Amy Rigby - Til the Wheels Fall Off
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Free Music Notes for Til the Wheels Fall Off
Free Music Review: Breakthrough Album
Hit: 5 Stars
Reviewer: John HussonBy all rights, Til the Wheels Fall Off should be Amy Rigbys breakthrough album. This is her strongest, most consistent collection of original songs to date, supported by a crack team of musical compatriots. They dont get much better than this. This isnt kid stuff. Wheels is full of big, hard questions about big, hard life-and-love struggles, with no easy answers. Why do I pull wings off butterflies...I kiss the boys but Im the one who cries, she laments in Why Do I. What am I looking for?, she asks in Shopping Around, adding Im getting older, Im getting wiser/But am I getting laid? The Deal picks up the wry relationship-as-transaction theme from her last albumsCynically Yours. Forget that couple stuff/Forget about love/Thats the deal/Its optional, she proposes. Do you believe that? Neither does Amy. I wish that I could lose myself inside of love/Instead of always standing on the outside, she sighs on Believe In You, revealing the capital-R Romantic beneath the cynical facade. But for all the drama - and theres plenty enough here - Wheels is shot through with good humor and musical sophistication. Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?, a hilarious take on marital fizzle, gets a subtle banjo, pennywhistle, and bodhran Irish treatment. The bright, bouncy pop melody of The Deal seems to come right from the Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart/Monkees songbook. Breakup Boots gets a full country band treatment here that soars on World Dominator Will Kimbroughs slide work. The title cut is a loping shuffle tugged along by trebly Farfisa organ riffs, a loopy trombone solo, and a drawling Todd Snider duet that redefines laid back. The Sept. 11-inspired Dont Ever Change, achingly beautiful and elegant in its simplicity and directness, goes beyond events to give much-needed perspective and uplift in a world of uncertainty and pain. Its one of those songs you could see Dolly Parton taking to Number One. If theres one thing missing from Wheels, its a rocker. As anyone whos heard her tear through Pump It Up or her own If You Wont Hang Around will tell you, aint too many people rock harder than Amy. Thats as good a reason as any to catch her on tour with her band this spring. In the meantime, pick up Til the Wheels Fall Off, and hear one of Americas best singer-songwriters show em how its done.
Free Music Review: A mature, funny album for
Hit: 5 Stars
A longtime fixture on the New York indie-altie/power-pop scene, songwriter Amy Rigby has given the world another little gem with this fine, episodic album. It's not an entirely cohesive work, as she shifts from somewhat dense, introspective rock songs to folkie acoustic numbers and back again... Not that I have a problem with artists who won't limit themselves to one style of music, it's just that the the transitions aren't always that smooth. Nonetheless, in this case the parts are more than the sum of the whole, and a handful of songs on here made this one of my favorite records of 2003. The blisteringly hilarious novelty song, "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" made me laugh out loud when I first heard it: it's the all-too-familiar tale of the modern-day couple whose erotic life has been curtailed both by busy schedules and everyday routine; the tart, too-true lyrics and Rigby's dead-on delivery make this an instant classic. Other favorites include the opening track, "Why Do I," a power-pop exploration of the neurotic impulse towards self-sabotage, and "Don't Ever Change," a touching embrace of normalcy and imperfection in those we love, and in acceptance of the quirky flaws of the world at large. As with the other two songs, it's Rigby's wry, gentle, deft slice-of life observations that make this tune such a winner. Overall, this album shows its greatest appeal in its sense of maturity and un-corny wisdom; it's nice to see that as Baby Boom indie-rockers age and mellow out that they can still make such great music.Free Music Review: "Cold as a frozen waffle"?
Hit: 5 Stars
Hardly, Amy. She claims in "Why Do I?" to have a cold heart, hence the frozen waffle reference. That line alone is enough (it's a simile, right? Help me, creative writing majors), by my lights, to earn five stars....But anyway, this woman is far from cold hearted - in fact, she probably has a little too much heart, if that's possible. And the great thing about her stuff is that it's expressed in an extremely witty, self-aware way - there's nothing sappy about it. She doesn't bleed her broken heart all over you, like many lesser female singer-songwriters (do I have to name names? OK. Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis M., Dido, etc. I could go on and on...). Folks, we're talkin' some extremely wry, sharp,literate stuff...Randy Newman, Loudon Wainwright, Elvis Costello territory...And this one ranks up there in her canon. It's possibly her best and would make a great starting place for someone interested in checking the amazingly talented Ms. Rigby out.Free Music Review: Confessions of a Mad Talent.
Hit: 5 Stars
Amy Rigby is a 44-year-old divorcee with a teenaged daughter. Her mind is sharp, her voice is strong, her hormones are coursing, and her breasts are hanging in there. Her demographic needs all the music it can get, and she's been writing songs from its evolving perspective since 1996's inspired Diary of A Mod Housewife- songs so heartfelt, pointed and shapely that by now her marginality is an ageist outrage. Confessing miserably that she's "colder than a frozen waffle", wondering whether she and her beau are "ever gonna have sex again", announcing that "there's no secret technique to separating me from this dress", finding perfection in a wink and some Chuck Berry, she's writing more consistently than anyone else in Nashville and finding musicians who know it. Her fourth album is her best since her first, and they're all terrific. Only a putz would tell her no.Robert Christgau, MOJO
Free Music Review: One of a kind.
Hit: 5 Stars
Signature ***1/2)It's hard to write a funny song that isn't just a novelty, but Amy Rigby is a master. Her comically pessimistic, self-deprecatingly ironic songs are as amusing on the 10th listen as they are on the first, in part because she can be as bitter ("Why Do I") as she is sweet ("Don't Ever Change").
Til The Wheels Fall Off is Rigby's best album since 1996's great Diary of a Mod Housewife. She's randy and rambunctious even as she deals with parenthood and a penchant for unreliable men. In rootsy songs that range from the Tex-Mex title track (a duet with Todd Snider) to the jaunty piano pop of "The Deal" to the twangy anthem "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" ("We used to be triple x-rated/look at us now, so domesticated"), Rigby dissects desires and doubts with vivacity and humor.
- Steve Klinge
Philadelphia Inquirer