Published on Sep 19, 2001
Usually, when I’ve had a rotten day, there’s two types of music
I gravitate to. The first is full-throttle heavy metal – hey,
better doing damage to my ears than punching out drywall. The
second is on the opposite side of the musical spectrum – soft,
instrumental music, usually featuring solo guitar or piano. It
allows me to try and find my “happy place” – which, on any given
day, is occupied by someone along the lines of Kathy Ireland.
In the case of
By Heart, the sophomore release from new-age pianist Jim
Brickman, there’s something fundamentally different about this disc
from his debut effort
No Words. Sure, there’s a little more instrumentation now
than just solo piano, but that’s not what I mean. Sure, there’s the
introduction of vocals on one track, but that’s not what I mean.
There’s even a shift in the style of instrumental work from
mourning reflection to light-hearted reminiscing, but even
that’s not what I mean.
No, what I mean is that
By Heart is a pretty enough album, but it doesn’t quite grab
at the heartstrings like
No Words does. Whether this is an intentional shift on
Brickman’s part or not, I don’t know… but the album loses a
little bit of an edge as a result.
Whereas many of the songs on
No Words almost had the feel to them like they were the sad
memories of looking back at a time past,
By Heart almost challenges itself to be the polar opposite.
From the opening notes of “Angel Eyes,” this disc feels like
Brickman is trying to hit a different emotional note with the
listener. There’s the slight hints of Beethoven’s “Moonlight
Sonata” on “In A Lover’s Eyes”. There’s even the daring move of
taking a children’s song and trying to give it relevance in
adulthood with “Little Star”.
And there is absolutely no denying that Brickman’s performances
and arrangements are beautiful. But where
No Words almost locks you into the musical trip and dares
you to travel with Brickman as he paints pictures with his piano
work,
By Heart doesn’t evoke the same response on many levels. It
would be wrong to say that Brickman failed, and it would be wrong
to classify this as a bad album. It would be correct, though, to
say that Brickman tries to take the listener on a journey, only
neither musician nor outsider quite seems to know where it’s
destination is.
At first, the introduction of background instrumentation
bothered me a little – but it never tries to overtake the power of
Brickman’s piano work, and eventually becomes a welcomed part of
the voyage. The title track, the only song featuring vocals, does
catch me off guard – is it me, or does the cover say “piano
solos“? – but it serves two purposes in retrospect. First,
it alerts the listener that Brickman is willing to go into the
background to let his musical message be heard. Second, it
positions him in the running for one of the genre’s best-known love
balladeers. In truth, it’s a pretty song, though not the best
vocal-oriented number Brickman’s come up with. (Then again, we’ll
get to my favorites later in the week…)
By Heart is still a musical trip worth taking, and is a
worthy follow-up disc, if not completely fulfilling. Maybe it’s
just that I’ve come to know Brickman’s music to the point that I
set the bar of expectations higher than I would a typical disc.
Then again, Brickman is an artist who knows he can clear that bar
whenever he pleases.