Not sure what to say about this album, except that every time I sit to listen to one or two tunes I wind up playing the whole thing. Okay, so I can say a lot about it - it rocks and in a wonderfully multi-dimensional way. The literal heart, soul and driving force is the voice of Audra Mae, a native Oklahoman and blood-relative of Judy Garland. Her sound is reminiscent of Joan Osbourne and Amy Winehouse but fully her own as well. It also seems as though she’s quiet the songwriter both for her own work as well as for others (including a number of Euro-tunes... not something you’d initially expect coming out of Oklahoma). All this is not to say that the Almighty Sounds are a bunch of slouches. Their instrumentation is tight along with their backing ooohs, aaahs and grunts. I’ll put my only critique up front, which really isn’t a critique. Audra Mae’s voice takes such center stage, that one is left wondering what else the band can do.
“The Real Thing,” which opens the album, as well as “Jebediah Moonshine’s Friday Night Shack Party” really get things swinging, and the rest of the album doesn’t let up all that much. As mentioned the songwriting is strong and I thoroughly enjoy following the storyline through songs like “Ne’er Do Wells,” “My Friend Devil,” “I’m a Diamond” and “Two Melodies.” As a rule I also anticipate that there will be a few duds on an album that can easily be skipped over, as nothing’s ever perfect. Here I immediately centered on those songs that seemed to overly typify other famous songs. “Little Red Wagon” sounds like a children’s ditty, while connections seemed obvious between “Smokin’s the Boys” with Motley Crue and “...Friday Night Shack Party” with the B52s. Yet somehow they moved up and beyond the cliches of those allusions, and excelled in their own right. Something in me wanted not to like those songs, but I did in spite of myself.
Rating: This album is topshelf (8.5 stars, desert island, pick your term). I can’t say much else, beside take it for a spin.
