Amen

She is truly amazing! Her LUNGS and capacity are just incredible when she holds that note in Rhythm of Life!!!! Phenomenal!!! Even the greatest critics have to respect it! Ecclectic Phenom meets Recovering Catholic!

Admittedly, I was not a huge fan of Paula's at the time 'This Fire' entered the charts. I had heard her songs, and liked them, but it wasn't until I found out that she started out backing Peter Gabriel on his 'Secret World Live' tour that I became interested. I then went out and bought the album, and I've enjoyed it tremendously ever since. When 'Amen' came out, I thought it was again going to be a great album, but I was surely let down. The whole album drags musically, and Paula sings in a rather dull, uninspired, unconvincing tone. The R&B background does not fit Paula's lovely voice, and the songs come across as preachy, making the album seem like a Christian Rock album catoring to the evangelical quarter rather than a pop album. The only half-way decent song is the Peter Gabriel-like 'Pearl', but even this song seems to fall flat. Thankfully, her latest album marks a return to her alternative/light rock roots, rather than an album that sounds like it should be played over the loudspeakers at Pat Robertson's church.

I absolutely love this CD... I can't say enough good things about it so I'll just say I HIGHLY recommend it. Also, the song "Be Somebody" was on an episode of Charmed in May of 2000. It's amazing that it took 6 years for it to show up on a Paula Cole album. Does anyone know if it was on a previous CD that I just can't locate?

On her follow up to "This Fire" Paula Cole keeps her magic and passion and changes her sound a little. There are quite a few highlights on this album. The opener, "I Believe In Love" is a wonderfully uplifting song with a great energetic sound. "Amen" is a politically charged song about subjects as varied as Ronald Reagan and Marilyn Manson, but does list things off in a very "Thank You/Alanis Morrisette" sort of way. The tow songs I would like to stress here are "Pearl" and "Be Somebody". "Pearl" is a truly beautiful song about coming in to your own and facing challenge and coming out the other side a better person. "Be Somebody" is a sad song about broken spirits and fighting to make a difference. Paula's voice is still amazing and stands out from many of her contemporaries. This album was very underrated.