Search - Katherine Jenkins :: Believe

Poor Quality and Overpriced

Kevin Connellan | Chicago, USA | 10/28/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Interesting that Amazon charges almost $21 for the CD here in the U.S while selling it on their U.K. site for 8.98 Pounds or $14.72 (actually it's now down to 6.98 Pounds). You can also listen to samples there but not here. Especially disappointing since this CD was produced in Los Angeles and there supposedly is a push to promote Katherine to a U.S. audience. Furthermore, the U.K. site allows you to buy individual songs from the CD as an mp3 download but not U.S. When established artists like Renee Fleming can sell CD's around $13, it is poor pricing to offer this CD at $21 in this weak economy, adding insult to injury with no samples (one really has to question why?)and hope sales will skyrocket. I did purchase this from the UK site



After waiting so long for Katherine's latest release, I can only express my deepest disappointment with this offering. I understand she migrated to a new label, produced it in Los Angeles and somehow, it appears, lost her way. She has been ill served by her current manager with regard to the selection and arrangements of its contents. I'm sorry I can't agree with some of the prior reviewers (the UK site) on "Bring Me Back To Life". I found it choppy and irksome. "I Believe" with Andre Bocelli" falls flat. "Ancora Non Sai" and "Who wants to Live Forever" are both examples whereby the orchestration at time seems to be fighting with Katherine for attention instead of a supporting role. I'll try to be brief with "La Vie En Rose". I cannot find the passion in this rendition that other reviewers claim is there. Katherine recorded a wonderful version of "We'll Meet Again" in an earlier album. It is a song that transcends many generations and it mainly linked to Vera Lynn and the World War Two era. To many in the U.K. it can bring shivers down one's spine not unlike times when their National Anthem is played. Likewise "La Vie En Rose" in France is synonymous with Edith Piaf and the same era. Maybe it needs to be sung by a native French singer. All I know is Katherine's version does nothing for me personally. The first 40 seconds of the song are scratchy with a weak voice. If the intent is the bring you back to that time and then jump forward, well it just poor execution. Finally, the booklet deserves a minor mention since such a big deal was made of this cd being produced. It's filled in teeny font (get your magnifying glass out) with the words of the songs and some credits at the end. Nothing you can't get yourself on the web. It would have been nice if they took a little time to write about their rationale for each selection etc. and made it a bit more newsy. After listening to this CD and some of the orchestration on the grittier number, I have this sinking feeling that those people in LA will have her doing rap music next.



Music like wine can be very personal to one's taste. Wherever you are located, I would listen to the samples before buying. You may very well reach a different conclusion than I did. I just hope Katherine will take a hard look at this vs earlier productions and take a step back."

Actually, a HUGE improvement.

C. Pacheco | 11/06/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Finally Katherine is finding her sound. In this album there are none of the ugly strained "high notes" or the disgusting throaty "low" notes. She has learned that she sounds best in the middle of the voice and she avoids going too low or too high and it works for this type of music. Also there's no terrible attempts of arias that make her sound mediocre, but actually a nice selection of pop music with semi-classical orchestration and nice easy listening type of singing a la Nana Mouskouri. The only downside is that some of the songs DO NOT NEED that big of a production and making them so big only makes them sound cheesy and silly (such as in "Angel" and "Who wants to live forever"), the only throwaway track I think is track 07, but the rest are highly enjoyable...I specially liked her rendition of "Bring me to life"."

A great voice

Wayne North | Toledo OH (USA) | 02/24/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dame Jenkins has an amazing voice! While I was not totally impressed with the song choice on this album it is certainly very listenable."