You might remember me posting up the video for Madly, the first single off of Tristan Prettyman's sophomore release Hello. Well I finally got a copy of the entire album, and I'm absolutely lovin' it as much as her last album! Tristan has put together twelve new tracks that focus on what she does best singing about - love. Only this time, instead of the demure sweet voiced, soft-spoken, doe-eyed Tristan we met on Twentythree, she's got a little more spunk and sass (try California Girl below for a taste).That's not to say she's turned into an Alanis Morissette for the 2000's. Her voice still runs the gamut from alluringly smoky to honey tinged and this time around her music has got a more pronounced bluesy feel to it (think Please from her last album) - maybe she's been hanging around G. Love too much.
Over the last week it's been out, the album has shot up the iTunes sales charts, which bodes well for Tristan. It opens up with the title track, which you can hear below, which most certainly feels like a transition from the first album. It easily could have fit on Twentythree as well as it does here. From there, the album smoothly moves forward, developing Tristan's sound beyond her previous work. I hesitate to say she's matured and give the impression that she's making music for your parents, but there's a definite progression in her sound and in her tone. There's much more wisdom and experience displayed in her lyrics - almost to the point that you'd think she's had a bad relationship in the last year or two that's she's gotten over.
I eagerly anticipated the arrival of this album, and I haven't been disappointed. It's been in my ears fairly constantly for the last week and I'm not getting tired of it yet. With now two albums of solid material packed away, I'm now eager to catch her tour in support of the album. And who knows, maybe G. Love will show up, too!
Tristan Prettyman - Hello : Hello
Tristan Prettyman - California Girl : Hello
and one from her debut:
Tristan Prettyman - Simple As It Should Be : Twentythree
Visit her website, her label Virgin Records, and become her friend on MySpace.
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G. Love and Tristan Prettyman - Beautiful, Beautiful : Live at the Catalyst, Santa Cruz 10.8.04
Tristan Prettyman - Shy That Way (w/ Jason Mraz) : Live In Jacksonville, FL 11-28-03
4 comments:
Sean,
I enjoyed your posting and your review of "Hello". I hope you had the chance to see TP perform live when she was in J'ville on the 18th.
I am a huge TP fan. I've seen her perform live 3 times and would've seen her for a 4th time had she not had to cancel her appearance on the 12th in Arlington, VA due to illness.
By way of background, many of her songs on her second "official" CD she's been performing to varying degrees for a couple of years now. "Madly" is a re-worked version of "I'm Not Surprised", which she had on her Myspace webpage for a while, and "War Out of Peace" is a re-do of her song "Just That Easy".
"Blindfold" and "Handshake Agreement" TP wrote right after her break up with Jason Mraz. She performed those two songs as well as a third one called "Something Good" in an acoustic set at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA in July 2006, and those three songs were amazing. Unfortunately, "Something Good" was left off the CD, and her versions of "Blindfold" and "Handshake Agreement" don't hold a candle to her live, acoustic versions. Ditto "Echo". She did a live version in Japan of that song that really rocks by comparison. I'm also sorry that "Something Good" didn't make it onto the CD, and I would've liked to see some of her covers including Oasis' "Live Forever", Brittney Spear's "Toxic", and Yael Naim's "New Soul". She also did a very funny song called "Lindsey Goes to Rehab".
Also, if you're not familar with TP's earlier stuff not on "Twentythree", I commend to you "Evaporated", "Guest Check", "The Kiss", and "Void". I think you'll find all of them except "The Kiss" to be a little more mature and serious than her upbeat, carefree songs on Twentythree.
I hope you find this additional background on TP helps you enjoy her music more!
John
Thanks for all the additional info John! I haven't caught her live, but I'm hoping to when she tours in support of the album.
Good to hear some new Tristan Prettyman. I haven't seen her live, but definitely love the emotion and simplicity in all the live tracks compared to anything she's put on an album.
Hi,
If you are fan of Tristan Prettyman you should check out Kym Campbell's music. She is most commonly described as acoustic surf-roots music with a reggae and island music influence. Listen to her music at Myspace and let us know what you think!
Cheers
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