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You have to admire Mandy Moore for sticking to her guns and creating the music she wants to make. I’m pretty sure Moore had some opposition when she decided to turn her back on being a “Britney-clone” to immerse herself in the retro-realm of 70’s singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Harry Nilsson. You could just imagine all of her advisors setting up meetings with pie-charts and graphs displaying the vast decrease in media exposure by not going the pop-princess route. I personally thought it was some sort of gimmick when she released her Coverage album back in 2003. I really couldn’t fathom someone who sang the pop tune “Candy” would be so into the works of Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson and Elton John. But after Wild Hope in 2007 and now her most recent album, Amanda Leigh, she has proven to me that she has been pretty sincere about her influences.

I’ve been listening to Amanda Leigh for a month now and I’m taken by how effortlessly melodic the songs are. I believe a lot of the credit has to go to Mike Viola. The melodies, the chord progressions and instrumentation are very well done here. The album is a full-on homage to all those 70’s artists Moore seems to love so much, right down to the sound of the recordings and even the use of the harpsichord (which you don’t hear much on recordings these days). The album opens with what I’d consider the best song in the set, “Merrimack River”. The song is so strong, Viola and Moore decided to include a reprise of the melody later on in the album. It’s good to hear Moore’s voice having more depth and nuance than in previous efforts. She still doesn’t have the vocal chops of others in her field but I’m glad to see the development nonetheless. As a big Todd Rundgren fan, I can hear the Todd influences (intentional or not) in songs like “I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week” and “Indian Summer”. Other highlights include “Fern Dell” and her collaboration with Lori Mckenna, “Everblue”.

RetroGrade: B+

Amanda Leigh by Mandy Moore
released: May 2009
label: Storefront

TrackList:
1 Merrimack River (Moore, Viola) 4:26
2 Fern Dell (Moore, Viola) 3:02
3 I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week (Moore, Viola) 2:50
4 Pocket Philosopher (Moore, Viola) 3:15
5 Song About Home (George, Moore, Viola) 3:57
6 Everblue (Mckenna, Moore) 4:13
7 Merrimack River (Reprise) (Viola) 0:58
8 Love to Love Me Back (George, Moore, Viola) 4:14
9 Indian Summer (George, Moore, Viola) 2:23
10 Nothing Everything (Moore, Viola) 4:23
11 Bug (Moore, Viola) 2:16

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Merrimack River live for Walmart Soundcheck

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interview about the new album for Walmart Soundcheck

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Filed under:
music, reviews by retroDan