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Central Reservation | 
| Artist: Beth Orton
Label: Arista
Category: Music
Buy New: $11.98
Rating:  156 reviews
Sales Rank: 54405
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 19038
UPC: 078221903820
EAN: 0078221903820
ASIN: B00000I73X
Release Date: March 9, 1999
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Stolen Car | | • | Sweetest Decline | | • | Couldn't Cause Me Harm | | • | So Much More | | • | Pass In Time | | • | Central Reservation (Original Version) | | • | Stars All Seem To Weep | | • | Love Like Laughter | | • | Blood Red River | | • | Devil Song | | • | Feel To Believe | | • | Central Reservation (The Then Again Version) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com's Best of 1999
There's no way to offer a shortcut description of what Beth Orton sounds like. There are so many musical styles pulsing through Central Reservation--jazz, folk, pop, rock, and dance--that the album could easily have ended up an empty exercise in genre-hopping. Instead, it's a bracing example of mongrel music at its best as Orton carves out a new musical vocabulary with deep roots in familiar sounds. --Keith Moerer
Amazon.com
Is Beth Orton the folkie Beck? Or is Beck an Orton with beats? Since both graze from genre to genre like goats feasting on whatever strikes their fancy, drawing parallels is tempting...and perhaps pointless. After all, both artists were born in 1970 and emerged at a time when musical categorization became an exercise in futility. English thrush Orton's third album--like her critically hailed debut and the Best Bit EP--prompts one to flash on an ever-swelling range of influences. Since she's blessed with the rich, warm voice of a true pop singer, it's easy to imagine her sharing space on some out-of-time radio playlist with Dusty Springfield (listen to the elegant, string-laden "Sweetest Decline"), except Orton's music draws on '90s trip-hop elements as well the jazzy folk of Tim Buckley and vet Terry Callier (reprising his Best Bit cameo). Orchestration, upright bass, vibes, and Orton's own resolute guitar give long, languid tracks such as "So Much More" and "Pass in Time" an Astral Weeks-like feel. All those touchstones and no fewer than six producers might imply that Central Reservation is something of a mishmash. In truth, Orton's overriding vision is all that's needed to create cohesion. --Steven Stolder
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| Customer Reviews: Read 151 more reviews...
 A favorite of Mine September 3, 2008
Mark From The Bronx (New York)
Not many female singer-songwriters that I enjoy but this young lady along with Arrica Rose in her newest album La La Lost are on my favorite list. Their music and lyrics are powerful.
 Good CD that should appeal to a mass diversity of music tastes July 11, 2008
Bulldozer (San Diego, CA)
I have no idea how I heard about Beth Orton. Actually, check that... I heard "Central Reservation [Ben Watts Mix]" on a chillout dj mix and was just begging for more of her work. So based on the reviews here, I made a purchase on a whim. I've been pretty happy about the purchase.
Her voice, as many have already said, is quite distinctive. It's uniquely beautiful in that I don't think she has the most beautiful voice in the world, and she certainly could benefit from voice lessons, but what is most profound is the reach she has to the listener in the strength of her voice. That's where her strenght lies in this CD.
The problem is that her voice can also drain some of the energy out of your body when you listen to her because her voice has the capacity to convey lots of emotion. It's been difficult to listen to the CD in full.
Another problem I have. I love Stolen Car. But none of the other tracks sound like it. I love Sweetest Decline. But, again, it's a bit different than some of the other tracks here. Same goes for Stars All Seem to Wheep.
Some of my favorite tracks on the cd are:
Stolen Car
Sweetest Decline (probably my favorite track)
Stars All Seem to Weep
Central Reservation [Ben Watt Mix]
Initially, I bought the CD for the Central Reservation [ben watt mix] track. But after repeated listens, I've found it to be an above-average track, while Stolen Car and Sweetest Decline are my two, absolute favorites here.
Reviewed by a GUY who mainly listens to electronic music (trance and house) and alternative rock (Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Counting Crows) this is a real nice escape into something different.
I like the CD so much, I'm ready to purchase Trailer Park.
Definitely, Her Masterpiece July 7, 2008
wm (...onward....thru the fog!)
I often get asked "...where did you hear of this musician?". Sometimes, the answer is easy, as I'll remember how, or who turned me on to him/her.
In Beth Orton's case, I don't recall, but this was the first of her records that I purchased. I've since bought a couple more, but none compares to this.
Orton shows up in the least expected places (maybe showing up on Beck's albums should be expected), and is well connected and respected among fellow musicians.
If you don't yet have any of her records, and you're looking for a place to explore Beth Orton, this is the one to get. Great blend of spacy folk rock.
Shadow of a Doubt August 31, 2007
James Carragher (New York)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Right now, early in my listening to Central Reservation (took me eight years, but finally there), it feels like a 5 star work. But I'm not sure it will be that eight months from now after I've spent a lot of time with it. It may be one of those CDs that grabs at first and then slowly or rapidly loses its grip, e.g. -- for me -- almost anything by the alt country group Son Volt.
Time, as it always does, will tell.
Meanwhile, things I like a lot about Central Reservation: Beth Orton's quirky voice, melancholy, flinty, little girl-like but a bit grating all at once. Like, to wander to another distant corner of the female singer-songwriter universe, Mary Gauthier, Orton's distinctive vocals are a perfect match for her frequently off kilter lyrics. And that's the second big thing to like about this CD -- those lyrics, not so much taken as a whole, but in the occasional sudden line or two that make you sit up and say, "Hey, I never thought of it that way, but that's RIGHT." Examples: in Stolen Car, in singing of the enduring energy of a love thought gone, "your fingers like fuses." Or, in Couldn't Cause Me Harm, on a sometimes scary relationship, "I can feel your heart/especially when it's on the roof of my mouth." Or, on Love Like Laughter, the opening line that captures what good music can always do, "Some of the worst wrongs get righted on three chords."
What I don't like about Central Reservation is that these good things happen in a dozen acoustical songs, including two takes of the title cut (the second is better), whose arrangements are often almost indistinguishable from one another, varied only by a slightly more uptempo beat, a drum set here and there, a tambourine shake. Orton's lyrics reward careful listening, but the problem for me -- why in eight months this may be 4 stars rather than 5-- is that the music doesn't invite the listener into those lyrics; at its worst, it's lulling to the point of drowsiness. It also doesn't help that half the songs go on for more than five minutes. A "Concrete Sky" or two, dropped into this mix, would have done wonders.
Best cuts: Stolen Car, Couldn't Cause Me Harm, Pass in Time, Feel to Believe.
file next to nick drake. February 13, 2007
fluffy, the human being. (forest lake, mn)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
this is a stunning piece of work that sits comfortably next to the recordings of nick drake. each artist conveys a beautiful spirit of wistfulness, melancholy, and joy at any given turn. beth orton has the voice of an angel and to me this is her strongest set of songs, so far. I almost alway listen to this cd late in the evening because it seems to demand a quiet setting to bring out its riches in their fullest. i highly highly recommend that you get this.
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