[.ca] Extra Virgin

From Amazon.com:
There are all the standard trip-hop ingredients--two guys who could probably stand to get out of the studio a little more often, lots of keyboards, drum machines, and samples. And there's a female singer, who's been compared to Sade--rather unfairly, since Ruth-Ann can manage more than a monotone and still be sultry. But there's also guitar and--wait for it--real strings. And, um, songs. Granted, they're not your conventional verse-chorus-verse, but like an insect bite, they get under your skin until you're scratching away and can't ignore them. --Chris Nickson

The answer is OLIVE - EXTRA VIRGIN:
Olive's Extra Virgin CD was one of the cds we played in a music store I used to work at. I had never heard of Olive personally, but every time any song from the album played, record numbers of customers would come up to me and ask what was playing - they loved it and 9 times out of 10 bought it right then. I loved it too, in fact I've probably bought 4 copies of it for different people. I highly recommend it - it suits any mood.

Sophomoric:
I bought this CD I don't remember when...a few years ago...based upon a recommendation on this site. After listening to it, I chalked it up to a bad buy rip off and threw it into the black hole where my other unfortunate purchases go. Been in here researching some other bands and CDs I am considering and I ran across comments about this CD again...positive mostly. So, I dusted it off and gave it another try. And I STILL don't hear it. It's back in the black hole. Where it belongs. The music is sophomoric. The lead singer can hardly carry a tune. It is mindless meandering through a maze of misdirected mutterings and a muted trumpet that is a slap in the face to Miles Davis and anybody else who can play. Extra virgin olive oil is the best pressing of the fruit. It is clearly a terrible exaggeration to call anything from this band "Extra Virgin." It all reminds me of a high school assembly and some wanna-be forces a self-composition on us that makes no sense, bores us or simply sounds bad.

Ruth Ann's voice ranks up there with the best women's vocals:
This is Olive's first and BEST album. "Trickle" is also good, but if you are buying one, buy this one. I put off buying this album because other people online said it was not as good as their other work. Wow, were they so wrong. This album is arranged better, and is actually more listenable than "Trickle." The Nightmares on Wax influence does not really show on this album either, except in the perfect arrangements. Other good bands that "somewhat" resemble Olive include Dido, Delerium, Dot Allison, Chicane, Conjure One, Opus III, Puracane, Balligomingo, Amethystium. Too bad they broke up. Nightmares on Wax is not nearly as good. The "Killing" track on this album is freaking amazingly cool. I played it in a meth-happy blue-collar bar in Bremerton, WA, once and half the people got up and started dancing, and the other half wanted to kill me.

If you want an Olive CD, buy Trickle:
It's a good thing I purchased and listened to Olive's second CD "Trickle" before I heard their debut CD or I likely would have missed out on the excellent "Trickle" as this debut CD does not leave much of an impression of making you want to search out more. "Extra Virgin" is right because this CD sounds awfully inexperienced. Ruth Ann is in fine vocal form no question, but this CD is missing the melodies and solid songs that dominate "Trickle", an electronic CD every bit as good as (and maybe better than) Olive's label mate on Maverick Records Madonna's "Ray Of Light". The CD opens strong with "Miracle" which sounds like it could have been on the second CD and I'm thinking more of the same enjoyable music. But there's not much more to follow. The hit "You're Not Alone" (which appears here in two versions, neither as good as the stunning Rollo and Sister Bliss Remix) and "You Are Nothing" are about the only other tracks worth a repeat listen. "I Don't Think So" is somewhat catchy but it's title can also be the answer to the question 'will I ever play this CD all the way through again?'Just too many tracks with very little melody or original beats. Make no mistake, "Trickle" is every bit as good as this is bad, the 2nd Olive CD is the one to own.

Buy This CD!!:
I first heard You're Not Alone on the radio in 1997. I totally fell in love with the song. I never heard that song again until 2000 where I was at a Cat's Music and I asked who sung it and the guy there said Olive. You have gotta buy this cd!! Its one of the best I heard yet!

• Miracle
• This Time
• Safer Hands
• Killing
• You're Not Alone
• Falling
• Outlaw
• Blood Red Tears
• Curious
• You Are Nothing
• Muted
• I Don't Think So