"Mass" by Amanda Thorpe

a Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

This is Amanda Thorpe's second release, the first being 1999's EP "Too Many Spirits".

My first impression was that these are pretty and sexy songs. Good for background music. But then I realized that I was actually humming the songs to myself when I wasn't listening to it. I pulled it out again and really paid attention to it. The style of songs can range from smoky jazz ("This Dear City") to soft-core trip hop ("Always").

Cropduster records sent a promo copy (not that I would expect them to send me anything else) so I don't have liner notes or lyrics. Also the track listing on the back of the sleeve I have does not correspond with the actual CD. So I may have some song titles wrong since I glance at the CD player when a song hits me and make a note of the track number.

My favorites are:
"Eyes of an Angel" with its twangy Chris Isaak guitar.
"High & Dry" has "single" written all over it. It reminds me of an old Marty Balin song. But I won't go into it since I'm quite sure no one else knows whom I am talking about.
But it doesn't get sexier and jazzier than "Them There Eyes" which I'm told is a remake. But again, without the liner notes I can't be sure.

Amanda has a great sultry voice and a gift for writing songs that are interesting and different from other stuff out there.

Posted on September 22, 2001