To Whom It May Concern
The most impressive aspect of Lisa Marie Presley’s debut album “To Whom It May Concern ” is that her lyrics are blatantly confessional on a scale that makes those of Courtney Love look like Kurt Cobain’s widow had taken a vow of silence. From the death of her father when she was 9 years old (“I wish that I had spent just a little more time with you”) to her tabloid marriages to Michael Jackson (“You’re in some blind elation a kind of delusion”) to Nicholas Cage (“When I turned my back you cut my throat”) Lisa Marie lays it out there for the world to see. Such emotional honesty certainly earns our respect especially in this age of carefully packaged pop princesses and the album’s cover shot makes it perfectly clear that nobody ever has to ask Lisa Marie the question “who’s your daddy?”
Unfortunately “To Whom It May Concern” is often as over produced as a Brittney Spears album (remember her?). This is someone surprising given that the album is produced by the likes of Eric Rosse (Tori Amos) Andrew Slatter (Fiona Apple) and Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette) all of whom have worked with artists who refrain from hiding the vocals behind overwhelming layers of music. The opening track “S.O.B.” is a perfect example: it starts off with Presley’s semi-sultry alto vocals and then then the band cranks it up big time. You might have to go back and listen to the song again to see if Lisa Marie said what you think she said in that song (yeah she did). You find the same pattern on “The Road Between ” “Important ” etc. and you have to conclude that these guys must have thought they were covering up limitations of her voice. That might be a concern when you are doing nothing but singing songs written by someone else (classic example Paula Abdul) but not when they are your songs. Besides on “Nobody Noticed It” they dub some nice harmonies that showcase her vocal strengths albeit buried beneath several layers of sound.
Then again sometimes the fault is in the music itself. The first single off of this album “Lights Out ” has a perky tune that sounds AM-radio friendly and it is all about her family “dead and gone” back in Memphis buried “in the damn back lawn.” The problem is that the blistering lyrics are totally mismatched by the aforementioned perky music. Besides it is not one of the better songs on the album; in fact it is my least favorite track at this point. Most of the songs are set at angry girl rock tempo the exception that proves the rule being “So Lovely ” a slow song with a slow guitar dancing around the theme from “Midnight Cowboy.” The bottom line is that on balance Lisa Marie comes out ahead of the game on “To Whom It May Concern.” She also has the advantage of not having come up with such a great first album that she has nowhere to go but down a constant fate in the music business. The big question is now that she has exorcised her demons in song where does she go from here? The tabloids can dissect Michael Jackson and report der King sightings for the rest of her life but Lisa Marie is going to have to move on. This album opens her to new possibilities for doing so.
Würde ich mir sofort kaufen!
Je nachdem welcher Quelle man Vertrauen schenken schenkt hat Lisa Marie Presley skrupellos Umgang spielen lassen um in der Industriezweig Berufslaufbahn zu machen oder sie ist dem Musikbusiness bisher konsequent aus dem Weg gegangen. Ob sie froh oder unglücklich darüber ist dass ihr Visage starke Erinnerungen an ihren Väter wachruft? auf jeden Fall legt die Elvis-Tochter jetzt unterstützt von einigen Größen der Plattenindustrie ihr Debütalbum vor in das ein beträchtlicher Fragment eines schlagzeilenträchtigen Lebens eingeflossen ist (drei gescheiterte Ehen inklusive einer zwei Jahre währenden bizarren Folge in der die Tochter des Kings an der S. von Michi Jackson die Königstochter des Pop gab).
Die erste Junggeselle des Albums “Lights Out” ist ein Popsong mit Folk-Anklängen den Lisa Marie Presley zusammen mit Glen Ballard geschrieben hat. Ihr schonungsloser leicht bitterer Text setzt sich in Anspielungen mit dem erdrückenden Erbe ihres Vaters und mit Memphis auseinander: “That’s where my family’s buried and gone.” Lisa Marie Presleys rauchige Altstimme ist nicht das Einzige was hier an Sheryl Crow erinnert; die kratzige Erzeugung von Andy Slater (Wallflowers) und Eric Rosse (Tori Amos) ist ein Lehrbuchbeispiel für modernen Rock. zu diesem Zweck kommen klug ausgewählte Cover-Versionen die den stimmungsvollen persönlichen Eigenart von Presleys Töne verstärken.
wirklich erwecken all die fremden Federn manchmal den Impression als gäbe die Sängerin nur einen Gastauftritt auf ihrem eigenen Album. Man darf gespannt sein wie sie in dem Ambiente wirkt in dem ihr Paps so oft brillierte: allein im Rampenlicht. Wie weit ein Apfel tatsächlich vom Stiel fällt ist eben schwer vorherzusagen.
Super geil!
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