speeddemon531's Full Review: Identity Crisis by Shelby Lynne
It’s sad that most music fans don’t know who Shelby Lynne is. I only really became familiar with her after she was nominated for a Grammy a few years back for Best New Artist. At that point, being in music retail, I was smart enough to realize that she was definitely no new artist (ah-typical of the boobs at NARAS), but I was intrigued enough to want to buy her then-current “I Am Shelby Lynne”. It didn’t hurt that the album was like $7.99 and she was looking completely foxy on the album cover. At any rate, I took it home and was blown away by Shelby’s southern-fried voice and her musical eclecticism. The songs on the album alternated between rock, blues, country and Aretha-style soul. The album was excellent, Shelby won the Grammy and delivered a gracious acceptance speech in the middle of the Eminem brouhaha-she calmly stated “I stand here tonight representing nothing but music”. Stakes were high for the follow-up.
The follow-up, “Love Shelby” was a bona-fide disaster. Released in the heart of the 2001 holiday season, Shelby got lost in the shuffle. Not to mention that despite a few good songs, Shelby strayed a bit from her usual course and employed slick producer Glen Ballard to pop-ify her sound a bit. Didn’t work. Glen Ballard-good for Alanis & DMB…BAD for everyone else (except for Michael Jackson, for which he composed the #1 hit “Man In The Mirror” for the album “Bad”. Anyway…
Shelby wound up getting dropped by her label and getting signed by Capitol Records. Two years after the ‘Love, Shelby” debacle, she returns with “Identity Crisis”. This album features no collaborators and no pop sheen. Returning Shelby to the countrified, eclectic sound she scored with on “I Am…”
If there’s any way to describe Shelby’s voice and/or musical style from a pop fan’s perspective-think of her as Sheryl Crow’s angrier, wilder twin. There are vocal similarities both vocally and musically, but while Sheryl’s music is based on classic rock in the vein of artists like Fleetwood Mac, Shelby takes her cues from artists froma decade earlier, fusing country, rock and soul into a rich brew and spicing it with confessional lyrics.
“One With The Sun” is a delicately strummed acoustic soul piece which sounds almost like a lullaby, while “I Will Stay” is a pained jazzy ballad played almost solely on acoustic guitar (all guitars on this album are played by Shelby), with intermittent flashes of piano and a string section. The sparse arrangement and Shelby’s soulful vocal performance practically sucks you into the song. The lyrics are actually positive (as Shelby discovers she’s in love with some guy) but the song itself (if youre not paying attention to the lyrics) is slow and mournful.
I don’t know much about Patsy Cline (I’ve heard “Crazy” a couple of times), but on the track “Lonesome”, Shelby provides a spot-on reading of a song that strongly recalls Patsy. It actually recalls some of kd lang’s more country-ish work, and since they say kd recalls Patsy Cline, I guess that it all makes sense somehow. “If I Were Smart” is another beautifully sung and played ballad. 㥶 Rocks” is the closest thing to traditional country on this album. However, I don’t mean Faith Hill or Alan Jackson country, I mean more like Loretta Lynn/Willie Nelson country. The cool thing about Shelby’s music is that it’s timeless. This track, among others, could’ve easily been recorded in 1963, 1983 or 2003.
“Gotta Be Better” is a more aggressive song on which Shelby sort of chant/sings. “My feet are getting wetter/It’s got to be better over there” is the sing-along chorus. About halfway through the song, Shelby bursts into a furious solo. “Buttons & Beaus” is another jazz/country/blues song which begins with the line “Your momma’s a w hore”. The song itself appears to be about a golddigging woman. I bet not a lot of pop stars would begin a song with that line (well, maybe Snoop Dogg, but that’s another story).
In a just world, this would be Shelby Lynne’s comeback album and she’d win tons of awards and sell millions of records. Particularly in a world where someone like Norah Jones can take stripped-down arrangements that reference jazz and country and go on to sell ten million records, this album deserves a shot (and did I mention that Shelby is super hot?) “Identity Crisis” is an excellent piece of work that encompasses several genres of music, all held together by Shelby’s soulful croon and biting lyrical style (although this album may be less lyrically edgy-it’s kinda heavy on the love songs). Anyway you look at it, this album is a must-have for anyone that appreciates good music, regardless of style.
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars
Key tracks: "Lonesome", "Buttons & Beaus", "Gotta Be Better"
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