Search - Nellie Mckay :: Pretty Little Head

Kevin F. from BROOKLYN, NY
Reviewed on 11/7/2012...

i fell in love with McCay as a result of her first album, "Get Away From Me". i didn't hear this one till 2012. unfortunately, i am not enamored with it at all. what i hear from McCay is someone who is extremely talented and has extensive musical training -- but who has not presented a coherent, focused, honed effort. she may be able to play all the instruments, write songs, write her own lyrics, and steal from a wide range of sources -- but unless she can somehow integrate all this into a clear and focused work, it simply remains a sketchbook of ideas. though i know it's fashionable to praise artists who release their own music without the oversight of big labels, in this case i think she would do better with business professionals guiding and editing her. on many of the songs, her voice simply is not capable of delivering what she is attempting to sing. there are too many songs on this album -- i would have preferred to hear fewer songs that had been clarified and really focused upon what they were trying to be.

again, McCay is an extremely gifted young woman -- but until she can mature and let herself be guided by capable people, i suspect she may not grow into the authentic singer/songwriter she could be.

Ben P. from BERKELEY, CA
Reviewed on 3/2/2012...

Not her best work. She is a charming singer, but with a very limited range. The songwriting is middling. The record company was right if they wanted to limit this to one disc instead of two, since she can't sustain that many songs. You'd be better off with her more recent discovery of Doris Day and the influence that had on her "Get Away from Me" album.

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No sophomore slump here

Bryant Burnette | Tuscaloosa, AL | 10/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"McKay's sophomore album was famously stopped from release by Columbia Records, who apparently demanded that it be released as a single disc rather than as the double-disc album the artist wanted. Who knows why -- I'm going to speculate that they just didn't want to pony up the meager cost to produce a double album. It's a strange decision, and totally the wrong one -- if you're releasing an album by someone whose individualism is a MAJOR part of their appeal, then you'd have to be nuts to try and step on them.



Luckily, McKay owned the rights to the recordings and was able to self-release the album. In case you're wondering, it's not a letdown. Maybe a leetle self-indulgent here and there, but so what? All art is self-indulgent, and this pretty much all works.



My personal favorites from the album are "Cupcake," the lovely "Long & Lazy River," "We Had It Right" (a duet with k.d. lang), and "Columbia Is Bleeding," but that's just me. As with her first album, McKay tries out a LOT of different styles, ranging here from hip-hop to ballad to pop to yodel, and whereas most musicians would have a hard time roping all those disparate elements into one corral, McKay manages to make it all seem of a piece. It's kind of astonishing, and will seem more and more so with each time you listen to the CD. Sorry, make that "CDs."



Another exceptional effort from an exceptional talent. Buy two and give one to someone you know would never buy it for themselves."

When the cutest little kitty comes and hits you in the eye

My Uncle Stu | Boston | 03/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm really digging Nellie McKay these days and tonight this album is my favorite. K.D. Lang and Cindi Lauper had been off my radar but their collaborations here are real treats.



The first disc is overall the more sober, less spirited of the two but I really enjoyed "The Big One." "Pink Chandelier" is a woozy delight. And of course "Bee Charmer," with Cindi Lauper stirred me up. Cindi Lauper has always been a guilty pleasure for me. "Girls Just Want to have Fun" coincided with the hormonal zenith of my adolescence. Madonna came on strong, Cindi started wrestling, Cindi got an ulcer, and then began the slow fade. But I never forgot her.



The second disc is very solid. "Pounce" clocks in under a minute but is all hook, it'll become tightly entrenched in your retroperitoneal space before the second yowl. I had a very aversive reaction to the creepy baby-talk histrionics in "Mama and Me" but it is has a peculiar elegance. "Columbia is Bleeding" is potent. And "Lali Est Paresseux" is a carefree treat, although I don't know what the lyrics mean, so I'm hoping it isn't some awful tear-jerker.



Thank you for listening, nighty-night.



"