Mandy Moore – Mandy Moore
Artist: Mandy Moore
Album: Mandy Moore
Release Date: June 19, 2001
1. In My Pocket
The opening song for Moore’s sophomore release is really quite catchy. In addition, Moore’s vocals have improved from what she presented from the previous release. The song has a bit of an ethnic sound to it from the bongos and the rather interesting instruments used throughout the song. The programming has a lot of echoed voices coming in and out of the song. It’s actually quite an interesting song in terms of what they’ve done with the arrangement and everything. In addition, this upbeat song is rather catchy, although one-dimensional as it more or less repeats the same thing the whole way through. Moore’s vocals are energetic and fun throughout the song.
2. You Remind Me
The next song has a more laid-back upbeat song to it as Moore uses her sweeter tone here. The accompaniment is kind of winter-like with the use of light bell-like sounds and the small picks of the acoustic guitar. The melody here is quite pretty, although kind of awkward at times. Either way, this song is quite pretty, and Moore sings well. A lot of Moore’s vocals here use harmonies or doubling of her voice.
3. Saturate Me
The opening of this song sends chills as there’s a little breathy sigh that goes from one ear to the next and leaves a little tingly feeling. Moore brings out her improved whispery voice in this song, and I personally find it quite pretty. This song has a bit of a soft, haunting quality that I quite like. Moore performs this song beautifully. The song has a bit of a wind-like sound to it. The song is ruined once Moore has to start talking in the bridge. Ruins the atmosphere completely.
4. One Sided Love
This next song continues with a sitar-sounding instrument, which is quite fascinating. This is definitely the most intriguing introduction so far, but I don’t care much for Moore once she comes in with the terrible melody. There’s very little flow in the melody as it’s mostly chanting from Moore, and I personally find it horrible. At least Moore is very energetic in this song.
5. 17
This is another laid-back mid-tempo song. Again, Moore vocals are strong, but highly breathy. The song is really unremarkable, although the melody is quite nice. The bridge is really awkward sounding in comparison to the rest of the album, however. This is probably my least favourite of the album thus far, but I’m still only halfway through it.
6. Cry
Admittedly, A Walk to Remember was what made me a fan of Mandy Moore in the first place, so of course I would absolutely adore this song. I adore Moore’s presentation of this song as she uses her chest voice here rather than her head voice. This song is just so dramatic, and quite well written. The accompaniment has a nice string line going on. I quite like the contrasts of dynamics from the softer acoustic guitar parts to the fully accompanied parts of the song.
7. Crush
Moore sings this next song sweetly, and I really like her delivery in this song as it fits the subject perfectly. The song is rather simple with the acoustic guitar accompaniment, and the song more or less could be looped over and over again from the structure of the song, and the fade off that it ends with. Uneventful, but still rather cute and sweet.
8. It Only Took a Minute
Take Crush, change it to be a bit more dramatic, and add dissonant strings in the background. It’s this song. Again, the song is quite nice, and I enjoy the dissonant strings that come in and out of the song, but it’s really not that interesting after listening to a similar-sounding song. The dissonant strings so not redeem the fact that this is so similar to the track before.
9. Turn the Clock Around
Yay to more filler tracks. Take the same sound as the previous tracks and make it more upbeat. Seriously, this is starting to get a little tiring, even after three tracks of similar stuff. Again, it sounds nice, but not terribly interesting, especially after a few tracks of a similar sound.
10. Yo-Yo
The next song breaks the sound from the previous three tracks with a more pop-rock sound. I don’t particularly like the verses as it’s hardly melodic at all, and Moore is extremely breathy in them, even more than usual. I really like the chorus, however, as she starts to sing out and it’s rather catchy. In addition, the bridge continues the more pleasant sound. If the writers made the verses more melodious, it would make quite a catchy song.
11. From Loving You
The next song opens with Moore’s softer voice, but put through a voice filter that makes her sound muffled before going into the verse without it. Moore sings emotionally and well in this song, but there’s a sense of uncertainty in the overall arrangement of the song. It just feels realy unsure in terms of how the song was put together as there’s minimal accompaniment, and Moore is very poorly accompanied in this song with the inconsistent instruments in the background. Nice melody, nice vocals, poor execution and arrangement of the song.
12. Split Chick
The opening of this song with the “Oh, ohhh” is actually really annoying. Beyond that, it continues to be rather irritating to listen to. Again, poor programming in this song, poor melody composition in this song, but Moore is quite energetic in this song. “Whatever”, indeed. The whole song is about four minutes of awkward.
13. When I Talk To You
The final song of the album is an attempt at a sensitive ballad. Moore’s voice is nice, but not nice enough to pull off this already terrible song. The awkward continues. The song drags on, and the execution is just really choppy on all parts of the song. There’s moments of possible brilliance here, but the presentation is horrible and unmusical.
Overall -
Favourite Track: Saturate Me
Mandy Moore’s second original album effort (I refuse to consider “I Wanna Be with You” to be her second album) is an immense improvement from the music she had on her first album, but it is still far from excellent. While the album opens well with some unique pop tracks and improved vocals from Moore, eventually some poorly written, unmelodious songs make their way onto the album, and I quickly get bored. There’s still some rather good tracks on this album among the generic, uninteresting pop. Vocally, Moore sounds so much better, and she’s full of energy and emotion throughout the album.
Mandy Moore | Megumi | June 2, 2008
i like candy and cry and a few more songs of hers. i like cry … because there was a piano accompaniment. and i like another song of hers where she duet with a guy .. like some high on the mountain? don’t remember the lyrics.
^ Someday We’ll Know? XD
- Megumi
What a poor album cover. It breaks my heart a little (especially when the actual picture is so pretty). D=
-Tsuki
ooh yea…. it’s better to eliminate the bluish frame. the cover will look fab since mandy looks photogenic in the photo.