Blowers daughter, Amie, Older Chests, this album is packed with slow emotion that will never get old.

This stunning Damien Rice offering is by turns imperfect, soulish, quirky, self-absorbed, and fantastic.

Rice's persuasive voice is complemented with uncommon tact by gorgeous female accompaniment. Though it never ceases to be a Damien Rice album, Lisa Hannigan and her friends are so good that they play a solid supporting role without which Rice would not be what he is. Almost the same can be said of the understated by skillful acoustic guitar that encircles Rice's voice throughout `O''s tenspot of tracks.

One cannot escape the notion that there was some enjoying of wine as this album was perceived and executed and that it is best enjoyed beside a bottle of something red. The image, at the least, gets at the tone and substance of his artistry and the soft-ish reflection that his songs embody.

Among the album's many fine tracks, one deserves special mention: `Can't Take My Eyes Off of You' is an exquisite restatement of an old tune, masterfully accomplished in the way that remakes too often are not.

This album came to this reviewer from his son as a Christmas gift. I was unfamiliar with Damien Rice. On the strengths of this album, that will change.

I realize I missing out on some really cool music when I heard Damian Rice for the first time live in central park. I was so impressed that I ran out to get his music-all that I could find. His voice is beautiful, the phrasing spot on and with this album even more so. Few performers can express life's pain and pleasures in such a nuanced manner and allow the passion and emotion shine through. It's a style I've come to associate with great Irish performers and it doesn't get much better than this. Most of us have experienced unrequited love, obsessively continued a doomed relationship or get thrown by the general shocks of life. There is something about the way Rice puts it all to music that is never pretentious, yet forces you to stop and pay attention. Basically it gives you a glimpse of the contradictions inherent in ourselves, especially when it comes to the L word. Cheers darlin' for example, was so sad I wanted to cry, at the same time it left me strangely optimistic. His songs express emotions in such a lush and sensuous manner that you begin to wonder if he has a supernatural ability to see and translate all things relating to emotions.

I absolutely love this album. I listen to it almost every time I pick up my iPod or need to just relax. It's so calming; I used to listen to it every night before I went to sleep. Definitely an amazing buy. :)

This is a great cd. The music hits you upside the head every time. Rare in modern music. Amazon sent me a copy that has the last track screwed up. Instead of the track I should have, I have half of it, then a blank gap, then finally a different song not from the album. This is my second intl cd order that has had a problem. I won't be doing this again. Amazon wrote they would give me a $20 refund on the total order but it hasn't shown up on my card balance yet. This order took me 10 emails. I give Amazon 2 stars. Quality counts for long term intl customers.

This CD is almost too beautiful for words. The lyrics and music are so unique and heartfelt, you almost feel as if you are intruding on someone else's romance, but luckily, you are not. Damien Rice's music is pure feeling, pure passion. Delicate is perhaps my favorite track on the CD, followed by the very atmospheric Cheers, Darlin' which is incredibly passionate and haunting.

I honestly cannot think of a song on this album that I do not like. The lyrics are poignant, the instrumental aspect is just wonderful....best songs are probably "Cannonball", "Amie", and the haunting track "the Blower's Daughter". If you can't afford the album, at least download those three.

This is the first cd of Damien Rice that I have ever listened to and I really liked it. I could do without a couple of songs that try to be too edgy, but when Rice sticks to the folk rock that he does best, it's well worth the investment. The hidden tracks are among my favorites.

I remember the first time I saw the film `Closer' and hearing this beautiful and intoxicating song culling me while the beautiful Natalie Portman walked towards me as the film came to an end. I remember it so well because that song was `Blowers Daughter' and I immediately looked up this album. Damien Rice has since then become my all time favorite musical act. I've seen him perform twice now and each time leaves me wanting to hear more. I own all of his albums and even his rare and unreleased work and I just can't get enough. Everything he touches is golden, and here, on his debut album `O' he delivers his best work ever. This album is so emotional and so well rounded it's hard to think of anything that comes close to it.

What I really appreciate about the artist that is Damien Rice is that he is above everything else an artist. He's creative and raw, not glossed over and perfected. He works with what he has and does his best to infuse imagination into his work. Not one song sounds the same. He also lays his heart out with each and every cut. He puts all he has into his music. Whether he's singing about the birth and or the death of relationships or the struggle to move on with your life he is convincing because he stays true to himself.

The album starts off with the beautiful `Delicate', a song that relishes in the simple things that make relationships so special. It's the tale of new love, that lustful adoring love that blossoms from something rich and pure. He sings about how they express their love in private because to them it's a delicate beauty, something only they share and thus is not for the world around them. On `Volcano' Rice invites singer Lisa Hannigan to join him in what proves to be one of the best tracks on the album. The song seems to be about a relationship gone sour and as Damien recites towards the end that "like a new disease she's still too young to treat" it becomes apparent that the damage done is long lasting. That brings us to `Blowers Daughter', such a brilliant song and the one that brought Rice to the attention of thousands (I say thousands as apposed to millions for the reason that he is still what I consider a hidden treasure). It's a haunting almost ghostly track that easily finds its place in your skin and stays there.

`Cannonball' follows `Blowers Daughter' beautifully. `Cannonball' falls more in the vein of `Delicate' as in the fact that it speaks of the beautiful side of relationships, focusing on the feeling love can give you. The lyrics are so true. When you think about that weightless feeling inside when thinking about the one who takes your breath away we hardly ever realize the speed in which we could fall. `Older Chests' was the one track here that took me some time to get used to. It's probably my least favorite but it's still a great song, speaking of the need to grow and learn from your mistakes and how time, the one thing we need in order to accomplish that, is always slipping away.

`Amie' is without a doubt my favorite track on the album. When I saw Rice the last time he explained this track saying that Amie was a close friend of his whom he happened to fall for. He said he was having a crumby day and just needed to talk and so he went to see her, they sat around and drank and comforted each other and then he retreated to her guest bedroom and just couldn't stop thinking about her. He wrote the song that night while staring out her window. It's such a beautiful song about falling in love with the person you least expect, but having that love be the most amazing experience of your life. The arrangements for this song also carry it to a new level, with orchestral delights and otherworldly sounds.

`Cheers Darlin' is a great breakup track. Here Rice is lamenting over a lost love and the fact that she has now moved onto someone knew. In fact, she's getting married. He's drinking his pain away here, as is made obvious by the sounds of clinking glasses and drinks being poured. `Cold Water' is another track that perfectly captures atmosphere. It's one of those moving songs that when really analyzed can take your breath away. As Rice sings the first verse in a raspy, breathless voice he sounds as if he drowning and that adds so many layers to the track, and when Lisa chimes in its just breathtaking. `I Remember' is supposedly about the worst person imaginable, about the single most detestable person to you. Lisa sings the majority of the song before the track almost comes unhinged and changes direction drastically when Damien takes over. It actually feels like two completely separate songs. It's within Damien's part though that the song really comes to life as he bellows about wanting to know what this person thinks about him.

The album officially closes with `Eskimo', a brilliant adaptation of an Opera ballad complete with Operatic samples and recordings. It's a somewhat silly song upon a first listen as Rice sings about his Eskimo friend but when you really take the time to listen to it for what it is, experimental, it becomes the most evocative and imaginative track here. This is the cut that proves Rice is a musical genius to me. He takes something that not many people would consider listening to (at least not many that would listen to him...it's a different fan base) and incorporates it into his music making it accessible and enjoyable. The album doesn't technically close yet though, it still contains two bonus tracks. First we have `Prague' which is one of my favorite songs he's ever gone. The lyrics are interesting and the music is brilliant. The album finishes with Lisa singing an acappella of `Silent Night'. This really showcases her beautiful singing voice. It's a shame she no longer is a part of Damien's music, but I'm sure her solo venture will prove successful.

So, this is just the first from a musical mastermind, there is more in store for the listener. His follow up `9' is brilliant as well, while not as utterly masterful as `O', and `B-Sides' is a great addition to the collection for it showcases some great rare material as well as some demos. But `O' is surely his finest moment and it's this album that will continue to draw in fans. Listen and please do enjoy!

Damien Rice is an absolutely brilliant song writer, and everything on O is excellent. His voice is raw and beautiful and the emotion he feels whilst singing shines through in all of his songs. I highly recommend this CD to everyone. Damien also puts on a breathtaking live show and is a really nice down to earth guy. He is just all around awesome.

i kind of don't even feel qualified to review this album... i usually listen to electronica, idm, eclectic nu-jazzy hip-hop soul-funks and all... and then this guy comes over with his guitar and totally blows me away.
probably only very few stoic people could weather this record without a twinge and shiver. yet i doubt they would be left scarless when the storm was gone.

the music is extremely mature, soulful and intimate! if you like John Meyer, Jack Johnson, or Amos Lee then you'll probably fall in love with this.

Ah, there's a good reason why Damien Rice's songs are so frequently used in tv and film soundtracks. They are haunting, unique and fascinating to listen to. This record does not disappoint. He may not have a gorgeous voice but he has a lot of emotion in his vocals, and a great ear for melodies.

This CD is somewhat repetitive, but the intensity and meaning just blares though. Most songs are haunting, not light lyrics or melodies by any stretch, but great for soul-searching periods in your life.

If there's ever been an album so hopelessly beautiful as Damien Rice's "O," I've yet to hear it. It's not a glittering beauty like the early music of Enya, nor a razor-edged beauty like Radiohead's "OK Computer" or the falsetto of Coldplay's Chris Martin. No, "O" is in a category all by itself. The title, a single, apparently meaningless letter, is so fitting for the record. Like the record, there's a beautiful simplicity to it, but close examination reveals a delightful intricacy. And so it is with Damien Rice's music. The Irish folk troubadour's sincerety, clear in each of his heart-tuggingly poetic compositions, is a welcoming nakedness that shines through his bittersweet vocals.

The magic's in the arrangements as well as the vocals, though - the echoing guitar and longing cello in the record's highlight, the dazzling "Blower's Daughter" (well-used as the main theme for Mike Nichol's screen adaptation of "Closer"); the mixture of classic and contemporary instruments which fall like an avalanche in "Cheers Darlin'"; the consciously insane opera in the wonderful "Eskimo." Rice is aware of the craziness of this world, but he's more interested in the simple beauty of it: things like the wind in your hair or the sun setting over a field. Lisa Hannigan's smooth, breezy vocals support Rice, who knows just when to let her soar. In fact, Rice knows when to do everything. His timing is impeccable. He knows when to sing, when to let Hannigan sing, when to bring in the violins - even when to let the opera singer loose.

There are by no standards any bad or even lackluster pieces on "O." There are some that are more extraodinary than others, however: along with "Blower's Daughter," the reflective "Cold Water," the bitter "Cheers Darlin'," the wise "Volcano," the another-day folk of "Older Chests," and the soaring lunacy that is "Eskimo" (hang around throughout "Eskimo" to hear two hidden tracks, the excellent, bombastic "Prague" and Hannigan's cynical take on "Silent Night"). As an added bonus, each song works equally well seperately or together with the rest of the album. I'd highly recommend buying the album as opposed to downloading the songs, though. Almost impossibly beautiful, "O" was one of the best records of 2003 (the best?) and remains one of the best of the decade.

Hands down this CD is my most cherished cd out the 100 or so that i have. Nothing else compares! I love all the songs on it,(except volcano)which is very rare, Most of cds i normally like three or four. But this, this is unreal, you have to have it. As soon as he released it in the states I bought it. And i heard his music long before they decided to sell it here. My all time favorite is Blower's Daughter,Cold Water,I Remember,Older Chests, Ohh i can't make up my mind. There all good, and Damien,Damien is Great!

This CD is better than I had thought. It is very sensitive, varied with a personal style. You do listen the song number 10.

One of the best albums ever! My favorite song keeps changing from time to time and mood. "Older Chests", "Eskimo", "Blower's Daughter", ... all of them are fantastic compositions with great lyrics, music and vocals ... a truly stunning album!

One listen to Blower's Daughter and you'll be hooked. I simply can not get enough of his music.

I haven't been able to take it out of my CD player since I got it. If you only know one or two of Damien's songs, odds are they are on this CD - mostly thanks to them being used in the movie Closer. But the entire album is just brilliant!

If you're depressed and you want to cut your veins this is the best album to join you in that moment. Damian has a heartbreaking voice and music. Delicate, The Blower's Daughter, Cannonball, Amie, Cheers darlin' just beautiful.

Why didn't anybody introduce me to Damien Rice years ago? This album is an all-time favorite.

I found most of the songs a bit depressing. I felt like slapping him and telling him to get used to it.

This CD just wants to make you cry and give you more tears. Great album from start to finish. I wish I could find this CD as a record because I think it would come through to your heart even more than it does. Love it.

Like almost everyone else, I was introduced to Damien Rice by the movie Closer and I felt like the soundtrack made the movie. I listen to this album a lot in shuffle with David Gray, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson, and think he fits in well with this group of real singer/songwriters. I look forward to getting all of his future albums as they come out.

...and not having to discover that you have been mistaken. That's the best that can happen I think. And so it went with this album. It went straight to my favourite top 10 (or even top 5) and I'm sure it will stay there.

This is music with a soul and true emotion. Something else than faked cry-ballads sung by screaming girls who are in an ongoing contest with other sreaming girls about who can reach the highest note and can scream at the top of their lungs best. Because then it is more heartfelt of course. Not.

Well if you want to caress your ears and feed your soul, listen to Damien Rice and Lisa Hannnigan.

And if you are looking for more of this kind maybe this is something for you:

- Glen Phillips "Abulum", "Mr. Lemons". He's my all-time-favourite ever since the days of Toad The Wet Sprocket and he keeps getting better. Haunting melodies, significant lyrics, amazing voice.

- David Mead "Indiana". He was highly recommended by Glen Phillips on his weblog and I thank him for that. A quiet, acoustic, laid-back album to come down and dream away. I especially like the combination between the cello and David's wonderful voice.

I'll be brief. This album is almost too good. There are parts, especially during "Delicate" and "Cannonball," when I actually have a physical reaction to the tremor of the vocals. Maybe I'm a bit behind on the times, but I have had this album practically on loop for the last three days. I can't get over it. We need more toe curling music like this.

This CD and the music it provides reminds me of what loneliness is. It's beautiful & heartbreaking. And so it is...

This has to be one of the most beautiful CDs ever recorded. Damien's vocal range is vast; his musicianship excellent; but it's the crafting of songs at which he truly surpasses most artists. Haunting, sensitive, flowing, crashing... (If I have one criticism, it's the mixing levels - at times, his vocals are drowned. In concert, when he lets rip, you really feel the power of his vocals/music, which, unfortunately, doesn't come over quite as well on the album.) A truly magical album.

This is one that sways the soul. Damien Rice's timing and melody just reach into your gut and extract every piece of love and sorrow that you ever felt.

My husband and I used "the blower's daughter" (minus the last line) for our first dance song during our wedding reception. We can't wait for his next release.

Although I knew "The Blower's Daughter" from the film CLOSER and "Delicate" from LOST, Damien Rice has until recently been unexplored territory for me. What I didn't know is that his album O is not a disc with only one or two great songs, but one of the most from-beginning-to-end brilliant albums of recent years. Vocally Rice reminds me of a lot of other performers. Jeff Buckley and Ryan Adams spring to mind, there is even something of the very young Leonard Cohen in the songs. But this album is more consistently brilliant than anything released by those singers. He isn't quite the singer that Jeff Buckley was (but then who is?), but he is a much better songwriter. His songwriting reminds me somewhat of Hayden, but it is much more dramatic, lush, and expressive and his singing is in an entirely different league. There is also a soft serenity to the music that is nearly as gently calming as the best of Iron and Wine. Actually, Rice and Iron and Wine's Sam Beam write songs that evoke many of the same feelings, though Rice is a far stronger vocalist (though it has to be granted that Beam is perhaps unrivalled as a lyricist today--I think you have to go to people like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan to find a demonstrably better lyricist than Sam Beam).

Any album is going to have some blend of stronger and weaker songs, but here the mix is really between exceptionally gorgeous and merely gorgeous songs. Far too often you have a strong album, but one or two cuts blow all the others out of the water. But here you get the almost painfully beautiful "The Blower's Daughter" sandwiched between "Volcano" and "Cannonball." And "Volcano" is preceded by "Delicate." So, the album basically starts off with four amazingly great songs, almost any of which would normally have the potential to become a minor classic. But here is the shocker: the rest of the album is nearly as good and at times better. "Older Chests," "Amie," and "Cheers Darlin'" is as strong a trio as the three songs I mentioned above. And then the album ends on "I Remember" and "Eskimo." This is just a ludicrous amount of great music. This album is indeed an embarrassment of riches. It isn't enough to say that there are no weak cuts on the album: there are only a couple of songs that can't be described as almost impossibly beautiful.

This is one of the most intimate albums I've ever heard. Continuing the reference to Sam Beam, the only albums I know of that has more of an intimate feel than this one are Iron and Wine's THE CREEK DRANK THE CRADLE and OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS. If on those albums it sounds as if Beam was sitting directly behind you and whispering into your ear, on O Damien Rice sounds like he is sitting two feet in front of you and singing directly to you. The arrangements are in keeping with this. Often a song is performed with only Rice's guitar and a few minimal embellishments by back up vocalists or percussionists (never drums as such), or a firmly restrained string section. Most of the guitar work is acoustic, but even when an electric guitar is used it is so delicate that you hardly notice it. Although the arrangements could be described as minimalist, the album nonetheless has an incredibly dramatic, almost operatic feel to it. This truly is a masterpiece of the first rank.

Is Damien Rice a genius? I don't know. One album does not a genius make, even one so grand as this. But if Rice releases a second album as fine as this, I'm willing to so nominate him. I have absolutely no idea why I have only now discovered this gem. I'm pushing it off on all my friends now, regardless of their taste. I suppose there are people who won't like this, but I wonder about their capacity to enjoy good music if they don't. I listen to a ton of music, but this is definitely going to go down as one of the best albums I have discovered this year, no matter how good the albums I discover the rest of the year.

Why doesn't she love me anymore? Why can't I stop thinking about her? Why did she say she loved me in the first place? I just don't understand. I keep listening to this album because I think somewhere there's got to be an answer. There's got to be a reason, you know? Things don't just change like that without a reason. I just want to talk to her.

Wasn't dissappointed with my selection. Especially liked the theme from movie The Closer.

This cd is beautifully sung and lyrically brilliant . I thoroughly enjoy it!

I first heard Damien Rice in 2003 when he was one of the new CD's you could listen to at Tower Records. The first song, Delicate brought tears to my eyes with its melodic cello played brilliantly and the song was sung without holding back the emotion that obviously inspired the song.

That's what this CD is all about. A songwriter who knows how to write lyrics and can match it and expand upon the feeling with the music. Damien Rice and Lisa Harrigan sing one duet after another with perfection. Her voice is the female equivalent of his voice, with all the passion infused and exposed though her emotion is much more demure. She is a huge part of the CD. I was happy when Herbie Hancock's great collection "Possibilities" included a duet of Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan.

If you're thinking about buying this CD, just stop thinking and buy it. It's a classic already. His challenge is to come up with something as a follow up now that the expectations have been raised so high with this great work.