CD REVIEW: SYLVIA – SECOND BLOOM (THE HITE REIMAGINED) – BY RITCHIE
RITCHISON FOR COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE AND
RADIO SHOW
Drifter
Nobody
Tumbleweed
Fallin’ in Love
Cry Just a Little Bit
Sweet Yesterday
Like Nothing Ever Happened
Snapshot
I Love You By Heart
You Can’t Go Back Home
Who doesn’t like Sylvia?
I remember watching the video for the Matador on CMT back in 1981 and you couldn’t
escape her biggest hit in 1982 “Nobody” which sold more than a million copies and
became an Adult Contemporary hit reaching #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts and
was played almost incessantly everywhere that year.
With 11 Top Ten songs and over four million records sold Sylvia could have easily sat
back and rested on her laurels.
Instead of resting Sylvia chose to bloom again in a collection of her biggest hits but not
just a reissue or re-recordings of the original versions.
Sylvia chose to be creative and reinvent or as the collection’s title suggests reimagine
her songs in a fresh way.
Organic is a term thrown around so often it is barely has any meaning. However when
talking about this disc the term flourishes as do the arrangements which are stripped of
the keyboards and synthesizers of the 80’s and infused with the natural sounds of wood
instruments like fiddle mandolin dobro and acoustic guitar.
All of the songs work very well in this treatment showing that Sylvia put a lot of thought
and love into the new arrangements.
My favorite has to be the bluegrass tinged version of “Fallin’ In Love”.
If you don’t know Sylvia’s music get this CD. If you do get this CD. It will remind you why
you liked Sylvia’s music in the first place and it will cause you love for the songs to have
a second bloom
5 out 5 stars