|
Queen Of The Highway | 
 enlarge | Artist: Morel
Label: Yoshitoshi
Category: Music
List Price: $12.99
Buy New: $4.22
You Save: $8.77 (68%)
New (19) Used (18) from $2.95
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 207286
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 704865100522
EAN: 0704865100522
ASIN: B00005Y1ND
Release Date: January 22, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: FACTORY SEALED in MINT CONDITION! 1st Class Next Day Shipping. ALWAYS Compare Feedback!
| |
| Tracks:
| • | Cabaret | | • | Cabaret, Pt. 2 | | • | Over | | • | Ride | | • | Dreaming of L.A. | | • | Funny Car | | • | True | | • | The Queen of the Highway | | • | Mean Time | | • | All of the Sweet Ones | | • | Big Blue Caddy | | • | A World Set Free | | • | Wake-Up |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
From Deep Dishes' label 'Queen of the Highway' is a vivid 14 track epic mix of influences that come from such diverse sub-cultures as the 60's beatnik culture to the 70's heroine haze of Bowie and Warhol to the 80's New Wave of Bauhaus and New Order - all mixed up with a large splash of contemporary house beats & textures. Yoshitoshi Records.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Overlooked, Strong Debut August 3, 2004
P. Gerhard (ct , usa)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Morel is a collaborator with the deep house masterminds Deep Dish as well as doing a number of remixes under the Pink Noise name. His debut album Queen of the Highway, is a mix of house, rock, and everything in between. This is not a striaght up dance record, there is plenty of variety in songs, but they flow together surprisingly well despite comming from different backgrounds.
1 + 2. Cabaret part 1 and 2
Part 1 is a very slow introductory track that you could also hear on the end of, i belive, GU:Moscow with Deep Dish. It was the hidden track on the first disc. Part 2 picks it up as a nice moving house tune with very crisp production and lyrics throughout. Its a rather moving and uplifting track.
3. Over
The first rock song on the cd, with a slow beat and driving guitars. A definite radio friendly song with lyrics which set the stage for the general gist of the album. Sounds like a breakup song, but it is alot more clever then the usual songs about similar situations on the radio. One of my favorites on the album
4. Ride
Another rock song, a bit more downtempo with effects on the lyrics that make them seem rather haunting. Pretty decent and the content is a nice follow up to Over. Its a nice song but doesnt do anything too special, the music sounds the same throughout for the most part.
5. Dreaming of L.A.
Another house track. A good track with minimal vocals, not as moving as Cabaret part two, but very reminisence of Deep Dish's work. It starts very subltely and would be a good intro track to a mix.
6. Funny Car
This song is featured on Deep Dish's Yoshiesque II. It is a nice deep house song with Morel's vocals over it. I especially like the lyrics and the beat is very driving. Definitely danceable. It was the highpoint on Yoshiesque II and its great here too.
7. True (The Faggot is You)
Another house track, this one was featured on Deep Dish's Yoshiesque I and on John Digweed's Bedrock compilation. Similar in style to Funny Car, this was Morel's first single. Driving house with meaningful vocals, although there is some confusion about the lyrics.
8. Queen of the Highway
Back to rock. This is my second favorite song on the album. It is very melancholy but the chorus has the bittersweet feeling to it which i absolutely love. Lyrically the song is excellent and i feel this is his strongest rock-pop song on the album.
9. Under
Just a small guitar with distortion interlude.
10. Meantime
A pop-techno song about being picked on in school. Very chill with heavy effects on Morel's vocals. Kinda touching and it embodies both extremes (rock-pop and techno) present on the album. Lyrically, this song is not as strong as the others on the album.
11. All of the Sweet Ones
Back to house. This time it has more drive and horns and lyrics all over the song. A very catchy dance tune and easy to dance too. However, this song, like Cabaret part 2, gets kind of repetitive, but that is kind of the point of house. Still not a bad tune.
12.
A techno influenced rock song, with mass distortion on the vocals. It sounds good, i have a hard time hearing what he is singing sometimes. It is a fairly short song but like Meantime it fuses the pop-rock and electronic extremes on this album.
13.
Straight up rock song with Morel almost turning beat poet on us. Good song, slow, but i feel lyrically its allright but not as good as Morel does on other songs on this album. The anthemic chorus is nice though, and almost one of my favourites on the cd.
14.
A chill song, this is the closing song to the album. Very relaxed and kind of depressing. This is my favorite song by far as it flows along really well, lyrically it is awesome, and Morel's voice is great in this song.
Thoughts:
Morel is an openly homosexual singer/songwriter/producer and some people might be afraid or reluctant to give this album a listen because they do not think that lyrically they can relate themselves to the subject matter. However, Morel is an excellent songwriter and thus the homosexual references are not brought up to the foreground. The album and most of the songs are about alienation and being left out and alone, an emotion that is not reserved for homosexual people. Thus this album is lyrically accessible to everyone who is willing to give it a chance.
Conclusion:
This cd is really different then any other record i have heard because of the mixture of techno, house specifically, and intelligent pop-rock in a seamless composition. Nothing on here really sounds out of place and Morel can deliver vocally on rock songs just as well as he can on techno songs. What fails this to be an excellent album is the inherent repetition that comes with having trance and house songs as single standing pieces on an album coupled with the reality that Morel's lyrical skills arent as consistent as they perhaps should be. Regardless, for a first debut its amazing and Morel has accomplished more on his first release then most other dance music artists have on theirs. It is sad that this album was overlooked by most everyone.
Good shiznit July 3, 2004
Wargy (Canada)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a good album. Lots of good grooves. Nice beats mixed with a really heartfelt style. The lyrics add to the grooves so well. A must-listen for anyone enjoying smooth house beats.
Great Album. Introspective and honest. BUT NOT FOR GROOVE'N. May 20, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This album is very compeling, but I was expecting something different. The first song I ever heard by Morel was "True" which is pretty house/dance driven but the rest of the album doesn't really fit with that genre. This album is very broody and has a much more intimate appeal than your typical "dance" record. I guess it was marketed differently. If you are thinking about buying this album with the idea of getting your groove on, you might have too look elsewhere.
 excellent November 18, 2003
Peter D. Beckman (Bloomington, MN United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Today's Pet Shop Boys or New Order. I love songs 1-9, especially #6. The lyrics may not suit everybody's taste, but I rarely ever listen to the words, I listen to music for just that the music. I view the human voice as an instrument.
 Morel Should Stick to Remixing July 17, 2003
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Morel is best known as a remixer and co-producer of remixes with internationally famous DJ group Deep Dish. He has been featured on remixes of artists like Madonna, Tori Amos and Tina Turner - and he should stick to it. The man can't sing, he can't write songs or lyrics to save his life; he comes off as a middle aged butch homosexual with nothing to say, but a desperate dream to be a rock star. It's a shame he abandoned the projects by now-popular undground artists like Easter Bradford and Kala Azim because even though his production of their music had the same generic house/rock sound, at least they could sing and had something to say in their lyrics. Do yourself a favour and seek their material out instead.
|
|
|
|
 | |
