There seems to be a point in time when many artists decide it\u2019s time to record some sort of standards CD. Usually it\u2019s a few years after their last hit, when they have acquired a certain gravitas and more mature outlook on life. Linda Ronstadt had not one, but two of these that were big hits: 1987\u2019s \u201cCanciones De Mi Padre\u201d and 1983\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019s New.\u201d Chicago did an entire album of big band tunes. Hell, Lady Gaga got cozy with Tony Bennett. It seems to be a stage of some sort.<\/p>\n
It would be easy, then, to dismiss Paula Cole\u2019s latest CD, American Quilt<\/i>, as more of the same. The cover has her wrapped in a quilt and starting thoughtfully off into space and her tastes and musical styles have always been eclectic, if not downright quirky.<\/p>\n
That \u2013 would be a mistake.<\/p>\n
Reason #1: her voice. It has become a supple, limber, and elegant instrument; I don\u2019t know what her range is now, but it has to be considerable. Far from the days when she was positioned as a sort of Americana Alanis Morissette, she has matured into an expressive and talented vocalist who can be soft as goose down or bitter as gall, depending on the need.<\/p>\n
Reason #2: the songs. For a standards album, these are somewhat\u2026non-standard. Some are traditional (\u201cWayfaring Stranger\u201d), some are traditional but known best by one version (\u201cGod\u2019s Gonna Cut You Down,\u201d popularized by the late Johnny Cash), and some are a touch obscure (\u201cYou Don\u2019t Know What Love Is,\u201d originally written for an Abbott and Costello film). A surprising few come from the African-American experience: two Bessie Smith songs, one Billie Holliday (\u201cGood Morning Heartache,\u201d the best thing on the CD), and one song about escaping slaves (\u201cSteal Away\/Hidden In Plain Sight\u201d). Cole handles them all with style and aplomb.<\/p>\n
However, some of the arrangements leave something to be desired. The traditional \u201cShenandoah\u201d is muddy and slow (which I suppose might be appropriate for a river). It comes off lugubrious, and drags the energy of the CD down. Cole snarls and brags her way through \u201cBlack Mountain Blues\u201d nicely, but the blues guitar is lost in the mix a bit. These are minor considerations at best, so don\u2019t let them scare you off.<\/p>\n
American Quilt<\/i> is the latest offering from an artist whose growth astonishes me every time I listen to her. Check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":34416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5793],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46255","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-paula-cole","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46255","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\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46255"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46255"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}