Bluesy is a little bit of a surprise coming from Lisa Loeb, but after hearing Window Shopping, I say it is a sound I want to hear again. The lyric revels in the mundane, unless she is trying for deeper meaning in comparing herself to packaged goods for sale, which is possible. In either case, the tune and that voice — that voice! — makes the song worth many listens. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that the anthropomorphism is a sly reference to shopping involved in romantic relationships.
You do remember Lisa Loeb, right? She had that big song Stay (I Missed You) back in 1994. It was on the Reality Bites soundtrack, and was released before her band (Nine Stories) had even recorded an album or been signed by a label. Since then she has been signed and put out a series of albums, the latest of which, on her new label, is called The Way It Really Is. Incidentally, The Way It Really Is, was also the name of the lead track on her 2002 release Cake And Pie, but this is a better album than Cake And Pie. She also married Dweezil Zappa, and they have a cooking show, though that (the marriage and presumably the cooking show, too) apparently isn't going so well. But that's not important right now. The Way It Really Is, that's the issue at hand.
After starting well with Windows Shopping, the other ten songs bounce back and forth between radio-friendly pop music (like I Control The Sun) and more stripped-down guitar-and-piano songs (like Hand-Me-Downs), and both styles work for her. Diamonds is also a sparkling surprise, with a sound that wouldn't be out of place on rock radio.
I Control The Sun has a fantastic lyric, highlighting the intractability of the human will, but other songs, like Accident, fall far short in my opinion, counting on observations to carry a song which simply don't.
Article comments
1 - Matt
great album.
I don't think she ever married Dweezil, but they did in fact split up shortly after the end of Cake and Pie, and this album chronicles that split.
2 - Mark Saleski
didn't they get back together? they did that tv show & all.
and this is a great album. even the wife admits it's good (and thus having to overlook Loeb's insane nerdy cuteness).
3 - Matt
I think they did the TV show mid-break up and kind of stuck it out until the TV show was over - I read about the breakup, and new album, in a recent newspaper story online.