** Cat Power @ Park West for Estrojam 594-TIXX on Aug. 8
**Liz Phair @ Metro 549-0203 on Aug. 21 - 23
** Marcia Ball @ On The Waterfront (Rockford) 815/968-5600 on Aug. 31
Bette Midler has always had exceptional taste in cover material when it comes to contemporary songwriters. Over the years, she has performed songs by Tom Waits, Marshall Crenshaw, Patty Griffin, Ben Folds, Beth Nielsen Chapman and the late Kirsty MacColl, to name a few. Still, I'll never forget how surprised and delighted I was when, on her Bette Of Roses CD, she covered a pair of songs by Maria McKee. McKee was, at that time, already an established solo artist after having made her debut as the lead singer of the '80s cow-punk band Lone Justice. A belter with a flair for the dramatic, I never realized how perfectly matched McKee and Midler were until I heard the latter's renditions of 'To Deserve You' and 'The Last Time.' On her new CD of original material, High Dive (Viewfinder), Maria McKee performs a 14-song cycle that sounds like it is custom made for Bette Midler. Not that McKee's renditions aren't spectacular, especially on the wind-whistling-through-your-hair number 'To The Open Spaces,' the sexy '70s soul of 'Be My Joy,' 'In My Constellation,' the piano and vocal tune 'No Gala,' the nearly indescribable theatrics of 'From Our T.V. Teens To The Tomb,' and the diva drama of 'My Friend Foe.' Still, I couldn't help listening to these songs and hope that Midler was also listening and considering interpreting some of them. It would be a delight to hear Midler sing one song in particular, 'Life Is Sweet,' which McKee performed in a different version on her 1996 album of the same name.
When I interviewed Jewel in 2001, regarding her album This Way, I asked her about the 'disco' references in a couple of the songs and whether or not she would consider letting a remixer get their hands on any of her songs. Two years later we have the musical answer in her latest album 0304 (Atlantic), on which the new-folk princess joins the ranks of the current generation of dance and club music divas. Beats and synthetic sounds dominate on songs with Prince-like titles such as 'Run 2 U,' '2 Find U,' 'Yes U Can,' as well as 'Intuition' (which has been remixed for club play), and the album's brightest track 'Doin' Fine.' Most of the songs sound like more of an experiment than a career commitment and Jewel should be commended for her willingness to try something out of her realm.
Produced by legendary gay DJ Tony Moran, Becstasy (Universal), the debut disc by new disco diva Becky Baeling has a queer sensibility that is missing from so many of Baeling's contemporaries. As she sings on 'Supernova Light,' the album's vivid opening track, 'exploding on the outside/imploding sensuality,' Baeling shines her ray of light on the listener and the dance floor. 'I Snapped' snaps up the beat and the rhythm for a stimulating dance venture. Baeling's dance-club reinvention of the old Belinda Carlisle standard 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth,' is like one of those supernovas she sang about in the opening track. 'All Over Me' is a funky little track that reveals another side of the singer and the appropriately titled 'Diva' is the kind of theme song people would sell their siblings and offspring to get their hands on and make their own, which Baeling does with ease.
It's hard not to root for Macy Gray. After her sensational 1999 debut disc On How Life Is, it seemed that her effortless blend of sassy soul and fried funk would provide listeners with Gray's gooey goodness for years. The reaction of fickle fans to The Id, Gray's follow-up disc, was unprecedented. They turned their backs on such potential party anthems as 'Relating To A Psychopath,' 'Sexual Revolution,' and 'My Nutmeg Phantasy,' to name a few, sending Gray back to square one. The Trouble With Being Myself (Epic) is an ironic title for an album with so many producers involved. Therein lies the problem with Trouble and that is that Gray sounds more scattered than ever. Gray gets off to a trouble-free start with 'When I See You,' but 'It Ain't The Money' co-written by and featuring Beck sounds out of place. 'She Ain't Right For You,' 'Come Together,' 'Jesus For A Day,' and 'She Don't Write Songs For You,' recapture the Macy Gray of old, and 'My Fondest Childhood Memories' is the kind of tripped-out track we've come to expect from the dizzy diva.
Chan Marshall of Cat Power strikes me as a reluctant diva, sort of an American PJ Harvey, crossed with Lisa Germano. You Are Free (Matador), Marshall's most recent Cat Power album contains the gorgeous bare-bones numbers 'I Don't Blame You' 'Names,' 'Evolution' and 'Maybe Not,' as well as edgier fare such as 'Free,' 'Good Woman' (with Eddie Vedder on vocals), 'Speak For Me' (with Dave Grohl on drums and bass), 'He War,' and is as haunting as a good ghost story.
Liz Phair's self-titled disc (Capitol), her first new studio album in five years, is a slick commercial departure that still contains traces of what made Phair so fascinating in the first place. Sex, a mainstay of Phair's songs, is in abundance here, from the bleepable first single 'Why Can't I' to the 'young guys rock' sentiment of 'Rock Me' to the 'favorite underwear' reference of 'Favorite,' all of which were co-penned by Lauren Christy, a British singer/songwriter whose failure as a performer is turning her into the modern rock equivalent of Diane Warren. Phair hasn't lost her flair for the graphic as you can hear on 'H.W.C.,' which stands for 'hot, white come (sic),' and deserves to be covered by queer punk band Super 8 Cum Shot. Of the other Phair originals, 'Good Love Never Dies,' 'Take A Look,' the Who-bombast of 'Love/Hate,' and absolutely heartbreaking 'Little Digger,' about a child that catches his mother with another man indicate that the whip-smart Guyville exile is still there under the fishnet stockings and heavy eye makeup.
Amanda Perez and Thalia are a pair of Latina divas geared toward the young listener. Perez comes off like a tough-talking, black-leather-and-Adidas-wearing diva on Angel (Virgin/Powerhouse). Healthy doses of hip-hop and nu-soul allow the youthful Perez to cover the bases, but it is the single of the title track, a piano-propelled ballad that established the singer and revealed her sensitive side. Thalia's self-titled crossover debut (her tenth album), on the other hand, sounds like some MBA in the marketing department at Virgin's idea of a Mexican Shakira. While Shakira has her own set of flaws, she stands head and shoulders above Thalia, a one-time child-star (like Ricky Martin!) saddled with sophomoric songs and corporate production.
I have long maintained that women (straight or gay) are the only ones who have the right to sing the blues—after all, they have to deal with the endless source of grief caused by men. Marcia Ball has been singing the blues for more than 25 years and continues to do so on her latest album So Many Rivers (Alligator), a flowing blend of originals and covers marked by Ball's trademark swampy piano playing and a guest appearance by Wayne Toups on 'Honeypie.'
Like Bette Midler, young country diva Jessica Andrews has covered Maria McKee in the past (a lovely version of 'Show Me Heaven' appeared on her second disc). On her third album, Now (Dreamworks), Andrews expands her country style to include pop offerings such as 'Sunshine And Love' and 'To Love You Once' (which manages to make a banjo sound like a rock instrument), while maintaining her country credibility on the remaining tunes.
One of the most impressive diva debuts of the year Night On My Side (Astralwerks/ Source) by Gemma Hayes has earned the young Irish singer/songwriter more than just the night on her side. Musicians, record producers and critics are lining up to sing her praises. Her aching Jonatha Brooke meets Juliana Hatfield vocals work superbly at getting the emotions of her songs across whether Hayes is singing over acoustic arrangements as she does on 'My God,' '4:35 AM,' 'I Wanna Stay' or 'Evening Sun,' updating My Bloody Valentine's shoe-gazer shuffle on 'Let A Good Thing Go,' 'Work To A Calm,' 'Lucky One,' and 'Ran For Miles,' or visiting Beth Orton territory on the hidden track 'Dartmouth Square.'
The fertile Boston music scene has provided us with many divas including Aimee Mann, Kristin Hersh and Bonnie Raitt. Kris Delmhorst is another female singer/ songwriter who has been groomed in the scene and her third full-length album Songs For A Hurricane (Signature Sounds), co-produced by Billy Conway of Treat Her Right/ Morphine/Twinemen fame, is a dark and stormy affair. Lost faith ('Waiting Under The Waves'), weeping love ('East of The Mountains'), and lovers who leave with 'no word or warning' ('You're No Train') are an example of the country-blues themes that blow through the album.
Possessing one of the most distinctive voices in pop music, Mary Fahl, the one-time lead singer of October Project ('Bury My Lovely') has released her long-awaited full-length solo debut. The Other Side of Time (Odyssey/Sony Classical), which contains 'The Dawning Of The Day,' a mournful song from the Sigourney Weaver/Anthony LaPaglia post-9/11 drama The Guys, is sure to please fans of October Project's more lush numbers. There are Celtic ('Going Home') and Middle Eastern ('Ben Aindi Habibi') touches for those interested in Fahl's more exotic side. There are also catchy light pop tunes such as opening track 'The Great Unknown.'
