I listened to this disc several times. The lyrics are excellent, well-written and intelligent. Rachel's voice is good and perfectly styled. She reminds me of Suzanne Vega, Jane Siberry, and Tanita Tikaram, all of whom I enjoy very much. So, I couldn't figure out why I just didn't like this album. Then it struck me. There is no emotion. Well sung, well written, but delivered without heart.

Talk about serendipity. I picked up this cd on a whim, and it has honestly turned out to be my best music purchase in the past year. Now I'm anxious to get my hands on the other five cds that I've heard she has out there and I'm ready to join the chorus of voices asking when Rachael Sage will get the radio love that she deserves.

Ballads and Burlesque manages to call to mind the work of talented musicians like Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, and Ani DiFranco, and yet in the end, what Sage has created here is entirely her own. She is more grounded than Sarah, more accessible than Tori, and more wistful than Ani--this is quite a coup, and it could end up being a very marketable one, if she finally gets heard airtime.

Simply put, there isn't a weak song on the cd. Even when she tackles the downside of relationships, as she often does here (the romantic dynamic, in "It's so Hard" and "Even Love Dies", the father-son dynamic in "Sacrifice") she manages to analyze and examine without seeming neurotic, and without wallowing...a lesson that other singer-songwriter types could stand to learn.
She can break your heart a little when she wants to, such as with the lost love described in "Jane's Dimitri", and yet manages to stay buoyant almost in spite of it all with her touch of humor in songs like "Leah" keeping her listener right there with her for the ride through relationships past.

From the sound of it, she's a believer in the "better to have loved and lost..." school of thought. And if you know what's good for you, you had better listen to her. It's worth it.

Rachael has put out another good album. The songs here are mostly about love in its various forms: self-love, confidence, and acceptance (Sacrifice), unfulfilled/lost love (the heartbreaking Jane's Dimitri), the complications of new feelings (Leah), the difficulty (It's So Hard), the end (Even Love Dies).

Illusion's Carnival and Public Record both took a while for me to really love, but I think those albums had sonic experimentation that took me a little while to get used to, and they had songs that I immediately loved. Overall Ballads & Burlesque is a bit mellower than her previous work, and I miss some of the punch. I guess I wish there was a little more burlesque in the ballads and a little less ballad in the burlesque.

"Ferris Wheel" is a good case in point. The original, which appears on Public Record, is bright, almost bouncy, and one of my favorite songs on that album. Here it is transformed into a far moodier piece. The trumpets that I had grown to love so much since Illusion's Carnival only appear here on 2 songs.

Rachael's voice and piano are as wonderful as ever though, the arrangements as lush (especially Stephanie Winters' cello), and the trumpets shine when they do appear. The album gets better with each listen, as the songs reveal themselves. There's more energy than first appeared.

Long-time fans should definitely add this to their collection. However I must admit I don't think it's quite as good as her previous work (her previous work being of such consistent high quality, that's really less of a slight than it sounds) which is why I recommend newcomers start with something else, say Smashing the Serene or Illusion's Carnival. Then again, maybe this disc would be better appreciated if it's not being compared to her previous albums.

Rachael Sage practically started out as an award-winning songwriter, and has since gotten even better. "Ballads & Burlesques" may well prove to be a breakthrough to a much larger audience. Her national reputation may have begun by winning the 2001 John Lennon and 2002 Billboard Songwriting Contests, or as an opening act for Ani DiFranco, but sometimes "mere" contest-winners really do have talent, really prove it with dues-paying live performances and most importantly get really good recordings made of their sound at its best.

If fairness had anything to do with music getting heard by a wide audience, Sage's music would naturally be in millions of homes. The music industry being what it is, though, they won't sell more good music to most of us until a lot of us tell them what's good. Still, there's a chance for musical justice. I have a fantasy scenario that may make the unlikely possible, in just a few "if only" steps: If only the makers of a memorable romantic comedy movie were searching for a great song to use for a 2 or 3-minute segment without dialogue -- imagine sequences in Meg Ryan movies for reference. If only they would hear Rachael Sage's "Why Not Love?" from "Ballads & Burlesque" and recognize how perfect it would be in their film and buy the rights. If only the music promotion machine would pick up on the buzz around the song from the hit movie and make it the Next Big Ballad.

"If only" that wasn't so difficult. Or is it? "Why Not Love?" is good enough to be worthy of the attention.

All we need now is for the right person / people to "discover" it.

If Sarah McLaughlin could have a huge album and bigger career via a similar scenario, Rachel Sage certainly has the goods to be similarly popular.

"Ballads and Burlesque" is an album of very good songs. But I'm taken with the idea that it contains that one breakthrough song to break through to mainstream appreciation.

[revised 10-14-04]

Her sixth release to date, "Ballads & Burlesque" is her best album yet! From start to finish, this album will keep you wanting more. Her luscious piano arrangements are accentuated by her rich voice and beautiful lyrics. Highlights include "Jane's Dimitri," a heart-breaking song about a woman who realizes she's passed up her one chance at true love, "One True Thing," the catchy "It's So Hard," and the album's first AAA radio single, "Sacrifice," about a young man struggling to tell his father that he wants to stray away from his father's view of his future and become an artist. This album is highly recommended to long time fans of Rachael Sage, and welcome newcomers!