David Scott

Glorious Forgery, May 23 2004

The Graceful Ghost is the most gorgeous album from the 1800s you'll hear this year. DeLisle comes on like the ghost of Mother Maybelle or Kitty Wells (although sexier and more polished than either), and her songwriting shows ample hours studying at the feet of Dolly Parton (insert jokes about "the shade" here). A little research shows that DeLisle is an ultra-slick Hollywood voiceover queen and has released two homegrown retro-country albums prior to taking the big leap into spooky folk aimed straight for the O Brother! market. Yeah, I'm a bit jaded, but this album is clearly a fake and not afraid to admit it. (I love how the added ambient crackles and hiss on some songs fade out before… Read more

Promises, promises (recorded) / delivers, delivers (live), Mar 5 2004

***IMPORTANT UPDATE! I just caught Nellie live in L.A., and the real deal is experiencing the work in its "just the girl and her piano" mode. The CD tries way too hard to turn this stuff into marketable pop music. Nellie live reveals herself to be Blossom Dearie/Annie Ross dipped in acid. I'll still give the cd three stars (which reflects more on Mr. Beatle than it does Ms. McKay), but Nellie live is five stars all the way.*****

You have to love this if for no other reason than Nellie -- when told that her label planned to market her like Norah Jones (who, of course, hasn't been "marketed" in the least, yeah right) -- quickly changed the title of her audacious double cd debut to Get… Read more

Viva La Longet! - but, sadly, not here, Feb 22 2004

There's an undeniable magic when Claudine Longet has her way with an arrangement by Nick DeCaro. It's four parts camp to one part brilliance, and it can really hook you if you keep an open mind. This collection, however, is not a best-of or even the place to start. Get Claudine's "Love is Blue" album which has most of her all-time greats - Randy Newman's "Snow," "Small Talk," "Happy Talk," a hysterical "Falling In Love Again," the Bee Gee's "Holiday" (you have to hear it!) and - I swear to God - a love song to a seal. There's never been anything quite like her....