Beautiful Collision Album Reviews
Concert reviews, album reviews, performance reviews for "Beautiful Collision"
Citigigs Toronto
19 November, 2002
"Never let it be said that Bic Runga does not possess ambition. In the last two weeks, the 26-year-old New Zealand native has been all over television, newsprint and radio -any media that will have her- announcing her intentions to crack North America."
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East
Bay Express
18 December, 2002
"Clearer water, clearer air, clearer thinking: Music fans in idyllic New Zealand have made Bic Runga a star in her home country. She deserves the attention. Beautiful Collision, the 26-year-old singer's second album, is the sort of accomplished, intelligent, melodic disc that used to roll off record presses regularly before labels expected their female acts to turn tricks on MTV or make every lyric a lethally oversung projectile."
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Star
News
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Opening with the exquisitely delicate acoustic guitar and lilting vocal confession of "When I See You Smile," Bic Runga's second album ranges from whispery reflection to upbeat pop jangle.
"Get Some Sleep," its second track, is an example of the kind of perfect harmonic songcraft that Simon & Garfunkel once made vogue. It's a mesmerizing, hand-clappin' sing-along, littered with perfectly executed rhymes about getting through the day: "Stranded in June/whistling the same old tune/but I do believe I might be having fun/ impeccably dressed in your secondhand vest/we were waiting for the taxi to come."
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Pitt News
December 9, 2002
New Zealand native Bic Runga's latest album took about three years to complete. Beautiful Collision, the follow-up to her 1997 debut, Drive, is definitely a collision of songs, but it is far from beautiful - if you try and listen to it the whole way through.
Song by song it works, but fuse them together and you have something that will put you to sleep easier than counting sheep or something that will merely fade away into the background while life goes on.
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The
Daily Cougar
26 November, 2002
One could assume the average indie rocker or classic rock fan wouldn't appreciate the album, but stranger things have happened. Runga had a way of sneaking onto this critic's good side. Hey, with all the unintelligent eye candy making pop records sell like hotcakes right now, it's nice to know something delicate and uncorrupted still lies on the shelves for young people. If I had a daughter, I'd buy this album for her.
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Daily
Texan
12 November, 2002
In all, the album is quiet and reflective, with a sound somewhat similar both to Jewel and Dido, while begging comparison with songwriting heavyweight Sarah McLachlan. Her voice, though higher in range, has a resonance and style similar to Natalie Merchant. With the combination of Runga's skillful writing and understated production, Beautiful Collision is an album that rings with subdued artistry.
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Daily
Nebraskan
25 November, 2002
From beginning to end, this album holds up rather well. It manages to stay relaxing and low key without becoming bland and uninteresting. This is an example of what a Saturday morning album should be - lush yet low key and altogether soothing.
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Variety.com
Oct. 31,
2002, 2:23pm PT
Columbia Records has an intriguing challenge ahead should it attempt to break New Zealander Bic Runga in this country. A singer-songwriter with a powerful voice and an exotic beauty not unlike Blue Note's Norah Jones, Runga has a budding career already Down Under and her sophomore effort, "Beautiful Collision," could be used to establish her as a counterpart to the label's biggest recent singer-songwriter success, Jon Mayer. There's a lot more to this young woman than her single "Sway" on the "American Pie" soundtrack.
For a copy of this article, go here.
North
Shore News, British Columbia
8 November, 2002
In the first of three Vancouver dates, Runga wowed a packed Green Room with the songs from her latest release, Beautiful Collision. The music itself seems a tad Lilith Fair-y at first, but closer inspection reveals dark, sometimes wry lyrics, and a genuine knack for stick-in-your-head hooks.
Though Runga herself may be small and cute, the music is anything but. Songs like Election Night and Get Some Sleep show Runga to be a gifted songwriter at the top of her form. The fact that she produced her first effort, and had little help with her second only underscores that she's a serious talent.
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Brown
Daily Herald
8 November, 2002
Bic Runga’s latest album, “Beautiful Collision,” is aptly titled. The twelve songs are gently produced poems placed like sepia-toned photographs in a heart shaped box—worthy of appraisal, but not profound enough that anyone but the photographer would miss them.
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Halifax
Daily News, Canada
11 November, 2002
The effort paid off with an album that is as well-crafted as it is original. With her crystal-clear voice and a very organic-sounding instrumentation, Runga harkens back to the wide-eyed optimism of the 1960s of Petula Clark, but in a thoroughly modern way. Occasionally, her gentle melodies conjure up images of muppets rafting downstream.
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Xtra MSN, New Zealand
2 November, 2002
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Columbia Records has an intriguing challenge ahead should it attempt to break New Zealander Bic Runga in the US, says Phil Gallo reviewing one of her five warmup gigs at Largo in LA.
A singer-songwriter with a powerful voice and an exotic
beauty not unlike Blue Note's Norah Jones, Runga has a budding career already
Down Under and her sophomore effort, "Beautiful Collision," could be
used to establish her as a counterpart to the label's biggest recent
singer-songwriter success, Jon Mayer. There's a lot more to this young woman
than her single "Sway" on the "American Pie" soundtrack.
For a copy of this article, go here.
Blazemedia, South
Australia
August 2002
Among others, Dave Dobbyn, Sebastian Steinberg and Neil Finn guest on the album, adding to the colours of the composition. "Everyone was on the record because they wanted to be there... you can't force these things to come about. I think I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted and then it was just a case of getting the right person. Producing is probably a lot like film directing - you've got a character, there's usually only about three people that you can think of that can possibly fill it, and you're usually lucky to get those three people that are on your wishlist."
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The Advertiser, Australia
22 August, 2002
Crafting a song and moulding it into a luscious piece of moody, ballady pop is what brought Bic Runga success some three years ago with her debut Drive. As a singer, songwriter, musician and producer, Runga has taken this style to new heights in this album, her ethereal compositions tugging at the heartstrings with lyrics conveying honest images with warmth and sincerity.
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www.timeoff.com.au
30 July, 2002
Romantic Notions
Julian Porter
"The record she
refers to is the gorgeous Beautiful
Collision. A nostalgic showcase of well-measured tunes arranged
intelligently around a voice that’s equal parts purity and sass. While three
years seems a lot of recording time, Runga explains she actually spent a lot of
it gaining an industry education she didn’t have when she released Drive.
For a copy of this article, go here.
www.juice.net
July, 2002
Beautiful Collision
album review
Dan Lander
"As "When I See You Smile" opens its aching arms and draws you into a gentle, melancholy embrace, the tune's subtle blend of Emmylou Harris-like sincerity and post-rock ambience suggest that Bic Runga might have something rare to offer. When the opening track of the New Zealand-based singer's sophomore album gives way to the soft, intimate rock of "Get Some Sleep" , the feeling intensifies. Runga masterfully exudes a blend of old-world authenticity with an ultra-modern sparkle."
For a copy of this article, go here.
www.ninemsn.com.au
July, 2002
Beautiful Collision
album review
"Bic's voice is smoother than silk. Even when
she's jumping an octave midway through pronouncing a word that would make the
rest of us sound like a Bavarian with bronchitis and a bad hangover, her voice
doesn't even flutter. She tries to pretend her voice isn't perfect on a few
tracks, you can hear her draw breath on 'The Be All And End All', but no one is
really going to buy into that."
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