Vanessa Carlton: Icon: Best of Vanessa Carlton Album Review

 In 2002, we introduced to the amazing, piano-playing, songstress Vanessa Carlton when she released her debut single, "A Thousand Miles".  The song became a huge hit and to date is Vanessa's best selling single.  Since then she's released many singles, a couple albums, and has signed to many different labels.  Today I'll be reviewing Vanessa Carlton's album, "Icon: Best of Vanessa Carlton".  Here's my track by track review of the album.

1) A Thousand Miles: The debut single by Vanessa Carlton from her first album "Be Not Nobody".  Before it was released as a single, the song was initially called "Interlude", until Ron Fair, the head of A&M Records (which was the label Vanessa Carlton was signed to at the time), told her to change the title.  Like I said earlier, the song became her biggest hit to date peaking at number 5 on the billboard hot 100.  The song's video involved Vanessa playing the piano while it moved around different parts of the world.  Still an amazing song to this day.  10/10

2) Ordinary Day: The second single from Vanessa's first album "Be Not Nobody".  The song was initially called "Divide and Conquer" and had a different lyrics at the end of the chorus.  The original ending lyrics of the chorus were "If we walk now, we will divide and conquer this land." (Hence the original title for the song).  The final version of the song has the ending lyrics of the chorus as "Don't you see your dreams lie right in the palm of you hand", but Vanessa has sang the "Divide and Conquer" part of the song in some live performances.  "Ordinary Day" is Vanessa's second best selling single as well as her second, and to date, only other single hitting the top 40 on the billboard hot 100 chart by peaking at number 30.  The video featured a solar eclipse while Vanessa played the piano in a field with many people hugging and kissing.  The song is my favorite on "Be Not Nobody".  10/10

3) White Houses: The first single from Vanessa's second album "Harmonium".  Unlike the previous songs, "White Houses" wasn't as successful.  This was attributed to her label, A&M, refusing to promote the single as well as the album because it was much darker in contrast to Vanessa's first record.  On top of that some radio stations censored the song's lyrics, not because of swear words (because there weren't any) but because the song talked about a woman losing her virginity.  I get it, not something people want to hear on radio but considering the songs that get played on radio these days and even back then I have to say it was unfair for the song.  The video showed Vanessa playing the piano as well as doing ballet dancing.  The song peaked at number 86 on the charts.  Sad because it was a great song.  10/10

4) Heroes & Thieves: The title track from Vanessa's third album, "Heroes & Thieves".  The album was Vanessa's first, and only album, to be released through The Inc., a record company she signed to after leaving A&M Records.  The song was not released a single which makes it strange that it would be put on a "Best of" record, but it makes sense since she hadn't released many singles.  Plus the song was rumored to be the third single from the album since she performed it many times.  I love the lyrics and I wish it had a video.  10/10

5) Nolita Fairytale: The first single from Vanessa's third album, "Heroes & Thieves".  The song's initial title was just "Fairytale" but it was changed to "Nolita Fairytale instead.  It was Vaness's first single released through The Inc. and mentioned her leaving her previous record label A&M as well as thanking Stevie Nicks, who she went on tour with.  The video began almost exactly like "A Thousand Miles" except that she stopped playing the piano and the piano got destroyed by a moving car.  It also featured a man with butterfly wings, a wolf, and a policeman riding a unicorn.  This was also the song that got me listening to Vanessa Carlton.  10/10

6) Who's to Say: An album track from Vanessa's second album, "Harmonium".  Although "White Houses" was recognized as the only single from "Harmonium" in the U.S., "Who's to Say" was actually the third and final single from the album in Asia.  The song asks the question "who's to say we can or can't be together?".  I really wish her label at the time gave this song a chance because it's a beautiful song that would've been a hit on radio.  10/10

7) Home: An album track from Vanessa's third album, "Heroes & Thieves".  The song was one of two songs to be the second single from "Heroes & Thieves" along with "Hands on Me".  Eventually "Hands on Me" became the second single instead.  When I got the album "Heroes & Thieves", I ignored the song but these days I listen to almost all the time.  I love the piano part at the end of the song.  It's very uplifting and inspiring.  10/10

8) San Francisco: An album track from Vanessa's second album, "Harmonium".  After "White Houses" failed on the charts, Vanessa was told to write and record songs for a re-release of "Harmonium" because there apparently was a "radio hit" on the album.  I find that funny considering "San Francisco" was probably the one song from "Harmonium" that sounded the most like something that could've been on "Be Not Nobody", so it probably would've been a hit.  Instead of a re-release of "Harmonium" Vanessa left A&M records.  Shame the label didn't release this song.  10/10

9) Pretty Baby: The third and final single from Vanessa's first album, "Be Not Nobody".  The song was remixed for radio when it was released.  Unfortunately unlike "A Thousand Miles" and "Ordinary Day", the song failed to gain the same chart success.  The video also showed a different side of Vanessa by tying her boyfriend to a chair.  CRAZY!  The version that's included on this album is the original album version from "Be Not Nobody".  10/10

10) Hands On Me: The second and final single from Vanessa's third album, "Heroes & Thieves".  The song was originally called "Put Your Hands on Me" but was shorted to "Hands on Me" because Joss Stone had a song with the same title.  "Hands on Me" performed better than "Nolita Fairytale" but it also missed the billboard hot 100.  After promotion ended Vanessa left The Inc. and later signed onto Razor & Tie.  It's video was very simple.  10/10

11) Twilight: An album track from Vanessa's first album, "Be Not Nobody".  I question why this track was picked for the album instead of "Wanted", "Rinse," Sway", or her cover of The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black."  The song was the last song on "Be Not Nobody" and was also the darkest (which may have been a clue to why "Harmonium" was so dark as well).  Although it has great lyrics I mainly ignore this track.  7/10

12) Private Radio: An album track from Vanessa's second album, "Harmonium".  "Private Radio" was supposed to be the lead single from "Harmonium" but for unknown reasons that was scrapped.  Instead "Private Radio" was released as the second single in Asia, but it didn't perform very well because of lack of promotion.  (No surprise since A&M barely promoted the album at all.)  The song was an upbeat song that talked about insomnia.  It's one of my favorite songs on "Harmonium" but it took me forever to figure out the lyrics she sings in between the chorus at the end of the song.  10/10

 Overall, Icon: Best of Vanessa Carlton gets 117 points out of 120 which is a 0.975 which rounded up to a 98% an A+.  Awesome job!  My favorite songs on the album are... well all of them!  Although the album its self doesn't offer anything new, it's still good to have if your a die-hard Vanessa Carlton fan.

 After this album was released, Vanessa released her fourth album, "Rabbits on the Run" and it ended up being another great album.  She's now working on her fifth album and I can't wait!  Vanessa you rule!