The BEST "New School" R&B Singer Of Our Day!, 2003-07-15Is she Chaka Khan with a helium balloon? Al Green on hormone replacement therapy? No, Macy Gray is one of the few truly original singer/songwriters of our day, and that is the true glory of her music.
"The Trouble With Being Myself" is radical, fresh, exciting - and, at the same time, classic soul music. Just like on her first two releases, Macy stakes her own ground with ballads, hip hop and sunny pop music that sounds like nothing else on the radio.
From the opening song, "When I See You", Macy makes it clear that soul music is alive and well in this era of samples and studio-engineered voices. "When I See You" is Memphis horns, Rufus scratch-styled guitar and Sly-ish keyboards. It's a great lead off track, but only hints at the promise of this disc.
"My Fondest Childhood Memory" dips into Jamician ska shadings, and tells a hilarious story of taking revenge on your parent's lovers. It's somewhat derivative of "I Committed Murder" from "On How Life It", but it hits you with an incredible beat, and those awesome Macy vocals.
"It Ain't The Money" teams Macy with Beck, which can only be described as a meeting of musical geniuses. It's a hard hip hop flavored track, but has such an experimental, play in the studio feel that you can't call it rap.
"She Ain't Right For You" is beautiful, lush and Macy's best ballad yet (which says a lot, considering what a great song "I Try" is). The track creates more heat than a bonfire - and is perfect for Macy's slightly off-kilter vocals. You can't help but fall in love with a song as beautiful as this.
By the time I got to "Speechless" which is the 10th track, I was amazed how deep this disc is - on most retro-nuevo soul albums, themes and music styles begin repeating themselves after 4-5 songs - but "Speechless" again makes Macy's originality, and talent, shine bright - it is a sun-drenched love song that plays down strong instrumentation in favor of letting Macy put her voice to work - and truly gives her an opportunity to shine.
An artist like Macy - a little left-of-center, a true original, someone who demands that her music take center stage, rather than serve as beckground material - has it tough in today's marketplace. I hope this project finds its audience, so that the "business" end of the music business is encouraged to experiment with different sounds and artists. Macy cannot be pigeonholed, and clearly is a tough sell. But she is brilliant - and deserving of attention, and praise.
Reviewed By A4ITSUQTV4QU4"The Trouble With Being Myself" is radical, fresh, exciting - and, at the same time, classic soul music. Just like on her first two releases, Macy stakes her own ground with ballads, hip hop and sunny pop music that sounds like nothing else on the radio.
From the opening song, "When I See You", Macy makes it clear that soul music is alive and well in this era of samples and studio-engineered voices. "When I See You" is Memphis horns, Rufus scratch-styled guitar and Sly-ish keyboards. It's a great lead off track, but only hints at the promise of this disc.
"My Fondest Childhood Memory" dips into Jamician ska shadings, and tells a hilarious story of taking revenge on your parent's lovers. It's somewhat derivative of "I Committed Murder" from "On How Life It", but it hits you with an incredible beat, and those awesome Macy vocals.
"It Ain't The Money" teams Macy with Beck, which can only be described as a meeting of musical geniuses. It's a hard hip hop flavored track, but has such an experimental, play in the studio feel that you can't call it rap.
"She Ain't Right For You" is beautiful, lush and Macy's best ballad yet (which says a lot, considering what a great song "I Try" is). The track creates more heat than a bonfire - and is perfect for Macy's slightly off-kilter vocals. You can't help but fall in love with a song as beautiful as this.
By the time I got to "Speechless" which is the 10th track, I was amazed how deep this disc is - on most retro-nuevo soul albums, themes and music styles begin repeating themselves after 4-5 songs - but "Speechless" again makes Macy's originality, and talent, shine bright - it is a sun-drenched love song that plays down strong instrumentation in favor of letting Macy put her voice to work - and truly gives her an opportunity to shine.
An artist like Macy - a little left-of-center, a true original, someone who demands that her music take center stage, rather than serve as beckground material - has it tough in today's marketplace. I hope this project finds its audience, so that the "business" end of the music business is encouraged to experiment with different sounds and artists. Macy cannot be pigeonholed, and clearly is a tough sell. But she is brilliant - and deserving of attention, and praise.
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