Customer Reviews

18 Again Anthology

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This is about as smart and witty as pop music gets these days. Think Randy Newman or John Hiatt with a fine voice and a woman's sensibility (albeit one who'd like to grow a pair). Like Hiatt at his best, Amy writes about family and relationships in a way rarely touched upon in music. If you like artists like Aimee Mann, Rosanne Cash, Caitlin Cary or Hiatt, you'll revere Rigby. She ought to be a household name.

While this is a fine collection, her three solo discs are also worth tracking down.

If I had to put together a best of from Amy's three Koch albums, this is almost exactly the collection I'd assemble, right down to the wickedly funny unreleased (on CD) "Keep It To Yourself". Sure, my favorite Amy CD, "Middlescence" could stand to add another couple favorites here, particularly "Laboratory of Love" and "As Is" but there's always room for quibbling.

If you're already familiar with Amy, no doubt about it, you've already gotten her first three CDs. If you're not, this is a great starting point. Nothing beats Amy's combination of top notch songwriting, incisive wit and musicality. Of all the performers that my friends have turned me on to in the past dozen years or so, I'm most grateful for being introduced to the music of Amy Rigby.

Though she's never drawn the adoring crowds that flock to Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan, singer-songwriter Amy Rigby has no peer on the current pop scene. Her wit, honesty, emotional intelligence, and superior gift for melody have enabled her to capture a moment in the lives of men and women as precisely as Carole King did in the early 70s.

Like King, Rigby has mastered the paradox of rendering a generation through songs that are utterly personal; with their vivid detail and knowing observations, her lyrics cut deeper than a weekend's worth of Lilith Fair anthems. This May her three albums on Koch Records - Diary Of A Mod Housewife (1996), Middlescence (1998), and The Sugar Tree (2000) - will be condensed into a single-disc anthology as she closes out her deal with the label, and if you're unfamiliar with her music, you couldn't do better than the 17 tracks earmarked for the still-untitled release.

The frustrating working woman on the cowbell-pounding rocker "The Good Girls" declares, "My mother didn't go to work / She stayed at home and she never got paid / Now I do double time, I'm slaving six to nine/I'm so tired at night I think I've got it made." In the slinky, bongo-propelled blues "Invisible" the singer laments, "I walked into a bar, now what was I thinking / Nobody asked me, `Honey what are you drinking?'/ I'm invisible / Since I hit 35 what I want I gotta buy/I'm invisible."

For all her vulnerability, Rigby can strip the paint off a lover better than Richard Thompson: on the hammering "Balls," she snaps, "I've been seeing a pattern here, how you get lost when I get too near / Then you come `round maybe once a week, like some guys go out to bowl." Yet for all her disappointment she still savors romance like wine: on "Magicians," when a sometime boyfriend tells her he won't be around forever, she replies, "Let's leave reality out of this, shall we? / No need to mention it, it's always here / Leave the cold hard facts to the mathematicians / We're magicians / We make reality disappear."

Amy Rigby has been there, done that, and got the songs to prove it. As a single mom in that "not a kid and not middle aged" place in her life, she sings of love and life as someone who as both seen too much and is still hopeful. The frustration of loves that don't work, the rememberance of lost loves, the hassles of everyday youth.

Being about the same age as Amy, these songs really hit home. This album is not for teeny boppers, but they should buy it and save it for 20 years. Then they will get it.

An extremely fetching look for Ms. Amy, I think...and oh, by the way, buy this collection. You can't go wrong. From "Balls" to "Rode Hard" to "Summer", it's a stunning and impressive display of songwriting genius. And for a bonus, there's the cover...

This compilation CD has 18 cuts on it and not one is weak. Amy's music is accoustic rock with a little bit of country, but not enough to be annoying. Her voice is a little thin, but the lyrics and musicality of the songs puts this on my top 10 list. She really wears her heart on her sleeve and apparently has a lot of heartache to talk about. But she doesn't make the songs morose; instead she brings a wry sense of humor that permeates most of the tracks. Try "Cynically Yours" and "Keep it to Yourself" to see what I mean. I'll have to buy more of her works. ALSO - if you like her honest lyrics and sense of humour, try the CD "Tropical Brainstorm" by Kirsty MacColl. It has the same wry woman-scorned attitude, but with a Brazilian beat.

Amy Rigby is one of the cleverest song writers to come along since Ray Davies. She writes about reality, the mundane problems real people have that tend to swallow them, and does so with inspiring wit salted with a side of melody. This collection has some really great songs, and they'll have you both tapping your toes and laughing your tail off. Any one who appreciates great wit in lyrics should seriously consider an impulse purchase.

I saw Amy and her Hubby live in St. Louis and their show was unbelievable. Amy's playing, lyrics and showmanship was right on target.
So is the CD 18 again. I think "Balls" and "Cynically Yours" are Rigby classics. The other tunes are strong too. What a bargain...18 great tunes at comfortable price. Now I own three CD by Rigby, for real.

I'm late for the party again. I stumbled upon Amy Rigby on YouTube and now I can't stop listening. Few singer/songwriters can pull off funny without falling into the Al Yankovic school of schtick. Ms. Rigby joins the ranks of Randy Newman and John Prine. Her voice can be fragile as a California fault line, which plays well on many of her songs that are about not quite middle age angst. Her music can mimic and mock and pay homage to everyone from Bob Dylan to Johnny Ramone to Joni Mitchell. This "anthology" is a collection of great songs from her first few albums. Definitely worth buying if you are just discovering her at this late date.(Like me.)

I love Amy's song, "All I want", it's great and I really enjoyed listening to it.