Artist: Amanda Marshall
Album: Tuesday's Child
Genre: Pop / Soft Rock / Jazz
Release Date: June 22, 1999
Introduction
I have always been a fan of Amanda Marshall. Her music can be varied. From R&B inspired songs Rock to Jazz, there is always a little surprise in her music.
However, what I love most about this artist are her words. I am not sure if all of her songs are inspired by personal events, but when she sings, it sounds personal. She has that raspy voice but at the same time, it can be soft when needed to be.
Here is my review of what I think is her best album in her repertoire. Let us see why I like this artist so much.
Background
Amanda Marshall is a Canadian singer who was born on August 29th, 1972 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has mentioned that she always had a love for music. As a child she loved the idea of music and more importantly the creativity side of music.
She has said that her inspiration for her music came from her parents. Her mother was Trinidadian and her father was a Canadian. Her mother would listen to Calypso and Jazz. While her father would listen to Rock & Roll.
Growing up she listened to a variety of artists that included the likes of Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Otis Redding, and Ray Charles. Those are some pretty big names and very different styles as well from one another.
Tuesday's Child was Marshall's second album after the successful, self titled album Amanda Marshall. That album had quite a few chart toppers with Let It Rain, Birmingham, Fall from Grace, Beautiful Goodbye and my personal favourite Dark Horse.
So she had quite the challenge in not falling into the sophomore jinx with her second effort. She put the odds on her side by having some help. She enlisted the help of artists such as Ritchie Sambora (Why Don't You Love Me?) and Carole King (Right Here All Along). she also collaborated with many others such as Desmond Child, Eric Bazilian and Andy Kravitz.
Although she collaborated with different artists on this album, she was actually more involved with the writing this time around. She felt that on the first album she did not contribute much and thought that she could do a lot more.
The album was written in 1998 and early 1999. Let us see if all the effort was worth it.
Track Listing
Believe In You
Love Lift Me
Why Don't You Love Me?
Too Little, Too Late
If I Didn't Have You
Ride
Right Here All Along
Wishful Thinking
Shades of Grey
Give Up Giving In
Best of Me
Never Said Goodbye
Out of Bounds
Just Love Me
Love Lift Me - Amanda Marshall
Bottomline
Although technically this album was not as successful as her previous effort, I think that it is her best album. There are quite a few reasons for this.
As I mentioned before the writing of this album is strong and it felt personal. Every time she sang a lyric it sounded like it came from the heart. Writing words for a song can be easy. However, writing meaningful songs that also sound genuine, is hard to do.
To be honest, I could probably write a little about every song as they are all good in their own way. However, the themes for this album are not too varied. They focus mainly on various stages of love.
One of the strongest songs on the album is Too Little, Too Late. This song is basically about losing someone and then realizing that you made a mistake but it is too late. The first few verses demonstrate this very well.
Chorus
But it's too little too late No going back to the start You only lose when you hesitate And now that I would give you my heart It's too little too late
No matter if it is love or life in general, we have all missed opportunities cause we hesitated with our choices. This chorus reminds us, that you should always go for it as you may regret it later.
Never Said Goodbye I think the best song on the album. The song has that old fashion jazz vibe. It has a very simple melody but it works well. The track is also very well written. I think that it is a great piece of storytelling. The song is about having an old flame and due to circumstances both people have gone their different ways. Although there may have been heated arguments, googbye was never said. So in the song, Marshall wants to go back and see if she can say that final goodbye. However, she realizes that something things are better left unsaid and you cannot go back as things are different.
The last stanza or verse of the song says it all
All of a sudden I'm driving home again 'Cause sometimes goodbye is better left unsaid The Santa Fe horizon will know the reason why I said a lot of things to you But I never said goodbye
Never Said Goodbye - Amanda Marshall
The last song that I think is a strong entry is Out of Bounds. This is about being afraid to get into a new relationship. It feels right but experience tells you otherwise. What I love about the song as well is the musical arrangement. It is musically more powerful than the other tracks on the album. Her voice really comes through I believe on this song.
Out of Bounds - Amanda Marshall
Having provided what I believe to the strongest songs on the album, the question is why do I like this album so much. Technically, I should not like it as much. It sounds very Top 40 and normally I find those songs regurgitated garbage for the most part.
I think the answer to the question, is I like the album because of Marshall. She has a powerful voice that borrows a little bit from Janice Joplin. May be not as raspy but you can hear a faint hint of it. Although the main theme of the album is love and heartbreak, I was not nauseated by the typical cliche's written in most songs, She was able to put on paper feelings and sing them with passion. Although they are very different styles, I would compare her passion in her singing to Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam.
If ever you are home, and have a glass of wine, this is a great album to listen from beginning to end. It is not a concept album but each song brings something a little different to the table and I assure you that you would not be disappointed in listening to this.
Let us know your thoughts at the coordinates below.
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