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List Price: $21.98 | | Label: Astralwerks
Salesrank: 137260
Released: February 7, 2006 |
| Our Price: $9.49 |
| Used Price: $3.29 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Comfort of Strangers (with Bonus Disc) Track Listing:
1. Worms
2. Countenance
3. Heartlandtruckstop
4. Rectify
5. Comfort of Strangers
6. Shadow of a Doubt
7. Conceived
8. Absinthe
9. Place Aside
10. Safe in Your Arms
11. Shopping Trolley
12. Feral
13. Heart of Soul
14. Pieces of Sky
Editorial Review:
Bonus disc includes: 1. What We Begin 2. On My Way Home 3. Comfort of Strangers #9 4. Did Somebody Make a Fool Outta You...? 5. Northern Sky
Description of Comfort of Strangers (with Bonus Disc):
Few vocalists equal the expressive subtlety of Beth Orton, whose fourth album is both her most musically spare and artistically complex to date. Not only does the production and backing by Jim O'Rourke (known for his work with Sonic Youth and Wilco) capture Orton's vocal style at its most unstudied and unvarnished, the lack of embellishment focuses all the more attention on her songwriting. From the jazzy phrasing on the deceptively jaunty "Worms" through the haunting "Feral" and the amazing grace of the closing, hymnlike "Pieces of Sky," Orton's songs give voice to the sort of knotty, prickly emotions that are as hard to define as they are deeply felt. Most of the musical dynamic features piano or guitar over an elemental, insistent rhythm section, making the coloring of an occasional string section ("Conceived"), harmonica ("Absinthe"), or accordion ("Safe in Your Arms") all the more striking. As an indication of the emotional range of this musical minimalism, the title cut is soothing enough to please fans of Norah Jones, while "Heartlandstruckstop" is as edgy as Patti Smith. --Don McLeese
Comfort of Strangers (with Bonus Disc) Reviews:
bonus disc = worth the extra dollars 
2006-06-05 - if you're trying to decide whether to shell out the extra five dollars for the bonus cd, i'd like to convince you that it is worth it.
argument #1 = the tracks on the bonus cd are just as strong as the rest of the cd, not an afterthought. no crappy remixes to be found here.
argument #2 = if two years ago beth orton put out a cd with five new songs on it for $5, you would have bought it without hesitation.
argument #3 = title track comfort of strangers #9 is particularly good, with a duet with m ward (who co-wrote the song with beth orton).
similar to pass in time, the comfort of strangers bonus disc is quality material, and well worth the extra dollars.
the best unknown artist you will find
2006-05-06 - Beth Orton has a quality to her music that is not always immediately apparent upon first listening. Her songs, if given the chance, get inside of you and almost always find a permenant place there. Her voice, both in her vocal delivery and in her lyrics, have a beautiful, incomparable quality, wonderfully musical and poetic, if often difficult to understand -- obviously, deeply personal, yet ambiguous enough that the listener (as with any great art) can find their own personal meaning therewithin.
With this album, "The Comfort of Strangers", Beth Orton brings her acoustic sensibilities, so prevalent from her live perfomances, more fully into the studio, creating her softest and most hauntingly beautiful album to date. I will leave it to others to expound on each particular track, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the "Limited Edition" disk contains (among others) two of the most beauiful songs ever recorded by any artist: "What We Begin", and "On My Way Home" -- each of which, like many of Ms. Orton's songs, draws you back time and again almost like an addiction you can't live without.
Of all the little-known performers I've stumbled across in my years of musical exploration, Beth Orton has been, and remains, an absolute favorite.
Beth Goes Retro 
2006-03-20 - Having loved the bassy beat-driven Daybreaker, Beth goes back to her Central Reservation roots with a more acoustic and "earthy" sounding album. Her voice still plays wonderfully amidst the poppy, Carole King-esque, guitar tunes. I have yet to find a heartstring tugger on this album, but I am sure in time one will emerge. Check out the music video for the first single as well. It is a good summarization of what you can expect on the album.
Beth's best...
2006-03-10 - I have all of Beth's previous releases, and I think she's given us her best work yet! It was worth the long wait!
Rips just fine on a Mac
2006-02-08 - I was able to rip/import/download/whatever both discs without incident under OS X. Transferred to and plays on my iPod, as well.
