Envoirment's Top 75 - Eva Cassidy

[Adonia]

I need to check her out! I will report back tomorrow.

[Envoirment]

#14. "Won't Be Long"

Album: Somewhere

Listen Here

A cover of the Aretha Franklin track, I love the upbeat feel to the song. A nice change of pace and Eva's vocals are great as always!

[Envoirment]

#13. "Nightbird"

Album: Eva By Heart

Listen Here

An original and rather melancholy song, Eva's voice sounds beautiful. The climax at the end is just breath taking!

[Envoirment]

#12. "I Know You By Heart"

Album: Songbird/Simply Eva

Listen Here

A very peaceful and blissful song, Eva's tone is just sublime.

There's also a short A capella version if it on Simply Eva which you can listen to here.

[Envoirment]

#11. "Oh, Had I A Golden Thread"

Album: Songbird/Eva Cassidy: Live At Blues Alley

Listen Here

A gospel styled song, Eva really brings the house down with this one, especially the climax! Her vocals are just amazing.

[Envoirment]

#10. "Penny To My Name"

Album: Time After Time

Listen Here

I adore this song. The softness of Eva's voice, the guitar, the melody, the lyrics. It all comes together so well.

[Envoirment]

#09. "Time After Time"

Album: Time After Time/Simply Eva

Listen Here

A cover of Cyndi Lauper's song, Eva slows it down and turns it into a beautifully sung balladesque song. I love the subtleness of Eva's voice and emotion she puts in. Not to mention when she ascends into the upper reaches of her voice at times, it just comes so easy and elegantly, that it doesn't interfere with the overall feel of the song, but rather enchances it.

[Envoirment]

#08. "People Get Ready"

Album: Songbird/Simply Eva/Eva Cassidy: Live At Blues Alley

Listen Here

A cover of the classic song by The Impressions, Eva's version of the song is hypnotising. Out of all versions I've heard, Eva's is my favourite. The production of the song and Eva's voice blend together effortlessly. In addition, Eva's vocals do not disappoint. Emotive and powerful, they suit the song down to a T.

[Envoirment]

#07. "Songbird"

Album: Songbird/Simply Eva

Listen Here

A cover of the timeless Fleetwood Mac song, Eva's version is now the most known version of the song and rightly so. Her silky smooth tone, excellent vocals and the simple production of the song combine to make for a magnificent result.

[Envoirment]

#06. "You've Changed"

Album: Imagine/The Other Side

Listen Here

I just love the jazz/blues feel of this song. Eva's voice and the way she uses it is to a standard that not many singers would be able to achieve. The build up and climax of the song is just thrilling! Not to mention the emotion she oozes is just splendid.

She has also sang this song as a duet with Chuck Brown here if interested. :)

[Envoirment]

#05. "Blues In The Night"

Album: Eva By Heart

Listen Here

A cover of the pop standard, Eva's version is a vocal materpiece if I ever did hear one. Her vocals are just astonishing and I LOVE the attitude she has in the song. There are very few singers who could pull off such a version of this song and Eva does it with such ease and control. Bravo Eva!

[horchata]

Might be burned at the stake for this one, but I think I prefer Eva's take of "Songbird" more than Fleetwood Mac's a bit. Obviously Fleetwood Mac's is wonderful too (duh), but Eva's as I said before just makes me want to ball like a baby and is so gorgeous. Glad to see it crack into the top 10 here and looking forward to seeing how your final four rounds out here.

[Envoirment]

#04. "You Are"

Album: No Boundaries

Listen Here

An original song, "You Are" is the highest one on my list. I just love the raw power Eva displays in the song, her voice gives me chills! The song is more upbeat than a lot of her catalogue and always cheers me up if I'm in a bad mood.

[Envoirment]

#03. "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

Album: Eva Cassidy: Live At Blues Alley

Listen Here

Many have covered this song, but none have done it quite like Eva for me. Her rendition of this song is hands down my favourite rendition ever. The strong emotion, her tone and her vocals come together to make a heavenly piece of music. She makes the song so tender, yet powerful at the same time. It never fails to impress me, no matter how many times I listen to it.

There's also another version of the song that she did here if anyone's interested interested.

[Envoirment]

#02. "What A Wonderful World"

Album: Eva Cassidy: Live At Blues Alley/The Best Of Eva Cassidy

Listen Here

A cover of the ever so famous song, Eva's cover is beautiful. The song and the way she sings it really highlights her rich, warm tone. Add in the fact she's pouring her soul into the song and the simple arrangement, I just cannot and will not ever tire of this song. Whether I'm feeling angry or sad, listening to this song always calms me down and makes me reflect about my life. It's also another cover where I think Eva's version is best. Stunning!

[Envoirment]

#01. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

Album: Songbird/Simply Eva/The Other Side

Listen Here

Perhaps a predictable #1, but a well deserved one. The most beautiful rendition of the song I've ever heard and one of the most beautiful renditions of any song I've ever heard. The softness of her voice and restraint she shows enhances the feelings she conveys. Then the climax comes just at the right moment to excel the song to the heavens, before Eva brings it back down to a soft and sad ending. This song also has a special meaning to me in regards to Eva and her death. Never would I have thought that I could be sad over the death of someone I've never met, but Eva and her story has touched my heart and her rendition of "Over The Rainbow" becomes even more potent once I take that into account. The fact Eva never got to soar high while in this life and only after her death did she reciever recognition is depressing. However, I am thankful for all she has recorded and her voice will forever live on and stand the test of time. I will make sure of that myself if I have to! Thank you Eva for brightening up my life with your voice.

I would also like to thank everyone who stuck with this countdown and I hope you enjoyed it despite my inconsistent updating!

[Sean]

Eva's cover of "Songbird" is just breathtakingly beautiful...seriously it is so flippin' perfect!!! And I looooooove her cover of "What A Wonderful World"! It's one of my favorite songs of all time and she does the song justice! :) Even if your #1 was "predictable" I don't think I would have wanted another song to be at the top. It's the one song I knew immediately from her when you started the countdown and it really does deserve the spot! It's just a beautiful rendition! <3

UGH! Seriously this countdown has been amazing! <3 Thank you so much for introducing me to some incredible songs and a brilliant vocalist! As I said at the beginning of the countdown I only knew a couple of songs that she has sung, but I've fallen in love with many more thanks to you! <3 I love how Eva's voice can fit with many different styles and songs and it's so saddening to think how her life was cut so short, but she has been an incredible influence and I hope her legacy continues on for a long time! ^_^

[Envoirment]

Thank you so much for your feed back Sean. Glad I introduced you to more songs and showed you what a great vocalist Eva is! I hope you will enjoy the songs for many years to come!

[Sean]

I'm sure I will!

Oh, and I hope you pick another artist to do a countdown for! Thoroughly enjoyed this one! ^_^ <3

[horchata]

Perfect way to finish the list. Random, but Leona's version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is my favorite X Factor performance of hers. So it's a little ironic and fitting that Eva's version would land up rounding out the list since she is one of Leona's biggest influences. Both takes of the songs give me the "feels" inevitably, but their vocal approaches are different of course. Eva's version of it is beautiful and evokes so much emotion. The vocals just kind of seal the deal here especially due to her tonality. I would call it brilliant, but even that still isn't sufficient really in giving it the praise it fully deserves.

Also, just want to say thanks for making this list in the first place! It was great to follow, I appreciate the work you put into it, and your commentary was also really insightful here. I learned a lot about Eva and also discovered a lot of "new" music from her to enjoy because of it. It's a shame she had such a short life, but that certainly doesn't take away how her music still lives on and how incredibly gifted she was. I also echo the sentiments of Sean too and if you ever decide to do another list I'd definitely follow that as well.

[Envoirment]

Definitely! Leona's version is actually based on Eva's version of the song and I'm glad that Leona has such great taste.

And aww, you're welcome! I need to brush up on my analytical skills though, as I thought my commentary was rather repetitive and short at times. But glad you found it insightful! :) Thanks so much for sticking with this countdown with Sean as well!

In regards to future countdowns, there are a couple artists I've been thinking of doing (Alicia Keys & Patsy Cline). I'll likely start a countdown on either of those in a few months, once I get a bunch of uni work out of the way and done with. :)

[Sean]

PLEASE DO ONE FOR PATSY!!! AAHHH!!!!

Obviously school is more important, so take your time with that, but still omg!

[Envoirment]

Oct 15, 2013 12:48:47 GMT -5 Sean said:

PLEASE DO ONE FOR PATSY!!! AAHHH!!!!

Obviously school is more important, so take your time with that, but still omg!

Patsy it is then. But I'll wait until Christmas time when I get a month off. She has so many songs that I'll need time to rank them and then to start posting it all. ^^

[Sean]

<3 <3 <3