The Spirit Room

I originally purchased this CD years ago, because the single I heard all the time on the radio was good and the track that was featured on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was really great. Turned out, nearly every song was equally good! There are two or three that aren't as good as the rest, but this is one of those rare albums that you can put on and listen to all the way through without needing to hit skip on the bad tracks. After having a CD for years, they obviously start to get scratched up and over time it became so bad that I ended up throwing it away and this purchase was a replacement.FYI, this picture with the red background is not the picture on the front of the CD, which threw me for a second when I ran the search using her name and not the name of the albumn I wanted. The picture on the front is the dark blue one that a few other users have uploaded. Also, if it matters to you, the plastic CD case was cracked on arrival. CD was completely undamaged, so I threw it away and put the CD in my zippered case, but if you keep your CD's in the original cases, check it carefully before pulling off the plastic wrap (that was the point where plastic shards fell to the floor and I noticed the issue...).

This is a wonderfully crafted pop-rock album from a young artist with a lot of potential. Every song is catchy, and well-produced, and low on the skipability scale!This isn't one of the revolutionary-type albums, but is still a very classy product. If you're not into pop lingo, you will find enough to grate on the nerves as Michelle sings about her 'crazy, mixed-up world' and how she 'could ever have been so blind'. But she weaves these phrases in such a skilled, snappy tapestry that they never linger like an aftertaste. Michelle may have done a little recycling (what pop artist doesn't?), but she did it so prettily, it's hard to care.Michelle Branch made a great first album for one so young, who writes and co-writes her own songs. Like Jane Austen, she takes the simple world she knows, and makes it a palatable treat for everyone. With more good songs like 'All You Wanted', 'Goodbye to You', 'Something to Sleep to', 'If Only She Knew', and 'You Set Me Free' (which could have been a top-10 single), she may just have the chops to make crowd-pleasers for years to come.

If you loved pop music in the 90s and early 2000s like I did, Michelle Branch was a staple. I had this exact CD growing up and needed to experience some fun nostalgia. I purchased the CD after my original one was donated to goodwill several years ago (thanks mom). Definitely recommend if you are a Michelle Branch fan!

My favorite album by Michelle Branch, for sure. I like just about every song on the album. These pop ballads remind me a lot of the classic Motown ballads that my dad played often when I was a kid 20 years ago. Listening to the songs by Branch remind me a lot of the early 2000s. Life was innocent for me. Everything seemed more simple, even after 9/11. The teen pop music scene was in a different movement / era at the time, right before Disney and Nickelodeon actors started a revolution in pop music. The musicians I'll always remember from that time are Vanessa Carlton, Norah Jones, and Michelle Branch (mostly from this stellar album).

I have avoided commercial radio for years, so the first I heard of the extremely cute Ms. Branch was on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer discussion group. Appearantly Joss Whedon (creative force behind the Greatest Show in Television History)is a big fan of her music. A few weeks later, there was a short, cute singer performing a sad song on Buffy ("Good Bye to You")while a couple of important characters left the show. I was impressed with the song and found out that it was performed by the same Michelle Branch. Hmmm.I started watching Empty-Vee in the hopes of finding out more. After a few days, they finally showed a music video. Luckily, it happened to be for Michelle's song, "All You Wanted." I liked that, too, so I ordered the album.She is very talented, with a pleasing voice. The songs are well crafted and enjoyable. It isn't as thoughty as Peter Gabriel, but it's much more intelligent than all of that modern aggressively cheerful music performed by people chosen for their ability to dance.The only reason I didn't give it five stars is a matter of personal taste. I have a sensitive ear for pronunciation (lots of speech therapy to clear up a stammer), and a whole album of someone ending almost every word with a vowel (whether there's one there or not) got slightly irritating. I guess it's her Canadian background. I understand that they have funny accents in Canadia. Still, it sounds better than these low rent, white ... Oklahoma red neck accents I am surrounded with every day.

With this CD I finally get to hear this underrated musician's best tracks on some legit speakers instead of my tinny ear buds via youtube, and it sounds great! Also, I was also pleasantly surprised by the insert. Seems Maverick didn't know which picture of Michelle to go with as the cover image, so they went with all of them and let you choose for yourself, nice touch. I can recommend and will buy more of her CDs in the future

cd came as described A+

I don't know how old Michelle Branch was when she recoded this CD, but I am sure she's old enough to be my daughter that I would have had in my 20's. Her lyrics are ingsightful without alienating audience in her age group but retain a certain sophistication beyond her years. Imagine she wrote most the songs, co-wrote some, played the guitar and the base, and what a crystalline voice, the kind that is timeless and can transcend her listeners. It is nice to know that The Woman Song Writing tradition started by Joni Mitchel, Joan Armatrading and such will be continued, for this reason, I think Michelle Branch will be around for a while.