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Epicurus.com - Ophelia
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List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $10.99
Your Save: $ 0.99 ( 8% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075596219624
Label: Elektra / Wea
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
Number Of Discs: 1
Publication Date: 1998
Publisher: Elektra / Wea
Release Date: 1998-05-19
Studio: Elektra / Wea
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Editorial Reviews:
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Miss Natalie needs to lighten up. Ophelia's a pretty heavy record, in terms of both the thick, string-heavy production and in terms of her protracted, pretentious songs. Merchant has a beautiful voice but she bogs it down with weighty themes that walk around in flashy clothes without going anywhere. She's even got, gulp, Tibetan lyric translations on "Effigy." It's telling that the best track here is the simplest--a lovely reading of an 1887 parlour hymn, "When They Ring The Golden Bells." Its genteel acoustic backdrop perfectly sets off Merchant's voice--and its the only time she sings with a passion that doesn't feel pretended. Guests include Daniel Lanois and The Innocence Mission. --Michael Ruby
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: My favorite CD Natalie put out...
Comment: I didn't care much for Tigerlily (except Carnival and to a lesser extent, Wonder), but I listened to Ophelia on repeat for the better half of a year! This is a mature and thoughtful album. The song type isn't incredibly varied (they are all rather serious and slow), but if you like lyrics to carry a song, this is your kind of album.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the best Natalie album
Comment: I think "Ophelia" is the best Natalie Merchant album; I love every song on it, in particular "Ophelia", "Life is sweet", "Kind & generous", "Break your heart", "King of may", "Thick as thieves", and every song is a jewel by itself; I strongly love this album; I think Natalie never surpassed it with her other albums; I saw her in concert in Milan, years ago, and she is an excellent performer.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Ophelia CD
Comment: The product came really fast but the first two songs on the CD skid really bad.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 4.5 Stars... On the 10th anniversary of Natalie's masterpiece
Comment: Let me state upfront that I am a big Natalie Merchant fan. I have all the albums, of course. That said, it was quite a surprise to me when I was at a dinner party recently and in the background "Ophelia" was playing. Natalie has been out of the limelight quite a while now (the last studio album, the vastly underappreciated "The House Carpenter's Daughter" was issued in 2003), and I will admit I hadn't put Natalie in my CD changer since forever. I relistened to all of her albums, but "Ophelia" sticks out, and now that we are approaching the 10th anniversary of its release (originally released in May, 1998), it's worth revisiting it.
On "Ophelia" (11 tracks, 57 min.) it is immediately clear that this will not be "Tigerlily 2". Indeed the somber title track kicks things off, and sets the mood for the entire album: pensive, introspective, and slower. "Kind & Generous", the sole radio hit on here, in fact sounds a bit out of place and I can imagine that anyone hearing this song and buying this album, expecting something along the lines of the easily accessible "Tigelily", would have been mightily disappointed (and perhaps even felt mislead). The heart of the album are tracks 5 and 6: "My Skin" is as haunting and vulnerable as Natalie has ever sounded, to this day still, with lines like "Do you remember the way that you touched me before/all the trembling sweetness/I loved and adored.../Your face saving promises/whispered like prayers/I don't need them", wow. "Break Your Heart" is a slightly faster song in which Natalie reflects on the emotional hurt that people suffer. Other highlights include "Thick as Thieves" which includes a subdued but chilling electric guitar solo, and the short pensive "Effigy". What keeps me from giving this 5 stars is the very last track "When They Ring the Golden Bells", which belongs on the "Carpenter's Daughter" album, not here, but it's a slight complaint, to be sure.
In all, to rediscover "Ophelia" is like running into an old friend you haven't seen in a long time and immediately reconnect with. Frankly, I'm surprised how well this album has aged, hard to believe that this came out 10 years ago! Rumor has it that Natalie finally will issue a new album sometime later in 2008. Come back already Natalie, we miss you!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best Natalie CD?
Comment: I have been a Natalie fan since the 10,000 Maniacs first self-produced releases. I talked to her early on at local shows and continued to follow her progress, the band's, and guitarist John Lombardo's. Having heard everything by the Maniacs, and Miss Merchant, it's my opinion that her solo masterpiece is "Ophelia".
If you're new to Natalie Merchant, her first solo CD, "Tigerlily", is wonderful. I'm sure she felt she had something to prove after leaving the Maniacs and she makes a very strong case that she was meant to go solo. The album is strong, catchy, and upbeat. "Ophelia" was her second solo CD and it is, by contrast, much more somber than "Tigerlily". I'd think the dark sound of the CD probably made it less enjoyable than "Tigerlily" to those people who view her as a light pop artist. I, however, find the CD much more rewarding to return to than "Tigerlily". Her third solo CD was "Motherland". That's a CD that even I, unfortunately, view as too downbeat and without enough catchy melodies.
"Ophelia" is probably her richest sounding solo CD. Where "Tigerlily" was poppy, and "Motherland" was willfully folky, "Ophelia" uses classical instruments to expand the sound. The CD contains three songs that were singles: "Life is Sweet", "Kind and Generous", and "Break Your Heart", so it has more than its share of good hummable singles. What helps makes this CD better than the others though is that it feels as if all the songs are part of a greater whole. Another positive attribute is that the lead singer from the band The Innocence Mission sings harmony on two of these tracks, and she has a haunting voice.
If you want to check out Miss Merchant at her heaviest most successful solo moment, this CD is the one.
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