Night
on My Side by
Gemma Hayes
You Are Free by
Cat Power
The backlash against Liz Phair’s new album by fans
and critics alike has been so consistently negative and,
at times, vitriolic, I’ve begun to wonder if a backlash
against the backlash will occur. Rolling Stone
gave her album three stars, while giving Jay Farrar’s
two, who deserves more than that on reputation alone. And
if Rolling Stone is not basing record reviews on
reputation, then I don’t know what to believe. After
all, Liz Phair’s cute as a button and her timid stage
presence are still very winning. Unfortunately, that stuff
called the music would still seem to get in the way of any
possible reconciliation between Liz and her fans. In fact,
revisiting her recent self-titled release (which happened
to me while I was shopping for cereal and her new single
started playing on the grocery store’s background
audio system which, I believe, is designed to make people
hungry with music so bland that it triggers a sub-conscious
desire for anything with flavor) would only make a fan angrier.
Here are a couple of alternatives.
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For fans of later-era Liz, the new album
by Irish singer Gemma Hayes offers a pleasant mix of
straight forward rock and electronic flourishes similar
to whitechocolatespaceegg. Harmonicas, mellotron,
and slide guitars waft in and out like a breeze. Mid-tempo
rockers dutifully punctuate the graceful ease of her
slow numbers, all blanketed by one pretty voice. It’s
slick and polished but not annoyingly so. It’s
certainly not the most exciting thing you’ll hear
this year, and if Liz had made it, it might have been
labeled good, but more of the same in a creatively torpid
career. This is Gemma’s first album, however,
and hopefully a sign of things to come.
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| For fans of early-are Liz, the album Cat Power (aka
Chan Marshall) released in February might be a welcome
revelation. Its got the do-it-yourself feel of someone
who still believes “yourself” is what matters
most, not record sales. Going from sparse to teeming
and back again, layered vocals and confessional lyrics
infuse the record with a real sense of urgency. “We
all do what we can / So we can do just one more thing
/ We can all be free / Maybe not in words / Maybe not
with a look / But with your mind” she sings on
the yearning, piano-ballad call to arms. There are not
enough hooks to maintain the albums 14-song length,
but it still manages to be a focused statement of presence. |
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Buy
the Gemma CD 
