Album Reviews

In the wake of Norah Jones’ smash debut Come Away With Me, Nellie McKay issued the Geoff Emerick produced double CD set Get Away From Me.

Though her long debut album would have fit onto a single CD, McKay insisted upon two CDs to resurrect (sort of) the ritual of flipping a record over to hear the other side.

Meet the attractive, pert, perky (etc.) twenty eight year old former stand—up comedian and you’ll be confronted by a gal who appears to be a throw back to a ‘40s Jean Arthur movie character.

In the wake of Norah Jones’ smash debut Come Away With Me, Nellie McKay issued the Geoff Emerick produced double CD set Get Away From Me.

Though her long debut album would have fit onto a single CD, McKay insisted upon two CDs to resurrect (sort of) the ritual of flipping a record over to hear the other side.

Meet the attractive, pert, perky (etc.) twenty eight year old former stand—up comedian and you’ll be confronted by a gal who appears to be a throw back to a ‘40s Jean Arthur movie character.

Her speech, punctuated with goshes and gollies, has the lilt and demeanor of characters you’ll hear in old black and white screwball comedies, yet after a few minutes you’re sure to be convinced that she’s the genuine article and not a put on.

What’s more, she can really sing and play a variety of instruments including piano and guitar. I saw her open a Carnegie Hall date as part of the JVC Jazz Festival a few years ago and she more than held the stage with her singing, playing and in-between song patter. She neatly bridges, Broadway, cabaret and rock and is accepted and has performed in all three worlds. On that JVC Jazz Fest date she opened for Lou Reed. Lou Reed at the JVC Jazz Festival? Don't ask! But the crowd loved her as does Lou, who invited her in the first place.

On this delightful (a word I don’t use often but it’s the right one here) tribute to fellow animal activist Doris Day, McKay covers contemporary and old standards ranging from “The Very Thought of You,” “Crazy Rhythm” and “Sentimental Journey” to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Meditation” and Bacharach and David’s “Send Me No Flowers.” She also performs a winning original “If I Ever Had a Dream,” that also sounds as if it was written in the 1940s.

McKay did most of the arranging as well as the sublime orchestrations and she plays piano, organ, ukelele, synthesizer, mellotron, bells, tympani and tambura.

Upon first listen you might think of this as lightweight, but that would be wrong. The arrangements are delicate, open and ingenious confections that reveal new intricacies with each play. Despite McKay’s love of the music and culture of the 1940s and ‘50s, this is a thoroughly modern creation and anything but nostalgia.

McKay is also clearly sound-conscious. When you get Geoff Emerick to produce your first album, that much is obvious! Here she calls upon the always excellent James Farber to record and mix at the tube gear rich Sear Sound, with mastering by Mark Wilder and the sonic results are again delightful: rich, warm, inviting and “old fashioned” in the best sense of the phrase.

No doubt McKay insisted upon a vinyl release, though I suspect it was cut at Nashville Record Productions from a high resolution digital file but I can’t be sure. It doesn’t sound “digital” in the cliché’d sense of the word, that’s for sure and I’d wholeheartedly recommend the 180g vinyl edition except that it was pressed at United in Nashville and it’s noisy.

They press the worst crap there, particularly on 180g, a format they’ve yet to master, if they even care, because I’m not sure anyone there does. How one plant can produce such consistently noisy records and claim to care escapes me.

So unless you’re willing to put up with surface noise on this delicate jewel of a sweet sounding production, I have to recommend the CD. I hate when that happens. But however you get it, it’s easy to recommend Normal as Blueberry Pie