Roads Don't Love You [Import]

Product Description
The Roads Don't Love You' is the follow-up to her Mercury-nominated debut 'Night On My Side'. On its release in 2002 'Night On My Side' met with phenomenal critical acclaim. After writing a whole new batch of songs, Gemma moved to Los Angeles last year to recruit a producer and musicians to record and play with. She met renowned drummer Joey Waronker (credits include R.E.M., Beck, Paul McCartney, Air, Smashing Pumpkins, Johnny Cash and many more) who offered his production skills. After assembling a band of musicians she admired greatly through their individual work with PJ Harvey, Beck and Remy Zero, work on 'The Roads Don't Love You' commenced - with stunning results. Includes the hidden track 'Pull Me In'. EMI. 2005.

Roads Don't Love You,Gemma Hayes,EMI Int'l,Adult Alternative Pop/Rock,Ireland,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop,Singer/Songwriter

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Roads Don't Love You [Import]

Average customer rating:

The Roads Don't Love You Gemma Hayes Manufacturer: EMI Int'l ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music Ireland | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Night on My Side Night on My Side Blue on Blue On Your Side Undercover, Pt. 2 ASIN: B000EGDD36 Release Date: 2006-02-13

Tracks:

1. Two Steps
2. Another for the Darkness
3. Happy Sad
4. Easy on the Eye
5. Keep Me Here
6. Undervoer
7. Nothing Can
8. Helen
9. Something in My Way
10. Horses
11. Tomorrow

Album Description

One of the best albums of 2005, The Roads Don't Love You is the follow-up to her Mercury-nominated debut Night On My Side. This re-issued copy features new artwork. Source. 2006.

Album Details

2006 Updated Edition with Different Cover Artwork Than the Original UK Version. Gemma was Named Best Irish Female Artist of 2006 at Ireland's Eminent Meteor Music Awards Ceremony Feb 2, 2006. She Moved to Los Angeles in 2004 to Recruit a Producer and Musicians to Record and Play With. She Met Renowned Drummer Joey Waronker (Whose Credits Include R.e.m., Beck, Paul Mccartney, Air, Smashing Pumpkins, Johnny Cash and Many More) who Offered his Production Skills. After Assembling a Band of Musicians She Admired Through their Individual Work with Pj Harvey, Beck and Remy Zero, Work on this Album Commenced - with Stunning Results. Roger Joseph Manning (Ex of Jellyfish) Guests on Several Tracks.

Average customer rating: Why didn't this get a US release? Criminally underrated singer/songwriter This album grows on you. Need to listen a few times Please enter a title for your review Loving The Roads..

The Roads Don't Love You Gemma Hayes Manufacturer: EMI Int'l ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music Ireland | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Night on My Side Night on My Side Comfort of Strangers Super Extra Gravity Aerial ASIN: B000B8Q8M0 Release Date: 2005-11-22

Tracks:

1. Two Step
2. Another for the Darkness
3. Happy Sad
4. Easy on the Eye
5. Keep Me Here
6. Undercover
7. Nothing Can
8. Helen
9. Something in My Way
10. Horses
11. Tomorrow

Album Description

The Roads Don't Love You' is the follow-up to her Mercury-nominated debut 'Night On My Side'. On its release in 2002 'Night On My Side' met with phenomenal critical acclaim. After writing a whole new batch of songs, Gemma moved to Los Angeles last year to recruit a producer and musicians to record and play with. She met renowned drummer Joey Waronker (credits include R.E.M., Beck, Paul McCartney, Air, Smashing Pumpkins, Johnny Cash and many more) who offered his production skills. After assembling a band of musicians she admired greatly through their individual work with PJ Harvey, Beck and Remy Zero, work on 'The Roads Don't Love You' commenced - with stunning results. Includes the hidden track 'Pull Me In'. EMI. 2005.

Customer Reviews:

Why didn't this get a US release? Criminally underrated singer/songwriter.......2006-12-03

If you're a Gemma Hayes, you already tracked this 2005 sophomore CD down in the import bins - why? Because the her label didn't see fit to warrant a domsestic U.S. release for this, one of the best albums of 2005. I'm not kidding. Hayes is a superb singer/songwriter with a lilting, warm, yet haunting voice and a clutch of delicate, insightful tunes, really not a bad cut in the bunch. One of the few recent albums you can put on and never skip ahead until to the end, ROADS is a modern classic, it's that good. But few will ever hear it, since it looks like it's already OOP?! Pick it up while you can - she's one of the most overlooked, underrated performers out there.

This album grows on you........2006-02-28

Like others, I was at first turned off by the glossy sheen of production that has been draped over these new Gemma tunes. However, though at first listen this album seems completely different than her debut album, both are similar in that subsequent listenings are important to fully grasp the beauty of her work.

The first time through, it was hard for me to distinguish between tracks. Unlike her first album, where each song was a completely different tune of original perfection, "The Roads..." seems to be more tied together in theme and tone. Each new listen has illuminated a new portion of beauty in these songs... a lilting voice to emphasize a lyric, a wonderfully timed backing vocal, a poignant phrase, etc.

One reviewer called "The Roads..." a step sideways for Gemma (as opposed to a step forward). I agree with this assesment. This album is not as wonderfully original as her debut. But it is none-the-less beautiful and moving. Give it a few listens and I think you'll see what I mean.

Highly Recommended.

Need to listen a few times.......2006-02-15

I read pancake repairman's review and I can't agree with him more. I waited and waited for this album to be released. I listened to 'Night on my side' over and over again when it came out - it became the soudtrack of that year for me and I was hoping for more of the same.

Instead I was horribly disappointed when I heard this album first. It seemed overproduced and lacked the originality of the first album.

However recently I listened to it a few more times and it seems to improve each time I hear it. It seems to always be on my ipod these days.

Highly recommended.

Please enter a title for your review.......2005-11-29

First listen: This first song, Two Step, is pretty horribly disappointing. It sounds like an outtake from a Michelle Branch album. It's so commercial and overproduced and super conventionally structured and not guitary at all. I can't believe Gemma would let record company producers or songwriters ruin her music like this, but I can't believe she actually wrote a song this weak and boring by herself. The next track is totally more of the same. The basic slick commercial drumbeat and electronic texturing is in the forefront of the production. Her unique vocals are still intact, but that seems kinda inconsequential at this point. This one sounds more like it should have been on Marion Raven's new substanceless commercial trash album. The electronic sounding percussion is again the dominant element in Happy Sad. The guitar sounds almost equally as processed and inorganic. I can still detect a trace of a real song under the overproduction. I just can't believe any of this is her creative work. Easy On The Eye is the first good song on the album. The lack of percussion and other extraneous elements gives the guitar and vocals some much needed breathing space. Even so, it treads closer to predictable coffehouse folk songwriting than any of her older slow songs. Keep Me Here is another upbeat song, and even though it's still more stiff and commercial that what I expect from Gemma, it is much better than the first three songs, the drumming isn't as processed and pervasive, I can kinda dig it. On Undercover the drum machine beats are back again to ruin everything. It's not quite as objectionable as the first three songs, but it's just so bland, all the chord changes and melodies are buried under the commercial gloss. The most frustrating part is that if she had used the same people and recording process as her first album I think these songs could have turned out ok. I was almost going to just buy this album without listening to it first. Before I heard it I considered Gemma to be one of the top 10 new songwriters to emerge in the last five years, and I've been hanging for a follow up to Night On My Side for what seems like forever. I guess I saved myself from wasting some money, but that seems inconsequential next to the wasted talent that this album is an unfortunate result of. Minus The Bear's new album is no longer my biggest disappointment of the year. 5/10.
A couple weeks later: Ok by the time I got through Nothing Can on my first listen I was starting to feel conflicted about what I'd written, and I couldn't muster up any contempt for Helen which is just a really nice song. Something In My Way was the clincher that forced me to accept that I can't hate this album like I thought I did. It's like a sequel to Let A Good Thing Go. The most rocking song on the album, and the clear highlight. It should have been the first track.
Re-evaluating the first half of the album, I still can't get into Two Step, it's just too bland. Another For The Darkness actually has a great hook on the chorus, the "I don't understand..." part with the three-chord burst of guitar, I can't believe I missed it first time around. The whole song is very nice, and there's a distinct guitar jangle in the background that I really dig. The slick production actually makes this song interesting instead of destorying it like I first thought. Happy Sad isn't much better than Two Step. It reminds me of Hanging Around, the way it starts with a very basic riff, but in this case the chorus doesn't open the song up as much. Easy On The Eye is still nice, but I stand by my previous assessment of it being a bit too cofeehouse folk. I like Another For The Darkness better than it now. Keep Me Here is bland, but it's mainly the fault of the production which is so squeaky clean that the resonant timbre of the guitar which added the extra dimension to her old stuff is totally lost. Undercover is another bland song. Again I blame the production, but in this case it's the guitar just being mixed really low and emphasis placed on the bass and inorganic sounding drums. Everything fades into a drone where all rhythmmic and melodic impact is lost. Did Joey Waronker actually play drums on this album or what? All the percussion sounds electronic. Nothing Can has a guitar riff that reminds me a lot of Phoenix, and some lovely melodic piano backing where you actually can hear the resonant timbre of the instrument for a change. I think that's what really makes most of this album sound so soulless and inorganic. The resonant timbre of the instruments that gave Night On My Side it's atmospheric depth is almost completely missing. Helen is one song that the producer didn't get his claws into. The resonant timbre of the piano, strings, and vocals allows Gemma's songwriting to really shine. Well I'm glad I finally managed to pinpoint that the resonant timbre of instruments was what I felt this album was lacking, instead of just saying "commercial" or "overproduced" and leaving myself open to misinterpretation. I'm still loving Something In My Way. That song just rocks. It even has actual drumming. Horses is another bland song, but in this case I think it's as much due to the chord progressions as the production. I wouldn't be surprised if this song featured the most input from co-writers as Gemma's talent seems conspicuously absent especially in the vocal melody on the chorus. Worst song on the album. The guitar strumming at the start of Tomorrow is very nice, resonant timbre and all that, but it quicky gets buried under layers of less interesting guitar, keyboards, and that relentless electronic percussion that dominates the whole sound. It's still a great song at it's core. Gemma's talent is still there at it's best, suffocating under the studio gloss. If Gemma re-recorded these songs on a 4-track at home and re-released it I'd buy it in a second. As it stands I don't think I'll be shelling out the cash for this cd.
So to recap, I like tracks 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 11. Don't much care for the others. 7/10.

Loving The Roads.........2005-11-07

Gemma Hayes' debut album Night On My Side revealed her to be a complex, mercurial talent with a gift for making inspired music, and the album itself proved to be a considerable critical success. For those, like me, who've been waiting patiently for her new album to drop, and wondering whether it could live up to her brilliant debut - it's finally arrived, and the answer would appear to be a definitive YES.

The Roads Don't Love You is a slightly more conventional singer/songwriter album, less mind-bending than Night On My Side, but no less beautiful in execution. Recorded in L.A, Gemma has surrounded herself with a crack team of musicians including renowned drummer Joey Waronker, bassist Cedric LeMoyne from the sadly missed (well, by me at least) Remy Zero, and a disciplined, demanding producer in Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Travis, Pavement, Beck) who has a way of extracting excellence out of whoever he's involved with. Apparently, Gemma suffered from writers block leading up to this album - but you wouldn't know it from the consistently lovely results here.

Gemma Hayes' songs inhabit a world of beautiful strangers, undeniable attractions, deep longings, lost chances, unresolved feelings and fleeting glimpses of happiness. She addresses all of these themes in the chorus of album opener 'Two Step' - "...stop chasing every little thing that sparks, you carry all you ever need in your heart". This song is Gemma Hayes personified. So too, the bittersweet first single 'Happy/Sad', which, like so much of her work, straddles the line between being happy/sad, calm/on edge, beautiful/ugly with intoxicating ease, and builds to a beautiful climax. 'Easy On The Eye' is hauntingly resonant, and my personal favourite 'Undercover' has a definite Rumours-era Fleetwood mac vibe to it - needless to say it's great - "...man you left me undercover, a gypsy out in nowhere".

As much as I adore Night On My Side, I do have to feel in the right mood to play it - it's a record that demands your full attention, and not really ideal to do the dishes to I guess. Conversely, I can listen to The Road's Don't Love You anytime, anywhere and always really enjoy it.

The Roads Don't Love You is an impressive feat, it's an album that should broaden Gemma Hayes' appeal without sacrficing any of the quality or individuality that make her so compelling to listen to in the first place.

The roads mightn't love her, but I sure do.

Average customer rating:

Roads Don't Love You ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000C4BDX2 Release Date: 2006-02-21

Album Description

The Roads Don't Love You is the follow-up to her Mercury nominated debut Night On My Side. On its release in 2002 Night On My Side met with phenomenal critical acclaim. After writing a whole new batch of songs, Gemma moved to Los Angeles last year to recruit a producer and musicians to record and play with. She met renowned drummer Joey Waronker (credits include R.E.M., Beck, Paul McCartney, Air, Smashing Pumpkins, Johnny Cash and many more) who offered his production skills. After assembling a band of musicians she admired greatly through their individual work with PJ Harvey, Beck and Remy Zero, work on The Roads Don't Love You commenced - with stunning results. Includes the hidden track 'Pull Me In'. EMI. 2005.

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