Amy Rigby - Til the Wheels Fall Off
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Free Music Notes for Til the Wheels Fall Off
Free Music Review: Great for grownups
Hit: 4 Stars
As another New Yorker transplanted to Nashville, I have a special little place in my musical heart for Amy Rigby. I can't compare this CD to her other recordings, as it's the only one I've heard, but it's a good listen. There are a couple of great songs, and the rest is, well, just fine. It's too good to be called filler, but it a little lackluster half the time.The first track uses wordplay seemingly for its own sake. Maybe that's the influence of being around southern songwriters, who do delight in words, as do I. But the protagonist who likes to pull wings off butterflies is unsympathetic. The title track is lyrically uninteresting, and I can't imagine why it's been singled out, but "Shopping Around" is a good relationship song. "Don't Ever Change", on the other hand, is absolutely breathtaking - I can't imagine anyone with a heart being able to listen to it without eyes getting a little moist. "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again" is hilarious and right on target, but I think the reviewer who said it was hard to write a funny song that isn't just a novelty had it right - this song is a (fun) novelty. I'm going to go out on a limb and make an allusion to another semi-obscure middle-aged Nashville songwriter who may be familiar to some Amy Rigby fans. I'd compare this song to Marshall Chapman's "Alabama Bad", not to her "Call the Lamas". It makes you laugh, but doesn't get to the heart of the matter.
"The Deal" is a nice enough whimsical song about the notion of having a relationship without having to compromise, "O'Hare" is a decent song, and "How People Are" is a low point on the CD. But "Even The Weak Survive" is, to me, a brilliant song, and one of a few reasons to buy this CD. The rest of the songs are fine, some, like "Last Request", are better than others, and some sound tailormade for some country star to re-record them.
Overall, I recommend the CD as a chance to hear a good songwriter with a mature viewpoint, a delightful wry sense of humor, and a sometimes-waifish voice that can express the most profound emotions with pure unadorned achiness. I love her voice. There is some truly great songwriting here, the recording is professional, and the instrumentation tasteful. The only drawback is the uneven quality in the songwriting. It never dips below mediocre, and rarely below pretty good, but several, if not half of these songs could easily have been omitted.
Free Music Review: Colder than A Frozen Waffle
Hit: 4 Stars
Amy Rigby's 4th CD is an excellent collection of original material. Her voice is probably not one that will earn her a guest vocal on the next Celine Dion set. However, what it lacks in perfection is made up for with sincerity, warmth and originality. The opener "Why Do I" has Richard Barone doing backing vocals on a track with her trademark original lyrics like, "I'm colder than a frozen waffle" or "I try to suck it up, then I always f**k it up." Amy's lyrics are so creatively offbeat that comparisons are sometimes made to Loudon Wainwright III. The title track is a pulsing guitar-driven tune with Amy's guitar in the right speaker & Duane Jarvis' in the left. "Don't Ever Change" is a funny & charming tune that shows that the people we love aren't perfect; but if we love them, we find their flaws endearing. "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" is a middle-age married anthem. "We've been circling each other like a couple of planes at O'Hare with nowhere to land; If we did, no place to go from there; and you're talking to me like you're handling the dead sea scrolls," Amy sings on the wry humor of "O'Hare," which I suspect is an audience favorite live. "Last Request" is another humorous rocker celebrating last rites rather unsentimentally, "Bye bye baby, looks this is it, I guess I've been a sh*t; I don't expect to be forgiven." Musically, my favorite track is "Believe In You" with its George Harrison-sounding backwards guitar giving an east Indian flavor. Amy concludes with the touchingly sweet "All the Way to Heaven." "Til the Wheels Fall Off" is a consistently excellent set, one of the year's best. Enjoy!Free Music Review: S&M, R&D
Hit: 4 Stars
Amy Rigby is such an original voice she needs her own sub-genre. Not pop/rock. Something like Single Mom, Rock 'n Droll (S&M, R&D).After three poorly-promoted albums for Koch Records, she's landed at Signature Sounds, the boutique Massachusetts label of Richard Shindell, Josh Ritter and the late Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.
Tongue firmly planted, Rigby croons that loneliness feels good to her and that "deep inside I'm awful, colder than a frozen waffle." She's proud to be randy in "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" She's sweet about her beer-bellied boy and her tuned-out daughter in "Don't Ever Change." She even ponders the cosmic with "Believe in You."
While most of the tunes are straight-ahead pop, she throws in a few curves. There's girl group pop in "Shopping Around." Country pop in "Breakup Boots," featuring Will Kimbrough's slide guitar. And the title cut, a duet with Todd Snider, has a Farfisa organ that would make Difford and Tilbrook smile. Throughout, Richard Barone, Bill Lloyd and Duane Jarvis lend a hand.
The lyrics on a few cuts, notably "O'Hare" and "Even the Weak Survive," come across as forced. But overall this may be her best album since "Diary of a Mod Housewife," her out-of-print debut, and it's a good companion to "18 Again," the collection of shoulda-been hits from her first three discs.
Free Music Review: Eclectic, whimsical, soulful folksy, entertaining collection
Hit: 4 Stars
In Til the Wheels Fall Off Amy Rigby provides an eclectic collection of mainly folksy songs that will definitely hit home with the more mature crowd. These are songs of introspection, retrospection and, occasionally, frustration with the complications and pace of life for the middle aged.Rigby's voice has limited musical range but tremendous emotive range. Her voice stands as an excellent barometer for the emotional pressure that builds up in some of these songs, such as Don't ever Change, O'Hare and Even the Weak Survive, as well as an effective emotional counterpoint to her more whimsical entries, such as Are we Ever Gonna Have Sex again.
The sequencing and arrangement of some material on the album gives it a somewhat scattered feeling, creating a sort of rollercoaster emotional feel to the album which I think distracts from its overall effect. That's not a major complaint but it's enough to bump this one down a star in my ratings.
All in all, a very solid little gem of an album, one you will find as incredibly engaging as your teens will find totally boring!
Free Music Review: Late nights with NPR
Hit: 4 Stars
I first heard of Amy Rigby when she was interviewed by NPR; I was driving along I-80. Her album seemed like the perfect soundtrack to driving alone, at night. She so impressed me with the candor of her songs. I bought this album and have not regretted it in the least. 'Don't Ever Change,' 'Break Up Boots,' and 'Even the Weak Survive' continue to be favorites that I'll listen to on repeat, over and over. Her lyrics are smart, snappy, and insightful. I've always been a sucker for lyrics. Rigby's voice sometimes waxes thin and reedy, but her lyrics more than make up for what might be musically lacking.