From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V7 #44 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Friday, April 9 2004 Volume 07 : Number 044 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] Jill [Recordings@aol.com] [MLL] Almost Blue [Recordings@aol.com] [MLL] Blue Cover [Recordings@aol.com] [MLL] New LA Weekly [Recordings@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 13:03:41 -0400 From: Recordings@aol.com Subject: [MLL] Jill >(Mary Lou's vocals were) like a jazz improv, musicians seeing what they can do with their instruments.< Jill, I don't know if you read my review of the L.A. show, but I also picked up on this. My take was that Mary lou's singing has become "performance art" but the jazz improv idea captures what she's doing very well. And I was also too emotionally caught up to keep track of the set list (although it would be easier now that I have Baby Blue.) Thanks for a very articulate and moving review. Okay, I've always been a staunch defender of GNS (a lot of it a reflection of my "fatherly pride" in Mary Lou's major label debut) but there's no doubt now: I like Baby Blue a lot more, and I didn't expect to. I play it over and over, beginning to end, middle to beginning, etc. The few flaws I've begun to notice only make me love it more, and I am STILL blown away by the total absence of reverb on ML's voice. I hear this album in my head constantly. D ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 13:15:31 -0400 From: Recordings@aol.com Subject: [MLL] Almost Blue Some reviews of Baby Blue I found online: Great Album, Wish I Didn't Have To Wait Six YearsPop Kulcher Review: A much-appreciated return, with six years passing since her last (and only) full-length studio release. Worth the wait? Pretty much, yeah. As on '98's Got No Shadow, Mary Lou is backed by a full band, alternating between folky, acoustic numbers and upbeat pop-rockers. As always, her frail, child-like vocals and decent fretwork set her apart from most of her peers. Nick Saloman (best known for his trippy psychedelic indie rock albums under the Bevis Frond Moniker) continues his working relationship with Lord, this time around writing or co-writing nearly every song. That's a mixed blessing; he writes to her strengths, so it's a solid fit, but she's a decent songwriter in her own right, and it would be nice to hear more of her own voice -- of course, as the numerous covers on past EP's (not to mention 2002's solo acoustic Live City Sounds album) confirm, she is a less than prolific songwriter, and does just fine as an interpreter of others' work, so I'm not complaining. On the whole, I'd say there are fewer out-of-the-ballpark winners here than on Got No Shadow (which benefitted from a few outstanding songs that had been in her repertoire for some time). However, the album sounds better; its predecessor had a dull, overpolished sheen to it, while Baby Blue positively jumps out of the speakers, with guitars ringing and chiming. Even when the tracks tend to blend together, Lord's shimmering, wispy vocals keep your attention. In addition to the Lord/Saloman tracks, there are two covers this time around. The title track is pretty loyal to the immortal Badfinger classic (and it's always nice to see some royalties go to the estate of the late great Pete Ham) -- but it's an uninspired pick (like-minded Barbara Manning did a fine job with it a decade ago, and Superchunk side-project Portastatic offered it up on an EP just a few weeks ago). More interesting is her take on Pink Floyd's "Fearless" (one of the finest moments from Floyd's pre-Dark Sid! e folkie era), though I would've preferred a bit more prominence to Lord's vocals and less emphasis on Saloman's psychedelic guitar workout at the end. In any event, it's an excellent album, a nice addition to the sadly slight Mary Lou Lord canon. Excellent album; she sounds great with a full band!Folksinger Mary Lou Lord has always sung other people's songs, and she continues that tradition here, working with Bevis Frond mastermind Nick Saloman, playing both Frond songs and newly-penned Saloman tunes. She usually performs solo, but here she's got a full band to back up her breathy voice. ;Overall, this is a solid effort from Lord, her first studio album in quite some time. Much of the album is peppy and upbeat, but she reworks the Frond's melancholy "Why Stars Burn Out" almost certainly as a memorial to her longtime friend Elliott Smith. With that song and with all the other covers on this album, she takes other people's songs and makes them clearly her own. The return of Mary Lou LordMary Lou Lord is back with a very beautiful new cd recorded in England with her friend Nick Saloman of Bevis Frond. The songs are lovely and beautifully sung in Mary Lou Lord's tiny voice. She has been suffering from dysphonia, a disease which makes it difficult for her to speak or sing, and yet she has created her best work yet. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 17:13:59 -0400 From: Recordings@aol.com Subject: [MLL] Blue Cover I love this alternate cover for Baby Blue! http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001AV5DU.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 20:49:26 -0400 From: Recordings@aol.com Subject: [MLL] New LA Weekly The brand-new LA Weekly (those not in LA can go to laweekly.com) has a great cover story on studio musicians, including Carol Kaye, and also mentions our girl: >KEYBOARD PLAYERS Jon Brion: Grant Lee Buffalo, Rufus Wainwright, Aimee Mann, Robyn Hitchcock, Mary Lou Lord, Elliott Smith< ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V7 #44 *********************************