Waiting for the knockout punch...(3.75 stars)
M. Lohrke | Provo, UT | 08/10/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"three albums in and ed harcourt hasn't quite found his footing. it's not that he hasn't written some memorable tracks, because he certainly has. rather he's yet to write a memorable album. 'strangers,' however, is ed's best work to date and the closest he's come to penning a truly memorable album. it's a positive step forward from his last album 'from every sphere.'
'storm is coming' is a raucous opener and a signpost that this ed harcourt album is different from past efforts. is it a hint of things to come? maybe. it's swirling guitars and hammering paino lend a nice climactic tone to the song. 'born in the 70's' is one of ed's poppier numbers, in a good way. it's funny outro gives a nice little middle finger to anyone who finds reason to hate on the hippy decade. the album's other stand out track, 'loneliness' is another nice little pop nugget. loneliness isn't normally something to scream about, but it's nice to hear ed belt it out.
like ed's other albums, the listener gets the feeling he's just about either a) run out of ideas, or b) on the verge of clawing through to the surface of musical greatness. it's simply (as if it were indeed simple) a matter of honing on the good stuff and getting rid of the not-so-good stuff. there's a great album (and probably more than one) in ed's head, and given the rate at which he releases albums, we could only be a year or two away. let's hope so because ed's one heckuva talent."
As close to audio perfection as one can get!
Keith Anderson | Martinez, CA United States | 09/22/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I must say that I have been an Ed Harcourt fan from the beginning. I randomly heard "apple of my eye" from his maplewood cd somewhere and I was hooked. I think Strangers is his best album to date. It is my go to cd, whenever I grow weary of everything else in my collection. Every song has perfectly arranged and produced instrumentals. His lyricism, I feel is unmatched. I look forward to his future albums. Although, I wonder how he will ever be able to top 'Stranger'"
