Eureka – I think I’ve found the female Loudon Wainwright
\nIII!<\/p>\n
New England-based folk artist Cheryl Wheeler is part balladeer,
\npart social critic, and part clown. When all three styles merge on
\nalbum, the results are sure to be memorable. Her latest release,
\nSylvia Hotel<\/i>, is a prime example of that – though the comic
\nmoments are the ones that stand out for me.<\/p>\n
As a balladeer, Wheeler’s work is pleasant enough to listen to,
\nbut it doesn’t have a sense of urgency that makes it stick out in
\nthe listener’s mind. Tracks like “Rainy Road Into Atlanta,”
\n“Lighting Up The Mighty Mississippi” and “His Hometown” are
\nexecuted well and written well, so you won’t find me trying to poke
\nholes into them. But it seems like it takes more than one listen
\nfor songs like these to really embed themselves into your head –
\nthough once they’re in there, it’s a nice sensation.<\/p>\n
As the social critic, Wheeler always runs the risk of mixing
\nhumor with a serious message. Prime example: “If It Were Up To Me,”
\na song that someone should call to Rosie O’Donnell’s attention.
\n(I’d appreciate it, if someone actually does tell her about it, to
\nadd in that we suggested it. I’ll do anything for a free promo on
\nnational TV.) If Wheeler wasn’t careful, the constant litany of
\n“Maybe it’s…” that make up the body of the song could quickly run
\ninto humorous veins. But when the message of the song finally shows
\nup, it’s a serious one: “If it were up to me, I’d take away the
\nguns.” (Don’t bother flaming me if you’re pro-gun;
\nI<\/i> didn’t write the song.)<\/p>\n
As a clown, Wheeler is a lot of fun to listen to. I mean, who
\nelse would think of writing a song about the noble potato and
\nputting it to the tune of “Mexican Hat Dance”, all the while
\nplaying with the rhythmic structure of the word “potato”? Likewise,
\n“Unworthy” is a fun ditty that parodies how busy our lives are (and
\nhow we made them that way). On a lesser scale, “Meow” is a track
\nthat examines the pleasure and mystery of owning a cat. It’s not
\nknee-slap funny, but if you own or ever owned a cat, you’ll
\nunderstand.<\/p>\n
For all of this, Wheeler makes the huge mistake of going into
\n“hidden track” territory, a mistake made bigger by the fact that
\nthe track – a scathing, irreverent commentary about modern banking
\ntoday – is a track that didn’t deserve to be hidden. In future
\npressings of this album, I sure hope someone comes to their senses
\nand lists this track (as well as cuts out the two minutes of
\nsilence that preceeds it) and gives this song its well-earned day
\nin the sun.<\/p>\n
Like Wainwright, Wheeler has incredible talents that
\noccasionally get hidden by material that doesn’t stand out the way
\nthat it should. Still,
\nSylvia Hotel<\/i> is an album that is well worth your time and
\nmoney, and should (if there were justice in the world) catapault
\nWheeler into the mainstream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6820],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38989","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cheryl-wheeler","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38989"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}