WHO'S GOT TROUBLE?
Shivaree
Like so many other corporate rock casualties, quirky pop trio Shivaree seemed to have vanished after its first major-label disc -- that is, until the release of "Who's Got Trouble?," its first Stateside release in five years.
The trio -- vocalist Ambrosia Parsley, guitarist Duke McVinnie and keyboardist Danny McGough -- won acclaim for its 1999 debut on Capitol Records, but its follow-up was limited to a European release. Until the group settled on Zoe Records (home of other somber-pop, major-label refugees such as Cowboy Junkies and Lisa Loeb), Parsley managed to keep busy in other ways: Her voice is spotlighted on a weekly segment titled "Ambrosia Sings the News" on "The Al Franken Show" on Air America Radio.
With Shivaree, Parsley coos with a plaintive Gwen Stefani-esque baby-girl voice that is balanced by the band's subtly glowing melodies. She is captivating as she pouts outrageous promises like "I should try to be good / Forever and ever" in "Little Black Mess" and seductively laments a lost crush with "Now you'll never know my first kiss / Someone else will" in "Mexican Boyfriend."
Although Parsley's airy vocals might be the most notable thing on "Trouble," the backing instrumentation grounds her with its repetitive simplicity. On "Baby Girls," as Parsley stretches every word, the music behind her fills in the gaps with a soft, brooding melancholy, echoing her gloom while diminishing any possible melodrama. As Parsley whispers her goodbyes with the album-closing "I Will Go Quietly," she leaves behind the hope that it won't be such a long wait before she and Shivaree return.
-- Catherine P. Lewis
SUNDAY NIGHTS:
THE SONGS OF JUNIOR KIMBROUGH
Various Artists
Asharecropper turned moonshiner turned late-life blues icon, Junior Kimbrough was a member of the Fat Possum record label's stable of grizzled, deep bluesmen before his death in 1998. Considering that Kimbrough's unique singing style -- darkly incantatory, almost tribal -- can wreak havoc on casual imitators, the collators of "Sunday Nights" have chosen their artists wisely. Except for the White Stripes -- strangely absent, and strangely missed -- just about every suburban white kid turned blues-inspired indie rocker is accounted for, from the Fiery Furnaces (who turn in a strange, fervent version of "I'm Leaving") to the Blues Explosion to the Black Keys (the vaguely authentic, reliably great "My Mind Is Ramblin' ").
Save for British space-rockers Spiritualized, who contribute a trippy, calamitous take on "Sad Days, Lonely Nights," none of the artists on "Sunday Nights" (its title a reference to the famed weekly jam sessions at Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, Miss.) stray too far from the source material. The famous acts fare well, the more obscure artists (such as the Heartless Bastards, who turn in a crackling "Done Got Old") fare better, and no one really embarrasses themselves, though a reunited Iggy and the Stooges struggle mightily with Kimbrough's signature track, "You Better Run." A rape ballad that ranks with "Under My Thumb" as one of the creepiest and most misogynistic songs ever, it's something that even the mighty Iggy Pop can't do much with, though he covers it twice (opening and closing the album) just to be sure.
-- Allison Stewart
WHAT I MEANT TO SAY
