From Amazon.com
Good covers album
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: While some of these songs don't really fit Allison's voice, her voice is strong enough to prevent any of these from being a true dud. Strongest cover is of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." I'd even put that cover up with the original.
And your bird can sing
Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I recently caught Alison Moorer in concert as she opened for her firebrand husband, Steve Earle, on his Washington Square Serenade tour. Other than the fact that she is Mrs. Earle and Shelby Lynne's sister, I didn't know much about her. But I was impressed enough by her performance to pick this disc up after the show.
"Mockingbird" is a covers album that rises and falls like most, on the strength of the interpretations. Moorer has a beautiful, clear voice that works when she digs to the core of the song's emotion, like her spatial vibe on "Ring of Fire." Like her husband, she is also unafraid of putting a rocker's pulse to songs that would naturally accommodate it, as she does here to Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot." On her own composition (the title track) Moorer connects the way the cool female singers of the 70's like Carly Simon or Joni Mitchell (who pops up with "Both Sides Now.") used to.
However, there are a few misses. The scratchy psuedo-old-timey production of "Daddy Goodbye Blues" is irritating. Some of the songs just lack spunk. All is forgiven with the closer (and concert highlight) "Looking for Blue Eyes," a lament that shows Moorer's country gifts to perfection. "Mockingbird" falls into the same league as, for instance, kd lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel, where a really gifted singer works a promising turf but can't always hit the mark.
For an example of this type of album done just right, check out Slaid Cleaves' Unsung.
Soulful crooning still falls a little flat
Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Allison Moorer has a wonderfully smoky singing voice, the kind that can make for both great sultry jazz interpretation as well as portray the kind of heartbreak that a good country slow song requires. So an album in which she uses that voice to cover both classic jazz and country standards seems like it couldn't miss. Unfortunately, the arrangements on these covers go out of their way to vary Moorer's interpretation from the original without providing that something extra that makes a good cover. Best case in point is what Moorer does with the Johnny Cash standard, "Ring of Fire." It's a hard song to cover to begin with, as Cash's version is pretty well imprinted on the memory of anyone who's heard it, and most of us have heard it hundreds of times. When the song first begins, you don't even quite recognize it as "Ring of Fire," but when you ultimately do, you start performing that mental comparison with the Cash version and every choice that Moorer makes just seems to have been done to be different.
Sometimes it works--the best song here for me is "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," which recalls Nina Simone but adds enough country tinge that makes it work for Moorer--but for the most part these are non-descript covers that you play once and promptly forget, which is unfortunate.
New fan
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Never heard of Moorer until I was reading the bio of her sister Shelby Lynn. Bought MOCHINGBIRD..... Allison has a great voice, warm... personal... country blues would be my discription. Love this cd
diamond in the rough
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Allison Moorer is a welcome relief to all the craziness on the radio today. The songs are mellow and laid back, all are beautifully done and her voice overall reminds me of Paula Cole, most notably on Dancing Barefoot. Some of her song choices are a little off the wall, particularly Both Sides Now, but there's definitely bountiful talent here.
Purchases
1 Mockingbird
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