Macy Gray review. The Trouble With Being Myself., 2003-08-13Macy Gray seems to have painted herself into a corner. She created her formula on On How Life Is, perfected it with The Id, but on The Trouble With Being Myself, it seems she has nowhere else to go. If the aforementioned albums had not been released, The Trouble With Being Myself might've been considered brilliant, but even innovators like Ms. Gray shouldn't pave the way and then backtrack the same path. The whole album is practically a mirror image of her excellent sophomore release, The Id. "When I See You" is the catchy opening number similar to "Relating to a Psychopath", "It Ain't the Money" is another menage-a-trois of guest stars (Pharoahe Monch and Beck) just like "My Nutmeg Phantasy (featuring Angie Stone and Mos Def)", "She Ain't Right for You" is the same string-laden single "Sweet Baby" was, "My Fondest Childhood Memories" is the third in a series of shocking tales of murder, and finally, "Happiness" employs yet another child choir, just like "Hey Young World Part 2". She also takes a backseat to writing the music. She only writes the lyrics for all the songs, while her songwriting abilities are restricted to seven songs, and even then it's usually co-writing along with about four other guys.
There are some shining moments on The Trouble With Being Myself. Taken on their own merits, "She Ain't Right for You" and "My Fondest Childhood Memories" are wonderful songs, featuring the joyful catchiness that makes a Macy Gray record so much fun. "Screamin'", the only track written exclusively by Macy Gray, is very good and employs a piano melody reminiscent of the Beatles' "Let it Be", a homage that may go along with the breakup-and-makeup track "Come Together". Probably the best track on here is "Jesus for a Day", a moody piece that probably won't win any points with the Catholic church anytime soon.
Overall, the trouble with The Trouble with Being Myself is that it should've been Macy Gray's first album, not her third. Then again, maybe I'm wrong. An artist isn't expected to break new ground with every album, but she shouldn?t tread familiar ground twice in a row.
Reviewed By
A2V48XIK18XIYKThis review was cited from Amazon.ca.
This item was also found at:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.fr
Amazon.de
Amazon.co.jp
Compare prices across all Amazons at AmazonDotStar.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment