Allison Moorer - Mockingbird
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CD Details
Artist: Allison MoorerBrand: Baker Drivetrain
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Model: 00794043910623
Music Label: Watertower Music
Soundtracks:
- Mockingbird
- Ring Of Fire
- Dancing Barefoot
- I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
- Go, Leave
- Revelator
- Both Sides Now
- Daddy, Goodbye Blues
- She Knows Where She Goes
- Orphan Train
- Where Is My Love
- I'm Looking For Blue Eyes
Music reviews of Mockingbird
Music Review: Allison Moorer's "Mockingbird" - Gets Better with Each Listen
Rating: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Mockingbird
This new album from Allison Moorer has continued to grow on me. The overall result is a well-delivered and interesting mix of very good songs. The more times I hear it, the better it sounds.
The first few times around a few tracks overpowered the album. Yet the last four tracks were so strong, I decided to listen to it again a few times. I put on my trusty headset to really focus in on the music. Sure enough, I heard a lot of great elements I had missed.
Ms. Moorer's musical pedigree has been well touted in her bio. When you've been nominated for a Grammy award on a major record label, people do tend to take notice. Perhaps the excessive hype hurt my expectations, especially when she's described as a "technically gifted vocalist."
I'm sure the number crunchers decided that by adding some well-known covers they could be sure her songs would get played at Gap stores and restaurants everywhere. By and large they've succeeded. Those songs will get this record played, though they are not my favorite parts of this album.
Her take on "Both Sides Now" has a tighter musical arrangement and seems more suited to her voice than the other remakes. "Ring of Fire," "I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl," and "Daddy Goodbye Blues" have each grown on me but could have all been improved.
"Ring of Fire" as done here highlights a subtle recording choice. The vocals were clearly not leveled. You can hear her as she gyrates closer and further from the microphone. This seems to have been intentional, as recording engineers love to give songs that "live" recorded feel. The vocal overlays seem to be fighting against the instrumentals on this song. The sound engineers seem to have magnified this too for effect. You have to improve more upon the original when you're putting your name on a song. I'm still not crazy about the musical arrangement on this track, convinced it sounds too much like the Christmas classic "The Little Drummer Boy." Yet I've grown to appreciate her take on the song more.
Both "I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl" and "Daddy Goodbye Blues" have a blues treatment that was off-putting at first but sounded better on subsequent listens. As a huge Nina Simone Anthology fan, I'm probably in a very hard-to-please group. I didn't mind the hollow recording on "Daddy Goodbye Blues" as much as some others. In the end these two tracks, though nice, seem misplaced here.
My favorite tracks are 1, 3, and 9-12. "Mockingbird," "She Knows Where She Goes," "Where is My Love" and "I'm Looking for Blue Eyes" are all beautiful smooth ballads. Each song has a nice mix of folk and country that lends to a recognizable sound. And "Orphan Train" really stands out as well. They really showcase Allison Moorer at her best here.
I liked her broad genre treatment, which reminded me of several Lyle Lovett albums I love. "Dancing Barefoot" and "Revelator" each have more of an upbeat alternative rock feel with hints of folk. Those songs showcase the best crossover appeal of this album.
No doubt "Ring of Fire" will get notice in these remake obsessed times. Yet there is so much more on this album that is interesting and compelling.
For fans of:
Trisha Yearwood Love Songs
Corinne Bailey Rae Corinne Bailey Rae
Joni Mitchell Shine
Judy Collins Wildflowers
Nora Jones Come Away with Me
Lyle Lovett It's Not Big It's Large
Emmylou Harris The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches and Highways
KT Tunstall Eye to the Telescope
Enjoy.
Description of Mockingbird
Working with producer and acclaimed roots artist Buddy Miller on this release, Moorer has conjured a rich pastiche of the phases of women's hearts, lives, needs, and yearnings on this recording of other peoples' songs. It's about honoring the women who inspired her. "Mockingbird" is an album of subtlety, sensuality, and grace. Moorer is a 2008 Grammy Award nominee for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (Steve Earle & Allison Moorer).One of the most technically gifted vocalists in contemporary country, Allison Moorer sharpens her interpretive chops through this selection of songs from other female artists. After setting the tone with her self-composed, bittersweet title track, framed by chamber strings and punctuated with a saxophone solo, she and ace producer-guitarist Buddy Miller find revelatory dimensions in material by artists ranging from Nina Simone (the sultry, torchy "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl") to Joni Mitchell (an older-and-wiser "Both Sides Now") to June Carter Cash ("Ring of Fire," which she wrote for her husband, Johnny, and which here features a languid vocal over a rhythm loop). You?d expect Moorer to do fine by her sister Shelby Lynne ("She Knows Where She Goes"), Gillian Welch ("Revelator"), and Julie Miller ("Orphan Train"), but it?s a real surprise to hear her connecting from the inside out with Patti Smith?s hypnotic "Dancing Barefoot" or channeling the blues of Ma Rainey ("Daddy, Goodbye Blues," featuring Moorer?s husband Steve Earle). Moorer shouldn?t give up writing, but she obviously doesn?t need to write much to make inspired music that sounds very much her own. --Don McLeese
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