Andy Catt
04-19-2005, 02:06 AM
Those who attended Marina V's CD release party, celebrating the new CD "Simple Magic", at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, were treated to an exceptional evening of Marina-music with the whole band in prime form. If you weren't there, here's what you missed.
Marina's overall stage show has matured over the years with a noticeable emphasis placed on production, making the show feel like a cohesive whole as opposed to a recital of songs. She began the concert with an audio montage featuring snippets of herself as a small child playing and singing in private “concerts” for her mom. It is amazing that these recordings exist and Marina’s fans can be truly grateful to her parents for having the foresight to capture and preserve these priceless moments on the family’s simple tape recorder. They are a time-capsule showing that Marina’s enthusiasm for music has been truly lifelong.
Marina then launched headlong into the opening track of the new CD, the upbeat “In My Head”. She played along with an iPod that provided the lush background tracks that would have been impossible to pull off live in the limited space of the Hotel Café stage. If there was a flaw to the evening’s performance, this would have been it. The sound system's equalization did not seem quite dialed-in yet and the iPod tracks sounded “canny” and boxlike. This problem was quickly corrected, however, and the rest of the show sounded great.
Speaking of sounding great, Nick Baker, Marina’s guitarist and songwriting partner, was sporting a new Takamine acoustic guitar which Marina also played on one song. The guitar had a great tone and is a big improvement over his previous guitar which sometimes had pre-amp problems. Nick’s playing has become quite strong and confident. He switched over to the instrument not too long ago after being the group’s drummer for many years.
Cellist, Maria Scherer added her textural stylings to the music and her light, tasteful approach blended perfectly with Marina’s often delicate songwriting. With modern, digital-sampling keyboards, seeing a live orchestral instrument on stage with a modern artist is a rarity these days. The live cello gave the music a richness and authenticity when it would have been all too easy to take the digital way out.
Pianist and fellow Russian, Alex Kharlamov, joined Marina onstage for one song. Alex is a tremendous musician in his own right but took care not to upstage Marina, allowing her to focus on her singing.
...And the singing... Marina’s voice can be anything from powerful and dramatic, to sweet and angelic, to exquisitely delicate, but of course, if you’re a fan, you know this. Two of the new songs “Make This Minute Last” and “Guardian Angel” in particular showcased the delicate side of her range while some of the old favorites such as “If I Could Read Your Mind” and “Something of My Own”, the encore song for the evening, proved that the little angel can still belt it out when she wants to.
All in all, the band was tight, relaxed, confident and performed the songs flawlessly. The five-dollar cover was a fantastic bargain when one considers the time and effort these musicians have poured into making this performance what it was.
Good job everyone!
Marina's overall stage show has matured over the years with a noticeable emphasis placed on production, making the show feel like a cohesive whole as opposed to a recital of songs. She began the concert with an audio montage featuring snippets of herself as a small child playing and singing in private “concerts” for her mom. It is amazing that these recordings exist and Marina’s fans can be truly grateful to her parents for having the foresight to capture and preserve these priceless moments on the family’s simple tape recorder. They are a time-capsule showing that Marina’s enthusiasm for music has been truly lifelong.
Marina then launched headlong into the opening track of the new CD, the upbeat “In My Head”. She played along with an iPod that provided the lush background tracks that would have been impossible to pull off live in the limited space of the Hotel Café stage. If there was a flaw to the evening’s performance, this would have been it. The sound system's equalization did not seem quite dialed-in yet and the iPod tracks sounded “canny” and boxlike. This problem was quickly corrected, however, and the rest of the show sounded great.
Speaking of sounding great, Nick Baker, Marina’s guitarist and songwriting partner, was sporting a new Takamine acoustic guitar which Marina also played on one song. The guitar had a great tone and is a big improvement over his previous guitar which sometimes had pre-amp problems. Nick’s playing has become quite strong and confident. He switched over to the instrument not too long ago after being the group’s drummer for many years.
Cellist, Maria Scherer added her textural stylings to the music and her light, tasteful approach blended perfectly with Marina’s often delicate songwriting. With modern, digital-sampling keyboards, seeing a live orchestral instrument on stage with a modern artist is a rarity these days. The live cello gave the music a richness and authenticity when it would have been all too easy to take the digital way out.
Pianist and fellow Russian, Alex Kharlamov, joined Marina onstage for one song. Alex is a tremendous musician in his own right but took care not to upstage Marina, allowing her to focus on her singing.
...And the singing... Marina’s voice can be anything from powerful and dramatic, to sweet and angelic, to exquisitely delicate, but of course, if you’re a fan, you know this. Two of the new songs “Make This Minute Last” and “Guardian Angel” in particular showcased the delicate side of her range while some of the old favorites such as “If I Could Read Your Mind” and “Something of My Own”, the encore song for the evening, proved that the little angel can still belt it out when she wants to.
All in all, the band was tight, relaxed, confident and performed the songs flawlessly. The five-dollar cover was a fantastic bargain when one considers the time and effort these musicians have poured into making this performance what it was.
Good job everyone!