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Plumb
Beautiful History: A Hits Collection
Artist Info: Discography
Album length: 2 Dics: 20 tracks, 92+ minutes
Street Date: November 3, 2009
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In 1997, a young singer/songwriter named Tiffany Arbuckle started a sort of industrial pop rock band named Plumb and released
their self-titled debut through Essential Records. Two years later, Plumb was becoming more on an identity for Tiffany and
the release of the decidedly more pop effort candycoatedwaterdrops garnered the singer a much wider audience. A
split from Essential spawned the premature 2000 release The Best of Plumb (which only covered the first two
albums?!) and Plumb was off to Curb Records to seemingly start anew.
Since joining Curb and releasing her first album with them in 2003, Beautiful Lumps Of Coal, Plumb has released
two more full-length projects (including the lovely lullabies album Blink), so now seems as good a time as any to
take a look back over the past ten years. Beautiful History: A Hits Collection honors her career since
her sophomore release in 1999, and gives fans a collection of hits from all of her Curb releases as well as two brand
new songs and three entirely re-recorded favorites from candycoatedwaterdrops. The re-recordings bring the
"classics" up to par with her newer material, and along with the new tracks, the twelve song collection feels like
its own album. Instead of ripping fans off with more of the same (especially at a time when you can just download your favorite
songs and make your own custom "hits collection"), Plumb gives listeners plenty of fresh material. While, personally, I'm
not sure we really needed brand new re-recordings of "Stranded," "Here With Me," and "God-Shaped Hole," because the originals
still sound great, Plumb's sound has matured and evolved since this album and their new incarnations gel a lot more
smoothly with the rest of Beautiful History - especially since the songs are presented in chronological order.
The song choices here are pretty strong. While the overall selection shows the softer side of Plumb (which has
also been her most popular side), there really is a strong representation of what the artist has to offer. The three
new re-recorded songs represent her sophomore record along with the newer "Redemption Extended Version" of "Damaged" from
her 2006 album Chaotic Resolve, which leaves out any original renditions of anything from that record. Next,
"Real" is the only song from Beautiful Lumps Of Coal to make the cut, sadly (What happened to "Boys Don't Cry," "Free," or
"Sink 'N Swim"? Surely one or two of those could have been tacked on to the 12-song tracklist which
only includes 10 songs from her discography?). However, four songs from Chaotic Resolve (not including the bonus update of "Damaged") make
the list - "I Can't Do This," "Better," "Blush (Only You)," and "Cut." All are great tracks from that album and understandable
additions. Unfortunately, only one song from Blink also makes it, the radio edit of "In My Arms." To close,
two brand new songs specifically recorded for this project are added here, "Hang On" and the title track, "Beautiful History."
Both seem like they could have fit on Chaotic Resolve (mixed with the even more melody-heavy feel of
Blink) but the songs display enough growth to really show listeners where Plumb has come since her debut. They're
great songs and worthy additions to this hits collection.
As a bonus, a second disc is included that features eight dance remixes -- two each of "In My Arms," "Cut," "Hang On,"
and "Always." They're not really necessary to be included with the hits project, but they're fun for any dance/club music
fan or any Plumb fan who wanted a little more than just the dozen tracks on the first disc. The remixes are decent, but with
there being two each of only four songs included (and three of the songs have their original form on the first disc - "Always,"
from Blink, only appears as the two remixes for some reason), the songs start feeling especially monotonous. The oddest
song to get the dance club treatment is undoubtedly "Cut," an emotional piano ballad written for people who struggle with
cutting themselves to find relief from emotional pain. To hear the powerful song given a dance remix seems altogether bizarre
and even inappropriate. And with Plumb having a dance anthem titled "Motion" on the same album as "Cut," it would have been
a no-brainer choice for getting the club treatment on a remix disc. Lastly, the first disc features only a dozen songs
from Plumb's five-album career and completely forsakes her self-titled debut. Considering she re-recorded three songs
from the second record, it would have been great for something from the debut to be represented here - even if it was just
a remix. I could definitely hear a 2010 version of something from the self-titled, so it's mildy disappointing nothing
was attempted here.
Nitpicks aside, Beautiful History: A Hits Collection is easily one of the more thoughtful collections you'll
find for an artist these days. The new tracks, re-recordings, personal song comments on each track inside the disc jacket
and even the bonus remix disc give Beautiful History: A Hits Collection a unique and personal look into the
wonderful career of this pop artist. It's a beautiful history indeed.
- Review date: 11/1/09, written by John DiBiase of Jesusfreakhideout.com
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 Record Label: Curb Records
Album length: 2 Dics: 20 tracks, 92+ minutes
Street Date: November 3, 2009
Buy It: Amazon.com
Buy It: iTunes
Disc One: 48 minutes, 32 seconds
- Stranded (2010) (3:51)
- Here With Me (2010) (4:11)
- Damaged (Redemption Extended Version) (5:50)
- God-Shaped Hole (2010) (3:43)
- Real (3:42)
- I Can't Do This (4:03)
- Cut (4:01)
- Better (4:10)
- Blush (Only You) (3:49)
- In My Arms (Radio Edit) (3:54)
- Hang On (3:09)
- Beautiful History (4:17)
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Disc Two: 43 minutes, 56 seconds
- In My Arms (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit) (3:42)
- Cut (Bronleewe & Bose Radio Edit) (4:07)
- Hang On (Digital Dog Radio Edit) (3:10)
- Always (jRyann Radio Edit) (3:56)
- In My Arms (Browleewe & Bose Extended Mix) (7:37)
- Cut (Digital Dog Extended Mix) (6:27)
- Hang On (Dave Aude Extended Mix) (7:47)
- Always (Bimbo Jones Extended Mix) (7:14)
- Hang On (Pete Hammond Extended Mix) (7:29) **iTunes Exclusive
- Always (Bronleewe & Bose Club Mix) (8:21) **iTunes Exclusive
- Cut (Digital Dog Radio Edit) (3:44) **iTunes Exclusive
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