Patti Scialfa\u2019s solo career has always seemed a tad star-crossed.\u00a0 Her 1993 solo debut Rumble Doll<\/i> , despite an all-star team of supporting players, felt like it lacked something in the confidence department.\u00a0\u00a0 Her sophomore disc 23rd Street Lullaby<\/i> didn\u2019t come out until 11 years later, years during which she spent much of her time continuing to sing backup for husband Bruce Springsteen, not to mention parenting their three growing kids.\u00a0 And now her third disc comes out just as hubby issues a heralded new album and takes the whole E Street Band out on tour to support it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Sigh. <\/p>\n
But don\u2019t cry for Ms. Patti — life has still been pretty decent to her, and now she\u2019s topped it off by releasing what is quite simply the best album of her career. \u00a0 <\/p>\n
Scialfa and her man share a love of classic 60s soul, and on Play It As It Lay<\/i>s, Patti lets her inner Aretha take full flower.\u00a0 What\u2019s surprising is that she does so on a set of deeply introspective and serious-minded songs — and that this stylistic mash-up succeeds beyond all expectations. <\/p>\n
That said, \u201cLooking For Elvis\u201d is a somewhat odd opener — more Americana-flavored than just about anything on the album, and employing the familiar metaphor of Elvis-as-symbol of inspiration lost and waiting to be rediscovered.\u00a0 Still, it\u2019s nicely done and leads right into a string of terrific r&b-flavored numbers. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike Any Woman Would\u201d is confessional songwriting at its best, a soul-baring lyric set to a soulful beat with chorused female background vocals that simply fuel the fire in Scialfa\u2019s raw words.\u00a0 \u201cTown Called Heartbreak,\u201d \u201cPlay Around\u201d and \u201cRainy Day Man\u201d continue in this vein, a series of songs full of self-doubt and insecurity — and resilience — that are rich with strong images and turns of phrase.\u00a0 \u201cRainy Day Man\u201d in particular rides a slinky backbeat right out of a Sam Cooke number as Lisa Lowell and Soozie Tyrell chant \u201csugar sugar sugar baby\u201d in the background like faux Supremes.\u00a0 How sweet it is. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s plenty more good stuff —\u00a0\u201cBad For You\u201d and \u201cRun Run Run\u201d both feature irresistable singalong choruses — but the lyrical highlight of the second half is the title track, a simple, quiet, hymn-like tune that sums up every bit of heartbreak and redemption chronicled in the tunes that have led up to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s among the simplest, prettiest and most nakedly honest songs Scialfa has ever written, and taken in context, it\u2019s a knockout. <\/p>\n
This disc features a cast of supporting players — the so-called Whack Brothers Rhythm Section — that would be the envy of any singer: Clifford Carter (keys), Steve Jordan (drums and production), Nils Lofgren (guitars), Willie Weeks (bass) and Mr. Scialfa himself (guitars, organ and harmonica).\u00a0 It would be hard to go wrong with that group behind you — and Scialfa never does. <\/p>\n
Whatever the sales numbers say, the truth of the matter is this: Play It As It Lays<\/i> is a terrific album, and anyone who\u2019s missing out on it is missing out indeed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8059],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40532","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-patti-scialfa","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40532","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40532"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}