Up Close and Personal by Vicki Genfan

a Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

I reviewed Vicki's previous release, Live back in 2004. I remembered liking it and being very impressed with her guitar playing skills. Not being a guitarist myself, it's sometimes hard for me to tell if someone is really good or not. But there is no mistaking this talent.

What I didn't remember was that she had a really nice singing voice too. The last CD must have been more instrumental or maybe the songs I liked the best on it were. But at any rate, I'm glad to hear this recording and know that Genfan has a great voice and can do much more than play guitar (not that that's an easy task, especially when you play like she does).

This album is split up between two discs. The first being "Up Close" which is completely instrumental. Then "Personal" (disc 2) is her singer/songwriter style. While both styles are very nice, being a singer myself, and one who loves lyrics, I tend to gravitate toward the second disc.

She does a lovely cover of the Beatle's 'Norwegian Wood'.

Now, guitar lovers don't hate me, if you read my reviews regularly, you know I love piano. So I have to give props to "When You Are Winter" as there is a gorgeous piano part. It's really a beautiful song.

The instrumental disc is really very nice. Like I said, she's an amazing musician. But not only that, she writes so well that even though the songs don't have lyrics and voice, they're still very interesting.

If you enjoy folk-pop music and can appreciate good playing, you'll have to get this CD.

Posted on October 16, 2006