Matt, you are awesome. I love the way you have coined your own nickname for Carolyn Arends to use in your reviews on amazon.com: "Caz." That is such a cool moniker -- I hope you do not mind my borrowing it.
For those of you not familiar with Mr. Rabjohns, here are his enthusiastic amazon reviews*:
For I Can Hear You
5 Stars Debut of the Century, January 22, 2003
Reviewer: Matt Rabjohns (Poole, Great Britain) - See all my reviews I usually don't buy debut albums. Most seem not to have a finished quality to them. And some just don't have any good and well-written songs on them. But here is something different: A debut album with massive production and deep down, bright, and well-written songs. I first heard Carolyn's I Can Hear You when I was round my Auntie's place. She told my Dad, "You would like this CD," and so Dad took it; and then I heard it when I came home one day. The most awesome song that struck me right between the eyes was the brilliant "You Take My Soul By Storm" and to this day this is my fav song of Caz's! The other amazing standouts are the lovely quiet "Reaching" and the brilliant marriage-orientated "Home Fires Burning". The best heavier song has to be "The Power Of Love" -- amazing dulcimer and guitar on this song! All in all, a fantastic starting album that to me has an out of this world feel! Carolyn is destined for a great future!
For Feel Free
5 Stars: Getting Better, January 22, 2003
Reviewer: Matt Rabjohns (Poole, Great Britain) - See all my reviews
Didn't know what to expect when I first picked up this second release by Carolyn. Thought it would be lesser in sound and song strength. WRONG!! This CD is even better and is so different from her debut! I love people and artists who change and don't stay the same. The blend of rock and light jazz and even just a hint of country on "Do We Dare" is brill! This album has some of the best songs ever on it. Listen away to "Big Deal" and "This I know", they will blow you away. Lovely song about Mark, her hubbie, on this CD (although I think "The Day Will Never Come" on her next one is better; but still, this song is not flawed!). AWESOME! KEEP IT UP CAZ!
For This Much I Understand
5 Stars: The Best Effort So Far by Carolyn!, January 22, 2003
Reviewer: Matt Rabjohns (Poole, Great Britain) - See all my reviews
This is the best album, so far, by Caz. The songs are just out of this world and the strength of her writing is getting better and better each time. So, it starts with "Happy" -- this song has that almost supernatural touch which makes it stand apart from the rest of the album. Then comes "Life Is Long." "Go With God" is her best song with Connie Harrington so far, I think -- a lovely guitar section! "Life And Death" was an instant hit for me -- long and hard hitting -- and the rest of this amazing CD follows this trend.
I definitely think we, her fans, ought to make a concerted effort to refer to Carolyn as "Caz." It is so rock star!
*As I am a persnickety little geek, I edited a bit for grammar and punctuation and clarity. I realize that one of the dubious charms of cyber-writing is being freed from stodgy language rules to express one's self in the moment, but I simply cannot stand to let those rules go. This is more a reflection of me than of Mr. Rabjohns who, like Mary Poppins, is practically perfect in every way (at least as far as his Carolyn Arends fan-dom goes).
