The Age, Melbourne, Australia, 1986 or 1987?
Extra Notes column by Paul Speelman
Live -- from a Texas campfire
They don't make albums like this any more -- if indeed they ever did: a Sony Walkman, a packet of batteries, a C90 tape and just the singer and her guitar, with crickets chirping in the background and the noise of an occasional truck rumbling by.
But that is how The Texas Campfire Tapes (Cooking Vinyl, Cook 002, through Another Record) and, for that matter, the Cooking Vinyl independent record label in London, came into being -- around the dying embers of a campfire at the Quiet Valley Ranch festival in the rolling Hills of East Texas.
It also was how a singer called Michelle-Shocked (a play on "shell-shocked", which she was after being arrested at a Republican convention in Dallas) came to be No. 1 on the independent charts in the UK, with as unlikely an album ever to hold that position.
Singer-songwriter Michelle-Shocked, an inveterate roamer and non-conformist, turned up at the festival, but her demo tapes had gone astray and she found herself restricted to a couple of guest spots and sessions around the campfire. It was during one of those sessions that aspiring record label owner Pete Lawrence asked her to record a few songs on his portable Sony.
She not only agreed but she filled up the entire tape and weeks later, back in London, Lawrence was electrified when he casually played back the tape and knew that Cooking Vinyl had its first recording artist.
Michelle-Shocked, meanwhile, had returned to New York, living in a squat and totally unaware of the impact her tape was making. It took Lawrence some considerable time to locate her, by which time the LP was off and running.
On his sleeve notes, Lawrence says his first star has "a gift with words and a turn of phrase unmatched since early Dylan", and he is right. Had he wanted to, he could have gone on to say that there are other obvious influences, like Woody Guthrie, Tom Waits and others and, vocally, Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones.
But this is very much an individual talent and, considering the circumstances of the recording, quite an extraordinary one: she plays the guitar unhesitatingly and unpretentiously, her voice is note-perfect and doesn't falter, even in these primitive conditions, and she has great lyrical dexterity combined with emotional depth, with most of her tales set to the blues of the roads she has travelled most of her life.
Titles like The Ballad Of Patch Eye And Meg, The Secret To A Long Life (Is Knowing When It's Time To Go), (Don't You Mess Around With) My Little Sister give some idea of her material, while simpler titles like Stepping Out, Fogtown, The Complete Image and Who Cares hide some real musical delights.
As I said, they don't make albums like this any more.
Los Angeles Times, 14 August 1988
Record Rack: Making A Place For Shocked
*** 1/2 MICHELLE SHOCKED. "Short Sharp Shocked." PolyGram.
Folk up-and-comer Michelle Shocked has this habit of writing the most anecdotal, specific kinds of songs, then subtly slipping in a couple of zinger lyrics of quasi-philosophical general impact as if they were throwaway lines.
Thus, while Shocked spends most of the quiet, acoustic "Memories of East Texas" in a benign recollection of learning to drive on treacherous back roads, it's easy to miss the telling flash-forward to the future: "Their lives ran in circles so small / They thought they'd seen it all / And they could not make a place for a girl who'd seen the ocean..."
East Texas' loss is the world's gain. Shocked is a decent poet and real vocal marvel. For her second album, and her first real "production," she's hooked up with producer/arranger Pete Anderson. Considering that he's known for helming Dwight Yoakam and other country projects, there's not much hillbilly in "Short Sharp Shocked." Whether it's country, folk or blues, Anderson keeps it simple, clean and quite rich, eschewing much percussion and leaning heavy on the acoustic.
Shocked's voice -- as in chops, and as in sensibility -- is still key. Her mature singing is a dead ringer, in alternate moments, for as diverse a pair of crooners as Chrissie Hynde and Jennifer Warnes.
One moment, Shocked is in a lighthearted end of Texas; the next, she's telling of a New York graffiti artist who died in police custody. One minute she's herself, reading a letter from an old pal in Anchorage who's become a housewife; the next, she's the son of a coal miner, hating memories of the black dust but hating even more the poverty that has taken over after the mine closed.
Miss it at your own peril. It's the next best thing to Route 66.
-- CHRIS WILLMAN
The Age, Melbourne, Australia, 8 December 1988
Shocked is even sharper
by Mike Daly
It has country at its heart, but there are liberal amounts of folk and rock in the music of a whole new species of American singer/songwriter. New albums from people like Michelle Shocked and Steve Earle cross the boundaries laid down by radio programmers and critics.
Less than two years ago, word spread about an amazing talent called Michelle Shocked (her surname was adopted as a protest against the mother who had her committed to a mental institution "until the insurance money ran out") with the independent release of The Texas Campfire Tapes, a sort of hitch-hiker's guide to US folk music, recorded on a Walkman by an Englishman.
The title of her follow-up album, Short Sharp Shocked (Mercury 834924-1) is a pointed reference to the institutional experience. It appears on the surface to be a different proposition than that that of her extraordinary debut: backed by a major label, recorded in the studio with several members of Dwight Yoakam's band, led by Yoakam producer and electric guitarist Pete Anderson, plus country and folk heavies like Al Perkins (dobro) and Byron Berline (mandolin).
Despite this, and the music's heavier rock accent, there is no mistaking that sharp, motivated wit or the melodic flair Short Sharp Shocked is, in turn, nostalgic, joltingly horrific, sad and humorous. It is, above all, an honest, revealing self-portrait and a delight from start to finish. And for guitarists, the song lyrics include keys -- a nice, old-fashioned touch.
The most effective songs are autobiograpical: Memories Of East Texas provides a revelatory vignette of small-town life in the South, backed by guitar, mandolin and fiddle; the laconic excitement of (Making The Run To) Gladewater (with some tasty Perkins dobro); and the sad, gentle Anchorage, an organ-backed song in letter form, describing the inevitable drift of an old friendship.
The harmonica and guitar blues Graffiti Limbo was written for a New York graffiti artist killed in police custody, while a grinding rock version of Fogtown (a song that appeared on the first LP) is curiously not listed on this album cover.
She taps acoustic folk roots on her own Black Widow, with a delicately hammered dulcimer and guitar backing, and Jean Ritchie's beautiful lament, The L & N Don't Stop Here Any More. But the songs most likely to stick in the memory are the pulsating opener, When I Grow Up, a teenage girl's rambling fantasy set to a slow swamp beat with bursts of harmonica anchored by Domenic Genova's acoustic bass, and the raunchy metaphors of If Love Was A Train, continuing the rail theme.
The Age, Melbourne, Australia, 9 December 1988
BEST NEW ALBUMS
SHORT SHARP SHOCKED
Michelle Shocked (Polygram)
There is hardly a wasted note on this taut album from Texan-born Michelle Shocked. Her songs are tales from her life, told as if she and the listener were sitting around the campfire passing around a bottle of Jim Beam. Shocked has Texan hayseed roots but appears now to be a streetwise city-dweller, who, as the cover photo will testify, has known her share of political action.
She sings country'n'western, rock and roll, ballads and a little bit of blues all with the same sweet, sharp voice. She controls it impeccably, stretching it out and cutting it short like a piece of elastic. And she is helped by a fine bunch of musicians including Dwight Yoakim's producer Pete Anderson, who add acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin and more. Best songs? Try '(Making the Run to) Gladewater' and 'Graffiti Limbo'. But it will be hard to beat 'When I Grow Up' and her image of an old man and wife raising 120 babies on "tigers milk and green bananas".
-- SUZY FREEMAN-GREENE
The '80s folk revival yielded a diversely talented generation, some reared on the aesthetic and ideology of punk, some on their '60s singer/songwriter predecessors. They were looking for the directness of expression and connection with audience that stripped acoustic music promised. Michelle Shocked built an audience through her strident activist messages and raw, almost naked songs; she had the sincerity that the audience craved. Despite the militant cover -- in which a cop is seen choking a protesting Shocked -- the record is memorable for its reveries of childhood, its simple sense of hope, and Shocked's minimalist guitar and hoarse, youthful voice. -- Roy Francis Kasten
Emap Consumer Magazines Limited
Following the unlikely success last year of a whimsical set of strums and hums recorded on a Sony portable in a field in Texas, darling buskeuse of the folk roots movement Michelle Shocked has been prevailed upon to make a proper record. Sent off to Los Angeles and Dwight Yoakam's producer Pete Anderson for the purpose, she has come back with a fine result which amply defines her strengths as a singer-songwriter and at the same time reveals her as much too rowdy and idiosyncratic to fit comfortably in that category.
There is none of the poised, urbane angst of Tracy Chapman or Suzanne Vega here. This isn't to suggest that Michelle Shocked can't be serious or deeply moving, just that she can't abide cliched posturing or standard protest. "Graffiti Limbo", a tale about a graffiti artist who died at the hands of the New York subway police, has a formidable satiric grace in the telling which brilliantly understates the sense of horror it conveys. "Memories" - a what-on-earth-have-I-been-doing-with-my-life sort of number - is full of acute observations about the East Texan landscape and wry, symbolical jokes about the state of the roads which earth the lilting sentimentality of the tune.
Lyrics are its longest suit, but where this album hits hardest is in the playful unpredictability of Pete Anderson and Michelle Shocked's arrangements. "When I Grow Up", the opener on side one introduces a jazzy, acoustic bass shuffle then starts bouncing miscellaneous sound inserts around beneath the vocal. From here it's pretty much all stops to the thrash metal finale at the end of side two, "Fogtown".
You will, along the way, come across hammered dulcimers chiming sweetly away on one song, then find scruffy, bar band blues combos, or frantic country fiddles taking it up on the next. And there is plenty of adroit finger picking to frame an exquisite tripping melody like "Anchorage", with some well distributed harp and acoustic slide parts on hand to sharpen things up and keep cosy folkiness at bay.
Like a lot of what it says the Michelle Shocked voice has a casual, throwaway elegance. A less nervy version of the sound you associate with Joni Mitchell it expresses a nice interplay of toughness and vulnerability, coolness and engagement. It doesn't plead, it never whinges but would like to have a word with you. Listen to it. -- Robert Sandall
The Age, Melbourne, Australia, 27 November 1989
New Notes column by Mike Daly
Michelle Shocked might shock a few of her followers with Captain Swing, but I doubt the move to bigger, brassy western swing and country blues arrangements will come as a surprise to most people.
Shocked has given producer/guitarist Pete Anderson his head with the arrangements and let the varied stylistic influences flow, as she says, "like the Mississippi River". Her musical motives are succinctly explained by the throwaway quote on the back cover: "Swing is a feeling... Everything else is just style."
The music actually springs from the singer's southern country roots, it just operates on a larger scale. And the lyrical content occasionally cuts deep -- on God Is a Real Estate Developer, for example, a brassy blues with a ironic theme linked to Shocked's experiences as a squatter and activist, and on the cool, jazzy Streetcorner Ambassador.
The track that really sums up this album is The Cement Lament, a carefree, late night stroll through '40s swing with a neat brass backing and casual vocal chorus. The musicians sound as if it's fun to be there. Even the preceding big-baad blues, Sleep Keeps Me Awake, with impassioned soloing by Lawrence, is really just a tongue-in-cheek workout on the theme of insomnia.
Conflicting emotions rule On the Greener Side and Silent Ways, two tales of romance with a bitter edge. The first has a rhythmlc, New Orleans lilt with a strong Nashville guitar lead from Anderson, the second is western swing laced with fiddle and mandolin. The tremulous irony of Looks Like Mona Lisa (Smells Like Tuna Fish) is laid on too thick, but Must Be Luff is sheer Dixieland delight, quite apart from its outrageous pun.
The brash rockabllly (Don't You Mess Around WIth) My Little Sister is a feminine answer to the old Elvis Presley hit, Little Sister (revived by Ry Cooder), and liberation rules with a vengeance on Too Little Too Late. Shocked signs off with an unscheduled track (as she did on the previous Short, Sharp Shocked), an "impromptu" folk-blues guitar duet with Anderson -- complete with the noise of a guitar being plugged in -- entitled either Russian Roullette or You Win, You Lose.
The Tech, 4 May 1990
Michelle Shocked disappoints, Hitchcock entrances
LIVE
Michelle Shocked.
Mercury Records.
EYE
Robyn Hitchcock.
A & M and Twin/Tone Records.
By DEBORAH A. LEVINSON
I HAVE A WEAKNESS for acoustic albums. There's a certain raw power to an unembellished voice over plucked, steel-stringed guitars. That's why I am so disappointed with Michelle Shocked's EP, Live, and why I am so entranced by Robyn Hitchcock's Eye.
Michelle Shocked's first album, The Texas Campfire Tapes, was about as simple as an acoustic album could get -- it was recorded on a Sony Walkman with weak batteries, the sounds of crickets and passing trucks audible in the silence between verses or songs. Only one of the songs from that album ("5 am in Amsterdam") appears on Live, and it's by far the most satisfying of the four tracks. There's no roughness, only Shocked's sweet, pure voice over a guitar's broken chords. (Frankly, the guitar line sounds very much like James Taylor.)
The other songs are drawn from Shocked's latest LP, Captain Swing, which concentrated on swing and big-band arrangements. Shocked's thin soprano was drowned out by the horns on that album, and so it is on Live. For all the energy she projects, her voice just isn't strong enough to make it over the combined efforts of trumpets, trombones, slide guitar, and thumping bass. She sounds uncomfortable with the blues arrangement on "Sleep Keeps Me Awake," not surprising since her voice isn't strong enough (nor has enough character to it) for the blues.
When she's got background singers to help her harmonize, as in "On the Greener Side," she does a lot better. She's really a coffeehouse singer, though, and only gets lost in "(Don't You Mess Around With) My Little Sister," which appears in acoustic form on The Texas Campfire Tapes and fully fleshed-out on Captain Swing. Put simply, Shocked can't hold her own against a full band.
THE ABILITY TO HOLD ONE'S OWN against a band has never been a problem for Robyn Hitchcock. The ex-Soft Boy usually records with his group the Egyptians rather than producing solo albums. Eye is his first acoustic album since 1986's I Often Dream of Trains, but Hitchcock has been performing songs from the former album since his 1988 solo tour. I remember hearing "Executioner," "Raining Twilight Coast," and "Agony of Pleasure" at concerts two years ago, and I've been waiting ever since for them to show up on vinyl. (Yes, vinyl; the LP isn't dead yet!)
Like I Often Dream of Trains, Eye's only instrumentation is acoustic guitar and piano. Hitchcock uses the sparse arrangements as a framework for his frequently bizarre lyrics about love, relationships, and sexuality. "Queen Elvis" -- the previously unreleased title track from Hitchcock's last album -- deals with transvestites, and "Agony of Pleasure" is even more blunt about its subject:
In agony of pleasure
I crumble to my knees
I lick your frozen treasure
You cup my furry beast.
Another long-lost title track also appears on Eye -- "Flesh Cartoons" was the original title for Hitchcock's 1988 album, Globe of Frogs.
Most of Hitchcock's love songs are simple and sentimental in a naive sort of way. In "Beautiful Girl," he sings, "I'm in love with a beautiful girl/Well, I hope she's in love with whom I think she's in love/'Cause I'm in love with a beautiful girl." "Executioner," however, is far more vicious; describing a failed relationship.
Hitchcock snarls, "You're the executioner."
As a guitarist, Hitchcock alternates between shimmering Roger McGuinnisms and delicate broken chords, as in "Raining Twilight Coast." The only instrumental, "Chinese Water Python," is as measured as a medieval dance and as gentle as "Cathedral" from I Often Dream of Trains.
Eye lacks the lyrics-from-outer-space goofiness of I Often Dream of Trains, making it one of Hitchcock's most solid albums. But for those who miss the sheer strangeness of songs like "Furry Green Atom Bowl," there's "Certainly Clickot," in which Hitchcock ad-libs lines like "Dover, get undressed/This car is parked on a sponge" and "She uncorked herself, teeth spilling from her nostrils" over the repeated vocal counterpoint "She's certainly clickot/She's certainly cool."
As an added bonus, Eye includes a Hitchcock short story, "Legend of the South Wight, 2: The Glass Hotel," about a palatial glass hotel anchored to the ground by an attic full of melons.
Michelle Shocked and the Captain Swing Band appear at the Opera House this Saturday with Poi Dog Pondering and John Wesley Harding. Robyn Hitchcock has set no Boston tour dates. -- DL
Copyright 1990 by The Tech. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published on Friday, May 4, 1990.
Volume 110, Number 24
The story was printed on page 9.
This article may be freely distributed electronically, provided it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice, but may not be reprinted without the express written permission of The Tech. Write to archive@the-tech.mit.edu for additional details.
The Daily Telegraph, 18 April 1992
The Arts: Travelin' Hillbilly
By Charles Shaar Murray
Some weeks ago, Michelle Shocked gave the keynote address for South By Southwest - a music-business conference in Austin, Texas - and delivered a less than coherent diatribe on the subject of blackface minstrelsy as a metaphor for the entire history of the 20th-century American popular music, from Al Jolson to Vanilla Ice via Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger and the Beastie Boys.
Race relations in America, she seemed to be suggesting, were so thoroughly tainted that it was an act of profound intellectual and moral dishonesty for a white American to perform any music whatsoever other than Arkansas fiddle tunes. Fortunately, her new album Arkansas Traveler makes considerably more sense than her speech. A musical travelogue covering not only most of the US but Ireland and Australia too, it fields the most mind-boggling assortment of guest stars this side of a John Lee Hooker album. Nevertheless, despite the presence of - to name but a few - Don Was, Pop Staples, Doc Watson, Jimmy Driftwood, Clarence "Gatemouth Brown", Taj Mahal, Hothouse Flowers, and Albert Lee (not to mention one ex-Eagle and two former members of The Band), Shocked never risks losing control of her own record.
An archetypal folkie (which means that she combines a traditional repertoire with a radical agenda), she is capable of juxtaposing a pickin'-and-grinnin' to the joys of making your own strawberry jam with a ballad as compelling as Prodigal Daughter, which points out the dichotomy between the receptions of a young male sower of wild oats and a girl upon whom said oats were sown.
Arkansas Traveler is also sequenced and mixed with sufficient ingenuity to remain intensely enjoyable even to those for whom a small sprinkling of fiddles and mandolins is more than sufficient; and yes, Jim Crow is included: it is, after all, the ideological core of the record. However, it sounds considerably better with the participation of Taj Mahal. Mind you, most things do. Two minutes' silence, if you will, for the Beastie Boys. The masters of 1980s-style suburban white brat-rap, having fallen on their acne'd countenances with an inventive but poorly received second album, now attempt to revitalise their career by dusting off the guitars, bass and drums which they played in their pre-rap incarnation as punk rockers.
Theoretically, the current alliance between hardcore guitar thrash and radical gangsta rap - as exemplified by Public Enemy's collaboration with Anthrax and Ice-T's thrash-metal venture with Body Count - should provide the ideal opportunity for the Beasties to demonstrate that their "roots" include Led Zeppelin and the Sex Pistols (as well as Ted Nugent, Sly Stone and the Clash).
They deliver several good jokes, including a startling Bob Dylan sample dropped into So Whatcha Want; Pass The Mic proves that their snotty, whining ensemble-rapping style is intact, and their beginners'-exercise attempts at heavy rock, dub reggae and funk-metal indicate that their instrumental "chops" are not entirely risible.
Still, this album finds The Beasties in uncomfortable transition: grown too sophisticated to represent their old brat constituency, but insufficiently smart to interest anybody else. No analogies with the Labour party, please.
From the biracial London quartet Two Tribes there comes tough talk on ethnic stereotyping, political disillusion, the immigrant dilemma and wrongful imprisonment - matched by some equally tough funk-metal workouts.
The even tougher sentiments of the Beautiful South come deceptively cloaked in traditional classic-pop manoeuvres more familiar from the salad days of Elton John and the Beatles, but are no less effective for that. However, the Beautiful South emulate these influences at their most intimate, whereas Tears for Fears have always drawn on the Fab Four and The Bald One at their most grandiose and convoluted. Their Greatest Hits are indeed tuneful and danceable, but as empty as campaign promises. Disco-diva Kym Sims's aerobic mating calls scarcely outdo Tears For Fears for insight and profundity, but at least she's enjoying herself. Does Michelle Shocked approve of John Hammond? He's been singing in that cultivated field-hand voice for so long that it is now utterly part of him. Got Love If You Want It is low-key city blues that catches fire only when John Lee Hooker appears for a duet, but it glows warm throughout.
And two blues anthologies with which to wrap (as opposed to "rap") up: a rowdy assortment of live performances, recorded at Antone's Night Club in Austin, delivers Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, James Cotton and similar luminaries in smoking form; while the Demon label offers a sampler of its catalogue, fielding Dr John, Joe Louis Walker, Hooker, Hammond and Rush, Rory Gallagher and George Thorogood. Altogether, about as much wanging, danging and doodling as the most discerning blunatic could demand.
Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1992
RECORD RACK: *** 1/2 MICHELLE SHOCKED, "ARKANSAS TRAVELER" MERCURY
Travel is a waste if the feet move but the mind stands still. On her fourth album, Shocked goes searching for musical folkways by recruiting 14 different star-studded, tradition-minded ad-hoc bands in 13 different cities and towns. It could have been a recipe for genre-hopping gimmickry, but Shocked travels with purpose.
She's not just out to join the likes of Doc Watson, Taj Mahal, Pops Staples, Gatemouth Brown, Alison Krauss and Hothouse Flowers for a sampling of their respective idioms. Instead, her songs raise fundamental questions about how communities cohere, how culture and personal experience get passed along and what the musician's role in that might be.
The journey proceeds out of modern confusion as Shocked, playing fetching contemporary folk-pop, traverses Los Angeles' urban grid in "Come a Long Way," making little sense of its disconnected, unstable jumble. Forthwith, she lets geography and style take her to earlier times and smaller, simpler places, the better to think things through.
Avoiding nostalgic bliss, Shocked remains alert to the fundamental sadness of life, as well as the racism and sexual double standards woven into the traditions she explores. But in her travels she never loses sight of the need for humor and fun, the value of storytelling and the sheer pleasure that comes when great players start fiddlin' around.
New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).
--Mike Boehm
The Daily Yomiuri, Tokyo, 9 May 1992
Modern Folk, On The Road
by Jeff McCulley
Nowadays folk music isn't as obvious an influence on rock and roll as it once was, but singers such as Suzanne Vega, Billy Bragg and John Wesley Harding are keeping the tradition vibrant by mixing it with newer forms. As is Michelle Shocked, whose new album Arkansas Traveler (Mercury) might be the greatest old-meets-new blend since the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's epochal Will The Circle Be Unbroken.
But where that album sounded quite a bit like the bluegrass heroes it was a tribute to, Shocked's carries the clear stamp of her personality. The Texas singer/songwriter made her mark in 1988 with Short Sharp Shocked's pairing of punk protests and folk stylings, then ventured into country swing for her next album. On Arkansas Traveler she's backed by a revolving cast of musicians old and new.
It's a road album -- most of the songs written from a wanderer's point of view -- that was, fittingly, recorded on the road. Shocked drove a Winnebago around the United States, recording wherever she found the musicians she wanted (and she went to Ireland for a track with the Hothouse Flowers and to Australia for one with the Messengers).
These songs celebrate the satisfying feeling of being in motion, like that described in "Come A Long Way," a breezy vignette of an all-day motorcycle ride so fulfilling that in the end the singer gives her bike away. "33 RPM Soul," recorded with gospel/soul great Roebuck "Pops" Staples, is another ode to rambling.
On "Prodigal Daughter" Shocked gives the time-worn image of the prodigal son a new spin by injecting the female point of view. "When a daughter comes home/With the oats he's sown/It's draw your shades and your shutters," she sings, backed by fiddler Alison Krauss and Union Station. The song is one of many on the album Shocked wrote to a traditional tune, in this case "Cotton Eyed Joe." She also does "Soldier's Joe" as the addict soldier's lament "Shaking Hands" with roots rockers Uncle Tupelo, "Cripple Creek" as "Contest Coming" with the Red Clay Ramblers, and a swinging, horn-rich "Frankie and Johnny" as "Hold Me Back" with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and his band.
Folk instrumentation shines throughout, especially on "Blackberry Blossom," featuring flatpick ace Norman Blake. The songs with the young bands, like "Shaking Hands" and "Weaving Way," recorded with the Messengers, fare just as well. And with Shocked chiming in on mandolin, the Hothouse Flowers make "Over The Waterfall" into a hybrid jig/hoedown.
Only a couple songs fail to click: "Jump Jim Crow" wastes Taj Mahal (instead of singing he grunts), and the hot bluegrass jam in the title track can't redeem it from the tiresome "traveler/farmer" exchanges employed as vocals. (Sample: "Farmer, where does this road go?" "Been here all my life, and it ain't gone nowhere yet.")
Still, Arkansas Traveler is an ambitious album that shows folk music has plenty to offer modern rock.
Kellman's Real Music Review, 1 October 1996
Michelle Shocked
Arkansas Traveler, 1992
Genre - Traditional American Music, Folk, Rock & Roll
Michelle Shocked is the classic enigma within a riddle within a puzzle (or whatever). Nobody ever knows what to expect from this talented, original, strong-headed singer songwriter.
Arkansas Traveler is her Grammy award winning salute to traditional acoustic music styles. She is joined by many current stalwarts of traditional music and folk-rock. Included are Pops Staples, Byron Berline, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band (the original Americana band), The Red Clay Ramblers, Uncle Tupelo, Taj Majal, Doc Watson, Nancy & Norman Blake, and Alison Krauss.
Michelle's ability to produce a coherent album incorporating so many musicians and influences is in itself admirable. The album is more than coherent though. Every song is a keeper and each for a different reason. It effortlessly flows from rockers (Come A Long Way) to great story songs (Shaking Hands) to vocal songs (Hold Me Back) to great jams (Strawberry Jam) and songs with all of the above (Prodigal Daughter). In Strawberry Jam, Michelle shows just how anti-establishment she is as she implores us, through metaphor, to pick up our own musical instruments and close down the corporate music factories.
Cyberrific, 28 November 1999
http://www.cyberrific.com/Michelle Shocked - Arkansas Traveler
Mercury Records 314 512 101-2. Rating: ****1/2
Great Albums of the Nineties
Taking Nick Lowe's Subversive Pop Theory to the nth degree (i.e., a record becomes subversive once you say it is), Michelle Shocked came up with a fantastic record of American Southern music. She made it subversive by making the claim that all of the music - covering folk, hillbilly, blues, soul, and rock - derived from black minstrel music. Not being a musicologist, I am not qualified to agree or disagree. No matter. This is a great record.
Recorded all over the country, particularly the south, this record does reek of Americana. Michelle teamed up with a glittering array of talent in the folk, bluegrass, blues, soul and pop world. Michelle uses her crew deftly - she plays to their strengths, and they in turn provide complementary backing.
Jump Jim Crow/Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah is the one song that comes closest to being a black minstrel song. Blues great Taj Mahal provides inspired backing on the guitar and vocals as well. Arkansas Traveler (the title cut) is vaudeville/minstrel with a toe-tapping old-fashioned country fiddle and banjo backing. Contest Coming (cripple creek) shows that what we call hillbilly music has its roots in Ireland and Scotland. Strawberry Jam is a slightly naughty song done with Doc Watson, Mark O'Conner, and Jerry Douglas. Prodigal Daughter, a duet with Alison Krauss, turns the table on the prodigal son story - how would the wayward pregnant daughter be treated? I think we know the answer. Just when it seems the song is about to end, Krauss's band, Union Station turns in an astounding three minute jam session.
Other highlights include The Band-like Secret to a Long Life (with Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Albert Lee), and Shaking Hands - recorded with Uncle Tupelo.
Arkansas Traveler is a record that rewards with multiple plays. This album will take a little getting used to. I knew when I first heard this record, that it was going to take awhile to absorb and digest. But to use an apt analogy, The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street was under-rated for many years, and is now regarded as their ultimate take on America, and their best record. Once you start absorbing the various musical styles, it all starts to makes sense.
Scratch, November 1996
Michelle Shocked
Kind Hearted Woman
Private Music/BMG
Michelle Shocked makes soul music. Not in the conventional sense; you wouldn't, say, put her on a bill with Patti LaBelle and Teddy Pendergrass. But Kind Hearted Woman, Shocked's latest, speaks to the same places in the heart, touches the same raw spots and riles up the same fiery emotion.
There are lots of different kinds of soul music. Blues. Country. Folk. Punk. Each has embraced the experience of generations of people in different times, places, ages and skins. Shocked plays them all; she writes songs about strength and hardship, and her guitar is multilingual.
She speaks like a soul that's been through a thousand lifetimes, whose penance and consolation is to tell those stories. Whether a grieving mother in "A Child Like Grace," a frustrated farmer in "Winter Wheat" or a widow by the railroad tracks in "Homestead," she conjures characters, one after another, to cry on your shoulder, wrap an arm around you or tell you a tale on the back porch rocker.
And she's never been one to do things the easy way. She kicks off the album with "Stillborn," an agonizing lament that's wrenching but hardly accessible. She'd rather hit you in the face with the rough stuff right away, let you know you can't be comfortable for too long. Shocked displays her sense of humor now and then, but she is first and foremost a protest singer (though, like every other adjective used to describe her music, this one too should be taken loosely). You'll enjoy the music, but you're gonna have to take the pain with the pleasure.
Hang in there; the pleasure will come. The rollicking mischief of "Eddie," the sweet love offering of "Silver Spoon," the self-deprecating laughter of "The Hard Way" or the wistful defiance of "No Sign of Rain" display Shocked's School-of-Hard-Knocks diploma along with the strength and humor she needed to graduate.
Kind Hearted Woman's greatest strength is the music itself. Too many folk-type singers these days get caught up in their politics to the detriment of the tunes that carry them. Not Shocked. Backed by a band that includes Peter O'Toole and Fiachna O'Braonain of Hothouse Flowers, Shocked pays attention to the notes emanating from her guitar (not to mention her miraculous voice). She pours her heart into her music as much as she does her lyrics, an admirable feat for a poet of her caliber.
Of course, purists of any stripe aren't likely to worship at her altar. Michelle Shocked peppers her compositions with elements of blues, country, rock, folk and punk, and blends them into a refreshing but strange brew. Doesn't matter what's in it, though. The heart will recognize it for what it is -- soul music.
Real Groove, 1996
MICHELLE SHOCKED
Kind Hearted Woman
(BMG)
Loved Short, Sharp Shocked and the associated live show, thought Captain Swing and Arkansas Traveller were contrived at best, and then met the lady when she toured this latest album in the middle of her bitch with her then-record-company. Along with others in the group that spent time with her I thought she was a right snotty little cow with a real attitude problem that spilled over into her live show. So with that in mind the last thing I wanted to do was enjoy this record. Unfortunately life is cruel and although much darker than any of her other work, with Kind Hearted Woman Shocked has written and recorded a work of near genius. This is an album dedicated to the underdog, the kind of mid-west loser usually found in the songs of Bruce Springsteen. Whether it's the world weary midwife of "Stillborn," the lonely widowed farmer's wife of "Homestead" or the highway gypsy of "No Sign of Rain" Shocked's characters are real to the point of being scary. Let's hope that now she's found a new label that she's happy with she can save the misery for the songs and leave the rest of us mere mortals to sit back and marvel at her talent. (9)
Kevin Byrt
People Online, 4 November 1996
KIND HEARTED WOMAN
Michelle Shocked
Playing in a musical league of her own, Michelle Shocked is one of America's very few pop performers who are truly graced by inspiration. Her songs, though almost always freighted with political implications, are as deeply, intelligently personal as '90s pop music gets. As she proved with "Anchorage", her hit single from her 1988 album Short Sharp Shocked, she is capable of writing radiantly serene songs. But with a taut, three-piece backing band helping turn her terse, shadow-flooded poems into stripped-down, driving rock and roll, there is little on Kind Hearted Woman that can be called serene. "Stillborn", about a stillbirth's effect on a midwife, is scary, with intimations of insanity; in "A Child like Grace", death steals a beloved daughter. Not exactly cheerful, but exhilarating, as only perfectly crafted and performed distillations of complex emotions can be. (Private Music)
TONY SCHERMAN
Microsoft MusicCentral, 7 November 1996
Michelle Shocked
Kind Hearted Woman
** (2 of 5 stars)
On "Stillborn," the opening cut of Michelle Shocked's first album in four years, she tells of a midwife who sinks into mourning after delivering a lifeless baby. Midway through the song, and again at its end, Shocked lets out a slow, tormented howl that grows louder and more tortured as it goes on -- and on, and on.
Presumably, it's a cry that represents the whole of human suffering. But, as presented, all it evokes is a wince.
On her four preceding albums, Shocked balanced p.c. righteousness with humor and an exuberant performance style. Even at her most pious, she would make room to dance while maintaining a sense of strong structure and a knack for sprightly rhythms.
But, as the song says, Kind Hearted Woman is stillborn from the start, snuffed by laggard tempos and heavy-handed arrangements. Most songs crawl along to a colorless electric guitar, although Fiachna O'Braonain and Peter O'Toole occasionally add slight accompaniment to the indolent procession.
Shocked has spent most of the '90s fighting to get out of a contract with the record company that released her previous three albums. For the past two years, she's been selling a version of Kind Hearted Woman on the road, eventually raising enough funds on her own to re-record the tracks with producer Bones Howe. Finally wiggling free of her obligations to Mercury Records (the company will release a greatest hits compilation with her cooperation before the end of the year), Shocked has now set up shop with California-based Private Music.
The bulk of the new songs concern pioneering women caught in dire, one-dimensional dramas. Besides the midwife, there's a 35-year-old widow trying to sustain a prairie homestead against difficult odds; a farmer fearing disaster while awaiting a traveling crew of wheat harvesters; and a mother bemoaning the premature death of an effervescent four-year-old.
Toward the end of the album, Shocked lightens up slightly. The energy rises to a lazy jauntiness, and the singer displays some of the entertaining intelligence that enlivened earlier efforts. The album ends on a promising note with the buoyant "No Sign Of Rain."
The Texas native has always been restless artists. Maybe her next musical persona will arrive with a pulse.
Michael McCall
tap online, 1996
Kind Hearted Woman
CD review by E.M. Hedge
The last year in American music history should go down -- quite literally -- as one of the most depressing ever. Our pop of choice has been bleak, self-loathing and world-hating, a fetid, rotten meal laid out on a tarnished platter for tablesful of fork-pounding Xers.
Consider Michelle Shocked gloriously uninvited to this dreadful dinner party.
Shocked's new CD, Kind Hearted Woman, has been a long time in the making -- a long, difficult, obstructed, impacted time. It seems that the process of creating the CD was, for Shocked, akin to pulling a tooth; getting it promoted and released was rather like trying to make that tooth fit back into the open, bleeding gum from which it was ripped.
She doesn't say exactly what her problems were with her former record company, Mercury, but what she does allude to doesn't sound pretty: "I was taken behind closed doors in the Business Affairs department of Mercury Records and told, point blank, 'This label is never going to promote your records because you cut too good a deal for yourself.'"
Cut too good a deal for herself? What did that mean? That she asked for too much? That she had too much freedom to create her music, to follow her vision? That what she followed, and what she recorded, ended up being a completely non-mainstream breath of totally fresh life into the music world?
Hm. And they didn't like that. How this age's slash-and-burn-yourself pop icons have come to be is suddenly making a very sick kind of sense: be an MTV poster child, sign your contracts, and relax.
That image is not for Shocked -- not now, not ever. Her music has always placed her in grey areas; her own bio says she's been overmarketed as a 'curious folk-cultural throwback,' a more-or-less mainstream delegate from the roots of folk and blues. Something quaint. Something to consume.
But that's not her image anymore.
You might not see many typical GenXers rushing down to the local CD store to buy Kind Hearted Woman. As usual, Shocked's tunes are more old-school VH-1 than today's MTV heavy rotation; one would be hard-pressed to pick even one song for a radio single. They're not even very high on the catchiness quotient. There are her characteristic keening on "Stillborn," the 'Mary had a baby' mantra of "A Child Like Grace," the home-hitting 'Oh the troubles I've known' theme of "The Hard Way."
But they're just not songs that'll get really stuck in your head. They're more the type that you can listen to, over and over, and feel every time like it's the first time you've heard it; the words are so full, and the rhythms so varied, that each one is like its own book, its own picture, its own story... its own small package of lessons learned, delivered from the experiences of Michelle Shocked herself.
MusicMatch, 1996
Michelle Shocked
Kind Hearted Woman
In her career, Michelle Shocked has gone from the extremely rough-cut Texas Campfire Tapes to the more daring alternative folk-rock Short Sharp Shocked, to the Big Band Captain Swing, and finally to the bluegrass-rooted Arkansas Traveler.
And now this, the long-awaited Kind Hearted Woman, Shocked's first release on Private. After a dispute with her previous label (Mercury refused to release this latest album), Shocked - never one to wait for the green light - began selling the collection at her live shows. Finally it is available in stores, and I don't think her fans will be disappointed. That's not to say they will love the album either, but the music is undeniably Shocked.
Kind Hearted Woman is a slight departure from her previous recordings, though undoubtedly anyone who has experienced her live performances will recognize and appreciate the bare-boned, storytelling style. Combining humor and sometimes-biting social commentary, as is always her way, Shocked's presentation is much more sparse on this album. Often the only instrumentation is her vocals and an electric guitar, with the electric sound giving an edge to some songs that would otherwise be strictly folk. In fact, this album has a stronger country flavor than her other work, reminiscent of artists like Mary Chapin-Carpenter on songs such as "The Hard Way" and "No Sign of Rain."
On "A Child Like Grace," Shocked's voice sounds prettier, more melodic than usual, and it's really nice. This song is as spare as most of the others, with an instrumental instead of sung chorus; but then she kicks in with a surprising harmony at the end, finally singing through the chorus.
Track five, "Eddie," cleverly picks up on the story of the same kid from "VFD" (off of Short Sharp Shocked) who's a pyromaniac. While "VFD" tells how Eddie and a couple of friends get caught burning down a field when one of the friends confesses to her mother, this new song explains what makes Eddie light fires in the first place. The tunes of the two songs are similar without being redundant - just enough to connect the songs and stories. Until listening to this album, I had forgotten about hearing Shocked play "Eddie" a few years ago at the 9:30 Club in D.C.
Which brings me to the main flaw of the album. It's very much like her live shows but somehow falls a bit short as a recording. I've seen her perform three times, and it's hard to describe the high charged mood that she creates: music mixed with lengthy conversation and storytelling, with her talking at least as much as she sings. This album, as good as it is, is like one of her concerts without the energy and the discourse that grab your attention and make you really listen.
Though I do like the songs (except track one - her distinctive wavery vibrato is too extreme for my ears, but that's also what stamps it as her album), many of them don't showcase her voice. The lyrics are few and far between, stretched out with lengthy phrasing and instrumental breaks that are long and not very interesting. I find myself wishing she'd elaborate, even though I've been taught that more isn't always better.
Overall, "Kind Hearted Woman" is recognizable as Michelle Shocked, and has many of the attributes that make me love her music. But it's just not quite as varied or as mood-stirring as some of her other work. If anything, it makes me want to catch her next show in town so that I can get the full treatment.
- Elliot Smyth
Healing Power of Obnoxiousness, 1996
Review: Kind Hearted Woman
by Paul T. Riddell
Previously unpublished
Michelle Shocked
Kind Hearted Woman
Mood Swing Records
Every once in a while, everyone needs a rainy day album. No matter how wild one's taste in music are, sometimes we all need something mellow when the rain's coming down in sheets and we can't think of one natural or unnatural reason why we have to be out in the cold and the muck. On days like these, it's best to pull out something mellow but interesting from the CD rack, fix up a big cup of hot soup, and let the music seep in while staring out the window. Michelle Shocked's new album is a perfect rainy day album.
Most people outside of Dallas have never heard of Michelle, and it's your loss: she's one of a troika of blues and folk singers native to North Texas (the other two are Sara Hickman and Cricket Taylor; Sara's latest album is held up in a dispute with Elektra, while Cricket's saw release in the Southwest). She specializes in slow, haunting melodies that don't descend into self-pity or bathos, and she handles a guitar in a way that gives wankers like Alanis Morrisette nightmares. Likewise, none of these get overly upbeat: they're mellow, well-constructed tunes that help soothe the soul.
As can be expected, Michelle had to leave Dallas before she was recognized, so take it upon yourself to pick up this puppy. She may not be to everyone's tastes, but at least she has talent and one of the best singing voices you're likely to hear coming from Texas.
Stanford Daily, 14 November 1996
Michelle Shocked
"Mercury Poise"
*****
"Kind Hearted Woman"
**
One artist releasing two very unrelated albums simultaneously is certainly not the result of anybody's marketing savvy. The good news is that no one is going to get fired for timing the delivery of "Kind Hearted Woman" (Private Music) alongside "Mercury Poise: 1988-1995" (Mercury Records) -- the complication arises from a protracted legal entanglement that ultimately wed Michelle Shocked with two labels.
For devout Shocked followers, the releases of "Kind Hearted Woman" and "Mercury Poise: 1988-1995" offer a tantalizing duo of listening enjoyment. "Mercury Poise" is Michelle Shocked's first "Best of," pulling together some of the folk singer's most memorable ditties. Yet the upbeat quality on "Mercury Poise" is quite alien to Shocked's dark sentiments on "Kind Hearted Woman," an opus that goes down like a searing chug of melancholy venom.
Ultimately, this schizophrenia may create ripples of flabby disinterest. The reason is that "Kind Hearted Woman" erupts onto the Shocked's past lands of upbeat enthusiasm with a dark and brooding lava, one that hardens the very core of Shocked's once-enthusiastic outlook.
With a chilly and depressing passion, Shocked resolutely rejects lighter hues on "Kind Hearted Woman." A series of gray ballads that outline the grim realities of rural life, the album boldly delves the bleak cellar of humanity, with or without public approval.
Opening the slow churn of "Kind Hearted Woman" is "Stillborn," which delivers the pain of a mother giving birth to a dead baby. Rife with gross wails and haunting imagery, this solemn hymn is quite a jagged pill, even for long-standing Shocked supporters. Ironically, the song appears in opposite locations on both albums, closing the curtain on "Mercury Poise."
"Stillborn" raises questions about Shocked's musical sanity and seems to project a rocky outline of what may lay ahead. Yet Shocked's charisma shines soon after, and it suddenly becomes clear that "Kind Hearted Woman" is not a pussyfooting album by any means.
"Cold Comfort," rich with folksy nostalgia, displays Shocked's homespun realism as she describes a situation of isolation and despair. "Homestead," another melancholy one-act, captures the loneliness of the middle-aged widow, searching for meaning amidst solemnity.
"Kind Hearted Woman" does have its brighter shades. "Eddie" is a nostalgic and upbeat chronicle of a zany country boy. And "Silver Spoon" shows that there is healing: "Love is a falling rain, washing away the hurt and pain and pretty soon I'm catching the drops in my silver spoon."
It seems that the best albums are the most easy to listen to, drive to, make love to. "Mercury Poise: 1988-1995" is simply an enjoyable listen, a wonderful splash of Shocked nostalgia that elevates the mood. What made Shocked so fun is captured, as the album spews with jazzy riffs, a cappella spice and folksy East Texas jamming. Shocked fans will once again be able to sing along to "Anchorage," and for those new to Shocked's style, "Mercury Poise" may be the best starting point.
On the heels of her tiring legal battle with former label Mercury Records, "Kind Hearted Woman" follows a four-year lull in Shocked's career. Perhaps her recent release captures some of the anger and frustration that has surfaced in this hiatus.
"These are stories I need to tell, songs I very much need to sing," the songstress has explained. "Kind Hearted" conveys this urgency, as ragged and unrefined as it may be. Yet "Mercury Poise: 1988-1995" is the Michelle Shocked that most of us want, no matter how distant that version of her may be.
-- Paul Resnikoff
SLAMM, 20 November 1996
Michelle Shocked
Kind Hearted Woman
****
Kind Hearted Woman is one of these rare recordings that weaves a full and telling tapestry -- each song a carefully chosen strand that, when bound to one another, produce a cohesive portrait. The subject? A stark take on rural America, whose protagonist's perpetual crusade against the torrents of nature, be it floods, drought, or death, interferes with the harvest, both literally and figuratively. Titles like "Homestead", "Winter Wheat", "Fever Breaks", and "No Sign of Rain" all ring, like the prairie dinner triangle, of an existence teetering on the edge of futility while at the mercy of mother nature.
Michelle Shocked does not easily fall into any one category. Each album she releases is a change in direction that reflects her place in time and her place in the soul. "When my grandma died of cancer," she says, "this album dropped out of me like a dead baby." Sure it's morose, but that's how art works. The good stuff, the real stuff, is less of a calculation than it is an emission. More like a fart, as opposed to say, combing your hair.
I highly recommend this music. Kind Hearted Woman gave me chills as I listened, and has the power to propel Shocked away from the chick singer/songwriter pack. Her songwriting skills are outstanding, her vocals are beautiful, and her emotion is inescapable. It is her best disc to date, and will undoubtedly prove to be one of my all time favorites.
-- Ed Decker
* * 1/2
KIND HEARTED WOMAN
Michelle Shocked
BMG
Shocked is back with a raw no frills country album. Alone with guitars acoustic and electric, with loping rhythms, and with stories about rural concerns (crops 'n' rain), death, and loneliness. The performance is consistently impressive. Her voice has matured and wraps around these simple melody lines in a variety of curves and long stretches. She has, unfortunately, added yodelling to her vocal palette, but uses it sparingly. Apart from standout tracks like the dark and moody "Winter Wheat" and "The Hard Way" with its fluid and quick changing feels, the tunes range from instantly forgettable to pleasant to intensely appealing. The barest settings work best. A loosely sketched guitar and understated vocal lend charm and intimacy to a slender melody whereas others are crushed under the full charge of a band. - Lesley Sly
Backstage Pass, 1997
Shocked by the feeling
by Gerald Laurence
MICHELLE SHOCKED
"KIND HEARTED WOMAN"
(Private Music)
This album will take you places you've never been. Until and unless you experience the death of a loved one, the true depth of Michelle Shocked's new work will remain cloaked to you. Each of these ten short, sharp, shocking stories delivers a powerful impact, and for anyone who has lived through any of the of soul-rending jolts she has delineated here, this may be too much to bear. On "Kind Hearted Woman," Shocked doesn't pull any punches. She grabs you with an intriguing voice and a lovely folk-country delivery that is deceptively expressive, and then piles detail upon unsettling detail in relating her evocative tales of pain.
If some albums are ear candy, and others are like a bottle of fine wine, this is the backyard-distilled hard stuff, 140-proof, served neat. Here you'll find men, women and children facing a bleak world full of evil twists of fate that are sure to move the strongest person to damn God or at least question His existence. Her songs are populated by interesting people who speak their minds and unload their clipped-off sentences that sometimes reveal a hidden resolve but often display a ready-to-give-up emptiness of the soul that makes your heart catch in your throat.
Michelle Shocked always does things her way, and her fans go with her, secure in the knowledge that they'll always hear something new. She has explored folk, country, swing and rock; this album takes everything one step further in emotional commitment. Her crisp, clean lyrics cut deep into the bone even as the beauty of the music entices like a desert oasis that leads only to more barren sand.
All the tunes and a lot of the guitar work is by the Hard Headed Gal herself, the pristine production is by Bones Howe, and Cedric Anderson drums on all but two tracks. Adding to the wonderful mix of angst on all cuts are contributions from two of the members of Hothouse Flowers-with guitar and harmony vocals from Fiachna O'Braonain, and bass, bouzouki and harmony vocals from Peter O'Toole.
This is not an album for parties. This is not an album for making out. This is not an album for helping you drift off to sleep. This is a book of poetry that just happens to be set to music. It's a stunning journey; when your soul and psyche are up to it, take the trip.
Michelle Shocked's "Kind Hearted Woman"
by Scott Brodeur & Scott Hersey
Scott B:
This album has received mega-notoriety because Michelle Shocked rebuffed the suits at her former record company who rejected the material. So she released it independently herself, selling it at live shows and through her fan club.
Now more widely available in stores, the big question is, What were those suits thinking? This is a brilliant and brave piece of work, filled with impact songs you're not likely to forget.
Maybe it was the sad topics addressed on many of these songs that rubbed those industry types the wrong way. "Stillborn" is about a midwife's long walk home after delivering a stillborn baby. "A Child Like Grace" is about the death of a buoyant four-year-old girl. "Eddie" is about a boy who sets fires after his father dies from being struck by lightning. Sad, yes, but damn brilliant songs.
Then there's "Hard Way," which is probably the catchiest pop tune Shocked has released since "Anchorage." I'm glad Shocked stuck to her principles, and I'm even more glad that this moving music is now available to a bigger audience.
Scott H:
You're straight on this one, Brodeur. This is a brave record by a brave soul.
I can see why the suits didn't get this stuff. There's nothing here that can be wrapped up and sold in a tight little package to radio. In fact, there's nothing very commercial about this album at all.
You mention obvious choices like "Stillborn" and "Eddie." I'll add "Homestead," about the widow at 35 who says, "None can court me, few have tried/But I keep the homestead hopes alive." And "Winter Wheat," with a farmer pouring out frustration about waiting for crops to be harvested so the mortgage can be paid.
These are disturbing songs of survival -- about (mostly) women who face brutal real-life problems and deal with them with strength and quiet dignity. Their stories are devastating. It takes a few listens to get them, but then you're hooked.
Scott B:
When will you learn, Hersey? There are songs that could be commercial on this record like "Hard Way" and "Cold Comfort." It just takes a marketing department that can see the beauty through the sorrow. It's done all
the time with movies and books; I just don't know why it can't be done more often with music.
Scott H:
I'm not saying I agree with it, Brodeur. I'm saying that record-company suits like to wrap things up in nice, sellable little packages. But this argument is getting away from the music. Kind Hearted Woman is a wonderful album, filled with dark, Raymond Carver-like stories that cut to the bone. It's well worth a listen.
Scope, October 1996
Michelle Shocked
Anthology
Mercury
There's a standard rule here in the corridors of the SCOPE Executive Complex: Anything from Michelle Shocked is bound to be worth the price of a CD. Another fallen idol, another rule broken. This quick survey of a consistently good bard like Michelle is bound to fail in light of what it lacks; Anthology doesn't hold a candle to any of her major efforts so far. Three tracks aren't found on Short Sharp Shocked, Arkansas Traveler or Captain Swing. "Holy Spirit" and "Stillborn" come from her self-released Kind-Hearted Woman, sold only at concerts and through her web site at http://shellshock.com, and "Quality of Mercy" is from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. "Stillborn" is earnest but plodding, and suffers from a pompous overuse of vibrato. "Holy Spirit" also lacks any of the lyrical mastery that is her specialty, and is saved, like many a mediocre song, only by the entrance of a gospel choir halfway through. That leaves "Quality of Mercy," an excellent roadhouse-gospel tune that manages to one-up "Graffiti Limbo" from Short Sharp Shocked. But one song does not justify the album--take your money and buy any of her other releases instead. (Marcel Levy)
Microsoft MusicCentral, 1996
Michelle Shocked
Mercury Poise: 1988-1995
*** (3 of 5 stars)
Is it possible to be a high-profile politician or a risk-taking pop artist without courting controversy these days? In a nine-year career, Michelle Shocked has followed a Gingrich-style path, seeming to draw debate with each move.
She was introduced to audiences through The Texas Campfire Tapes, a set of songs ostensibly recorded on a cassette machine outdoors at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her second album, Short Sharp Shocked, pictured her being roughly handled by the San Francisco Police Department during a protest at the 1984 Democratic Convention, which took place five years before the album's release.
After a contentious move into swing and R&B on her third album, she charged into a project involving a revamping of various styles of traditional folk music. On the latter album, Arkansas Traveler, her record company refused to allow her to appear on the album cover in blackface; nonetheless, Shocked took part in magazine photo shoots in blackface while constantly raising her theory that the music industry refused to acknowledge the overwhelming influence of minstrelsy on American pop music. She then spent four years getting out of a contract with Mercury Records over a dispute concerning an album of starkly somber acoustic songs that Shocked wanted to release.
Her difficult years with the major record company are sketchily tracked on Mercury Poise, a barely veiled reference to Graham Parker's song "Mercury Poisoning", in which he attacked the same record company for its handling of his career. The album, part of the settlement that resolved the contract dispute, completely skips Shocked's charming first album, which she now dislikes and discredits. This decision unfortunately puts too much emphasis on material from her latter, weaker albums, Captain Swing and Arkansas Traveler.
Nonetheless, all of her albums, as uneven as they sometimes have been, have put forth enough interesting material to suggest that Shocked is an artist worth tracking, even if she sometimes barrels too far down the wrong roads. At her best, she updates older, worthy musical forms with a fresh, distinctively individual perspective, and there's no denying the peculiar strengths of songs like "Anchorage", "Come A Long Way", and "When I Grow Up".
The album ends with "Stillborn", a song that also opens Kind Hearted Woman, an album released in 1996 on Private Music. The heavy-handed lyrics and Shocked's tortured howls lack the exuberance and tight sense of song structure that enlivened her best work from earlier years. In recent performances, however, the singer has been drawing on old-time black gospel and the traditional music of New Orleans, so at least her next project might return to employing the sprightly rhythms that she used so well in previous years. For now, Mercury Poise reflects the promise and inconsistency of the early years of this restless artist.
Michael McCall
The IUPUI S@gamore, 18 November 1996
'Mercury Poise: 1988-1995'
Michelle Shocked
With certain artists, it would seem fitting if their greatest hits/retrospective releases were one-song cassettes or CDs. Such is not the case with "Mercury Poise: 1988 - 1995," a retrospective of Michelle Shocked's Mercury releases during that period.
She captures the American experience using a variety of American musical styles, ranging from gospel and honky-tonk to straight blues and the Dylan-esque narrative on tracks like "Anchorage."
This American-ness, along with the unmistakable cool, sometimes-calm and pretty-close-to-collected voice of Michelle Shocked, binds this CD together.
Considering the range of styles, this is a formidable task. But Michelle Shocked pulls it off without a hitch.
The musical tapestry Michelle Shocked weaves is true to the American experience, the musical forms she employs and, it would seem, to the rich and diverse artistic vision of Michelle Shocked herself.
Artists can achieve greatness by doing only one of these three well.
Shocked accomplishes all three.
- John Matthew
The Alestle, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville IL, 21 November 1996
New CD leaves Van Morrison lovers shocked
By Greg Levrault
For the Alestle
Anyone who puts Van Morrison before Jim Morrison musically will appreciate a new Michelle Shocked compilation, "Mercury Poise: 1988-1995." Her eclectic stew of old-time bluegrass, country, blues, and Springsteen-tinged rock provide the rhythm for Shocked's stark lyrics.
There's no special reason for the collection; her record label is testing how the market responds to her work still, before they release a new Shocked album, coming soon.
The collection's a reminder for anyone who listened to Michelle Shocked what all the buzz was. Besides selections from her three albums, "Mercury Poise" includes Shocked's contributions to the "Dead Man Walking" soundtrack and "Sweet Relief" compilation.
They testify to the fact that Michelle Shocked, whose albums get sold in the folk section as often as not, has never let such things as genre designations or audience expectations get in the way of a good song.
Like Van Morrison, Shocked throws in the bare essential sounds, just enough to tell the stories that need to be told. Whether it's about the hottest metropolis in the U.S. or the coldest, whether it's about her grandmother or a vagrant on the street, whether it's about loving life or loving worth leaving, Shocked's songs have that heart-on-the-sleeve quality, as if every word was the closest to God's truth she could find.
Shocked may have seen her heyday, lost in the shuffle between Lyle Lovett and Tanika Takiram. Today's world may be too beat-driven to listen to the words of a song. But, back when people tried to sing along with more than the chorus, Shocked showed them how it's done.
UK Online, 27 November 1996
Michelle Shocked - Mercury Poise 1988 - 1995
Michelle Shocked first hit the public eye in Britain back in 1986 with one of the cheapest albums ever recorded. Pete Lawrence of Cooking Vinyl Records taped the singer doing a campfire session in Texas, and released it as The Texas Campfire Tapes. It was as raw as you could get: you can at times hear the crackles of the flames, the crickets in the grass, and the mumbling of the audience. In short, it was the closest thing you could get to a bootleg without actually being a bootleg.
After a brief spell in a houseboat in London, Michelle went back to the US and recorded three albums over the next four years: Short Sharp Shocked, Captain Swing and Arkansas Traveller. The best of those three albums is to be found on Mercury Poise.
It is in many ways a complete contrast to Campfire Tapes. Whereas Campfire Tapes was just a woman with a guitar, this is a full studio recording, with backing singers, a full band, and the works. However, the essentail quality is still there: it's a sort of country feel, but in the same way that Bob Dylan could give a country feel to his songs without being a country singer.
The Sixties influences are heavy, ranging from a very Joan Baezish Come a Long Way, to a mid-Doors-ish When I Grow Up, and a Cotton Eyed Joe as different from the recent chart hit as you can imagine. For me, though, the outstanding track on the album is the blues/gospel number Holy Spirit which kicks off with a rendition of Kumbayah (yes, the old Boy Scout classic!) that sounds like Robert Johnson's been raised from the dead by special permission just to do the guitar.
This is a beautiful, gently nostalgic album, featuring one of the most alluring voices around.
Matt Kelland
Fan review by Ron Greer from kindheartedwoman mailing list, 26 March 2001
To: kindheartedwoman@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [khw] new album & dingwalls 22 march
From: rgreer@xxxx.xx.za
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 13:17:46 -0000
hi everyone
just got back to work - had a great trip & loved the show.
first - my impressions of the cd
what can i say - she should change her name to michelle shocks. as normal she has done what no one would ever have expected & come out with a dub cd. the only thing which could have been expected is that it is good. very, very good!!
i dont think it is going to be to everyones taste, but when i got home on saturday, exhausted & having managed only around one hours sleep on the plane, it kept my undivided attention through two full listenings. and gave me goosebumps.
the music is wonderfully atmospheric. the few lyrics there are just round it out nicely. some great versions of some great songs. on my first couple of listenings, "peachfuzz (version)" is a great, upbeat, almost a dance track - good one!!
"fat brown snake dub" is good news (the title track off the "good news" album) featuring what sounds like the same fuzzy vocal track. wonder where she got the title from??
musically - the playing is really really good. better than it was on stage.
just one condition to the album tho - if the floor isnt vibrating you wont enjoy it. this is music that has to be loud - with plent of bass to get the effect!!
but i guess im biased - ive always loved dub music, and tho this is not quite full on dub music, it is a great mixture. some of the tracks were almost straight instrumentals, with a fair dollop of echo & vibrato thrown in.
the impression that i got at the show was that this is not a rehearsal run for the album to be released, but is the result of experimentation by (mainly) fiachna at the mixing desk, and is to be made available only during this tour. (yeah - *another* limited edition)
ron
Los Angeles Times, 31 March 2002
RECORD RACK
A Joyous Fusing of Story and Faith
"You can't take my joy from me," Shocked sings over an elastically loping reggae track in "Joy," an explicit, highly internalized call to rise above the fray. Shocked has risen above conflicts with record companies (this album, due in stores Tuesday, officially launches her own new label), and above the social and political crusades with which she's been involved over the years.
Joy is the fuel of this album, captured in the heralding reggae dub horns that kick off "What Can I Say," the African American allegorical storytelling traditions of the song, and the gospel fervor and personal faith infused throughout.
Her activist spirit is present too, but Shocked's songs are about people and emotions, not issues. "Little Billie" tells of a woman defying grief by dancing on the coffin of her murdered son, with the music and Shocked's performance embodying the woman's unyielding will. She turns the view inward in the acoustic "Moanin' Dove," a late-night plea for strength with roots in the Delta and Appalachia.
The set may seem miles from the epistolary folkiness of Shocked's 1988 rookie hit "Anchorage." But the passion, vision and appeal that have always been at the heart of her music galvanize and unify what may be her most ambitious and fully realized album. She includes a second disc of buoyant, dub-style remixes -- another joyful touch that would be anathema in the major-label world these days.
-- STEVE HOCHMAN
All Music Guide, April 2002
Shocked goes indie for this set of songs on faith, love, and understanding. In a way, it's her most personal album, a collection of ruminations on the people and places of her life. It incorporates pop, gospel, and soul, as well as her ragged folk roots. But it's overlong, and Shocked reaches as much as she connects. Despite its musical scope, it's a bit hollow at its core, as if all those grand ideas edged others out for space and attention. It's a celebration -- the leadoff track is called "Joy," which pretty much sums up the tone of the album -- but somewhat of an insular one. Better is the bonus disc (titled Dub Natural) that includes many Deep tracks retooled as dub instrumentals. They reveal a musical depth missing from the original album. -- Michael Gallucci
Amazon.com, April 2002
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Although double albums are again de rigueur, the mercurial Shocked pushes the envelope on her first release in four years. Fully free from major-label duties, Shocked picks up where the quasi-gospel vibe of the limited-edition Good News left off (even reprising a few tracks) and delivers the most expressive singing of her career. She fuses deep Southern funk, Jamaican dub, ambient country-folk, and socially and sexually conscious soul (à la What's Going On) with poignantly confessional, faith-based lyrics. "The more I forgive, the more I forget/Let it go, let it go," she consoles herself. The sprawling instrumental companion disc, Dub Natural, has moments of artistic surprise (especially the supernova blues rock of "Draughts of Dublin"), though it rarely finds the purpose and spiritual poise of this set's main attraction -- Shocked's ardent singing and gleaming, inspired songwriting. --Roy Kasten
Charlotte Creative Loafing, 3 April 2002
Michelle Shocked
Deep Natural (Mighty Sound).
Remember Michelle's near-legendary (it was recorded on a Walkman, fer crying out loud) Texas Campfire Tapes? Her underrated Short Sharp Shocked? Consider Deep Natural the opposite of the last record: long (two discs), soft (relaxed dub ambience), and subdued (she's not saving the world on every song). She bridges the gap between the Indigo Girls and Sarah McLachlans of the world and the harder-edged she-devilry of a PJ Harvey. In a sentence, imagine Sinead O'Connor if she grew up in Texas and listened to Doug Sahm. Much like the Indigos, she hasn't so much softened her stance as she's sweetened the pill that encapsulates it: the excellent country-dub backing arrangements (plus horns and classical guitar) almost warrant a purchase by themselves. -- Tim C. Davis
Chicago Sun-Times, 7 April 2002
Sunday Showcase
[SPIN CONTROL]
*** 1/2 Michelle Shocked, "Deep Natural" (Mighty Sound)
Michelle Shocked has always been in a category of her own making, one that is practically impossible to pinpoint. Her brand of pop-folk-rock-funk-blues-reggae is a stunning congregation of musical genres.
During the decade spent fighting her old label for rights to her catalog, she didn't record. Fans may or may not be a surprised by the material on "Deep Natural," which announces that Shocked has moved on and developed her musical scope on many levels. There's nothing quite so beautiful as Shocked's voice wrapped around tunes exploding with the expressive, aching rants of soul and gospel. She hits full stride on the soulful "Forgive to Forget" and the gospel-tinged "That's So Amazing." On the quiet, folky ballad, "If Not Here Then Where," the delicate tremor in her voice is enough to break your heart. On several other songs, she embraces a lilting, driving reggae beat or a crunching barrage of rock guitars.
With this release, the singer-songwriter blatantly moves on into a more complex and ambitious style that grows richer with each listening. Shocked even includes a joyous second disc of dub-style remixes that adds yet another dimension to her eclectic vision. (Note: Look for Shocked to re-release her complete catalog in the near future on her new label.)
Mary Houlihan
babysue, April 2002
Michelle Shocked - Deep Natural with Dub Natural (CD, Mighty Sound, Blues/pop)
Michelle Shocked is back with a new album... featuring "new dub blues and gospel birdsong"...? Put in layman's terms, this album features bluesy pop music with a heavy emphasis on electronics and studio gloss. Ms. Shocked's voice is in fine form... making these sometimes lush and spacious tunes work well. Our guess is that this album is going to surprise a great many people...because it presents a surprisingly mature and seasoned vocalist who has expanded well beyond her original image and style. Best tracks: "What Can I Say," "Forgive to Forget," "Can't Take My Joy," and "Go In Peace." Smooth and resonant. (Rating: 4+ [out of 6])
The Austin Chronicle, 12 April 2002
Phases and Stages column
BY JIM CALIGIURI
Michelle Shocked Deep Natural With Dub Natural (Mighty Sound)
Michelle Shocked has been playing by her own rules since the start. When she wasn't squabbling with record labels, she was touring with a wide variety of players and releasing albums that she only was allowed to sell from the stage. Now, she appears with her own record label, Mighty Sound, after winning all the label wars with a 2-CD set that's equally mystifying and satisfying. Deep Natural is filled with an impressive range of styles from gospel to reggae to folk pop to loud rock, and is an intriguing listen that flows almost in spite of itself. Shocked has composed some truly memorable tunes in the style she's referring to as "New Dub Blues & Gospel Birdsong." "I Know What You Need" possesses a dreamy, shimmering beauty, "That's So Amazing" is a funky little New Orleans style number, surely influenced by the Crescent City that she now calls home, and "Psalm" is a rocking gospel tune that finds Shocked wailing her spirituality to maximum effect. On the other hand, Dub Natural is a mostly instrumental, some might say "ambient," collection of the songs on Deep Natural in a different order. Some of it is indeed dub, with echoing horns and vocals, and deep basslines. Elsewhere, it sounds like a soundtrack for a Quentin Tarantino movie, with Southwestern soundscapes alternating with gritty organ-based blues. Shocked has promised deluxe re-releases of her entire catalog, along with some very select reissues and a small roster of other artists on Mighty Sound, and it will be interesting to see what she comes up with next.
***
The Santa Fe New Mexican, 19 April 2002
Terrell's Tune-Up
BY STEVE TERRELL
Deep Natural by Michelle Shocked
Even if you're not a fan of Michelle Shocked, you've got to admire her gumption. Lots of recording artists have sued their record companies, but Michelle is the only one I've ever heard of who sued Mercury Records on the basis the company was violating the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America -- the one that abolished slavery in this great land of ours.
Basically the company was refusing to pay for Shocked to record a new album, refusing to promote her and refusing to let her out of her contract so she could sign with another company. Mercury eventually settled the suit before it went to trial and freed their slave.
Before I start lavishing well-deserved praise upon Shocked, it must be noted that her political correctness and sometimes hipper-than-thou attitude sometimes work against her. For instance an ad for her new album, Deep Natural in the latest issue of No Depression is nothing more than a smug, rambling insult to almost anyone who might want to buy the record.
That being said, Deep Natural is a wonder-filled work full of burning blues, ghostly gospel, disturbing moods and alien magic.
Shocked has a history of making radical changes to her sound from record to record.
The 1988 Short Sharp Shocked was one of the better singer-songwriter efforts of that wretched decade. Her follow-up, Captain Swing can be seen as a precursor to the zoot-suit riot of the late ‘90s (the thought of which undoubtedly makes Shocked cringe). Her under-rated, under-recognized Arkansas Traveler (1992) was a rootsy album with a sharp political attitude, featuring impressive duets with the likes of Doc Watson, Pops Staples, Taj Mahal and Uncle Tupelo.
Deep Natural continues in Shock's tradition of musical metamorphis. The singer calls the basic sound of this record "New Dub Blues and Gospel Birdsong," which might seem kinda curtsey, but once you hear the album -- co-produced by Fiachna O'Braonain of the (remember them?) Hothouse Flowers -- you realize it's pretty much on target.
After a brief a capella invocation (a snippet from "Can't Take My Joy," a song appearing later) Deep Natural immediately pulls out all the stops with "What Can I Say," which features a spacey steel guitar (which might remind you of the most psychedelic moments on Jerry Garcia's first solo album), menacing horn riffs that seem to fade in and out, deep deep bass drums and urgent vocals by Michelle that carry just a hint of gospel joy. It's as if she's caught a glimpse of the Holy Ghost but has yet to be filled with the spirit.
My favorite songs here are the rowdy blues-based tunes like "Good News (the opening organ riff reminds me of the Church Lady dance from Saturday Night Live), "House Burning Down," "Can't Take My Joy" (a bass-heavy cut with a strong reggae flavor) and especially "Little Billie," which contains the frightening vision of a woman dancing on the coffin of her murdered son.
There's also plenty of power in some of the album's quieter numbers. "If Not Here" and "Go in Peace" might remind listeners of Ricky Lee Jones' Flying Cowboys (while the funky "Peachfuzz" is similar to a lot of the material on Ricky Lee's first album.)
Meanwhile, "That's So Amazing," which borrows a few lines from "Amazing Grace," could be the best new Van Morrison song in years -- though Michelle Shocked wrote it. With a sad trumpet intro and winsome gospel keyboards, Shocked's understated vocals are playfully sexy and upliftingly spiritual at the same time.
The bonus disc, Dub Natural -- featuring remixes of the "real" album's tunes, with almost all of the vocals stripped away -- is interesting, though hardly essential. I do like the fact that it starts with "Go Dub," the remix of Deep Natural's final song, "Go in Peace." So when you play the two discs together it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
But the fact that her vocals are missing takes away a major reason you'd listen to a Michelle Shocked record in the first place. On Deep Natural she sings with the passion of a liberated slave.
Reno Gazette-Journal, 25 April 2002
Mark Robison
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/25/2002 09:05 pm
Michelle Shocked
"Deep Natural"
Mighty Sound
3 1/2 stars (out of 4)
After a bitter feud with her record label in the early '90s, Michelle Shocked mostly disappeared, putting out only a couple of limited-edition releases sold at her live shows. Now she's gotten full control of her back catalog and has released one of her best albums, "Deep Natural."
Ambient gospel rock? That's the inadequate description that comes to mind. Underpinning everything is a grooving organ and strong drumming. Topping it all is the best singing of Shocked's career. It's loose, growling, tender and, most of all, liberated.
With 15 songs over 69 minutes, I kept expecting the quality to flag but it's good to the last drop. She never forgets to give a hook. You can just tell these songs are going to rip in concert.
Picking the best songs is tough, but if you find yourself at an in-store listening station or downloading samples, you might check:
-- the tender pop of "Forgive to Forget" (lyric: "The more I forgive, the more I forget; let it go, let it go, let it go")
-- the snorting blues-rock of "Little Billie" with wailing from Shocked and some fine trumpet work
-- the simmering blues of "Good News"
-- the jazzy, joyful "That's So Amazing" recalling '80s-era Van Morrison
-- the moody country-folk of "Why Do I Get the Feeling?" with its Cowboy Junkies vibe
-- the funky, playful "Peachfuzz" and its chorus "Hail hail, the gang's all here"
-- and the beautiful folk ballad "If Not Here."
You should know there are strong Christian lyrics throughout. That said, the fundamentalism doesn't come off as a gimmick or hey-look-at-my-new-enlightened-self grandstanding, as often happens. Nonbelievers won't feel oppressed; they'll be too busy getting their groove on.
There's a second disc of dub remixes that boosts the list price to $22.98. The other disc is pretty good, but she would've engendered more good will if she'd made it a free bonus disc. Most fans would probably rather part with it than an extra $8.
Recommended If You Like: "Arkansas Traveler," Van Morrison's "Hymns to the Silence," Kate Campbell, Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt
The Phantom Tollbooth, 29 April 2002
Deep Natural
Artist: Michelle Shocked
Label: Indie (available at Amazon B000063NDE)
Length: 2 disks/29 tracks
"The world in general is not so corrupt that it doesn’t recognize the ring of truth when it hears it. But it has a really well-founded cynicism about the package that truth comes in, and so it can be very guarded. That ends up being my challenge as an artist -- to strip away as much of the packaging and deliver as much of the truth as I can. When I really hit the nail on the head people start crying or laughing."
- Michelle Shocked, in an interview at The Rogovoy Report
Michelle Shocked has always been a rebel and a traveler. She spent her childhood moving from one army base to the next. Eventually she fled the influence of her mother, a Mormon fundamentalist. Her colorful adventures were only beginning. (Read the brief bio at www.allmusic.com)
Her first record was recorded literally without her notice. She was singing at a campfire, and a friend captured on tape the voice and the lyrical abilities of a woman who would become a champion of the new folk scene in America.
But Michelle had more tricks up her sleeve than anybody would guess. With Short Sharp Shocked she showed pop sensibilities, attitude, intelligence, and a flair for storytelling that were almost unmatched on contemporary radio. What is more, she brought a contagious sense of FUN to the proceedings.
Subsequent releases Captain Swing and Arkansas Traveler revealed a woman who would not stand still or become predictable. She was going to explore American music top to bottom and bring the real thing home to her fans. Each new release was an invitation to a party, either at a dance hall, a rock arena, or a barn. Arkansas had us knee-deep in fiddle-solos and hoe-downs. Her career was becoming one of the most compelling and surprising on the musical map. This was followed by Kind Hearted Woman, a more meditative, intimate work that reflected spiritual soul-searching. It also showed Michelle at the peak of her vocal powers.
Then, silence, for a good long while. Rumors of struggles with labels and the unpopularity of her new "gospel" sound with record executives. There were other rumors too. Something about Christianity.
Now we have Deep Natural. And what a shocker it is. Shocked has landed in blues country. The record is sizzling with guitar licks, heavy bass, and horns ("What Can I Say?") that you might expect on a Bonnie Raitt album. But it doesn't stop there. She draws other genres into the mix: most noticeably reggae and jazz. It's an album that will be hard to classify in record stores, I imagine.
Note: It is accompanied by a bonus disc: Dub Natural. This additional treat basically highlights the "dub" style used, in which instrumental tracks are recorded and mixed without lyrics. Like to sing these songs on your own? Here's your accompaniment!
But what is more surprising is the attitude. She's still telling stories ("Peachfuzz"), still exploring. But at times, she roars like a preacher in the grip of a terrifying vision ("Somebody's House is Burning Down," "Psalm"). Elsewhere, she's confessional and quiet ("If Not Here," "Go in Peace") with an uncharacteristic tone of contentment. This is an album of unapologetic praise, with a heavy dose of truth-telling to boot. She's found a calm in the eye of the storm, and there is evidence of a supportive musical and spiritual community surrounding her. Listening to these songs makes you want to be there, with them, dancing in the aisles. "Joy" is the opening track, and "joy" is the prevalent spirit of the music.
Don't be worried: this isn't "contemporary Christian music." Nor is it an off-putting collection of self-righteous diatribes. Like all of her albums, Deep Natural is a series of journal entries, some of which show some serious time meditating on Scripture. There is a sort of hellfire and brimstone passion that glimmers around the edges, but that seems more like an effort to be true to the material than to condemn or frighten anybody. You can hear a conviction that comes from her commitment to be heard, after several years of trouble getting this record out.
(Note: Are the troubles continuing? The album notes refer us to www.mightysound.com for lyrics and notes, but nothing has yet materialized.)
It's not a perfect work by any means. The biggest problem is production. The first half of the album suffers from an overdose of sonorous, echoing bass and guitars. Somebody in the studio probably said, "Make it sound like Daniel Lanois" and then went overboard. Shocked's voice is stifled, sometimes severely pinched by the cavernous, atmospheric, Lanois-esque sounds booming at us from both sides. Only in the quieter numbers do we have the comfort of her familiar, up-close-and-personal tone. And the album's three song finale delivers her vocals in all their rapturous glory.
The album closes with a rousing anthem called "Psalm," in which she is backed up by a rejoicing congregation. Together they affirm "He turned the rock into living water!" And Michelle leaves us with a sweet-spirited meditation on Peace... how Peace finds us where we are, and there is nothing we can do to produce it for ourselves.
You're looking for love?
Looks like you found it.
Right here, right now.
I think we're surrounded.
Most Christian music albums offer similar sentiments. But Michelle Shocked's work boasts of authenticity and conviction that you won't find in the "Christian" music section. She remains an original and uncompromising. She has been ruthlessly honest and sincere about every step of recorded journey through American music. Thus, when she arrives at this high place, she speaks with unscarred integrity. And we believe her.
Jeffrey Overstreet 4/29/2002
**** (out of 5)
E! Online, 29 April 2002
Michelle Shocked
Deep Natural
Artist / Band: Michelle Shocked
Record Label: Mighty Sound
Release Date: April 02, 2002
Our Review:
Michelle Shocked is a natural. Throughout her career, she has dabbled -- usually successfully -- in country, folk, rock, swing and the blues. On her first release for her own Mighty Sound label, Shocked is working on an even more relaxed playing ground, incorporating reggae, gospel and lonely cowgirl ballads to her already respected repertoire. The freedom shows. In the wonderful diversity department, you get dub horns complimenting the gospel-y "Can't Take My Joy," an all-out blues rocker in "Little Billie" and simple and sad folk song with "If Not Here." And for those who can't get Shocked enough, an entire disc of pretty darn good dub remixes -- called Dub Natural -- is included. A winner.
Lincoln Journal Star, 30 April 2002
Michelle Shocked
"Deep Natural"
Opening with a dose of spooky, spiritual gospel/dub reggae, then sliding through folk, blues, rock 'n' roll and a shade of country, Michelle Shocked's "Deep Natural" is a tough record to pin down, other than to say it's a beautifully done combination of roots styles that don't fit easily into a single genre.
But there's a spiritual sense to the music that makes "Deep Natural" almost a gospel album, even though there are no specific references to the Lord and the songs are often more sensual than reverential.
She does, however, ambitiously rework "Amazing Grace" into "That's So Amazing," a slow, jazzy number pushed by horns and anchored by a gospel choir, and "Psalm," powered by a B-3 organ and choir, is biblical in nature.
And even when she's singing about loss and love, Shocked is more optimistic and forgiving than in the past, adding to the spiritual feel. She's also become a better, more empathetic singer in the seven years since her last album, with a deep richness in her voice that we didn't hear previously.
Alternating ballads with uptempo numbers, "Deep Natural" has some serious shifts with, for example, the wail and howl of "Good News" bumping up against the quiet "Forgive to Forget."
"Peachfuzz" shambles along hinting of Rickie Lee Jones, then the slide of steel guitar is used to drift into "I Know What You Need,"which goes directly into the reggae of "Can't Take My Joy," a reprise of the record's intro. That's followed by the bluesy shout and stomp of "Little Billie," then comes the solo guitar folk of "Moanin' Dove."
Surprisingly, that jumble works very well. The changes in tempo and style serve to capture the attention from song to song, even on repeat listenings, a rarity for most records.
The first record on her new label, Mighty Sound, the package includes a second disc titled "Dub Natural" that is made up of dub reggae versions. That's either a great deal or the ultimate in artistic excess.
But regardless of your take on dub, "Deep Natural" is worth hearing for its fresh take on a gumbo of roots styles and for Shocked's impressive, mature singing and songwriting.
-- L. Kent Wolgamott
CDNOW, 30 April 2002
Michelle Shocked : Deep Natural
April 30, 2002
Lots of "firsts" come tied to the double-disc release Deep Natural. It marks not only Michelle Shocked's first commercially-available album in a number of years, it's also the recorded debut of her so-called Perverse All-Stars (her trumpet-enhanced backup group), as well as the initial offering on Mighty Sound, the label she and husband/manager Bart Bull have put together.
More importantly, perhaps, Deep Natural is the beginning of what Shocked herself calls a new conceptual "arc" in her music -- the exploration of hardcore Afro-American roots. By way of contrast, she describes her initial trilogy of studio releases -- Short, Sharp Shocked, Captain Swing, and Arkansas Traveler -- as uniquely "white" American responses to folk music history. And, at the same time, the music here is also evidence of what Shocked freely calls her recent conversion to "born-again Christian fundamentalist" belief.
In the end, the music must be judged as music. On that level, Deep Natural is akin to that product they used to advertise as being "two...two...two mints in one." For beyond the fact that there's a second disc here (Dub Natural, a Jamaican-styled all-instrumental remix of the main album's material), there seems to be a conscious balance struck between songs that carry a pronounced uptempo gospel feel, and those that come on like a bunch of soulful ballads. The pieces that take a heavy "musical testifying" stance convey a sense of being somewhat forced and less immediate, despite the accelerated pitch at which they're played. The balladic material often has the feel of middle-period Van Morrison, himself another artist who has certainly indulged his religious and spiritual leanings in the past. Of these classifications, it is the balladic moments that deliver the biggest thrills. Here, Shocked's voice resonates with warmth and expressiveness.
David Prince
CDNOW Contributing Writer
Pulse! Magazine, May 2002
MICHELLE SHOCKED
Deep Natural ( Mighty Sound )
*****
Michelle Shocked's first few albums, heralded as they were, just hinted at the depth and richness she's come to achieve in her music. Deep Natural inaugurates her own new label and is her finest hour. Well, it's actually about 70 minutes of music steeped in the street r&b of New Orleans and the sound and mythology of the blues and gospel. It's powered by dirty, luxurious guitar and her soul belting, and anted up occasionally by the kind of textural, sonic voodoo perfected for pop by Daniel Lanois. But this disc is all Shocked, from the joyful but dark-lined spiritual "Good News" to the gut-wrenched true-story lament "Little Billie," which starts at a funeral street parade and ends with a dance atop a coffin. All of this native Texan's adopted city's Afro-Caribbean sounds make it in the mix, from the saucy reggae organ and dub horn treatments of "Can't Take My Joy" to the pumping kick drum of numbers like "What Can I Say." In the ballad "Why Do I Get the Feeling," the drums even nod to the region's native-American culture, while the guitars paint delicate, digital-delay dreamscapes. Shocked's vocal performances are not only as forceful or delicate as each song demands, but they're treated through amps and effects to enhance their emotional colors. Dub Natural is a companion disc. It's essentially Deep Natural stripped of most of its vocal performances, and stands as its own work of moody beauty.
By Ted Drozdowski
The Detroit News, 3 May 2002
Michelle Shocked, Deep Natural (Mighty Sound)
By Edna Gundersen / USA TODAY
Pop's favorite campfire girl champions God and country, not to mention reggae, gospel and funk, on this spiritual, joy-filled double album, the inaugural release on the singer's Mighty Sound label. Shocked, best known for 1988 hit "Anchorage," enriches her Southern-fried folk with flavors of Appalachia in the acoustic "Moanin' Dove" and shades of Jamaica in "Joy" and "What Can I Say." A mother in mourning dances on the coffin of her murdered boy in "Little Billie," one of several gripping tales that showcase Shocked's pointed songwriting and earnest singing. "Dub Natural," a companion disc of instrumental remixes, offers fewer surprises, but still satisfies. While her evangelical zeal turns preachy on some tracks, this collection's purity of purpose elevates "Deep Natural" well above the shallow synthetics parading as pop records.
***
The Washington Post, 3 May 2002
MICHELLE SHOCKED
"Deep Natural/Dub Natural"
Mighty Sound
After a decade-long struggle to gain emancipation from her old record label and a life-long battle against social and political evils, Michelle Shocked might be excused her anger and bitterness. Yet the dominant emotions on Shocked's debut for her own label are joy, forgiveness and spiritual calm. Shocked may not yet be at peace with the world, but she seems to be at peace with herself, knowing that stubbornly holding on to the past is ultimately unproductive. As she puts it over the soulful Stax groove of "Forgive to Forget," "the more I forgive, the more I forget/ let it go, let it go."
As for the joy, it's there in the album's a cappella fanfare, the "Fever"-like, trumpet-tinged reggae expansion on "Can't Take My Joy," as an exclamation in several other songs, and as an undercurrent to the entire album.
Shocked's never been comfortably contained in any particular style, and the new album offers an eclectic variety of sounds. There are the languid steel-laced romantic ruminations "Why Do I Get the Feeling?" and "I Know What You Need"; the muddy, angry blues of "Good News," about deadly chemical pollution in a black community, and the raucously defiant "Little Billie," in which a bereaved but unbowed mother dances over her slain son's grave; the expansive Van Morrison-style gospel ecstasy on "Go in Peace" and "That's So Amazing," an intriguing variation on "Amazing Grace"; the mesmerizing acoustic groove of "Moanin' Dove"; and the inspirational meditation "If Not Here," where Shocked insists "a burden shared is only half a trouble/ a joy that's shared is joy made double."
On her first studio album in years, Shocked's voice seems particularly resonant; while she can still yelp on the blues, a calm spirit adds new warmth and depth to her delivery. And, looking to double the joy, Shocked includes a bonus disc, "Dub Natural," a collection of alternate instrumental tracks re-recorded and remixed in the reggae style of dub -- low-key but insinuatingly effective.
-- Richard Harrington
Santa Cruz Sentinel, 9 May 2002
Michelle Shocked, "Deep Natural" (Mighty Sound)
By Wallace Baine
There isn't a musician alive who can top Michelle Shocked's record-company hell stories.
After a battle with the Corporate Media that took an enormous chunk out of her career, Shocked now owns all her recordings, earning with sweat and tears that oft-abused title "independent artist" (note to Ani DiFranco fans: Michelle is to Ani what Jackie Robinson is to Willie Mays).
It wouldn't be a "shock" then if Shocked set out in her new album to take a rage-against-the-machine swipe at big business.
But no, "Deep Natural" is an album of soulful vigor, taking flavors of gospel, reggae and blues to explore interior terrain: longing, grace, loneliness, gratitude and joy.
A song like "That's So Amazing" begins with a slinky trumpet that introduces Shocked's beautifully nuanced vocals in a song that has the guts to rework "Amazing Grace" and turn it into something bluesy while retaining its awe-inspiring spiritual clarity.
Then check out "Can't Take My Joy," a funky, hip-swaying reggae number that equals its funk only with its spiritual fire.
As gravy, "Deep Natural" includes a second disc that contains many of the album's songs sans lyrics and reworked in reggae dub style. The second album's a marvelously atmospheric vibe, but it's not needed to make this album a keeper.
Off-stage, Michelle Shocked is a ferocious political activist. But, alas, "Deep Natural" is diatribe-free, though the gritty "House Burning Down" is a political parable at its most acidic.
Guelph Mercury, Canada, 25 July 2002
Michelle Shocked
Deep Natural/Dub Natural (Mighty Sound/Outside)
It's been 10 years since Michelle Shocked last played the area, which was an amazing show at the Commercial Tavern in Maryhill. It's also been 10 years since most people have heard from her in any capacity; 1992 was the year of her last major label album, Arkansas Traveller.
She's put out two independent records since, and Deep Natural is hardly a departure for this musical troubadour. Contrary to rumour, Dub Natural, the second disc of this two-CD set, is not in any way dub versions of the original songs; instead, it's comprised of pointless instrumental mixes that hardly stray from the originals.
But Deep Natural should satisfy any longtime fan, alternating between ballsy blues arrangements and tender folk songs, with a reggae influence popping up on three songs. The horn-driven What Can I Say? is a strong opener that proves Shocked's powerful voice hasn't at all diminished with age, and the electric gospel blues of Good News is a rousing rocker. Forgive to Forget is a wistful reflection on her youth and the wisdom of age, and the beautiful Moanin' Dove is one of the only songs here driven by acoustic guitar.
While not her strongest work, it's a blessing to know that she's still active, because she's been sorely missed. Michelle Shocked closes the Hillside Festival, Sunday at 9 p.m.
Time Off, Brisbane, Australia, 4 December 2002
Michelle Shocked - Deep Natural, Dub Natural (Mighty Sound/Shock)
Michelle Shocked's latest release might be a celebration of faith, love and understanding -- from 'Joy' right through to 'Go In Peace' -- but it's a hard nut to crack.
Somehow, despite the subject matter and the fact that Deep Natural spans pop, soul and gospel genres in addition to her folk/blues roots, it's just not as accessible as some of her previous albums. At 70 minutes, the length drags too.
Companion disc Dub Natural is shorter and sees some of the main album's songs replayed as mostly instrumental tunes. But while it's more musically adventurous than the first set, the 'dub' description is a little dubious -- aside from 'Match Burns Dub', 'Peachfuzz' and 'Can't Take My Dub', that is.
** (Keith Talent)
dB Magazine, Adelaide, Australia, 18 December 2002
Michelle Shocked
Deep Natural/Dub Natural
Shock
This double album of new material from political-minded singer songwriter Michelle Shocked promises much but delivers little. In recent years Shocked has fallen in love with raw Jamaican dub, and this latest release is her attempt to interpret that sound into her own work, proving once again that she's not just about political causes and gospel-tinged folk. The problem is, there's not a lot of dub to be heard here, and what is here is neither gripping nor interesting.
'Deep Natural' is a bluesy edged album, steeped in a bit of classic Shocked-style folk, yet avoiding completely the new country 'Americana' style I thought she'd be a cinch for. Good News has merit as a hard-rock interpretation of a gospel track with blues guitar and high energy backing choir, and there's a hint at some true dub across Can't Take My Joy, but 'Deep Natural' then slips back into some pretty standard arrangements.
Michelle Shocked has a voice capable of grabbing the listener and evoking some rather genuine and wide-ranging emotions, such as in the electric Texas-style electric blues of Little Billie, but many of these fifteen songs slip by unnoticed. Only Moanin' Dove and House Burning Down are sufficiently moving and different enough in style to provide anything fresh and rewarding.
The second album, 'Dub Natural', defies its title immediately, with just a whisper of dub elements through the opening tracks, which are more reminiscent of quiet Moby instrumentals, far from the thick grooves of original Jamaican dub. When the dub is attempted in Match Burns Down, Shocked's voice sounds good through a series of effects chambers amidst echoed horn sections and distinct reggae shuffles. Unfortunately there's far too little of these songs, and they're book-ended by banal twelve bar blues tracks like Draughts Of Dublin. It sounds far from natural.
Die-hard Michelle Shocked fans may find something in this double release to love, but to a dub fan it's all rather uninspiring and dull.
Steven Hocking
Michelle Shocked - Deep Natural (Mighty Sound)
Funky isn't a word I'd ever thought I'd use in the same sentence as Michelle Shocked, but that's exactly what her new album is. And not just Southern funk. There's soul, there's gospel, there's blues, reggae, and, just occasionally, the acoustic roots with which she made her name. It could, of course, have been an eclectic mess, the haphazard sound of an artist dabbling with genres on her own label and no one to tell her no. In fact it's probably the best thing she's ever recorded and an album that warrants a place in the year's best of lists. Good News, (((Joy))), What Can I Say and Peachfuzz swing out big and fat (the latter evoking much the same mood as Dusty In Memphis), Can't Take My Joy hits a Jamaican dub rhythm, Little Billie is a dirty guitar electric barroom blues with Shocked grabbing the microphone in one hand and a jug of bourbon in the other to take on early Tina Turner at her own game while, continuing the album's emphasis on confessional, spiritual and faith based lyrics, Psalm is a full on testifying slab of gospel rock n country that is precisely the sound Dylan was looking for when he ventured into Christian rock.
On the quieter front and touching the album's other concerns of love and understanding, the reflective acoustic country Why Do I Get The Feeling? with its yearning steel and tumbling drums, the aching folky Forgive To Forget and the country jazz That's So Amazing with its late night up on the roof Stax sax intro (think Jesse Winchester crossed with Van Morrison) are no less soul-warming, Shocked more confident and relaxed than she's even been. It's a sign of her musical maturity that the album also comes in a bonus edition with a second cd of dub instrumental versions that's far more listenable a project than you'd assume.
Worth noting she now owns all her own back catologue which have been reissued in special editions, the Campfire Tapes in particular expanded and remastered to the proper speed.
Mike Davies
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