Nellie McKay - Pretty Little Head
Our Price: $15.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $6.23 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Nellie McKayEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-10-31
Music Label: Black Dove
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Cupcake
- Pink Chandlelier
- There You Are In Me
- Yodel
- The Big One
- G.E.S.
- I Will Be There
- The Down Low
- Long & Lazy River
- I Am Nothing
- Beecharmer
- Swept Away
- Real Life
- Tipperary
- Gladd
- Food
- We Had It Right
- Columbia Is Bleeding
- Lali Est Paresseux
- Happy Flower
- Mama & Me
- Pouncce
- Old Enough
Free Music Notes for Pretty Little Head
Free Music Review: Promising Potential
Hit: 4 Stars
Very, very witty rapid-fire personal and social satire, wrapped in catchy melodies and a vocal style that would win the 1950s and could be great for the occasional retro musical. If one *must* compare to other artists, one might imagine Elvis Costello with a Doris Day style.
But I think one looks at this artist's material thusfar as promising potential rather than perfection in and of itself.
One looks forward to the compositional choices becoming more inviting and more meaningful.
Inviting: When Nora Jones popped onto the scene, her music had something for everyone and very few turn-offs. The lyrics did not require a highly particular sense of humor to appreciate, and the musical style was even-tempered. In contrast, Nellie McKay's choices have resulted in sort of a potpourri, a bit of a jumble -- very musical but idiosyncratically whimsical and very hard to settle into a groove for the entire album. Some individual tunes are similar to the overall style of her albums, which seem to insist on including everything. The cost is what could be a better outcome if a few elements/numbers were better resolved for the context of the overall effect, or left aside for refinement or some later project. In addition, in some cases individual lyrics might be focused to more powerful effect, while mitigating ways in which they might be a turn-off to some listeners.
Meaningful: While truly witty satire is not all that common, it is far more common than the power to make advantageous observations. Assassinations of social norms or obscure individual characters, cleverly done, can be amusing, but are typically not elevating or lasting. In listening to Nellie McKay, one gets the feeling that this person is capable of much more -- of evolving subject matter to beneficially address real-world issues and root causes; that this person's near-focus social commentary reveals a natural aptitude for musical activism or elevation, should she choose. In any case, the artists who stay vibrant are those who are willing to re-invent, who take passionate interest in different approaches at different times (Bob Dylan, Sting, David Bowie, etc., etc.) -- who leverage their versatility to create deep wells of their music and/or who seek to elevate the human soul and condition.
I enjoy "Pretty Little Head" and "Get Away From Me" for their own sakes. However I probably would not have bought them if I did not have a sense that I might be investing in a long, rewarding evolution. If these songs are the results of late teen / early-20s angst, then how wonderful might be the results if their source turns herself to deeper matter! Regardless of that, if Nellie McKay continues to evolve, to follow her evolving her musical and intellectual interests, it should be a thrilling ride!
So far, so good!
Pretty Little Head Poster
Few recording artists follow their double-disc debut with another double-disc collection. Nellie McKay isn't the typical recording artist. The singer/songwriter/activist is a restless talent--with a steely backbone. When Columbia refused to release this 23-track set, McKay took a hike and put it out on her own Hungry Mouse imprint. (The song "Columbia Is Bleeding" isn't about her?former label, rather the treatment of lab animals?at the Ivy League institution.) McKay's creative restlessness brings to mind Robert Pollard and Matt and Eleanor Friedberger, not so much in sound, but in the sense that--for better or for worse--there's nothing she won't try. In?"G.E.S." and "Mama & Me," she raps. In the latter, she quips, "See I been livin' with my mama/since I was an embryo/never had Nintendo/saw a lot of Brecht though." In "Tipperary," the British-born New Yorker torches up the joint music hall-style. Then in "Yodel," she, well,?yodels. What holds it all together is McKay's flexible, appealing pipes. There's a reason she was cast as Polly Peachum in the Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera--the petite blonde oozes charisma. McKay's actress mother, Robin Pappas, served as executive producer on Pretty Little Head, which features charming duets with fellow iconoclasts k.d. lang ("We Had It Right") and Threepenny co-star Cyndi Lauper ("Beecharmer"). As with Get Away from Me, the album is like a seven-course meal; overwhelming if taken in all at once, but there's a little something here for pretty much everyone. --Kathleen C. FennessyJazz Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Sunday Morning Oggcast, June 10, 2007
Nellie McKay - Pretty Little HeadRelease date: 2006-10-31; Music CD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
Midnight Oil - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $36.75
Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a BeastRelease date: 2006-05-09; Music CD
Best price: $12.68
Price in other shops:
Michael Bubl? - Call Me IrresponsibleRelease date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
Bob Dylan - Modern TimesRelease date: 2006-08-29; Music CD
Best price: $6.44
Price in other shops:
Andy Partridge - Fuzzy Warbles Collector's AlbumRelease date: 2006-11-07; Music CD
Best price: $61.98
Price in other shops:
Arab Strap - Ten Years of TearsRelease date: 2006-12-12; Music CD
Best price: $15.12
Price in other shops:
Nelly Furtado - PromiscuousRelease date: 2006-09-05; Music CD
Best price: $2.73
Price in other shops:
Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' SimonRelease date: 2004-07-13; Music CD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
Paris Hilton - ParisRelease date: 2006-08-22; Music CD
Best price: $6.82
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Joanna Newsom - YsRelease date: 2006-11-14; Music CD
Best price: $10.86
Price in other shops:
Nellie McKay - Get Away from MeRelease date: 2004-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $6.40
Price in other shops:
Aimee Mann - One More Drifter in the SnowRelease date: 2006-10-24; Music CD
Best price: $9.89
Price in other shops:
Suzanne Vega - Beauty & CrimeRelease date: 2007-07-17; Music CD
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops:
Rufus Wainwright - Release the StarsRelease date: 2007-05-15; Music CD
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Nellie McKay - Get Away from MeRelease date: 2005-03-29; Music CD
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops:
Rilo Kiley - Under the BlacklightRelease date: 2007-08-21; Music CD
Best price: $9.58
Price in other shops:
Lily Allen - Alright, StillRelease date: 2007-01-30; Music CD
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
Nellie McKay - Get Away from MeRelease date: 2004-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $7.38
Price in other shops:
Nellie McKay - Obligatory VillagersRelease date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops: