Search - Cheryl Wheeler :: Sylvia Hotel

Cheryl Wheeler
Sylvia Hotel
Genres: Country, Folk, Pop

Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
1. His Hometown
2. But The Days And Nights Are Long
3. If It Were Up To Me
4. Right Way To Do The Wrong Thing
5. All The Live Long Day
6. Sylvia Hotel
7. Unworthy
8. Rainy Road Into Atlanta
9. Lighting Up The Mighty Mississippi
10. Potato
11. Meow
12. Who Am I Foolin'?

CD Details

All Artists: Cheryl Wheeler
Title: Sylvia Hotel
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Philo / Umgd
Original Release Date: 1/26/1999
Release Date: 1/26/1999
Genres: Country, Folk, Pop
Styles: Outlaw Country, Classic Country, Traditional Folk, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriters
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 011671121222

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Since her first independent EP appeared in 1983, Cheryl Wheeler has been keeping her fans content and more than confounding critics who might prefer to pigeonhole her. This gifted singer/songwriter can shift from deep irony to deeper emotion in the space of a single measure. On Sylvia Hotel, Wheeler's comic brio is particularly abundant. Witness her tongue-twisting, starchy paean to the potato (to the tune of the "Mexican Hat Dance"!)--this is most definitely roots music with a difference. Then there's "Meow," an ode to her master-slave relationship with a saucy, self-loving feline: "I see you in Memphis on the Nile in the spring / Swinging through some palace doing your Egyptian king thing," Wheeler growls. But there are also several beautifully serious songs--such as "His Hometown," a keen tribute to some stronger roots, and "Lighting Up the Mighty Mississippi"--that wreak emotional havoc on listeners' hearts. Leavened with essential humor, abiding images, and sublime harmonies (courtesy of Lucy Kaplansky), Sylvia Hotel should break Wheeler out once and for all. --Kerry Fried

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Member CD Reviews

Deidre G. from ANCHORAGE, AK
Reviewed on 3/1/2008...

Probably the best so far, this album got me hooked on Cheryl Wheeler

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

CD Reviews

The only thing better is seeing Cheryl live

tweakley | Mercerville, NJ USA | 02/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once again Cheryl Wheeler has released a selection of songs that at one minute makes you laugh so hard that you are crying and at the next, you are crying so hard that you start to laugh. It talks of everyday issues, of love lost and moving on, it is a deep, touching and often funny work. She has a voice of an angle and the wit of a stand-up comedian. But it is the depth and beauty of her song writing that is her true gift. If you have never seen Cheryl Wheeler sing live, then you are truely missing one of the most magical events in music today. Sylvia Hotel captures a snapshot of that magic with live recordings of Unworthy and Potato but the real beauty of the recording for me comes in the lovely but sad title song, the lonely Lighting Up the Mighty Mississippi and Rainy Road Into Atlanta. Also All the Live Long Day and But the Days and Nights are Long are stand outs. Sylvia Hotel is one of the most satisfying releases in a long time, it is not to be missed."

One of the best female singer songwriters

www.MoisBenarroch.com | Israel | 10/24/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Wheeler has such a beautiful and expressive that even if she wasn't a singer-songwriter she would have a career in Music. She is also a great performer, and a funny woman, making all this together, an artist you can't resist.This is Wheeler 5th release and not much different than her previous releases. Her songs are mostly personal, about being an everyday woman, an average person living in a crazy word. In But The Days And Nights Are Long, she sings:Life is short, but the days and nights are long
Time will heal all the wounds
Someday soon I'll be rising, I'll be strong..."In an anti-gun song, which is, as it should be the most rocking song, If It Were Up To
Me, she makes a list of the reasons that make people kill, but accuses the guns:Maybe it's the movies, maybe it's the books
Maybe it's the bullets, maybe it's the real crooks
Maybe it's the drugs....
...
Maybe It's the fertilizer, maybe it's the nose rings
Maybe it's the end, but I know one thing
If it were up to me, I'd Take away the guns.A very effective song, that could convince some people (am I still too optimistic, at my
age?) and may save a few life. A must listen for every congressman, tired of
impeachments and other apples.Sylvia Hotel is a great addition to a brilliant career, by one of the most significant
female singer-songwriters of American music."

Best recording yet of Wheeler's intimacy and lunacy...

Keith Hampton | Madison, WI | 02/12/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The title track to Cheryl Wheeler's last album, "Mrs. Pinnocci's Guitar" is a story about a late-night sing-along where neighbors and friends sat around on the porch and shared what they knew through the medium of music. "Sylvia Hotel" creates the same effect. Wheeler is constantly reviewing and observing the emotions and situations she knows best. If the subject matter seems mundane, her language and subtle phrasing take songs such as "If it Were Up to Me," "Meow," and "His Hometown" from folkie to divinely simple songs that defy classification. One standout is the breathless "But the Days and Nights are Long" (originally titled "Boulder Hotel Room" in concert), which uses a repetition of rhyme and deceptive verse form to lament and resolve lost love situations in all their forms. The inclusion of live tracks and live studio takes on Wheeler's most recent records helps to convey both her enthusiasm and humor that would otherwise only be available live in concert. The only drawback to this album may be an overabundance of pedal steel and dobro sounds, which never quite seem to fit Cheryl's straightforward vocal style. Perhaps a solo 'cello or oboe would have better suited tracks such as "Sylvia Hotel" or "...Nighs are Long." Overall, this is a grand mixture of poignant and lightheartedness that showcases Wheeler's strengths and puts them, finally, in the spotlight."

Cheryl Wheeler's best album (so far)!

Keith Hampton | 02/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a big Wheeler fan, and am thrilled with Sylvia Hotel. There are so many beautiful songs (including my favorite, Rainy Road Into Atlanta) which are filled with evocative images. If it Were Up to Me is a song for the 90s, a rallying cry in response to recent schoolyard shootings and the proliferation of guns. I saw her perform this at the Newport Folk Festival, where she received a lengthy standing ovation and I didn't think the song could be done any better -- but the music on the track in this album is incredibly moving. There is even a very funny surprise track. I can't wait to see how Cheryl Wheeler tops this album!"