One of the few negative things I could say about
Nellie McKay's future recordings is that he
songwriting skill is such that she probably won't be
doing a whole lot of cover material (and, Stewart
mentioned Randy Newman -- I could probably come up
with a few Newman numbers she would just rule on).

I don't find her songwriting as consistently great as
Stewart does, but there are some gems on the album --
in particular, one of the tracks mentioned below, "I
Wanna Get Married" -- it sounds like a 1940's era
standard, but it's subverted by her lyrics, which are
wondefully dry and sarcastic.

The only other knock on Nellie is that at times she
verges on being a bit precious and self-impressed
(look how clever I am!), but I hope she grows out of
it.  She is also a brilliant singer.  I think Norah
Jones is OK (and that her second disc was a nice step
forward) and has loads of potential as a singer, but
Ms. McKay is way ahead of her at this point in her
career.  I don't know if I'd rank Nellie up there
w/Peggy Lee yet, but she might be as good or better
than Dinah Shore and Julie London.

And, she's really really cute...

Mike Bennett
--- Stewart Mason <craigtorso@verizon.net> wrote:

Even the relatively straightforward
> songs on the 
> album, like the absolutely lovely "I Wanna Get
> Married," have a few 
> snarky lines, and most of my favorites are downright
> cutting: the most 
> Norah-like song on the album, "Really," is a
> gorgeous little ballad 
> for jazz trio plus trumpet, and it sounds like the
> ultimate Starbucks 
> music until you notice that the lyrics are a woman
> insincerely 
> apologizing to someone, saying that while she knows
> she's supposed to 
> care about him and his problems, she really just
> can't be arsed to. 
> For my money, Nellie McKay might well be the best
> lyricist in pop 
> music right now.


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