I Love it When I Find Stuff Like This......
Written: Jul 11 '03 (Updated Jul 11 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Underexposed, socially conscious talent
Cons: Underexposed
The Bottom Line: This one is at least worthy of a listen to see if you like it, before instantly dismissing it because you do not know it...
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| teamfreak16's Full Review: Jillian Speer - Jillian Speer Movies |
It is not as if Jillian Speer has not received any exposure, she just has not received the amount of exposure of which she is deserving. You might have heard her music, for instance, on the Fox show Party of Five. If not Party of Five, perhaps you caught a special on Jillian on the Oxygen Channel. No? Me neither. Personally, I discovered Ms. Speer one day on Jewel’s website.
Jewel, you see, has a nice little habit of exposing artists she believes in, on a webpage called favorites. One day, last summer, I happened to visit the Jewel website (honestly, my first ever visit, but I’ll save that for a Jewel review sometime,) on an unrelated matter, and somehow ended up in the favorites page. There were a few artists I knew. Cowboy Junkies, for instance, I know and love. Rickie Lee Jones, she’s great. But some of the other names, I had no clue who they were, so I started browsing. Clicking on the Jillian Speer link, I found three songs to sample, and sample I did. For an hour straight. While at work, I sat there and listened to the same three songs over and over, and all the while, no work was done. I liked what I heard, and had a sneaking suspicion my girlfriend would really like it, so I ordered the CD for her from Speer’s website.
Jillian Speer is a beautiful, socially conscious talent based out of Los Angeles. Taking inspiration from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading, Nina Simone, James Taylor, and Cat Stevens, Speer has a beautiful, ethereal, rich voice. (My girlfriend describes Speer’s voice as liquid glass.) On her website, Speer’s music is described as a unique blend of acoustic soul-folk/rock, which pretty much sums it up. All in all, Jillian Speer classifies as one of the best CD’s I have ever purchased for someone else. And, while it technically does not belong to me, I get to listen to it all the time. And listen, I do.
Clocking in at over an hour (67:20,) Jillian Speer is basically a self-released collection of early recordings by Speer. A practitioner of Yoga (she is a certified instructor,) Jillian Speer exudes a sense of inner-peace as she sings, which makes for quite a relaxing listen.
This CD is a very satisfying listen, from the soothing, acoustic guitar/keyboard combination of Angel Among Us, complete with it’s fingersnap percussion, to the acoustic folk-rock (but,is that a piano sneaking in underneath there? And strings? It sure is!) of the seemingly very spiritual Faith Down. Speer’s vocals move smoothly across her entire range as she sings lyrics that could be directed as equally to a lover as to a higher being. I'll give you all my trust, I'll lay it on the line for you, 'cause life's too short, my faith is the most I could give you!
Intent on mixing things up a bit, we get the mellow, trip-hop inspired opening beats of Deeper. A slow, funky bass line is aided by an occasional cool, slow, wah-wah guitar. Of course, Jillian does play a beautiful acoustic along with the beat and the wah-wah. Silent Teaching features a tasty acoustic lead accompanied by a quiet bass and some subdued congas, as Speer sings a wise man took me to the top of a canyon, he said close both eyes so you can see with your other eye.
Woman Enough is a string-filled beauty featuring everything from brief acoustic guitar leads, to keyboards, as Speer asks do you know the value of what I give you? She empowers women everywhere as she sings I have been around the block a time or two, and I am capable of love as deep as you. Just in case you still do not get it, she emphasizes in fact, I am woman enough.
Spanish Trance features Jillian playing a traditional Spanish guitar melody, accompanied by her own voice, as an instrument, while Free Me goes all Acid Jazz on us, complete with muted trumpet and a mellow, yet groovy beat. But I wanted to love you, love is a choice, I wanted to be the one to love you......Not some love that began and ended, sings Speer. Meanwhile, the muted trumpet calls to mind the German Acid Jazz duo Tab Two, and I am hitting repeat to listen again when the song finishes. Om Namaha Shivaya is Jillian singing traditional East Indian Sanscrit lyrics(!) over a beautiful acoustic guitar and percussion. Beautiful. Very, very beautiful. Did I mention, beautiful?
Gayatri is simply gorgeous, with a mellow beat, a beautiful acoustic guitar, occasional piano, and Jillian’s vocals fronting it all. And to close it all out, a remix of Angel Among Us, giving the opener a bit of a hip-hop beat.
In addition to playing absolutely beautiful music, Jillian Speer is an activist, something I have great respect for. She supports, and is active in, causes such as The Natural Resources Defense Council (www.savebiogems.org/arctic) and (www.nrdcaction.org/index.asp?step=2&item=518). She is also a human rights activist, campaigning for causes such as Freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal (www.freemumia.com) and Equality Now (www.equalitynow.org).
Because I found her on Jewel’s website, it would be very easy to sit here and say if you like Jewel, you will like Jillian! But, other than maybe the acoustic guitar factor, and the fact that both are good singers, the two sound nothing alike. Yet, hell, you might like Jillian Speer if you like Jewel. (Speer once opened a show for Jewel in San Diego.) Personally, I describe her this way: Jillian Speer is a beautiful, spiritual visionary, with a dose of feminism, who carries a bit of the protest attitude of the folk singers of yore, and backs it up with action. If that sounds like your thing, you might want to give this a listen. I dig her a lot, my girlfriend loves her. I would hate to see her fall through the musical cracks….
One more thing, thanks to lambchops and madtheory for adding our requests to the data base when we ask!
Jillian Speer - Jillian Speer
Angel Among Us
Faith Down
Deeper
Silent Teaching
Woman Enough
Don’t Stop
Hail
Spanish Trance
Rain in the Canyon
Free Me
Om Namaha Shivaya
Hear Us Sing
Owl
Gayatri
Angel Among Us (Remix)
For more information visit:
http://www.jillianspeer.com/
Recommended:
Yes
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teamfreak16
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Location: Colorado Springs, CO
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I am a Two-Legged Groove Machine.
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