This is not to say that Patti's music can't stand on its own. Far from it. I fell in love with her voice during the first 30 seconds of 1993's Rumble Doll. It's a sexy, vaguely raspy instrument with more than a touch of Roni Spector's vibrato. Patti used to sing the first verse of "Rumble Doll" during her solo/introduction at E Street Band shows...it killed every time.
Well, a lot has changed since 1993. On Patti's latest record, 23rd Street Lullaby, the theme is her early years in New York. I tell ya, this woman knows how to write a great pop tune. There's the lilting suggestiveness of the title track (I'm beginning to see that Bruce wasn't joking when he wrote "Red-Headed Woman"), the almost country-ish swing of City Boys ,the pretty & meditative "Young In The City" and the swelling near-gospel of "You Can't Go Back". It's this kind of record that makes me think back to parts of the 1970's, when "complete" albums came out like Rickie Lee Jones and Court & Spark.
Hats must also be doffed in the direction of producer Steve Jordan who did a fine job combining a fairly large list of musicians (a sample: Marc Ribot, Nils Lofgren, Larry Campbell, Bobby Bandiera, Will Lee, Greg Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Jane Scarpantoni, John Medeski.) All of these guest players somehow sound like a band.
And, before I forget, violinist Soozie Tyrell is such a good match for Scialfa's voice. She's becoming "Patti's Clarence" in my mind.
I'm fairly confident that I would have loved this record even without the "weight" of the past chiming in. Of course, I can't prove it. But there's no place here for empiricism. This is music. It just exists.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Article comments
1 - Thrasher
Mark,
Interesting observation on defending Led Zeppelin and Patti. Is it better to burn out or fade away?
And thanks for not dragging in the perpetual red herring many reviewers like to bring up -- Patti's influence (or lack there of) on Bruce & the E St Band.
Thrasher
2 - Mark Saleski
thanks.
patti's influence on the E St. Band i think boils down to "there's someone there who can hit the high notes every night".
actually, i'm sure that there are other subtle influences she exerts (that's too string a word) on the music. i mean, they are married to each other and have children and stuff.
on the other hand, i don't detect much spouse-influence in the musics of lou reed and laurie anderson (maybe i'm just not paying attention.)
3 - SFC SKI
Thanks for the tip, and the mention of the Cape Cod Colisuem brings back memories, I miss the Cape all summer long.
Without word of mouth at sites like these, I would never find out about albums worth spending money on.
Isn't Laurie Anderson married to Peter Gabriel? Those 2 are like peas in a pod then.
4 - Mark Saleski
the coliseum was great.
it sounded like crap, but it was still fun.
during one summer i saw:
Gary U.S. Bonds
Marshall Tucker
The Clash
and had Talking Heads tickets..but they cancelled