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Joan Osborne
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Pretty Little Stranger
Vanguard Records
Release: November 14, 2006
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Rated:
Review by:
Gisele Grignon
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Joan Osborne's 2006 CD is as eloquent as '95s
Relish - and features her infinite attention also.
Pretty Little Stranger however, is God-light, as
opposed to God-like.
Relish seemed to mustard up so many biblical
references that Pretty Little Stranger couldn't
possibly catch-up (or castup, depending on local dialects). Who
could forget that her lyrical grand-deity of them all, "What if
God Was One of Us?", wherein Osborne questioned the
Almighty's personal hygiene and household cleaning skills,
prompted more gasping, finger-pointing and blasphemy than
Randy Newman's perceived attack on the vertically challenged in
"Short People". In Pretty Little Stranger, she
navigates the rough seas of public opinion to draw attention to
holy waters, holy ways.
But that doesn't mean Osborne ignores her own internal quests
or questions. Picking through her own minefield of heavy and
light issues, she prods her listeners to do the same, in their own
ways, in their own time. Osborne has evidently done her own
soul searching here, which is understandable. What adds up to
nothing short of a modern miracle, is her right-on-the-mark
analysis of the prodding and rattling of her own
beliefs.
Confessional time: Though not a songwriter, words do play an
important personal and professional role in my life. Yet by the
time my printer coughs up the second page of a two-page
article, I've not only forgotten the opening line of my own
writing, I've blanked entirely on the general subject of the piece.
So in my opinion, as well as in my self-proclaimed and
self-propelled religious sect (wherein "The Check's In The Mail"
is the
mantra, and my accountant is my high priest), Saint Joan of Dark
is genuflection-worthy for not only remembering her writing,
but also for her interpretation of it. Such as this excerpt of a
media release: "I would call this my version of a country record -
some of it very traditional, some less so. It tells feelings and
stories in a very simple language, and I wanted to focus on that
simple way of communication, rather than be flowery and poetic.
I needed to get down to the bare bones and I feel like we did a
good job of doing that."
Good? Please. That would be like saying the Pope's finger bling
is cute. It would also be easy to draw the following
deep-as-Paris-Hilton's-overdrawn-memory bank conclusion:
Miss Osborne has most assuredly matured, lyrically, musically,
and it would be hard to avoid the third peg in this triumvirate:
spiritually. After about dozen years of virtual or virtuous silence
from the goddess of musical purity, Pretty Little
Stranger rates two out of three in terms of CD Title
accuracy: as in , Pretty (good looking to the ear) and Little
(relatively, six of the 12 tracks here are new). But this newest
Osborne is definitely no Stranger to her existing fans.
Bold discount Zen-like intro/extro-spective statement warning:
HOW and WHERE you listen to music is often as (sometimes
more) important than WHAT you listen to. And so Grasshopper,
this is also the case with Pretty Little Stranger.
Osborne's CD is highly enjoyable whether you're in a funk or in
a bubble bath, hearing it on an MP3 player or on an 8-track (ask
your parents, or, sigh, your grandparents). There's something
here for just about every taste, every mood and activity (or lack
there of), without the collection of tracks sounding forced or
hodgepodge. May the Higher Power, in Her infinite wisdom,
bathe Joan in the warm glow of success. Peace be with you.
Amen. Shalom. Wash behind your ears. |
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