Customer Reviews

Got No Shadow

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's hard to be Indie and still sell records, and therefore make a living. Mary Lou Lord may have shed her Indie skin by recording "Got No Shadow," but this overproduced (yet nonetheless enjoyable) album remains her finest, and one of my favourites. It doesn't matter who she covers or how much of a role she played in the production of the disc, the songs remain non-fattening caramel, taste intact, with whipped-cream on top. It's hard not to enjoy Lord's harmony and Eliott Smith's guitar on "Shake Sugaree," the most catchiest refrain I've ever heard on "The Lucky One," and the selfish sad sweetness captured on "Two Boats." The additional instruments on many of the tracks sometimes seem generic, or more softly, unneccecary, but every song bears a repeat listening, if you know what I mean. I don't buy that every instrument, solo, or influence came directly from Lord, but a good many of the songs are mature, and, in my opinion, help Mary Lou on her road to becomming a more polished, mature musician. With the exception of the Eliott Smith written "I Figured You Out," off of the otherwise sub-par "Martian Saints" EP, the pop gem "Got No Shadow" is Lord's finest to date. Suspend your disbelief and love "Got No Shadow."

This is a great album by the kind of artist you really want to see succeed. It's packed with great songs--some moving, some fun, all interesting. I hope she's around for a long, long time. Unlike the poor genius who inspired "Jingle Jangle Morning".

I usually don't buy CDs by female artists (with few exceptions) but I highly recommend this album to anyone who likes acoustic music with smooth vocals. Heard one cut on Spinner.com and had to have it... She is addicting!

This is a recording which grows on you. It is pensive and accurate, and while it lacks the punch of many artists of this genre, it is a very worthwhile work. Mary Lou Lord has set the stage for her future here. A very impressive, if not polished, debut.

i love this record, and I had the privlidge of seeing Mary Lou play the otehr night and she was awesome. She's an excellent songwiter and guitarist. If you like smart catchy songs that aren't overproduced, you'll like this.

My 4 year old son Leo picked out "Seven Sisters" as his favorite song on the superb Starbucks Lilith Fair '98, so I decided to buy him the whole Mary Lou Lord CD. We both love it. Indeed, Mary Lou Lord is cordially invited to a party in Leo's room, where he plans to serve plastic seafood to her, Lisa Loeb, Patti Griffin and Liz Phair. They will all have to sing for their supper, however.

Mary Lou Lord's major label recording. To my ears "Live City Sounds" is much more distinctive-sounding than this full-band recording. The instrumentation makes it sound like "just another alternative rock album". Moreover I think Mary Lou Lord's soft voice is not well served on many of these tracks, where it has to compete with other instruments occupying the same frequency range. I don't think the "major label treatment" is as polished as it might have been.

All that said, the songs (those by Mary Lou Lord as well as the covers) are consistently excellent, the singing is lovely, and on a few tracks everything gels perfectly. The tracks grow on you with repeated listening.

first thing first: the version of "lights are changing" that is offered here pales in comparison to the original off of here eponymous ep. there, julianna hatfield offers heartfelt and wrenching harmony vocals to mary lou's sweet voice. the production there is drier and more rockin' than the studio crafted version in this album.

this comparison just about signifies the whole of this album. this isn't the mary lou lord of the lonely bars and jukeboxes but a mary lou lord that aspires to be a pop icon. it doesn't work.

there are plenty of tuneful tunes here but mary lou's strengths are in here lonesome, faint voice, her occasionally erratic guitar arrangemets and the silences that surround her casual but intimate style. she's unique and this album does not capture this.

the highlight may be "shake sugaree" with e. smith on acoustic guitar. but then, as like the rest of this album, a great moment is wasted with over-production: mary lou's vocals are layered and processed, giving you that paula abdul-ish anti-creepy feel.

if this is your introduction to mll, go an pick up her eponymous ep: simply, mary lou lord. that's what contemporary urban folk music is all about.

Finesse is back again for the kill. That's right the Boogie Down Bronxster returns to produce some of the dopest music out there now. Hip-Hop really needs to take a second chair to this one. The man who made "Funky Technician" and "Return of the Funky Man" is back to put it down for the East Coast and more importantly, for hip-hop!

"Got No Shadow" pales in comparison to her indie debut "Mary Lou Lord." it's as if they took the sweet, elfin-like Lord and tried to turn her into this-year's Jewel. Please, please, please, let her do her thing with the guitar and her angelic voice, leave the band and the over-dubbing at home.