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  6.
Anne McCue
Roll
Messenger Records
Australian guitarist Anne McCue’s third solo
effort, Roll, is primarily a rock and blues album with nods to the
Rolling Stones, Lucinda Williams (one of McCue’s most avid supporters), and
Bob Dylan. Laden with heavy guitar riffs and rock melodies, Roll is a
sixty-eight-minute ode to women who are down on their luck. Comprised almost
entirely of original material (the exception being a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s
“Machine Gun,” which ends the album), Roll showcases McCue’s
straightforward, introspective songwriting, as well as her intricate guitar
work. “Ballad of an Outlaw Woman,” McCue’s six-minute epic about a young
woman born into a family of gunslingers, begins as a slow, aching guitar
ballad before disintegrating into a raucous, bluesy slide guitar and
bass-driven jam worthy of the Black Crowes. “Crazy Beautiful Child,” by
contrast, is a three-minute pop song with a catchy melody and a sing-along
refrain. Throughout, McCue’s voice changes from soft and airy to raspy and
edgy, imbuing each song with perfectly fitting emotion.
  5.
Neko Case
The Tigers Have
Spoken
Anti- Records
Possessing both striking power and a
subtle haunting quality that few can manage, Neko Case’s voice is undoubtedly
one of the finest in alt-country today. Case’s multi-faceted music ranges
from honky-tonk to alternative rock, from rockabilly and cowpunk to old
school country. Her new live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, marvelously
captures all of these qualities without sounding too polished or overly
edited. Recorded during a tour with the Sadies in March and April 2004, The
Tigers Have Spoken is a raucous, fast-paced record filled with Case’s trademark
jangling guitar sound and pop melodies. The Tigers Have Spoken is at
its heart an album of live covers, ranging from Case’s lilting pop-infused
cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Soulful Shade of Blue” to a pedal steel-laden
cover of Loretta Lynn’s “Rated X” to her guitar-driven, punk cover of the
Nervous Eaters’ “Loretta” – all of which showcase Case’s oft-gritty, soaring
contralto. The two new original songs on the album – “The Tigers Have Spoken”
and “If You Knew” – boast strong pop melodies accented by a rock backbeat and
backing vocals by Case’s frequent collaborators, Kelly Hogan and Carolyn
Mark. The Tigers Have Spoken is further demonstration of the unique
combination of pop, country, and rock aesthetics that have marked Neko Case’s
three previous studio albums.
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