The Reminder | 
| Manufacturer: Interscope
Buy New: $7.99
Rating:  160 reviews
Sales Rank: 271
Genre: pop-music
Media: MP3 Download
Running Time: 0 Minutes
ASIN: B000V9D0XY
Publication Date: May 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 155 more reviews...
Leslie comes into her own as a songwriter June 14, 2007
Eric J. Anderson (Ankeny, Iowa)
36 out of 43 found this review helpful
The new album "The Reminder" by Canadian gal Leslie Feist is receiving mixed critical reviews, but some are calling it the best pop music album so far this year. I ordered it, and my take on it is also mixed, in this sense: Feist is a great songwriter, and this album is exhibit one. Not all of the songs are great, but many of them achieve greatness. Feist's previous album also contained great songs (and some less compelling material), but only about half of them were Feist originals. Here, almost everything is Feist-penned.
Remember the "1234" Busby Berkely-inspired video of Feist from Youtube, that people seemed to enjoy so much? If you haven't seen it, check it out -- it is pure joy wrapped in a 3 minute package. That song is also a minor musical masterpiece, with guitar, banjo, a chorus of voices, quiet bits, loud joyful bits -- put together in a way that things are always changing enough to keep the ear from being bored at any time.
When I think of the Beatles work, or XTC, or James Taylor, Sting, Paul Simon, I think of music that is put together is a very entertaining and craftsmanlike way. A primitive like Bob Dylan (don't get me wrong, I love a lot of what Bob has done, but it is musically primitive) will take a simple three chord verse, then repeat it over and over with different lyrics. The greatest songwriters make music that builds, crescendos, then rolls it back, with themes and variations, and little musical bridges (or "middle eights," as the Beatles used to call them). Feist is writing music like that, at least some of the time.
Oh, there are a few quieter numbers that almost approach dirges. I'm not much fond of those. Much of their fault lies in the underproduction -- one of them sounds as if it was recorded in Feist's garden, with her simply strumming her guitar and singing (later joined briefly by brass instruments and perhaps saxophone, but not much else). More complexity and attention to detail in the arrangements could have brought much more out of those quiet songs.
I'm not a great analyser of lyrics. Here they are vague enough to be universal. To me they don't always make sense, but that doesn't bother me. "goo goo ga joob" Does that make any sense? No. It doesn't mean it isn't a great lyric. The main thing is that Feist's lyrics are not embarrassing -- they don't take away from the music. And some of her wordplay and vocal phrasing is quite clever.
So my final rating is
Songwriting: 4.5 out of 5
Production: varies from 3 to 5 out of 5, depending on the track.
 Best of 2007: folk meets rock through a beautiful voice June 1, 2007
Manny Hernandez (Palo Alto, CA)
34 out of 49 found this review helpful
I missed Feist's previous albums, but after having become addicted to Broken Social Scene, I couldn't let this one pass. I was not dissapointed!
The more I listen to "The Reminder", the more I love it. Indeed, some moments in the album remind a lot of BSS ("I Feel It All" and "Past Is Present" being two good examples), but there's a whole lot more to enjoy in here. There's folk as much as there is rock. There is quiet whispering as much as there is passionate singing coming from the beautiful voice of Leslie Feist, making this a great contender in the run for the best albums of 2007.
If you enjoy Feist, make sure to check out Knives Don't Have Your Back by Emily Haines, What the Sea Wants the Sea Will Have by Sarah Blasko and Bring Me the Workhorse by My Brightest Diamond.
 "The Reminder" : I'm reminded of all the other albums I could be listening to...... May 14, 2007
Kabir Davis
28 out of 48 found this review helpful
Leslie's Feists' new album is definitely one where the rave reviews are `flavor of the season'. If you are a Feist fan intent on only hearing glowing reviews of this album please move on. There is no other way an album so bland (yet routinely pretty) can pass through reviewers' hands with so little criticism.
I found the same thing happen with Joanna Newsom last year when released her sophomore album "Ys". Now that was a pretty album too, all harps and plink-plonk and sweet warbling over swooning instrumentation - but it wasn't a genre-breaking CD as most reviewers claimed it to be. Similarly, "The Reminder" is an album that seems to be on everyones' wishlist, but will be easily forgotten by the end of the year.
I'm not saying that the music is terrible. However, this year seems to be the year for disappointments. Feists' last CD "Let it Die" was a mini-revelation of sorts - it was one of those woodsy indie albums that are available a dime a dozen at the thrift store but somehow it got recognized, and that itself was a feat for Feist. Her music was Jewel-lite on that CD, with some really beautiful melodies (albeit forgettable choruses). Not that I complained. I don't play that album a lot anymore, but in its' day it was worth the money I spent on it.
The best thing about "The Reminder" is its' cover art. Its just so - striking. Moving past that, the music is definitely averagely good, but it is not a `masterpiece' or `classic' or any of those terms I see thrown around here by Feist fans. I really liked "Sealion" (which has an unusual history all its' own) and yes, lead song `1 2 3 4' is definitely one of those singalong ditties, but the rest of the album sort of meshes into one another. Not to say that Feist is a bad singer. If anything, she is tuneful and quite unique in her own way. But it is just not enough. She is bland, at the end of it, and she does not have enough personality to headline a record of her own, most certainly not this one.
What I am tired of is producers letting singer-songwriters like these putting their ill-advised songwriting experiments to record. Leslie Feist had a good run with her first album, but I think the bid budget and big label are the only things getting "The Remider" its' attention. Just listen to "Honey Honey". Then listen to any Sarah McLachlan record and tell me why exactly Feist is being considered `special'? It makes no sense.
Granted, there is a market for these pixie-like female voices strumming over fiddles and harps and what-not, but I think the robust praise for "The Reminder" is definitely misplaced. If you aren't sure about this album but still want to get it based on the positive reviews, then read this - Think of a sweet yet limp female voice, singing alongside some quaint instruments, with some electronica thrown in every now and then. There aren't any memorable choruses, and most of the subject matter seems unimportant at best, but the singer soldiers on. By Track 5 you are weary. However, you are unable to hate the singer, you just feel that its all a bit too insipid and tame, at the end of the day.
There are at least a hundred better female folk singer-songwriter albums out there that are better than this one. Do yourself a favor and check out "True North" by Fisher, "Salt Rain" by Susheela Raman, "Calling" by Noa, and "Speak for Yourself" by Imogen Heap, instead.
Two Stars. Massively overrated and extremely disappointing, in that context.
Musical gems. May 1, 2007
Mr.Style Joe (Boston,MA)
25 out of 26 found this review helpful
The Nova Scotia-born artist has produced an album which is so much more than a collection of songs that sound a bit like a load of other successful female stars.
"1 2 3 4" and "The Limit To Your Love" are songs of such gentle but powerful wonder that they make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
The more upbeat "I Feel It All" and "My Moon My Man" are probably destined for serious attention over the coming summer; the only risk is that they'll get picked up by some trendy ad man and done to death promoting a racey red car.
"Sea Lion" is as quirky as anything that's come out of an 'experimental' female artist's mouth in a long time. It also features perhaps the best recurring use of the word 'sea lion' ever in the history of music.
With only a tiny dip at the (almost) tedious "Intuition", the album is generally so good it's all too easy to imagine Madonna hunting Feist and her producer down and trying to force them to work their musical magic on her own career.
Though I know I love most of him May 1, 2007
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
18 out of 27 found this review helpful
Feist helped bring back heartfelt, subtle pop in her second album, "Let it Die." And in "The Reminder," this talented singer not only polishes up her sound, she expands it to include more colourful, expansive, complicated melodies that draw from jazz, pop, folk, a bit of funk, and some pretty little ballads.
The first song is an echo of her last album's style -- a gentle guitar ballad, about someone who doesn't want to fight or break up. Feist murmurs through it, "I'm sorry, two words/I always think after you're gone... We're slaves to our own forces/We're afraid of our emotions/No one, knows where the shore is."
But then she switches over to a poppier tune, delightfully jangly little guitarpop edged with toy piano. "I Feel It All" is only the first of her musical explorations: lo-fi folk, tightly wound piano jazz, delicate keyboard ballads, and some kooky electrofunk.
But Feist also includes some of what she's strongest at , namely subtle pop songs like "Limit To Your Love," full of gentle piano, harp and guitar. And sometimes she goes WAYYYYY into her experimentation zone, like "Honey Honey," which sounds like a more melodious Joanna Newsom, or "Sea Lion Woman," a deliciously mad funky avant-electronic tune. I can hear other electropop "artists" grinding their teeth at this one.
It's hard to eve find a flaw in "Reminder" -- if there's anything to criticize, it's that it doesn't sound very cohesive. But in all other respects, Feist has only grown as a musician. She takes the synth-piano-guitar triad from her previous album, and lets it bloom with greater passion and beauty, not to mention complexity.
And she allows each instrument to shine in at least one song apiece, whether it's the thumpy piano, the tinkly toy one (it sounds like wind chimes), acoustic guitar, or epic ripples of synth. There's even some blaring trumpets and rattly rambourine in some songs. And she tries out virtually all kinds of good pop music, flavoured with everything from rock to jazz to avantelectro.
Feist's voice is as adventurous as the music -- it's a pretty voice on its own, but she takes some vocal risks as well. She croons, purrs off-key, warbles a little, and even harmonizes with her own voice. And the songs she sings are simply lovely -- they're beautifully written ("Stranded in the fog of woods/Looking like the winter bird"), and full of emotion. Sometimes it's as simple as telling a lover that there's a limit to his love for her, but still "I'll go, I'll go, I'll go/Out on the road/because there is no limit... limit to my love."
Feist's third "Reminder" is an exquisite little pop gem, and though one or two of the songs don't fit, each one is a little beauty. Definitely a must-listen.
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