Neptune City by Nicole Atkins (CD, Oct-2007, Columbia/Red Ink)

Decided to buy this CD as I saw her perform two nights on Leno, O'Brian, Letterman or the likes. Her beautiful varied tonal singing quality is very strong leaving the listener not quite sure whether her next note will be high or low. She uses vibrato very well and this ads to the magic of her voice. The music is also unique in the same way. The good thing is that almost all the songs were great, not just the album title song "Neptune City."
Since I am not formally trained in music I would like to quote from the album insert from someone who listed to Nicole Atkins in the "early years (early 20's)" as follows: "...She held the guitar like a girl and sung like a woman, breathing the notes out with strength and beauty. The song was pretty and filled with a feminine allure, noticeably devoid of any girlish fragility... It was a voice that crystallized that moment, set to be remembered, for me, as long as I am able to hold on to such a luxury memory... It gives my own heart a rise to know that is album is now to be heard by so many others, and by the next Winter that blows through, Nicole's voice may float through your living room, just as it did to me, those years ago, as the light faded in Neptune City"
Now that is an apt description of how I hear that voice today. I've listened to it three times now and each time it received my full attention and sent waves of chills over my body. It is just awesome and beautiful beyond words that I can describe. Hope this helps. You will not be disappointed if your body and brain are wired as mine. Turn the lights down, make everything quite, and turn this up a few degrees higher than normal volume and let yourself go into her captivating love songs.

Just an excellant combination of old meets new sound. Fantastic music. Amazing voice Nicole has. Just stunning.

i first saw Nicole on Letterman performing "The way it is". I was completely memsmerized. This woman is awesome-the whole album is good-title track "Neptune City" being another standout-although they are ALL excellent-check out her Google interview on Youtube-54 mins long-you will be nothing short of amazed. This woman and her band are going places!
Get the CD-you will LOVE it

I've listened to this CD twice now and its growing on me. She has a really good voice and I guess there is sort of a Dido feel to the album, even though her voice isn't quite the same. It's sort of a grown up type of music, instead of Britany-esque irrelevance.

I got it for a great price which always helps. Just a shot in the dark which paid off.

This chick has pipes. A full and sultry voice. Saw her on Letterman, on U tube by a friend's recommendation and her performance just blew me away. She a local girl from the jersey shore but don't ask here to do any Bruce or Bonjovi covers. I heard that her earlier work prior to neptune city was a little more hard edge. If your gonna buy 1 song, Her most intoxicating song is "the way it is"

Nicole Atkins' voice is uncannily familiar. If you ever listened to Mama Cass, you have heard it before. Her songwriting is a bit on the dark side, but the tunes are almost carnival-like in their rhythm. It is refreshingly different, compared to today's young artists.

I love this CD. Nicole Atkins has such an amazing voice. I dislikked like 2 of the songs, but thats just becasue im not a fan of really slow songs.

...love. Not so much with Nicole Atkins(although she's extremely hot and all), but I love her voice. 'The Way It Is' is a great cut, although I thought Nicole actually did a better job on the song during her live performance on 'Letterman.' Still, the CD is full of top-quality songs, with enough depth and fun to keep the CD interesting. Hope to catch Nicole in concert, and if she thinks she might want to fall in love with me, well, I'm not totally opposed to the possibility. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy 'Neptune City.'

I first heard the song Neptune City from yahoo music and the song on the cd is fairly different than on yahoo....not sure why this was but the origional song on the album is inferior....this is just a warning to anyone else who may have heard it there and is thinking of buying the cd.

I saw Nicole on Craig Furgeson while my attention was on something else. Her Voice drew me away from that something else. A very refreshing artist, hope she does more.

This is an outstanding CD. Sounds like she is a seasoned veteran who has actually put out the best debut album I have heard in years. Probably since the Counting Crows 1st!! Excellent from start to finish! Can't wait for the next!