Re: New Patti album - 4 1/2 stars on Allmusic.com

On Sep 6, 1:44 pm, "darcman32" <darcma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
who cares what postal likes this is the problem with this place too many
people care what he has to say<stuthalb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1189099131.452637.6900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sep 6, 12:18 pm, "Tom Mason" <tm...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Play It as It Lays
Patti Scialfa

4 1/2 Stars

Review by Thom Jurek
Patti Scialfa's second album, 23rd Street Lullaby, was a paean to
the
romantic, wild, unbridled joy of running around the New York City of the
'70s - a place that no longer exists - as seen through the eyes of a
wiser,
seasoned, yet untamed adult heart. Play It as It Lays is its mirror image.
Released just a shade over three years later (a brief time for Scialfa,
whose debut set Rumble Doll was released in 1993) the songs on Play It as
It
Lays deal with doubt, heartbreak, betrayal, uncertainty, anger, and
restlessness, and find redemption in embracing them all as part of the
whole. Co-produced with Steve Jordan and Ron Aniello, Scialfa's
songwriting
has developed into something so focused that its economy and its sharpness
are as becoming as a shiny new stiletto - one that cuts deep but leaves
the
most beautiful of scars. The band employed here is essentially the same
(without the high-profile guests spots of Marc Ribot and John Medeski):
Willie Weeks, Nils Lofgren, Clifford Carter, and Bruce Springsteen (who
are
affectionately dubbed the "Whack Brothers Rhythm Section"), with Michelle
Moore, Cindy Mizelle, Curtis King, and Soozie Tyrell (who also plays
violin
on a pair of cuts) helping on backing vocals. But the sound, while rooted
in
the same blend of American roots styles that Scialfa's songs always have,
is
wider and deeper. There is more reliance on blues, soul, and gospel here
while the rootsy back porch, street corner rock & roll, and countrified
folk
are retained.These ten songs are tight, there isn't an extra word in any
of
them. The melodies are taut like wire, enveloping her words, and the
plights, determinations, and failings of her protagonists are filled with
passion, Eros, and agape, the purest love of all. What's more, it feels
like
this is a record of survival and the guts to go on, to be wrong, if that's
what it takes, and move forward with all of that mess now on the canvas.
Her
subjects - though she speaks solely in the first person in each song
here -
are steeped in a passion for living, not just in their souls, but in their
bodies, in their heads, for the experience that love promises yet whose
shadow always delivers. And they accept it, while refusing to settle for
anything less.

A dulled, primal tom tom and a dobro introduce the album's
country-blues drenched first track, "Looking for Elvis." The title may
seem
a cliché, but the lyrics and melody are anything but. The protagonist
travels to someplace "south of nowhere" looking for something, longing to
be
somewhere, anywhere other than where she found herself before flight.
She's
wrapped in grief, betrayal, and disillusionment and asks the real
existential question of the empty raining sky: "So where are you now/With
all those Illusions/Fallen dreams and charity/It faith restores you/And
truth delivers/Then don't tell me I'm standing/when I'm, on my knees..."
however, by track's end, she finds what she needs, not outside but at the
crossroads inside herself, at the crossroads "West of Babylon/East of
Eden/I'm breathing in these winds of change/I'm going to rise up from
these
ashes/Gonna rise up and find the truth again..." the backing vocals enter
with a gospel refrain and underscore every line; Scialfa sings with the
big
red river of truth falling from her mouth like rushing water over the
rocks.
And this song is the beginning of a journey, where desire and brokenness
go
to war inside the heart of the woman who wants to know, has to know, if
she's been living a lie. No matter the outcome, what's left is pulsing,
rippling and rampant: faith, hope, love (both carnal and divine),
companionship, and wholeness. If there's any doubt, just dig deep into the
disc's second tune, "Like Any Woman Would," where a lap steel and cracking
rim-shot snare wind around the acoustic guitars and usher in the lyric
with
the support of a call and response backing chorus. She offers her view;
she
wonders what her partner's love really means, and speaks of the wounds she
and all women feel at being regarded as something "less than." "Play
Around"
is a soft, sweet, soul tune that Scialfa's grainy reed contralto delivers
big in. Her delivery is relaxed as it floats above a B-3, hand drums and a
drum kit before the band fully kicks in. She's ready to walk: "I'm not
going
to walk/On your high wire/I'm not going to jump/Through all your little
hoops of fire...This is no day of judgment/I'm not waiting for you to
confess...I'm not waiting on anything/I'm just walking free/Well you can
play around/But don't you play around me..." The tune is brief, and its
melody and dynamic are soothing, yet the lyrics are loaded.As it moves on
through the funky wanton delight of "Rainy Day Man," with its sultry
lyrics
and even sexier delivery strolling through early-'60s shuffling rhythm &
blues, the listener can clearly hear the singer walking through the desert
of ambivalence. There is a core belief in the redemption of love that will
not be shaken in the heart no matter what seems to be transpiring on the
surface of life. But it's a realistic view: she's way past the knight in
shining armor, she's looking for a promise of totality, but is willing to
pay whatever price necessary to get there - including the truth that the
Other is always as far from perfect as she is. "The Word," emerging from
the
blues, creatively uses the "Sally Go Round the Roses" (and credits it), as
a
look at the unvarnished truth, no matter how wide the contrast is with
what
she believes.Ushering in the title cut, a shuffling funky backbeat is
underscored gently by an acoustic guitar, a soft B-3 and Tyrell's violins.
The narrative location is once more an empty road - just as on the
opener -
and the time of reflection is over. It gives way to an acceptance of the
protagonist's own faults as well as those of her Beloved: "Every perfect
picture /hides a mess or two/Sometimes it's me/Sometimes it's you..."But I
remember the first time/That I lay down inside your arms/And how I kissed
your tired mouth/So full of grace/So empty of harm/And I how I knew/The
road
ahead/ Would unravel itself/Cursed and charmed/And I would just/Play it as
it lays..." the recollection of "through thick and thin, no matter what"
gets revealed, and the personal accountability here, wrapped so sweetly
and
tenderly in this melody reveals nothing less than courage: to see it as it
is, and to continue walking bloody and torn. It's far from codependent:
it's
honest and it is as if the singer is looking at herself in a mirror with
the
reflection of her Beloved behind her speaking the words to him while
looking
hard at herself. Such beauty can only be heartbreaking. The set ends with
"Black Ladder." Despite its title, it's a love song. She has seen the
deepest wells of darkness in her lover's heart, and he's seen hers. What's
left is simply that love, kicked around, bruised and torn, remains, and
the
cracks have created something so much more open and free: the freedom to
offer love for its own sake, and for the sake of the Other. The freedom to
accept the same. At just over two minutes, with a Rhodes piano and an
acoustic guitar, it's the most skeletal song on the album. And it needs to
be. Scialfa's voice is way up front. It's one of the quietest anthems
ever.
There is real vulnerability here, and the protagonist is far stronger for
the courage to reflect it in her own eyes and read it in the eyes of the
other. The track simply ends, a second or two after he final words: "I
still
care."Play It as It Lays may be melancholy and downright dark in places,
but
it never feels oppressive. It doesn't need to bet on the silver lining -
even if it's only a sliver of one in places - because there's a
resiliency,
an unshakable faith, that living itself is a lining. This is the place
where
we get to see the fully developed, crafted songwriter at her best. It is
the
unfairness of the culture that we've had to view her in the shadow of her
husband's stature, but no more. While Rumble Doll bravely tested the
waters
of songwriting and recording, and 23rd Street Lullaby offered increased
confidence in the real possibilities those endeavors would pay off in and
of
themselves, Play It as It Lays is, without doubt, the record where Scialfa
gives us the full fruit of her exceptional gift as a writer, a singer, as
an
artist. (Now, if she'd only tour...)

It's a little short, at a hair over 39 minutes. Postal won't like it.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It's a joke. A little light-hearted ribbing. People like Patrick and
Postal aren't worth the trouble of letting them bother me.

.

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