blues Alley in July to promote the albums release, this time walking with a stick due to a sore hip. She was diagnosed with cancer the next month and died on the 2nd...

paule23 05.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

IMAGINE AND IT CAN HAPPEN

Advantages: Beautiful, specail, so peacful
Disadvantages: NOTHING, ZERO, NIL, NOUGHT

...“ALL PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS” Hello! This is my second op on the talented Eva Cassidy. Her voice is like an angel to me, it is perfect. She can reach all the lows and highs of singing and does it well. Her voice is amazing, if you haven’t heard it, then you must, it can bring tears to your eyes, fill your heart with pure joy, or just be the CD of happy memories, whatever you choose, you will always remember her beautiful voice. So the CD you are going to read about is called – Imagine – and to classify it in three words would be really hard. I will give it a try though – beautiful, mind bending, and joyful. So here goes … 1. It doesn’t Matter Anymore What an amazing song, you can here her voice overpowering the guitar in the background. It is a pleasant mixture of smooth...

craigy2040 07.11.2002 · Read review
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Review of Imagine - Eva Cassidy

voice of an Angel

Advantages: This will sort your head out. Just listen.
Disadvantages: Sadly Eva wont be recording anymore

...Well, first of all let me just explain something to you. I am a fan of all music, mainly dance music, even heavy metal so I was completely surprised at how this C.D came into my collection. Slotted in my rack next to "Paul Oakenfold" and "Sander Kleinenberg" mix C.D.s, Eva Cassidy looked out of place and alone. However, I have listened to this C.D. more time than most of my others. How did I find out about it, basically a video of Eva was played at the end of Top of the pops 2, she was simply sat down with a guitar, singing. I was stunned, I cant remember what I was doing at the time, but what ever it was, I stopped! No fancy drum machines, no flashing lights, just a plain ordinary looking lady with a guitar. Absolutely brilliant. Eva Cassidy, was influenced by such people as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. She loved to sing...

daylight 19.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

I have never ever heard such a beautiful voice

Advantages: an angels voice, good gospel and jazzy thread to the songs, good feel, emotionful music
Disadvantages: not enough songs would be my only complaint

...Now I am not too good at writing reviews on albums and musicians, so I tend to avoid doing so. However I HAD to share this one with you, my dearest fellow consumers! This is Songbird, by Eva Cassidy, which recently stormed the UK album charts to take the Number 1 spot, and quite deservedly so! Songbird is almost a greatest hits album as it compiles songs of 3 other CDs Eva had recorded before her death in November 1996 from melanoma. Painfully shy as a singer and public performer, friends and family’s encouragement to take her singing any further than local clubs brought her to the attention of the area where she lived (in D.C., USA) and, after her death, the rest of the world. I listen to a wide variety of music but I have never heard such a beautifully rich, effortless and flawless voice! She is a very soulful singer singing...

judithritchie 01.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy

Pure talent

Advantages: Amazing voice, great songs, excellent music styling.
Disadvantages: CD inlay does not come with lyrics :O(

...If you want to experience true and pure female vocal talent, you won’t find much better at the moment, than the offerings on this CD. Eva Cassidy has burst into the popular music scene in a rather unconventional way. She developed cancer in 1996 and died shortly afterwards at the age of only 33. I wonder if she would have ever received the recognition she so finely deserves should have lived a full life. It is a tragic story and so sad that she only recorded a handful of CD’s before her death. This album ‘Songbird’ is a compilation of tracks taken from 3 of her other CD’s. I, like many others, first heard of Eva from watching BBC2’s Top of the Tops 2 programme. At the end of one of the shows they played a video recording of Eva singing ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, with just...

redridinghood 28.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Songbird - Eva Cassidy