Track Listing

1. Green into Gold
2. Spaceship
3. Hush
4. Cry
5. Third Time Around
6. Free Man
7. Gravity
8. Beautiful
9. Memphis City Rai
10. Swell
11. It's Alright
12. Wonderland...The American

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125904 in Music
• Released on: 2000-03-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Customer Reviews

As riveting on CD as he is live
My first experience with Angie Aparo came last September at the End of Summer Weenie Roast - an all day music festival here in Charlotte, featuring 15-20 bands of national and local caliber. Angie played on one of the smaller stages, and I was anxious to here him, after being captivated by his singles "Spaceship" and "Hush" on the radio. After hearing him live, I raced out to buy the CD, and almost a year later, I'm still enthralled. Each song is different, both lyrically and musically - however, in every song you still can here Angie's strongest asset: his amazing voice. Obvious winners are "Hush", "Spaceship", and "Cry" (a gorgeous piano ballad), but even the lower-key tracks on this album are satisfying. One of my personal favorites is "Wonderland" (track 12), played with the violin and a simple accoustic guitar, in which Angie's voice just soars. This is one of the few CD's in which every song is incredible. Just the other night, I saw him live again, and as a side note, I can say that he is warm, funny, and even better in a small concert venue. This is a great artist.

Strongest all-around album I've yet encountered
Angie is one of those impossible to pigeonhole into a single genre, so it seems he is forever writing great music that no one ever hears, because he really doesn't have a target audience. He's also one of those with equally strong sound/rhythm to his songs as lyrics; he isn't tilted one way or another. His other albums are really good, but this is the only album for which he had high production values, so for most it ends up being clearly his best. If there isn't at least one song on this album that speaks to you, well... you probably don't like music very much. This album simply oozes quality.

1. Green Into Gold (7/10): Good starter. Won't blow you away, but has strong lyrics and tends to stick in your head. Unlike most of these songs, you'll like this one more immediately as opposed to it growing on you.

2. Spaceship (10/10): This is the best song on the album, period. He hits notes I didn't think humans could hit without enhancement in this song. Simply amazing.

3. Hush (8.5/10): If this was never a single, it should've been.

4. Cry (9.5/10): Faith Hill won a Grammy for her cover of this song, and Angie's original version is quite a bit better. What does that tell you?

5. Third Time Around (8/10): This song doesn't really know if it's country or pop. If you like pop this might get you interested in country, and vice versa. You'll probably skip past it the first play-through, but it grows on you.

6. Free Man (9/10): One of Angie's personal favorites, and I can see why. You may gloss over it the first couple times through the album, but once you give it a chance you'll wonder how you missed it.

7. Gravity (8/10): One of the more emotional, and pop-ish songs on the album. Very clean sound, slightly less lyrically complex than most of the other songs.

8. Beautiful (9/10): Maybe the best lyrics on the album. One of the top few tracks.

9. Memphis City Rain (7/10): Vocal-heavy, slow, relaxing song. Deceptively simple. You could meditate to this.

10. Swell (8/10): More especially strong lyrics, with an extremely in-your face chorus. Has a very odd flow/feel that doesn't seem like it should sound good, but you'll keep playing it again anyway.

11. It's Alright (5.5/10): Strange. Not terrible, but this song doesn't really seem to know what it's trying to do.

12. Wonderland (8/10): This song serves as his proof of what a great singer he is, as he is accompanied for the most part by an acoustic guitar and violin only, and both are in the background supporting his voice, rather than the other way around. He used a live version of this song for this album, too, and the fact that he can get this kind of sound live makes it all the more impressive.

18. The American (8.5/10): Talk about a worth-it bonus track... this song is simply very strong in every aspect.

Yeah yeah, lots of high ratings, I know. But like I said, this is the strongest overall album I've ever heard. "It's Alright" is probably the only song I don't consider to be a very strong track. Pick this one up, no matter what kind of music you listen to. Trust me.

When I die and go to heaven, I expect to hear Angie's voice
This album is a breathtaking piece of work that showcases one of the most talented artists I have heard in years. There are not enough superlatives in my vocabulary to praise Angie and his album. Like others, I heard Spaceship on my local radio station and proceeded to find out the name behind the voice. When I bought the album, I thought it was the best money I had ever spent on a CD. Songs like Wonderland, Hush, and The American made my soul ache, and I love the raw sounds of Gravity, Free Man, and Swell. I have to stop myself from singing along so I can just listen to Angie's divine voice. Please, this man and his music need to be heard. And having met him and seen him perform live, I know that he truly deserves every word of praise he receives. Buy this album now.