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Regina Spektor - Far (2009) CD + DVD Deluxe Edition

Posted By: Designol

Date: 28 Sep 2022 21:28:28

Special Edition features two additional audio tracks and a bonus DVD with four music videos. Regina Spektor's gold album Begin To Hope was honored as one of Rolling Stone's Top 50 albums of 2006. Far, her much anticipated follow-up, once again spotlights Spektor's daring piano pop, vocal acrobatics and offbeat wit. Utilizing four esteemed producers Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Traveling Wilburys), Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes) and Garret 'Jacknife' Lee (Weezer, R.E.M.) Spektor combines rich soundscapes with evocative and intricately structured melodies and a remarkable gift for crafting intelligent, refreshingly honest odes to life. With Far, major stardom draws near for Regina Spektor.

Regina Spektor worked with no less than four big-name producers on Far, all of them with very different backgrounds: David Kahne was her collaborator on 2006's Begin to Hope; Garret "Jacknife" Lee counts R.E.M. and U2 among his credits; Jeff Lynne's lavish sound is famous on ELO's albums; and Mike Elizondo has worked with Fiona Apple and Maroon 5. It's something of a surprise, then, that Far sounds so homogenized. On Soviet Kitsch and Begin to Hope, Spektor's wide-eyed moments were balanced with darker, knowing songs that kept her music grounded. Here, almost all of the rough or unpredictable edges have been smoothed away, and all that's left is Spektor's sweet, quirky side. At times, Far gets close to being unbearably precious, whether it's putting Spektor's name in all lowercase letters in the liner notes, her dolphin on the otherwise charming "Folding Chair," or lyrics like "We made our own computer out of macaroni pieces" on the chirpy opener, "The Calculation." Even the album's darker tracks, such as the percussion-heavy "Machine," are surprisingly sugary compared to her previous work. However, Spektor's guileless voice and delivery allow her to get away with sounds and ideas that would be horribly cloying in the hands of almost any other artist. She manages to make a song with the chorus "Eet, eet, eet" catchy and affecting, and fashions an observant and witty story out of returning a wallet to Blockbuster Video. Still, Far's best moments occur when Spektor turns down the whimsy a few notches. It's probably not a coincidence that the Kahne-produced "Human of the Year" shares some of Begin to Hope's intimacy and ambition, but "Blue Lips" and "Man of a Thousand Faces" also let Spektor's more mature – but not overly serious – side shine. Likewise, "Two Birds" and "One More Time with Feeling" show that she hasn't lost her touch for deceptively pretty pop with clever lyrics. While Far is far from bad, it doesn't quite live up to expectations, either, based on all the talent involved in making it and how fully Spektor expressed herself on Begin to Hope. [The CD/DVD version of Far includes two bonus tracks, "Time Is All Around" and "The Sword & the Pen," that are at least the equal of the songs that made it on the regular version of Far, as well as videos for "Laughing With," "Dance Anthem of the 80's," and "Man of a Thousand Faces."]

Review by Heather Phares, Allmusic.com

Regina Spektor at Allmusic
Regina Spektor Website
Regina Spektor at Wiki

Tracklist:

1. The Calculation (Mike Elizondo) - 3:11
2. Eet (Mike Elizondo ) - 3:52
3. Blue Lips (Jeff Lynne) - 3:34
4. Folding Chair (Jeff Lynne) - 3:35
5. Machine (Mike Elizondo) - 3:55
6. Laughing With (Jacknife Lee) - 3:17
7. Human of the Year (David Kahne) - 4:07
8. Two Birds (Jacknife Lee) - 3:18
9. Dance Anthem of the 80's (Jacknife Lee) - 3:43
10. Genius Next Door (Jeff Lynne) - 5:06
11. Wallet (Jeff Lynne) - 2:28
12. One More Time with Feeling (David Kahne) - 3:59
13. Man of a Thousand Faces (Mike Elizondo) - 3:11

Bonus Tracks:

14. Time Is All Around (Mike Elizondo) - 3:06
15. The Sword & the Pen (Jeff Lynne) - 3:48

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 29. August 2009, 14:49

Regina Spektor / Far

Used drive : _NEC DVD_RW ND-4551A Adapter: 4 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

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13 | 44:09.48 | 13:09.45 | 198723 | 257942
14 | 57:19.18 | 3:05.44 | 257943 | 271861
15 | 60:24.62 | 3:48.42 | 271862 | 289003

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename REGINA_SPEKTOR\2009 - Regina Spektor - Far\Regina Spektor - Far.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 0A0D667C
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

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Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [CE87A818]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [7A066106]
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Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [6DE990B2]
Track 15 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [E7C23661]

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report