Published on Apr 13, 1997
Running this site has proven to be a strain between Mrs. Thelen
and myself, though in a way I never expected.
You see, my wife thinks my taste in music is “questionable,” and
she considers most of the treasures in the Pierce Memorial Archives
(we’re smashing our collector’s edition of “Go Cubs Go”) to be
shit. “You’ve reviewed all this other crap I wouldn’t listen to,”
she whined at me. “Will you let
me pick an album for you to review?”
She selected the debut effort from Amanda Marshall, a popular
work on adult contemporary stations. And after two listens to the
tape… do I really have to say this? (Sigh…) Well, she has
selected an album that is quite enjoyable.
The Trinidad native has had some success outside of her adopted
home country of Canada with the song “Birmingham” (gee, to think I
thought she was from England), but the strengths on this one lie
past the radio-friendly numbers.
The first thing that strikes you about Marshall is that she has
an incredible set of pipes, though they seem to be more adept at
the bluesy ballads than the all-out rockers. Sure, “Fall From
Grace” is a good song. But when you listen to “Beautiful Goodbye,”
you know this young lady can send shivers down your spinal
cord.
Amanda Marshall seems to be evenly divided between up-tempo
rock-style numbers and more introspective works. So which camp is
she better at? That is a matter of personal taste – my wife thought
the second half of the album was “too slow,” while I preferred
Marshall in that style of music.
“Birmingham,” the song most people know, tells the story of a
woman who breaks out of a prison of dealing with an alcoholic
husband to rediscover herself: “She’s never been so all alone /
She’s never felt so free.” While I would have preferred a little
more guitar on this one, it is a good song nonetheless.
However, I found it difficult to try to find messages in many of
the songs on
Amanda Marshall, choosing instead to focus on the power of
the performances. From happy sounding numbers like “Sitting On Top
Of The World” to moody relationship songs like “Last Exit To Eden”
and “Dark Horse,” Marshall successfully maintains the energy level
throughout it all. The only real negative is that Marshall chooses
to go with outside songwriters most of the time; she only wrote one
song, and collaborated on two others out of the ten on the
album.
Adult contemporary is one of the most difficult genres to
master, but Amanda Marshall seems well on her way to doing so at
the age of 23. Imagine what she’ll be capable of in the years to
come.
It’s scary when the wife and I agree on an album such as
Amanda Marshall, though I’m enough of a man to admit I could
learn from my wife’s musical tastes. Now if only I could get her to
plow through my Frank Zappa catalog…