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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Verve
Salesrank: 3301
Released: April 27, 2004 |
| Our Price: $9.99 |
| Used Price: $2.49 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The Girl in the Other Room Track Listing:
1. Stop This World
2. The Girl In The Other Room
3. Temptation
4. Almost Blue
5. I've Changed My Address
6. Love Me Like A Man
7. I'm Pulling Through
8. Black Crow
9. Narrow Daylight
10. Abandoned Masquerade
11. I'm Coming Through
12. Departure Bay
Editorial Review:
Singer/pianist Diana Krall breaks new ground interpreting modern standards by Tom Waits, Mose Allison, and Joni Mitchell, as well as compositions by herself and new husband, Elvis Costello. Krall's piano-jazz cred comes through loudly and clearly on her Count Basie-styled version of the Bonnie Raitt staple "Love Me Like a Man" (written by folk-bluesman Chris Smither). But it's the collaborations with her spouse that unearth untapped emotional nuances of her velvet voice; many are reminiscent of Bill Evans's moody, impressionistic pieces. The title track, "Narrow Daylight," "Abandoned Masquerade," and "I’m Coming Through" all deal with love and loss. "Departure Bay," a picturesque ode to her hometown of Nanaimo, B.C., proves that this is the start of something big, and that two heads--and hearts--are better than one. --Eugene Holley Jr.
The Girl in the Other Room Reviews:
My all-time favourite album 
2009-12-17 - Reading some of these negative reviews, I must disagree. I guess this is one of those love-or-hate albums.
For me, this album is my favourite album, by any artist, by far.
I keep coming back to it every so often and always enjoy the sheer musicality, the moods, the honest acoustic feel, the lyrics, etc.
It is also my reference record when I try out new speakers, new home theatre components, etc. as I find that this quality acoustic/jazz/blues/vocal music can be very revealing for sub-standard equipment.
No, this may not necessarily be a very accessible album, especially if all you are looking for is smooth elevator-music-like jazz. I think this album is for serious listening and solitary contemplation & enjoyment. It may reward you richly if you go to it without being hung up on her previous repertoire.
Overcoats
2009-11-16 - This Diana Krall set is now 5 years old as it enters my collection. When music is good, it's almost timeless. Tom Waits' song "Timeless" is playful with Christian McBride's delicious bass. Her reading of Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue" is passionate and dives to the bottom of an emotional ocean with its throbbing bass line. What first drew me to the album was to see how she would handle Chris Smither's "Love Me Like a Man." Unfortunately, she uses Bonnie Raitt's sanitized lyrics rather than Smither's raw original. That said, the track smokes musically with some weeping guitar and Krall's rolling piano. She takes Joni Mitchell's intriguing "Black Crow" and toys between urgency & blasé. The closer "Departure Bay" is a pretty track, stark with Diana & a keyboard accented arrangement, "The house was bare of Christmas lights; It came down hard that year, outside in our overcoats." This is a stark and lovely emotional CD. Enjoy!
I tried to like her, but she has no vocal range 
2009-07-06 - remember when Joe Piscipo imitated Sinatra & everything sounded the same ?
he could do the same with her. She's attractive, great at the piano, should hire a vocalist. I've never heard her cover an octave. To be fair I did give up listening to her.
A Complete Departure, Not for the Old Guard 
2008-12-03 - A Jazz CD Not Just For Jazz Lovers
Diana Krall has made a bold move with this CD, veering away from the American Song Book she typically adheres to, and I am glad she's done it. Although originally attracted to her laid back reading of the standards, this gives a whole new dimension to her talent. The song on the CD that first caught my ear was "Narrow Daylight"--all about reading between the lines, such as:
"I walked through halls of reputation, among the infamous too
As the camera clings to the common thread, beyond all vanity
Into a gaze to shoot you through"
I wonder to myself, is this the photographer's point of view? I decide it is, and that he or she is commenting on the vanity of those of high reputation and essentially ripping their vanity away. Stripped down to the "common thread" which shows they are just people, despite their resplendent attire ...The photographer's lens sees their foibles.
I am deeply moved by the line in Narrow Daylight, "washing away all the sadness and tears, that will never fall so heavily again", not so much by the words but my Ms. Krall's typically restrained and yet simultaneously deeply passionate reading of the line.
And I could go on song by song about the meaning, passion, and the always subtle play of the lyrics, Diana's relaxing voice and reliably top notch musicians blending into a combination of vivacious tunes, tales of love lost, and coursing through the entire collection of songs, the rousing song of a mature women: One expressing her freedom and power, all on her own, not as a man's women--but as creator of her own art and excitement. Listen to "I'm Coming Through", all about moving on, lonely or not.
Those faithful to the standards will be happy that Krall returns to them in subsequent releases, but I for one hope to hear more along the lines of "Girl in the Other Room".
Mistake Corrected With Purchase 
2008-10-03 - I errantly overlooked this album. Maybe I had Krall burn-out. But overlooking this piece of work was a mistake corrected. It's wonderful.
