The Living Road

Comment: This CD gets a solid 5 stars. Stripped down, elemental, with a solid production, pulled together by THAT VOICE. Yes, people just amaze me sometimes, especially when they write reviews on amazon! Hey you - a few back - she titled it "Con Toda Palabra" instead of "Con cala Palabra" because she did and she could and so it is. Would you prefer Van Gogh paintings in monochrome? Oh, and that other review a litle farther back - "the first five songs are all the same and carried by her voice"? You're bagging on my favorite track there: "La Frontera"... the mariachi or norteno type horns and swirling rhythm sound nothing like "Anywhere on This Road", which is very different from "Con Toda Palabra, with those lilting hollow percussion rhythms and the swirling rhythm and slowly building dynamics. There is a lot of diversity there, and after all, Lhasa is staking her success primarily on her vocals.

"The Living Road" is a wonderful piece of music. I love way Lhasa responded to her initial success with a totally different CD... less bombastic and less overtly sensual (though that was awesome), and given us this surreal, haunting, thoroughly mesmerizing CD. "Anywhere Along This Road" Frontera", Small Song and "My Name" are great, deep, fantastically executed songs. Don't miss this cd, expecially the long solo at the end of "Anywhere on This Road" and the almost creepy but fantastic "Soon This Space will be too Small" with it's wonderful Paolo Coelho alliteration just because a few reviewers had some rather non-contextual things to say. This is a tremendous CD from this little powerhouse artist. Lhasa - we're waiting for No.3 - you are truly something special.

Comment: Lhasa's second (and apparently last) album is an amazing example of brilliant music combined with gorgeous vocal work and excellent song writing.

Comment: I am totally in love with this album! I can listen to it over and over! Lhasa's voice is absolutely beautiful and the musicians on the album are very talented. Lhasa has been compared to Bjork...so if you are a Bjork fan, you will probably love this album. I also like that all of the lyrics in Spanish and French are translated into English. I have both of her albums and they are different from one another. The Living Road is equally as good, if not better than La Llorna. I highly recommend it!

Comment: ...and kind of odd, the more i really LISTEN to the lyrics on this album, the more easily my college french and spanish melt back into my memory and i am able to enjoy the sentiment of these songs as well as the lilting, wistful melodies. although they are, at their heart, a bit repetitive in some cases, one doesn't notice as you fall into her plaintive and rich voice.

the first time i heard Lhasa de la Sela was at a friend's dance recital; one of the pieces was set to MY NAME, and it has stuck in my throat ever since. i think of it on a spiritual level, as one singing to their maker or source rather than just any one person...nice about her work that it leaves much to interpretation.

this is a great mood cd, to stick in the player if you want a rich background for whatever you're doing, but also listenable over and over again for long road trips when you want to completely lose yourself in the music.

Comment: I was initially surprised by the music because I bought La Llorona first. I loved La Llorona for its traditional feel. The Living Road is different but is also such a beautiful cd, I'd recommend it to anyone. The mixture of French, English and Spanish is wonderful.