Marshall Changes Tunes With Poppier New CD

A DIFFERENT STORY

OTTAWA SUN

IAN NATHANSON

December 11 2001

Marshall changes tune with poppier new CD

As legend goes, not long after being discovered by Jeff Healey in the early 1990s, the Toronto singer went a-nightclubbin' with such powerful pipes and dramatic air-guitar hand shakes, it warranted one Hogtown writer to pen her as the "love child of Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker."

In between sips of herbal tea in a quiet downtown hotel lobby Monday morning, Marshall acknowledges the tag is flattering, but that was "when I was 17 and started singing in clubs. Yet everybody seized on what this one guy said.

"My reaction at the time was, 'That's really nice, but I don't know who I am yet.' That's only natural when you're just starting out and trying to find your own identity. It takes a couple of stabs to discover who you are."

Those couple of stabs -- meaning her last two albums -- nonetheless have been success stories for this Sony Music artist. Her 1995 self-titled debut and 1999's Tuesday's Child have, combined, sold well over 2 million copies worldwide.

But Marshall claims to have finally found her voice with her three-week-old third album Everybody's Got A Story.

"This record sounds like me," explains Marshall, whose songwriting collaborators include producers Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt) and Billy Mann (Diana King, Art Garfunkel), a New York DJ named Molecules and, in the case of the very personal Marry Me, touring bassist Rob Misener.

Compared to past efforts, Marshall adopts a more beat-heavy, groove-oriented pop sound this time around. "I don't have any complaints about pop music, but lyrically, I wanted this record to have a sense of conversation, spontaneity and depth. I wanted it to be cake, not icing," she says.

Certainly, the proverbial icing on Marshall fans' cakes was seeing the 29-year-old confidently test out her new songs before a packed gathering Monday night in a rare Barrymore's show to promote Everybody's Got A Story.

And everybody will have a story of the 'new' Amanda Marshall. Sure, the well-trussed hair is still there, but gone -- permanently, we hope -- were her dramatic Cocker-esque gestures. Missing, presumedly hunkered down by a well-oiled pop machine, were her high-pitched, oft-melodramatic wails.

Instead, what Marshall, her six-piece band and backup singers Beverley Staunton and Stacie Tabb delivered was a melange of pop stylings that at times grooved (notably on Dizzy, Sunday Morning After and Everybody's Got A Story), but more often nearly flatlined (the 'N Sync-lite of The Voice Inside, Red Magic Marker and Brand New Beau). Shows what happens when you encase percussionists in plexiglass.

Softies The Gypsy and the stinging Colleen (I Saw Him First) were delivered with the zeal of impressing radio marketing types, likely drooling with dreams of 'Obvious Next Big Single.'

Working in their favour was significant applause from the odd-for-a-bar-crowd mix of adolescents, middle-agers and elderly types, responding more to Marshall's charm and, hopefully, not the hellish choreography of the night's opener, Double Agent.

Only Marry Me, encore number Love Is A Witness and token oldie Birmingham scored points for what's clearly Marshall's strength -- her vocal prowess.

But with the pop path she's chosen, we might kiss much of that prowess, to quote a Marshall song of old, a beautiful goodbye.


	A DIFFERENT STORY OTTAWA SUN IAN NATHANSON December 11 2001 Marshall changes tune with poppier new CD As legend goes, not long after being discovered by Jeff Healey in the early 1990s, the Toronto singer went a-nightclubbin' with such powerful pipes and dramatic air-guitar hand shakes, it warranted one Hogtown writer to pen her as the "love child of Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker." In between sips of herbal tea in a quiet downtown hotel lobby Monday morning, Marshall acknowledges the tag is flattering, but that was "when I was 17 and started singing in clubs. Yet everybody seized on what this one guy said. "My reaction at the time was, 'That's really nice, but I don't know who I am yet.' That's only natural when you're just starting out and trying to find your own identity. It takes a couple of stabs to discover who you are." Those couple of stabs -- meaning her last two albums -- nonetheless have been success stories for this Sony Music artist. Her 1995 self-titled debut and 1999's Tuesday's Child have, combined, sold well over 2 million copies worldwide. But Marshall claims to have finally found her voice with her three-week-old third album Everybody's Got A Story. "This record sounds like me," explains Marshall, whose songwriting collaborators include producers Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt) and Billy Mann (Diana King, Art Garfunkel), a New York DJ named Molecules and, in the case of the very personal Marry Me, touring bassist Rob Misener. Compared to past efforts, Marshall adopts a more beat-heavy, groove-oriented pop sound this time around. "I don't have any complaints about pop music, but lyrically, I wanted this record to have a sense of conversation, spontaneity and depth. I wanted it to be cake, not icing," she says. Certainly, the proverbial icing on Marshall fans' cakes was seeing the 29-year-old confidently test out her new songs before a packed gathering Monday night in a rare Barrymore's show to promote Everybody's Got A Story. And everybody will have a story of the 'new' Amanda Marshall. Sure, the well-trussed hair is still there, but gone -- permanently, we hope -- were her dramatic Cocker-esque gestures. Missing, presumedly hunkered down by a well-oiled pop machine, were her high-pitched, oft-melodramatic wails. Instead, what Marshall, her six-piece band and backup singers Beverley Staunton and Stacie Tabb delivered was a melange of pop stylings that at times grooved (notably on Dizzy, Sunday Morning After and Everybody's Got A Story), but more often nearly flatlined (the 'N Sync-lite of The Voice Inside, Red Magic Marker and Brand New Beau). Shows what happens when you encase percussionists in plexiglass. Softies The Gypsy and the stinging Colleen (I Saw Him First) were delivered with the zeal of impressing radio marketing types, likely drooling with dreams of 'Obvious Next Big Single.' Working in their favour was significant applause from the odd-for-a-bar-crowd mix of adolescents, middle-agers and elderly types, responding more to Marshall's charm and, hopefully, not the hellish choreography of the night's opener, Double Agent. Only Marry Me, encore number Love Is A Witness and token oldie Birmingham scored points for what's clearly Marshall's strength -- her vocal prowess. But with the pop path she's chosen, we might kiss much of that prowess, to quote a Marshall song of old, a beautiful goodbye.