Classics (2014)

Classics

• Definitely on my top 10 favorite albums ever, Zooey Deschanel’s voice is absolutely perfect on this album. I remember the first time I ever listened to this album, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I listen to it constantly, and even though it’s relaxing, it still gives you some great music to pay attention to. The album opens with “Stars Fell On Alabama”, which in this case, is my favorite version of this song. It makes you feel like you wanna be transported away to a better place, where you can just lay in a field and count the falling stars. It’s such a great feeling, which is why I love it so much. “Oh No, Not My Baby” follows, and it gives you a slightly more pumped up song, while still keeping the emotional feeling of love and loss. The third track is “It’s Not For Me To Say”, which is also my favorite version of this song. You get to hear Zooey's calming yet somewhat deep voice. She’s able to give you a feeling of sadness, as well as hope at the same time. She also does an insanely great job on “This Girl’s In Love With You”. Arguably my favorite song on this album, it has such a great blues-y feel to it, and her vocals shine yet again. It also has a beautiful trombone solo in it, which I love to hear every time. Both “Time After Time” and “Teach Me Tonight” are also done well, and they have the same kind of happy/sad feel to them. Her cover of “Time After Time” (not the Cyndi Lauper version) was the first time I heard this song, and I’ve loved it ever since. Sinatra did several renditions of it, which are my favorite, but Zooey certainly didn’t disappoint. The track “She” is the only solo song that fellow bandmate M. Ward did, and he does a really good job. Although I’m not as big a fan of his voice, he still is able to put some great emotion into it. It also has a stunningly beautiful trumpet throughout the song, which as a former trumpet player, I really love. “It’s Always You”, another great Sinatra cover, is stunningly beautiful, and I almost like it better than the original version. I wasn’t really a huge fan of their version of “Unchained Melody”, but that’s because I’m so used to the version done by Elvis. They still did a great job, but it’s just hard hearing that song without Elvis’s deep voice on that one. “I’ll Never Be Free” does a good job of giving you a great melancholy feel, while still keeping the song lively and moving forward. The album ends with “We’ll Meet Again”, and it leaves you with a feeling of happiness and hope. It’s a great farewell piece, and I love how they recorded it almost in the style as the original version by Vera Lynn. Both versions used a choir in the background for the latter half of the song, and I like how She & Him decided to keep the old sound to it. Overall, this album is awesome, and I’d highly recommend it. Although all the songs are covers of older songs, hence the name “Classics”, Zooey and M. Ward put their own beautiful and unique spin on each track. This album is officially Berry Approved, so go listen to it now!