Customer Reviews

Dirty Little Secret

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Eschewing the hot-jazz of her former combo, Squirrel Nut Zippers, vocalist Katharine Whalen brings her quirky singing style to an equally quirky modern context. Unlike her 1999 Jazz Squad outing, Whalen's hooked up with writer and multi-instrumentalist David Sale for a funky, trip-hop excursion into sounds that bounce like an amped-up version of Portishead's "Dummy." The production compellingly syncopates instrumental lines, multilayered background voices and danceable tempos beneath Whalen's vocals. There's an undercurrent of exotica that rises to the fore on the percussive "The Garden" and brass-lined "Want You Back." Whalen's voice still has the Billie Holiday edge of her SQN releases, but the impact is completely different in this most surprising and inventive context. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]

You know, I'm not really sure what's with the dude from motor city, perhaps too much carbon monoxide in his hair, but this album bleeding rocks! Every tune on this album is full of surprise and I, for one (and few of my friends I've played it for), quite enjoy listening to "Dirty Little Secret"! The music is inventive and has a quirky, fun charm to it; her vocals are so smooth and seductive as they rub in sensuous contrast to the driving rhythm and stabbing horns of the music; the lack of corporate input on the production is refreshing and I most certainly would recommend this music to anyone who enjoys original contemporary pop music.

I'm actually mostly unaware of Katherine Whalen's previous stint with The Squirrel Nut Zippers or that of her collaborator, David "Camus" Sale. I'm a newer fan who found them about a year or so ago on myspace.com when they were calling themselves "The Kat'n'Mike Club" and offered up the first song "The Funnest Game"...and I've been a fan ever since! In fact, it's my humble opinion, that "The Funnest Game" alone is worth the price of the album!

I have since gone back and found some the old Squirrel Nut music and her previous solo effort, Jazz Squad, but can't say that I liked it all that much; too jazzy, too protracted and not engaging enough for this listener. I did pick up on the Camus' album, "The Sins of The Father", and enjoyed that music immensely (see that review), although I wonder why Sale hasn't garnered more attention. As for the production quality of "Dirty Little Secrets" and the heavy use of multi-layered effects, I do think it could have benefited from more of a live feel; then again, when and if Katherine Whalen goes on tour and comes to my little town (San Francisco), I am very much looking forward to experiencing these tunes live for a new sound.

Overall I would give this album five very solid stars. The songs are wonderfully crafted, the vocal performance is very powerful and the smokey jazz influence blends well with the eccentric pop tunes. I highly encourage you to give it a listen as well!

At first it was a shock to hear Katharine in this modern Style. But from the opening song "The Funnest Game", which kicks, to the last song Blur this almbum just does it. I think I've played it ten times now and it just keeps getting better. Choice cuts for me are
"Follow", "Three Blind Mice" and "Want you back". I like "Angel" too though, which seems to be a song a bout a girl returning from an insane asylum. I love I love Lucy, so I recognized the referance in The Funnest Game to an old Vaudville routine. Slowly I turned, step by step... lol funny.

This cd reminds me of a huge New Orleans Party, (before Katrina) Bangin horns and beats. Sensual and seductive vocals. It's almost dream like in quality. Katherines singing is a class act, I love her voice. I especially like "Angel" with it's earie and spooky quality. This spins consantly on my ride rotation.

Put the roof down, throw it in gear and cruise!

"Dirty Little Secret" is quite a change of pace for Katharine Whalen, no doubt at least in part due to it being her first recording without her former husband Jim Mathus and his southern jazz influence. There's quite a range of sounds here, from the Burt Bacharach-esque title track to the somewhat Gorillaz-like "You-Who."

Whalen's voice is, while still clearly hers, missing a lot of the more nasal qualities that in the past have evoked comparisons to Helen Kane and Billie Holliday. While I miss her more distinctive voice, her vocal stylings here do seem quite properly suited to the songs.

It's interesting to note that while this is listed only as a Katharine Whalen album, it appears that David Sale had at least as much influence on the record as she did, writing or co-writing all of the tracks as well as playing all of the instruments.

I thought the last review was good but he tried to give it 3 1/2 stars so it rounded down to 3 which isn't right for this very cool disc. So I'll give it a five to correct his theory of glass half empty. Although every time I see five stars on Amazon, I always think girlfriends and moms. Hmm who gets 5 stars. But as the previous reviewer noted, this is a big departure, which for me is a good thing. Quite refreshing. And I always cry at the end of "follow". A lot of good songs and beats. And I love the Cherry Kava Kava Song. I heard this cd on Kcrw and bought it and am very pleased!

First of all, This is not a cd of Jazz standards or an attemt to emulate Billie Holliday. But an original cd in which Katharine writes on most of the material for her first time! To see the attacks on Katharine for trying to do her own thing is a real shame and should be totaly discounted unless your are an absolute jazz purist, which Katharine is not. Katharines first band was a punk rock band! And to insinuate that Katharine needs a mentor is in my mind a masogonistic statement which I find offesive as a woman. And how Amazon decided to spotlight this extremely biased and narrow minded review is beyond me.

I could tell you how much I like this cd, but you be the judge. I'm sure there will be some more of this pigeon holing, but if you go through the web you will see that there are some pretty amazing reviews and then some like the one I refer, in which Katharine is personally attacked for her choice to try out new things now that she is out from under the thumb of such people.

A few audio samples were enough to tell me that Dirty Little Secret might be a less-than-stellar album, but I went ahead and bought it because I generally enjoy Katharine Whalen's work and think people like her SHOULD be putting records out.

Not to defer the blame from Katharine for making an ultimately tepid and forgettable album, but a large part of the fault here lies in the producer/songwriter David Sale she teamed with. He's also from a somewhat unremarkable rock band called Camus.

He's credited with playing ALL but a couple instruments and did quite a bit of the writing, as these were probably song ideas he started and had laying around, and he sort of brought Katharine in to polish `em up and add her smoky-jazz vocals...She even covers one of Camus's songs called "You-Who" but sadly with all the work done, none of these songs sound fully realized, nor do they resemble diamonds in the rough.

Dirty Little Secret's dark sampled beats and moody atmosphere led some (non-Amazon.com) reviewers to incorrectly and lazily compare it to Portishead. However, the beats here chug along like a robotic salsa line with a dash of hiss and treble. There are no thick, dark grooves and many of the tracks sound one-dimensionally empty, like they need less mechanical gimmicks and ought to feature more REAL live instrumentation. Further difficulty comes from the fact that Katharine's one-of-a-kind voice never really sounds confident against these chosen backdrops, as if it's hard for her to wrap her voice around the tinny arrangements.

Also, many tracks on the album use fade-outs at the end indicating that once a static pace was achieved, they couldn't figure out how to build any of it towards a pleasing climax. I admire those who aren't afraid to use the occasional fade-out when it's necessary, but it becomes another one of the lame tricks this album relies too heavily upon.

Overall the album has a "badly mixed" quality to it, as in the case of "Follow," where a decent drum beat is mixed so low it becomes a useless distraction. Meanwhile, an overly effect-laden acoustic piano decimates everything else in the song including, at times, Whalen's vocals.

I still have high hopes that Katharine Whalen may one day put out a solo record worthy of her voice, but this one definitely isn't it. Even the closing starry-eyed glimmer of "Blur," only offers a fleeting glimpse of how special these songs SHOULD be, but alas the writing and overall production are blandly average and not up to the task of bringing a talent like hers to the forefront.

On this haunting, moving solo album from Raleigh, NC singer Katharine (and former member of Squirrel Nut Zippers) laces the songs with a sultry, strong honesty. With lurid, evocative arrangements and varied sounds that combine with vocals ranging from guttural to ethereal to yearning, Dirty Little Secretis a superb album. "The Funnest Game" boasts Big Band groove with Whalen's confident yet bitter-sweet voice of experience-"I wasn't always like this/ I used to be happy just like you/ I had a sweetheart/ We were never apart/ I thought that love was true."

On the sweet, slower title track, she sings from her heart, which can be heartbreaking at times. The more cheerful, pop-laced "The Garden" features old-style harmonizing and soothing vocal stylings. On "Want You Back," calypso horns solidify the aching feel on this catchy track-"I don't know and I don't care/ I still see you everywhere/ So go away and don't come back/ But don't believe me because I still want you back."

Katharine's stunning voice layered with electronica and jazz backgrounds makes Dirty Little Secretan unforgettable, addictive, truly unique listening experience from an immensely talented artist.

I'm afraid I'll have to agree with some of the negative reviews here. That's ok, right? Seems as though negative reviews aren't tolerated very well around here.

I've seen Kat perform live, countless times. I've seen her with the Zippers, and I've seen her with the Jazz Squad. I've danced with her after shows. I positively adore her. She has a vocal talent that is nearly beyond compare - I'm not saying she's the MOST talented, just VERY talented and VERY unique. On much of her work, she's seemed restrained to me, and I've always thought that with proper training she'd be a once-in-a-lifetime talent. I've been waiting so long for another release. What a disappointment.

This album proves that even the most talented voices can't withstand bad production and lousy musicians. I can't recall ever hearing such a muddled mess. What's most disappointing is that there are those out there whose first exposure to Katherine will be this album, and they'll miss out. To those who've not heard her extraordinary talent, I recommend popping over to Andrew Bird's Thrills and checking her out on A Woman's Life and Love.

And then, keep waiting....