First encountered this girl about four years ago in the movie "Across the Universe", the absolutely wonderful film set in the 60's that used the Beatles music as a main ingredient. She completely nailed "Helter Skelter", and it was one of the many highlights of the film. I was going to insert the clip from the movie here, but it's edited too much for this venue, so here is one of those "lyrics" videos with the soundtrack version...
See what I mean? POW! Completely rips it. She was on a few more cuts, too, as she played Sexy Sadie
in the movie. So when her new album was suggested to me by my buddy, BK, I was looking forward to a listen. I had heard she was more a blues singer than anything, so that's what I expected. Unfortunately, that's not what I got.
"Love to Beg" is a major effort at making a successful, commercial, pop-rock album, a by-the-numbers attempt if I ever heard one, and I've heard many. Not that it's bad...no...just not what I'd hoped for. I scoured the web and found several amazing blues tracks and covers, but "...Beg" featured little, if any, of that style. If you're a fan of Melissa Etheridge, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, or maybe Bonnie Raitt, this record is for you. Upon additional spins, I picked up on a Janis Joplin vibe. Little did I know that she had played Janis in an Off-Broadway show several years back. So a further search of videos produced this cover of "Piece of My Heart" with Gov't Mule during one of their famed New Year's Eve shows in NYC. It's not the greatest piece of visual, but it's the voice I want you to experience...
Plus she's mighty easy on the eyes, with that long, tall, skinny-girl frame. She actually has a substantial following in Europe, and I wonder how the record has sold there. It's been available domestically for about four months, and I've yet to hear squat about it. Doubt I will, either. I may retain two of the tracks buried late in the record, but damn, they took a long time to get to...
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