Q - L I V I N G
Audiophile
by David Stout. Q-Notes staff
Under the influences
Read any press release promoting a new'
album and you’ll find a paragraph crowing
that the collection was influenced by this leg
endary artist or by that classic album. It’s a
simple, effective way to hook the media and
create buzz among taste-making record buy-
Mandy Moore sheds the last coquettish
vestiges of her former teen stardom on
‘Amanda Leigh.’
ers. After getting burned a few times, though,
you understand that k’s hype and hyperbole
that’s rarely evident in the work.
When I read the promo packets
that arrived with Mandy Moore’s new
album, “Amanda Leigh,” and Diane
Birch’s debut, “Bible Belt,” I couldn’t
stifle an eye-roll for the youthful
artists’ temerity. The former name-
checked all-time greats like CSNY, Joni
Mitchell and Todd Rundgren, while the latter
listed giants Laura Nyro and Carole King as ,
guiding spirits. Mm-hm, riiight.
Well, imagine the stunned look on my face
when I played the discs through in one
enthralling listening session and found the
fingerprints of those respective masters all
over the two releases.
Rundgren is a particular touchstone for
Mandy Moore’s set. The shimmering pop
melodies that buoy “Amanda Leigh”
(Storefront Recordings) — the 25-year-old’s
actual first and middle names — recall the
beauty of “Something/Anything?,” Rundgren’s
double-album masterpiece from ’72.
Opening “Amanda” stunner “Merrimack
River” declares right up front that Moore is
soaring through the rare air of “I Saw The
Light,”“Hello It’s Me” and “The Night The
Carousel Burned Down,” heavenly highlights
from “S/A?.” '
The secret of Moore’s success is Mike
Viola, her producer and co-writer and the
album’s chief instrumentalist. He confidently
guides the singer to full artistic adulthood.
helping her shed the last coquettish vestiges of
her former teen stardom.
Whether she’s singing an aching ballad
(“Everblue”) or a playful pop romp (“I Could
Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week”),
Moore responds with one assured vocal per
formance after the next, ably supported by
Viola’s sterling harmonies and
backgrounds.
Thankfully, the project is never
constrained by the pair’s overt,
potentially staid preoccupation with
artistic growth. Running just below
the surface is a quirkiness (“hahaha,
lalala” refrains, farting Farfisa
organs, clavinet punctuations) that
imbues the set
with life and '
invention.
“Amanda Leigh”
is a winner from
top to bottom.
Singer/song-
writer Diane
Birch hits a
grand slam
homer her first
time at bat with “Bible Belt” (S-Curve). It’s not
a stretch to suggest that, had the album had
been released in the era of “Tapestry” (King)
and “blew York Tendaberry” (Nyro), it would
be regarded as a classic just like those timeless
collections.
The youngest child of an itinerant evangel
ist, Birch spent her youth traveling the globe
(Zimbabwe, South Africa, Australia) soaking
up far-flung experiences most people won’t
encounter in a lifetime.
When the family eventually returned to
America and settled in Portland, Ore., Birch, by
this time a teen, taught
herself to play classical
piano completely by ear.
As she grew, her tastes
expanded to encompass
everything from Delta
Blues and Motown to surf
rock and AM classics.
“Bible Belt” was writ
ten entirely by Birch and
produced by Grammy
winners. Steve Greenberg, soul legend Betty
Wright and Michael Mangini, working as a
team for the first time since producing Joss
Stone’s acclaimed debut and follow-up.
The 13 beautifully-crafted tracks that .
reside on “Bible Belt” are a potent blend of
soul, gospel, pop and blues, deepened and
propelled by Birch’s emotive voice and her.
prodigious work on a variety of keys —
piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Farfisa. Add in
the project’s outstanding melodies and inci
sive lyrics and “Bible Belt” is a stunning
beginning for an artist gifted with a multi
tude of t^ents. I
info: audiophile@q-notes.com
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