Vanessa Carlton: Heroes & Thieves

You know that song you loved growing up. It might have been cheesy but you loved it anyway. For me, Vanessa Carlton had two such songs; I loved "1000 Miles" and "Ordinary Day." On October 9, 2007 Carlton is set to release Heroes & Thieves to fill the void I know at least I have felt.

So where has Carlton been since her career defining ride on the moving piano? Look at the cover and you realize she was quite busy playing that creepy, hair-over-the-face, walking-on-her-hands girl from "The Ring" movies. Actually, with extensive research (read: wikipedia) I found out that Carlton released an album in late 2004, which was a fantabolous failure, causing her to be dropped from her label. Well she is back with a mellow vengeance!

Before I even listened to the CD the first thing I looked for was the name of iconoclastic (well at least he would be if he was still famous) Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephen Jenkins. As I suspected, Jenkins - though I subsequently learned with some investigative journalism (read: more wikipedia) that apparently he and Carlton broke up - did produce the album (while not riding on his Vespa).

Still, it caught me off-guard by the name next to Jenkins as executive producer, Irv Gotti. Yes, that's Irv Gotti of "it's muuuuurdaa" fame, whose The Inc Records is releasing this album. Don't worry, this match made in surrealist heaven, has no effect on Carlton's "signature" sound (sorry no duets with Ja Rule).

The result is a more matured, more realized version of what you remember her for six years ago. If you like this nice piano balladry, then Heroes & Thieves is worth a few listens. If it's not your cup of tea then don't waste your time, your life will go on as normal without it.

Most songs are good but well short of inspired. The melodies are solid but it will take far less than 1000 miles to forget them (I should note that "Hands On Me" is completely unlistanable because it flat-out steals its melody line from Three Days Grace's "Animal I Have Become"). The lyrics are as expected of a 27-year-old, with an equal dose of romance and optimistic resolution of the quarter-life-crisis. The album is not without standouts; "Nolita Fairytale" is a good first single and sounds like the Carlton the world is used to hearing. "Come Undone" is probably the best track shifting from moody to joyously poppy (it even has hand-claps).

Still at the end of the day you are left in the same place you started, which is OK because this album is not aspiring to change the world. Carlton is just trying to entertain the people that enjoy her music, and in that regard she succeeded.



Vanessa Carlton
Heroes & Thieves

1. Nolita Fairytale
2. Hands on Me
3. Spring Street
4. My Best
5. Come Undone
6. The One- featuring Stevie Nicks
7. Heroes & Thieves
8. This Time
9. Fools like Me
10. Home
11. More Than This